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Ken Jones: A match for the connoisseur in the heat of Guadalajara

Thursday 20 June 2002 00:00 BST
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One of the occupational burdens of a veteran sportswriter is the request for a column that brings the past up against the present in conjunction with an event that is about to happen. Since this involves going back more years than I can be bothered to add up, I always approach the task with some hesitancy, knowing that it carries all the thorny risks of nostalgia.

It does not seem nearly so long ago as 32 years that England met Brazil in a group game of the 1970 World Cup when favourites to contest the final. Unquestionably, they were the two best teams in the tournament; England the defending champions, Brazil fully recovered from the disaster of 1966 with Pele at the peak of his powers.

Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's encounter in Japan, it simply cannot be a game to match the technical excellence, individual and collective, attained on 7 June 1970 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Playing at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet, the match inexcusably (to suit television) scheduled for noon in a temperature approaching 100F, England and Brazil staged one of the most enthralling games in World Cup history.

Each team had played and won one game. For England there was the problem of containing Brazil's spontaneous brilliance. For Brazil, the threat brought by England's outstanding teamwork. Shortly after Brazil came from a goal down to defeat Czechoslovakia 4-1, one of the goals coming from Rivelino's stunning free kick, I had a brief conversation with Alf Ramsey in the foyer of the Guadalajara Hilton. The England manager looked pensive. "By Christ, they can play," he muttered.

If Brazil's quality was not enough, now came another problem. Brazil were the darlings of a malevolent local public, gaining support by dishing out pennants, badges and team photographs. England would pay for snubbing them. Surprisingly offered a choice between staying at a sports centre outside Guadalajara and the Hilton's central location, the England players had selected the latter. On the eve of the match, until police finally arrived at three in the morning, the England squad were besieged by chanting Mexicans, some of the players driven from their rooms by the noise.

The problem of Rivelino's free-kicks had been resolved by Bobby Moore, who was fully over the trauma of being arrested in Bogota on the trumped-up charge of stealing a bracelet. Rivelino attacked the ball at right angles, then twisting his body to direct a left-foot shoot at a space in the defensive wall engineered by the muscular Jairzinho. Moore came up with a solution. "Let me stand a few paces behind the wall and I'll deal with the ball," he said. Ramsey agreed. When an opportunity arrived for Rivelino and Jairzinho to go through their routine, Moore stepped into a space behind England's mass of bodies. Jairzinho leaned, Rivelino shot and Moore calmly killed the ball before sending a pass forward to Geoff Hurst. Pele was among those who applauded.

In the stands, Irish, Scottish and Welsh players whose expenses had been paid by a magazine as part of a promotional exercise, were thrilled by England's football and spirit. Charlie Cooke of Chelsea and Scotland, close to tears, spoke for them all when Ramsey's team failed to pull back the only goal of the game, scored by Jairzinho midway through the second half. "Everything about England's performance, the skill, the effort, the [Gordon] Banks' save, Bobby Moore's covering and tackling, everything made you want to weep for them when they were beaten," he said. "There isn't any love lost when we come up against England but I felt for them today. They were magnificent."

The England team physician, Neil Phillips discovered that his charges lost an average in weight of 8lb per man. Alan Mullery shed more than 10lb. England's reward was to be allowed a night to themselves, Ramsey relaxing his strict regime. "You can have a few drinks," he said, ­ "in your rooms!"

England had gone close to achieving a famous victory, good chances falling to Francis Lee, Alan Ball and the substitute Jeff Astle when he was sent on to test Brazil in the air. After the final whistle, as Pele and Moore exchanged shirts, the Brazilian said how much he was looking forward to another meeting in the final.

Brazil's coach Mario Zagallo did not think much of the idea. They had only just overcome England in Rio a year earlier, scoring two late goals. Another narrow win in Guadalajara. Intensely superstitious, a match for the connoisseur had caused Zagallo to worry about what a third match might bring. But for some unfortunate defensive lapses by England against West Germany in Leon, he would have known some sleepless nights.

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