And thus 1977 comes to a close. The best moment of the year? Any choice is arbitrary, but perhaps the retirement of Pele.

Even the skies were crying at his last match between Cosmos New York and Santos, his only clubs. It was even more than retirement of the greatest ever football player: the curtain of whole football era closed. The era of charm, improvisation, surprise, joy, artistry was going sadly into the past. Big crowd paid last tribute to the greatest perhaps unaware (well, certainly unaware, for it was American crowd ignorant of football traditions, developments, and history) of what his retirement was symbolic of. Yet, it was wonderful tribute to the King.

The last FIFA group 13 consisted of not one, but two continents – the lowest of the low, Oceania, did not have – and so far doesn't have – reserved spot at the finals. It was placed in Group 13, which was difficult and bizarre group, at par with Africa. Great distances called for geographical divisions. Politics were overwhelming problem, with countries refusing to play against others and calling for expulsions. Israel was not expelled, but Muslim states boycotted it – and because of that Israel was placed in the Far East Subgroup 2 – with Japan and both Korean states. Which was the next problem – North Korea withdraw, obviously because it had to play against South Korea, and it was either them or us: expel them, or we are not playing. China did not participate at all - most likely because Taiwan was allowed to play. Many countries did not participate – India, Pakistan, Vietnam – and almost every refusal can be traced to political tensions. At the end, politics and geography led to strangely looking preliminary subgroups: 6 countries in Subgroup 1, but only 5 actual played – Sri Lanka withdrew. Subgroup 4 was made of 4 teams, but United Arab Emirates withdrew. Subgroup 3 also had 4 teams at first, but Iraq withdrew. The remaining 2 subgroups consisted of three teams each. Major crisis was avoided thanks to the early elimination of Israel – they finished surprisingly 2nd, behind South Korea. Neither South Korea, nor Japan had more than laughable amateur football at the time – that was why the failure of Israel was surprising. Hong Kong won Subgroup 1, Kuwait – Subgroup 4, the most confident winner, not losing even a point, and Australia – Subgroup 5. Subgroup 3 displayed the usual problem in the undeveloped world: Syria decided not to play their last match, probably because they had no real chance to advance. Iran benefited immediately – the awarded victory made them winners of the group and the last match against Saudi Arabia was meaningless. Just like in Africa, it was not exactly necessary to play football to advance.


With the major obstacles gone by now, the final round proceeded just fine: five finalists playing twice against each other. The ordeal took half an year – from June to 4th of December 1977. Travel was tantamount – from Iran to Australia and from Kuwait to South Korea, which made clear that practically no fans were able to support visitors. The key match was perhaps Australia – Iran, played in Melbourne. Iran clinched important away victory – 1-0. Australia, thanks to her European emigrants and to the spirited performance in 1974, was seen as the favourite, but actually the Aussies were not good even in terms of weak Asian football. They lost half of their matches. Hong Kong was the obvious outsider, unable to get even a single point. Iran was best by far.

1.IRAN 8 6 2 0 12- 3 14

2.South Korea 8 3 4 1 12- 8 10

3.Kuwait 8 4 1 3 13- 8 9

4.Australia 8 3 1 4 11- 8 7

5.Hongkong 8 0 0 8 5-26 0

Smart looking 1977 Iranian squad: Standing from right: Mohammad Reza Adelkhani, Nasrollah Abdollahi, Ghafour Jahani, Nasser Hejazi, Hossein Kazerouni.

Sitting from right: Ebrahim Qassem-pour, Andranik Eskandarian, Mohammad Sadeqi, Ali Parvin, Hassan Roshan, Hassan Nazari.

The names meant nothing outside Iran, and Iran was thought an obvious outsider. Perhaps better than the African finalist, but points donor nevertheless.

Group 12 or Africa. After the disaster Zaire had been in 1974, African miracle was not expected. And general optimism about Africa faded away in the 1970s – the continent was poor, corrupt, ridden by political and social conflicts, corrupt and backward. Which affected football as well and if there was a miracle, it was that Africa managed to organize international tournaments at all. Not every country participated for one or another reason, withdrawals were common, as well as interrupted matches. South Africa was banned from participating. Poverty, travel, and politics shaped the fragile structure of any African tournament. World Cup qualifications went threw stages – the early ones were classic cup format and the last was was mini-championship, each team playing a home and away game against the rest. Nothing went smooth: the preliminary round was played, but in the first round the Central African Republic withdrew and Zaire progressed further without playing. Guinea and Ghana had to play a third match to produce a winner, however. Not so Tunisia and Morocco, also tied – penalty shoot-out was used in their case. Sudan and Tanzania also withdrew and Kenya and Uganda progressed without playing, but this was nothing compared to the scandal created by Cameroon and Republic of Congo. Cameroon clinched a 2-2 in Brazzaville. Playing at home the second leg, they had the obvious edge, but who knows why Congo was leading 2-1. Bad or corrupt referee? Or an excuse for poor performance? Whatever the real reason was, Cameroon left the pitch, the match was abandoned, and Congo proclaimed the winner.


