World Cup Corner

Argentina’s stint in the World Cup, though laden with victories and losses, is a stint that is much adored by fans, and hated by the English. They only come fourth after World Cup stars Brazil, Italy, and Germany. Argentina can also be considered as a rather dramatic participant in the World Cup finals tournament, since their first appearance in 1930 in Uruguay. However, they were unfortunate that the finals tournament seems to have been jinxed. After a pre-game heated argument about which ball should be used, they lost to the Uruguayans because of one-armed player Hector Castro. Despite tragically losing out to the Uruguayans, their first appearance seemed to have kicked them off to several more finals appearance, loaded with controversial withdrawals, exits, and victories as well.

In 2006, Argentina appeared in the World Cup finals tournament for the 14th time out of a supposed 18. In the years 1938, 1950, and 1954, they intentionally withdrew from the finals tournaments. Aside from that, they also bore three embarrassing exits during the first round of games in the 1934, 1958, and 1962 tournaments. It was only during the 1970 World Cup tournament that they weren’t able to make it to the finals at all.

The Argentinian spell in the World Cup finals tournament was also full of attention-getting events. Argentina, unfortunately, is responsible for a memorable game when, in the 1966 games, they were eliminated when their then captain, Antonio Rattin, refused to leave the field despite having been flashed the red card. This incident was said to have been the root of the long-standing rivalry between Argentina and England. Despite their notoriety, however, because of the 1966 incident, Argentina still managed to redeem themselves by successfully inching ahead of England, much to the dismay of English fans. Argentina indeed redeemed itself before the world’s prying eyes, but never in England’s eyes.

As mentioned earlier, they failed to get into the finals tournament in 1970, which is considered as the lowest point in the World Cup history. It’s a good thing that they bounced back immediately in 1974 at West Germany. Although the results were hardly a victorious one, for a team who had just recovered from an all-time low, it was not bad to finish fourth after Brazil, East Germany, and Holland. Four more years after, however, the stage was quite different. They finally got what they were waiting for. They were finally the hosts of the World Cup tournament, and this seemed to play a part in their notoriety turning from negative to positive. They won against the Dutch through the celebrated skills of players such as Cesar Luis Menotti, Daniel Bertoni, Daniel Passarella, and a lot others. The entire nation celebrated the much sought-after victory that was now theirs.

In the spirit of all the other impressive players who have played roles in Argentina’s World Cup history came Diego Maradona. They were at the defensive side of the title, back in 1982, four years after their loud victory, and the nation had high hopes for Maradona’s performance. He seemed to possess striking abilities that excited everyone, and all was convinced that Argentina was off to a good year. However, as the spectators held their breaths in anticipation of how the champions will defend their titles, Maradona was harshly dismissed from the field by a red card, bringing back Rattin memories, during a match with Brazil.

Four years later, however, they once again redeemed themselves just as Maradona redeemed himself quite impressively. Seemingly with more maturity in his head and as if fueled by a desire to bounce back from embarrassment four years ago, he successfully led the team to an uncontested victory, the nations’ second. Maradona was nothing short of impressive as he dodged opponents going after the title that he seemed to have already claimed as theirs. His energetic stance got him a few scores and paved the way for more scores to be made by his team. However, he didn’t let the game end without a brilliant exhibition of his prowess that brought back the nation’s faith in his striking abilities.

His impressive handling of the team was again seen in Italy, during the 1990 World Cup. However, this time around, the stage was different, and playing in an unfamiliar territory, they seemed to have lost their magic and encountered several embarrassments before they eventually lost. The loss seemed to have taken its toll as Maradona showed the public the less glorified side of himself. After a much-publicized controversy over drug use, he was removed from the 1994 tournament, ending his exciting career in a most regrettable manner. The Argentine team seemed to have lost their leader, which left them in a traumatized state. This was evident when they were beaten by Romania and had no chance whatsoever to stop Brazil from championing for the fourth time.

In 1998, they bounced back with a vengeance, seemingly to cause the English a headache as they battled with David Beckham and his team until they finally made it to the quarter-finals. It was there that they met their end, but only in the 1998 tournament, when they faced off with Holland and its Dennis Bergkamp.

Its most recent appearance in the finals ended disastrously. In recent years, Argentina seemed unable to bring back its old glory. But it seems that Argentina had their way of recovering and bouncing back, and now, several years after their second and last victory, the world anticipates the direction they are to go.