Football World Cup 1970 / Italy

This article covers the Italian national team at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico .

qualification

The reigning European champions met East Germany and Wales in qualifying . The qualification went smoothly, the decisive game for the group victory took place on November 12, 1969 in Rome against the GDR and could be won 3-0.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Italy	10: 3	7: 1
2	GDR	7: 7	5: 3
3	Wales	3:10	0: 8

Wales	-	Italy	0: 1 (0: 1)
GDR	-	Italy	2: 2 (1: 0)
Italy	-	Wales	4: 1 (1: 0)
Italy	-	GDR	3: 0 (3: 0)

Contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Enrico Albertosi	Cagliari Calcio	11/02/1939	6th	0	0	0
12	Dino Zoff	SSC Naples	02/28/1942	0	0	0	0
17th	Lido Vieri	Inter Milan	07/16/1939	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Tarcisio Burgnich	Inter Milan	04/25/1939	6th	1	1	0
3	Giacinto Facchetti	Inter Milan	07/18/1942	6th	0	0	0
4th	Fabrizio Poletti	AC Turin	07/13/1943	1	0	0	0
5	Pierluigi Cera	Cagliari Calcio	02/25/1941	6th	0	0	0
6th	Ugo Ferrante	AC Florence	07/18/1945	0	0	0	0
7th	Comunardo Niccolai	Cagliari Calcio	December 15, 1946	1	0	0	0
8th	Roberto Rosato	AC Milan	August 18, 1943	6th	0	1	0
midfield player
9	Giorgio Puia	AC Turin	03/08/1938	0	0	0	0
10	Mario Bertini	Inter Milan	07/01/1944	6th	0	0	0
14th	Gianni Rivera	AC Milan	August 18, 1943	4th	2	1	0
15th	Sandro Mazzola	Inter Milan	11/08/1942	6th	0	0	0
16	Giancarlo De Sisti	AC Florence	March 13, 1943	6th	0	1	0
18th	Antonio Juliano	SSC Naples	01/01/1943	1	0	0	0
21st	Giuseppe Furino	Juventus Turin	07/05/1946	1	0	0	0
striker
11	Luigi Riva	Cagliari Calcio	07/11/1944	6th	3	0	0
13	Angelo Domenghini	Inter Milan	08/25/1941	6th	1	1	0
19th	Sergio Gori	Cagliari Calcio	02/24/1946	1	0	0	0
20th	Roberto Boninsegna	Inter Milan	11/13/1943	6th	2	0	0
21st	Paolino Pulici	AC Turin	04/27/1950	0	0	0	0
22nd	Pierino Prati	AC Milan	12/13/1946	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Ferruccio Valcareggi		02/12/1919

Italian games

Preliminary round

The Italians could not convince in the preliminary round. In the first game, the Swedes were defeated 1-0 by an early goal from Domenghini. The other two games against Uruguay and World Cup newcomer Israel each ended in a goalless draw, but Italy managed to secure first place in the group after Uruguay's defeat by Sweden.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Italy	1-0	4: 2
2	Uruguay	2: 1	3: 3
3	Sweden	2: 2	3: 3
4th	Israel	1: 3	2: 4

Italy	-	Sweden	1: 0 (1: 0)
Italy	-	Uruguay	0-0
Italy	-	Israel	0-0

Quarter finals

Italy met hosts Mexico in the quarter-finals. The Mexicans got off to a better start and took the lead after a quarter of an hour. Only a few minutes later it could have been 2-0 for the hosts, but Borja only hit the crossbar. The then heavily criticized Italians found their way into the game and equalized in the 26th minute when the Mexican captain steered a shot from Boninsegna into his own goal. Squadra Azurra were the dominant team in the second half, and thanks to goals from Riva and substitute Rivera, the Italians won 4-1 and advanced to the semi-finals.

Italy - Mexico 4: 1 (1: 1)
Data	Sunday 14 June 1970 in Toluca , Estadio Nemesio Díez
Italy	Albertosi - Burgnich, Cera, Rosato, Facchetti (captain) - Bertini, Mazzola (46th Rivera), de Sisti, Domenghini (85th Gori) - Boninsegna, Riva
Mexico	Calderón - Vantolrá , Peña (captain), Guzmán , Pérez - González (68th Borja ), Pulido , Munguía , Valdivia (60th Velarde ) - Fragoso , Padilla
Gates	0: 1 González (13th), 1: 1 Guzman (25th / ET), 2: 1 Riva (64th), 3: 1 Rivera (69th), 4: 1 Riva (76th)

Semifinals

The semi-finals between Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany went down in history as the game of the century , but this game began quite unspectacularly: the Italians took the lead after seven minutes and defended it until stoppage time in the second half, when, of all people, Karl- Heinz Schnellinger managed to equalize. Gerd Müller's opening goal in extra time was equal to Burgnich a few minutes later, before Riva restored the Italian lead shortly before half-time. The Germans equalized again in the second half, but Rivera almost scored the goal in return to make it 4-3. With this victory, Italy was in a World Cup final for the first time in 32 years.

Italy - Germany 4: 3 a.d. (1: 1, 1: 0)
Data	Wednesday June 17, 1970 in Mexico City , Estadio Azteca
Italy	Albertosi - Cera, Burgnich, Bertini, Rosato (94th Poletti) - Facchetti (captain), Domenghini, Mazzola (46th Rivera), de Sisti - Boninsegna, Riva
BR Germany	Maier - Schnellinger , Vogts , Patzke (66th hero ), Schulz - Beckenbauer , Overath , Seeler (captain) - Grabowski , Müller , Löhr (52nd Libuda )
Gates	1: 0 Boninsegna (7th), 1: 1 Schnellinger (90th), 1: 2 Müller (95th), 2: 2 Burgnich (98th), 3: 2 Riva (104th), 3: 3 Müller ( 110.), 4: 3 Rivera (111.)

final

In the final, