The FIFA World Cup: Controversies and moments, Part 3

Representational image (Photo: Fauzan Saari via Unsplash)

1974: Jean-Joseph, the first

The 1974 World Cup is remembered for the West German triumph in the final at home over the valiant Dutch and their Total Football. But the most sensational controversy centred around Haiti.

Haiti, rank outsiders in the tournament, stunned everyone by scoring against Italy — the first goal conceded by goalkeeper Dino Zoff in over 1,140 minutes. Italy won 3-1, but the Haitians stole next day’s headlines.

The bombshell dropped when Haitian footballer Ernst Jean-Joseph became the first player in the history of the tournament to be penalised for testing positive in a dope test. He mentioned that he used to take medication for his asthma, but confessed once the team doctor denied any knowledge. The Haitian officials “dragged him, tearful, shoved him into a car and kept him incommunicado” before sending him back home.

Kurt Renner, the Haitian team attaché, told the details of Jean-Joseph’s ordeal to the media; FIFA responded by removing Renner from his post. The battered Haitians lost 0-7 to Poland and 1-4 to Argentina, and are yet to play in the World Cup again.

1978: Storms in Argentina

Few FIFA World Cups were as marred by controversies as the 1978 edition, in Argentina. Two years before the tournament, the Argentinian government had been taken over by a military coup that responded brutally to criticism. Several nations considered opting out on the grounds of human rights' abuse — but none did. One man who did was Johan Cruyff, the Dutch superstar of the 1974 edition.

Argentina beat Hungary without fuss, but their 2-1 win against France involved two controversial decisions by the Swiss referee Jean Dubach — a penalty given to Argentina (Daniel Passarella scored) and one denied to France. Despite their defeat against Italy, Argentina qualified for the second round. From there, one team from each group was to advance to the final.

Argentina began with a 2-0 win against Poland, but Brazil bettered that by beating Peru 3-0. Brazil also held Argentina to a goalless draw and beat Poland 3-1. This meant that Argentina had to beat Peru by at least four goals to go past Brazil — but they had the advantage of playing last.

Argentina won this match 6-0 in Rosario, where Peruvian goalkeeper Ramón Quiroga had been born. The next day, Quiroga published an open letter to defend himself.

The controversies continued. Just before the final, the Argentinians complained about the "rock solid and dangerous" plaster cast on the forearm of René Van de Kerkhof, who had donned it throughout the tournament. When Italian referee Sergio Gonnella requested Van de Kerkhof to take the cast off, the Dutch camp threatened to pull out of the match.

A compromise was reached after a long hold-up, and Van de Kerkhof was allowed to play with a sling around the cast. The match turned predictably violent. The Netherlands might have won had Rob Rensenbrink’s shot not hit the post. Argentina won 3-1 in extra time.

1982: Disgrace of Gijón and the Schumacher foul

In Spain in 1982, Italy won the World Cup after 44 years to equal Brazil’s feat of three titles. In the final, they beat West Germany, who had become the centre of two major controversies en route.

In their first ever World Cup match, Algeria had pulled off a shocking win against the Germans, while Austria beat Chile 1-0. With two teams to qualify, West Germany seemed on course when they thrashed Chile 4-1 and Austria beat Algeria 2-0, but Algeria turned things around with a 3-2 win over Chile.

At this point, Austria and Algeria were on four points each, two points ahead of West Germany. If the Germans beat Austria by one or two goals in the last match, in Gijón, Spain, both teams would go through.

Horst Hrubesch put the Germans one-up after 10 minutes. After that, no team made any attempt to leave their own half irrespective of where the ball was. There were some ostentatious attempts at scoring, but that was about it. The European neighbours knocked out Algeria without virtually playing any football.

The criticism was severe. Austrian commentator Robert Seeger requested viewers to turn their television sets off. El Comercio, a local newspaper, printed the match report in its crime section. The spectators cheered for Algeria. Even sections of the German and Austrian fans were not happy, but the result remained unaltered.

There was little FIFA could do, but from the next edition, they ensured the last two matches in every group began at the same time.

Something of an entirely different nature took place in the semi-final. Patrick Battiston of France was about to shoot, when German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher launched into him. Battiston fell unconscious, his teeth knocked out, his spinal cord damaged — but the Dutch referee Charles Corver did not issue a card. West Germany won on penalties.

1986: Hand of God

At the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, Diego Maradona played, perhaps, the best football by anyone in a single edition of the tournament. He also scored one of the most controversial goals in the history of the sport.

In the 51st minute of the quarter-final, English defender Steve Hodge kicked the ball towards his own goal. Maradona sprinted towards the ball. As England goalkeeper Peter Shilton lunged forwards, so did Maradona. The ball entered the goal, almost certainly off Maradona’s left fist; Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur did not overturn it.

Maradona would describe the goal as Argentina’s revenge for the Falklands War (1982), where they had lost to the United Kingdom. He would also mention the "Hand of God" being responsible for the goal. However, in his autobiography Yo soy el Diego (2000), he admitted "¿Qué mano de Dios? ¡Fue la mano del Diego! (What hand of God? It was the hand of Diego!)"

Four minutes later, Maradona beat four English defenders and Shilton to score an astonishing goal. In 2002, this was voted the Goal of the Century in a poll on FIFA’s website.

1990: El Maracanazo qualifiers

Only one team were to qualify from Group 3 of the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 1990 Italy World Cup. Chile needed to beat Brazil by two goals in the last match, in Rio de Janeiro, to qualify.

Instead, Careca put Brazil one-up in the 49th minute. The local fans had started celebrating when in the 67th minute, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the ground. One Rosenery Mello do Nascimento was arrested. The Chilean players and officials walked off in protest.

When the authorities reviewed the incident on television, it became evident that the flare had landed a metre away from Rojas. Moreover, Rojas’ injury was a cut, not a burn. Rojas confessed to being part of coach Orlando Aravena’s plan of having the match called off, which would mean either Brazil’s disqualification or a re-match. Rojas had cut himself with a blade he had carried inside his gloves.

The FIFA rewarded the match 2-0 to Brazil, banned Rojas for life (though this was reversed in 2001), punished others in the Chilean camp, and barred Chile from the 1994 qualifiers.