The Second round benefited Nigeria – Zaire withdraw, thus making an unique and probably unmatched world record: Zaire qualified and then was eliminated without playing even a minute of football. One pair was locked in a tie and this time overtime was played – Zambia prevailed in it, finally beating Uganda 4-2.

The Third round, at least in dry statistical record, was normal. Tunisia eliminated Guinea, Nigeria – Ivory Coast, not yet called Cote d'Ivoire, and Egypt – Zambia. The last three were to produce the African representative at the World Cup finals and at least on paper the final stage appeared normal. If there was something unusual, it was the absence of the countries of more developed football – Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, and particularly Ghana, traditionally considered the strongest country in football. It may be obvious today to see Nigeria among the top, but it was not so back in the 1970s. But, to a point, playing against Nigeria was decisive factor – all matches ended with wins of the host team, except Nigeria – Tunisia. The first leg was played in Tunis and ended in a scoreless tie. The match in Lagos was won – 1-0 – by the visitors, Tunisia. At the end, the tie proved more important – home victories inevitably led to equal points, but Tunisia had a point more thanks to this tie.



1.TUNISIA 4 2 1 1 7- 4 5

2.Egypt 4 2 0 2 7-11 4

3.Nigeria 4 1 1 2 5- 4 3

And so Tunisia qualified for the first time to play at World Cup finals.

At the time, it was not very exciting news: after Zaire played so incompetently in 1974, the African representative was considered the weakest possible outsider. Clearly, African nations lacked consistency and none was able to sustain even relatively competitive team for long. Tunisia was thought just lucky – and lucky thanks to the low level of African football.

By FIFA – North and Central America was Group 11. One team going to the finals, but it was long and elaborated road to this coveted spot. First round: three zones, one further divided into two sub-groups. Six teams going to the second round. Mexico was the favourite by far, for short of miracle, there was no team nearly as good. Mexico stumbled at first, failing to beat USA at home (1-1), and losing to Canada – 0-1 in Vancouver. Perhaps USA and Canada improved, thanks to NASL and the influence of the European stars in the league; perhaps Mexico was too arrogant and did not play seriously. But that was everything in terms of surprise: Mexico got serious, won their last two matches and won the group. USA finished last. With two out three teams going to final round it was no big deal anyway, but goal-difference decided losers and winners.


North American Zone:

1.Mexico 4 1 2 1 3- 1 4

2.Canada 4 1 2 1 2- 3 4

3.USA 4 1 2 1 3- 4 4

The Central American Zone had 4 teams. Honduras did not participate. Panama was the weakest team, the other three fought between themselves and perhaps not surprisingly ties decided the outcome: Costa Rica just ended too many games in a tie to be able to qualify.

1.Guatemala 6 3 2 1 15- 6 8

2.El Salvador 6 2 3 1 10- 7 7

3.Costa Rica 6 1 4 1 8- 6 6

4.Panama 6 1 1 4 7-21 3

The Caribbean Zone was organized differently: two sub-groups, playing not round-robin, but cup-format – direct elimination, winners advance to the second round, and then the new winners – to the final play-off, the winner of which advanced to the final stage.

Subgroup A had countries worth mentioning for only one reason: geographically, they belong to South America, but never participated in South American championships: Surinam and Guyana. As a whole, the Carribean Zone was exotic – and entirely insignificant in terms of football. Surinam won the final against Trinidad and Tobago. They clinched victory in overtime – 3-2.

Subgroup B went through its own tribulations, finally won by Haiti. Haiti won the final against Cuba – 2-0. Curiously to some degree, Cuba never developed football – something very unusual for a Communist country. It was not that Cuba neglected sports – athletics, basketball, volleyball were highly developed by the state. The reason was baseball – it was traditionally the most important sport in Cuba, with Fidel Castro a big fan. Football did not survive the competition. As for Haiti – at least they played at the 1974 World Cup, so they were somewhat the football power of the Carribean.

The second round was hosted by Mexico, which practically precluded everything. Perhaps there was no other way – Mexico had the best facilities and experience in organization. It was the most interested in football country in the continent, which was important as well – attendance was guaranteed. In front of cheering home crowds Mexico won all matches.

1.MEXICO 5 5 0 0 20- 5 10

2.Haiti 5 3 1 1 6- 6 7

3.El Salvador 5 2 1 2 8- 9 5

4.Canada 5 2 1 2 7- 8 5

5.Guatemala 5 1 1 3 8-10 3

6.Surinam 5 0 0 5 6-17 0

As if explaining why they did not play in South America, Surinam finished last, losing every match they played: too weak even for weak North and Central America. Any point of playing against Brazil and Argentina?

Once again Mexico qualified for the World Cup finals. The opposition was too weak to even give some real recognition of Mexican players – Hugo Sanchez was the bright rising star, but the really great player was the midfielder Leonardo Cuellar. The Mexican team was not bad at all – just unknown to the world.

n the grand scheme of FIFA South America was called Group 10. In reality it was competition of two stages – initial 3 groups of 3 teams each, playing twice against each other, and after that – a final group of the three winners, playing a round-robin tournament on neutral ground. Two team going directly to the finals, and a third potentially going to the finals, if winning the play-off with the European Group 9 winner. South America frequently changed qualification formats, due to the small number of participants, lack of money, and great distances to travel. This time it was decided to be two-staged competition, which benefited obvious favourites.


Group A consisted of Brazil, Paraguay, and Colombia. No doubt about the winners. What may be difficult to understand was Colombia – it was very weak, despite the fact it was the magnet for South American professional players. So money was not enough, but this is trivia. The outcome was boringly clear:

1.Brazil 4 2 2 0 8- 1 6

2.Paraguay 4 1 2 1 3- 3 4

3.Colombia 4 0 2 2 1- 8 2

Group B was clear too at first – who else, but Uruguay. Bolivia and Venezuela were not an opposition. Actually, such were the realities at the time, that Venezuela did not even count: Bolivia and Ecuador 'competed' for the dubious distinction of lowliest South American nation. But.. Uruguay was in the worst ever situation – political troubles, inevitably plunging the country in dire economic straights. The military Junta did not care for football and nobody else did either, given the circumstances. Uruguay failed miserably and in the vacuum stepped in lowly Bolivia. Which won easily the group without losing a single match.

1.Bolivia 4 3 1 0 8- 3 7

2.Uruguay 4 1 2 1 5- 4 4

3.Venezuela 4 0 1 3 2- 8 1

Group C was the only competitive group – Ecuador did not count, but Chile and Peru fought for the first place. Peru prevailed by a point, largely thanks to the 1-1 tie in Santiago. Small difference, but still important: Peru was still riding high on the shoulders of the great generation of the 1970 World Cup. To it some new highly talented players were added. Chile on the other hand was improving thanks to better economy bringing money to her football, but the stage was still early to produce results, new bunch of talented players in particular. So Peru had the edge, if not obvious supremacy.

1.Peru 4 2 2 0 8- 2 6

2.Chile 4 2 1 1 5- 3 5

3.Ecuador 4 0 1 3 1- 9 1

And the winners of the preliminary groups pretty much precluded the whole qualification – Bolivia was too weak to offer resistance, let alone to produce a surprise. In Cali, Colombia, the final stage was a formality – it did not even matter who finished 1st or 2nd – the bottom place was 'reserved', and the others qualified. Bazil won their both games, beating Bolivia 8-0. Peru settled for 5-0 against Bolivia. Important or not, the opening match between Peru and Brazil was still contested – if nothing else, at least honour demanded serious play. Brazil was not all that great – Peru lost 0-1.

1.BRAZIL 2 2 0 0 9- 0 4

2.PERU 2 1 0 1 5- 1 2

3.Bolivia 2 0 0 2 0-13 0

And so in July 1977 Brazil and Peru qualified for the World Cup finals. It was not over yet for Bolivia, which had still a chance to reach the finals too. Tiny chance... more or less in the realm of pure theory, given the strength of Bolivian football. In October and November everything settled: Hungary thrashed Bolivia 6-0 in Budapest. The second match in La Paz hardly mattered any more, but Bolivia lost it as well – 2-3. Hungary qualified; Bolivia did not make a miracle.

