World Cup: 1974
The four years between 1970 and
1974 were a time of great change in international football.
England did not qualify for the 1974 World Cup, and manager
Alf Ramsey lost his job. Pele had retired from
international football, and the new Brazil team had only
three players from World Cup winning team in Mexico.
Holland and West Germany were now the strongest teams in
world football
Despite dominating European club football, Holland were a
little fortunate to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, which
was held in West Germany. In their group they were level on
points with Belgium and only qualified on goal difference.
Belgium were also unlucky to have a 'good' goal disallowed
for offside in their final game against the Dutch
qualifiers.
New format
The format for the competition changed. Instead of
qualifying rounds there were two group phases and then a
final. In the first group phase, Holland beat Uruguay and
Bulgaria. They then drew against Sweden
In the second phase they began to play the superb football.
Cruyff's performed brilliantly in the 4-0 vi
ctory over Argentina. He scored the
first goal with a piece of superb skill.
In the other half of the draw, West Germany lost to East
Germany in a first round group game. They still qualified
for the second phase, where they beat Yugoslavia and
Sweden. Their final group game was against Poland. Needing
a draw to qualify for the final, they won with a late Gerd
Müller goal.
The Final
The Final was between the two strongest teams in
competition: Holland and West Germany. It started very well
for Holland. In the first minute of that game, Johan Cruyff
won a penalty and Neeskens scored. This was the fastest
ever goal in a World Cup Final.
Beckenbauer led his team’s fight-back, and West Germany
equalised with another penalty in the 25th minute. Two
minutes before half time the great German goal-scorer Gerd
Mueller received the ball in the penalty area with his back
to the goal. Mueller turned hit a low shot into the net.
Holland dominated the second half but couldn't score. West
Germany were the new champions.