Same old, same old – Brazil to the finals. This is one of the often changing Brazilian formations of the time. Still unsettled, searching, and trying to find its way after the 1974 disaster, but clearly too strong in South America to be in risk of missing World Cup finals. One thing was getting clear – the new Brazil was to be based on Zico. So far Rivelino was the key figure, but his age already suggested that the team will be organized around Zico. The only question was which players were best suited for playing with the White Pele.

Peru in Cali, Colombia, 1977: a good team, which did not even have to worry about qualifying. Rather, getting more experience and confidence. Sotil, Cubillas, Chumpitaz, Velasquez – the core well remembered from the 1970 World Cup – shaped the team. Well rounded squad, with Oblitas rapidly becoming big star.

Group 9, the only one not giving direct spot at the finals. Apart from that – an easy and hardly interesting group at first. It was expected to be a Soviet walkover: Greece was an outsider and point donor, Hungary, as Soviet satellite, was to bend over. USSR was seen as the sure winner, and the only interest was reserved for the next stage – which country from South America will meet the Soviets for the real contest for World Cup spot. And everything started exactly as expected in 1976 – Hungary tied the away match with Greece – 1-1. A tie serving USSR. May the Soviets were too confident in their own expectations of easy win: they made bizarre and possibly unique in football history schedule for their games: all were to be played in one month time – from April 24 to May 18, 1977. It was like playing normal club championship – one fixed squad playing a season. A mini-season, but regular nevertheless – a match every week. The advantage was obvious: a stable group of used to each other players, getting better and better thanks to familiarity every next match. The disadvantage was not seen at all – injuries, sudden lack of form, or tactical changes left the team without options. There was no time to include new players, for there was no way to try them between official matches. And this precisely happened: the Soviets did not have the best of teams at the time. After the extreme of Lobanovsky, who played the entire Dinamo Kiev, the next coach went in the opposite direction, making a diverse team from many clubs, but not many players from Dinamo. Neither concept was wise. USSR struggled for some years anyway. They won their first match, hosting Greece, 2-0, but the team was obviously deficient and draw a lot of criticism. There were problems in midfield and consequently in attack. The second match was lost, to the surprise of everybody – Hungary won in Budapest 2-1. USSR displayed many problems – it was not that Hungary was great, but rather Soviet clueless play. Muntyan suffered from injury and was able to play only as a substitute. Soviet observers pointed out that his absence was critical. Strikers were pathetic too. But there was no time to change anything and the same squad went to face Greece in Athens. They lost 0-1. Curiously, the Soviet reports of the match were very brief and not very troubled (rather disinterested actually) – the referee was blamed in passing. Only much later a myth was built about crooked refereeing in this game – if not for the referee, USSR surely was going to reach the finals. But this is what one can hear today, not in 1977. Back than... USSR was not yet eliminated. Pulling a bit of strength, the Soviets won their last match – 2-0 against Hungary in Tbilisi. 4 points and 5-3 goal-difference would suffice and then an urgent changes of the team must start. Clearly, the current squad was a disaster and now everything was in the friendly feet of the Hungarians. Objectively, they were not very strong and little friendly tie may not even look suspicious. But the Hungarians betrayed the Soviet 'trust' – they won 3-0 and finished first. So much for Communist cooperation... it was not for the first time the Soviets were 'betrayed' by satellites.




1.Hungary 4 2 1 1 6- 4 5

2.Soviet Union 4 2 0 2 5- 3 4

3.Greece 4 1 1 2 2- 6 3

The outcome was mostly Soviet fault – their fantastic schedule turned against them. Greece was quite capable of playing an equal game against weaker opponents; Hungary was not exactly a nation loving the Soviets and orders and agreements could be sabotaged by players. Facing problems, USSR simply had no time to find solution. On the other Hungary got a moral boost and a shaky team suddenly became ambitious.

1977 Hungarian squad – it had potential and slowly was getting into shape. They still had a play-off with South American opposition, but winning the first round certainly improved moral and motivated the team.

Which paled when compared to Group 8 – Spain, Yugoslavia, and Romania. Three traditionally strong countries, very ambitious, and also with bruised egos. Old scores to be settled too. By far the toughest qualification group. Perhaps Yugoslavia was a bit weaker than the others – not because suffering decline, but because it was heavily wounded in 1976, when the country hosted the European championship finals and was expected to win. In front of home crowd, Yugoslavia lost their matches and finished 4th – that is, last among the finalists. This lead to something often done in football – it was concluded that a new team must be build from scratch. And inevitably the new team is envisioned as an young team, so to ensure the future. The old generation is no good, let see the new one. Of course, it is never radically new team – previously ignored for various reasons players are now included, as well as the younger members of the 'old' squad, plus many hopefuls. Lack of experience is one problem and another – youngsters are potential talents, who may turn out not to be up to really big things. Shaping a new team is convulsive process, needing considerable time – qualification rounds, however, leave no time for slow construction: results are required at once. A club may decide to sacrifice two-three years until getting strong squad, but national team has no such option: the pressures are too many and immediate.

Here is the squad for the future – the Yugoslavian squad used for the South American tour at the beginning of 1977. This is not the squad used for the serious matches, of course, but still shows the problems of building entirely new squad. Few of these above lasted and some clearly failed as national team players, although had otherwise impressive club careers – Svilar, Peruzovic, and Primorac are the prime examples. To a point, Vladic as well. The bulk left no trace and is hardly remembered. It was somewhat less talented generation than the one they replaced: point in case – Vladimir Petrovic. One of the best Yugoslavian wingers, a big star, and legend not only for Crvena zvezda fans, he never achieved the international recognition of his former teammate Dragan Dzajic. Somewhat lesser generation, yet, 'lesser' does not mean 'bad' – Yugoslavia was strong and if there was a weakness, it was traditional one: moody team, which may as easily play fantastic match, as give up.

Romania had rough years so far, but it was not a team to be relegated to the category of outsiders. Recent failures had to be remedied at last – it was not a team without ambition. Spain even more – too many failures and humiliations for their pride. And desire for revenge – it was Yugoslavia eliminating dramatically Spain from major competitions in the 1970s. Tough, ambitious group, driven by wounded pride. No favourite, no way of predicting the winner. A group promising high drama, if not enchanting football. And drama was delivered at once.

Spain won the opening match with Yugoslavia 1-0 in Sevilla. This was the only match played in 1976. In April 1977 Spain visited Romania and lost 0-1. There was high probability all teams to win their home fixtures by measly 1-0 and end with the same record. But the spell was broken in May, when Romania prevailed in Zagreb – 2-0. Now Romania was first and Yugoslavia had no points at all. However, the Romanian lead did not mean much – everybody had a chance to qualify. Spain elbowed Romania from first place in the next match – in Madrid Romania lost 0-2. It looked like Romania and Spain were to fight for the first place, Romania having slightly better chance for their last match was at home. In November 1977 Romania and Yugoslavia met in Bucharest and produced one of the most bizarre matches at the time. Both teams needed victory – a tie served neither, for Yugoslavia was to be eliminated and Spain had better chance of ending first, since they had to play very disinterested Yugoslavs. Perhaps the match was not all that great, but what excitement – both teams attacked from start to finish, not caring for defense – it was all or nothing. The match ended 6-4 for Yugoslavia. And what turns of fate: Romania was a favourtie before the match, the very likely winner of the group. Yugoslavia was last without a point. 90 minutes later Romania was eliminated and Yugoslavia suddenly appeared to be the most likely winner. Looked like all three teams will end with equal points and goal-difference will determine the winner. Romania had not even a theoretical chance, having negative -1 scoring record. One much left and Yugoslavia was playing at home against Spain. The 'Plavi' needed a win by two goals. Not impossible at all. But Spain had her own ambition plus desire for revenge – which they got. Spain clinched 1-0 victory, which was fantastic – Yugoslavia barred Spanish progress twice in the 1970s, so it was great to take revenge right in Belgrade.

1.SPAIN 4 3 0 1 4- 1 6

2.Romania 4 2 0 2 7- 8 4

3.Yugoslavia 4 1 0 3 6- 8 2

Mere numbers and final table hide the drama of the group – by far, the most exciting qualification group.

Spain finally ended their bad spell – for the first time since 1966 they qualified for major international tournament. Finally going to World Cup finals after so many years of disappointment. It has been so long, Spain was becoming even unfamiliar by now: the respected German magazine Kicker published wrong list of the players above – the names have to be read right to left to be correct. As for the strength, it was hard to tell – Camacho, Pirri, Asensi were big names certainly, but the rest? Juanito may be. Spain was viewed with skepticism – sturdy fighters, but it was not for nothing both Spanish clubs and national team did not win anything for a long, long time. Yet, keep in mind that Spain is not to be underestimated either. Something like that.. except in Spain, where finally everything was great. May be the World Cup next year?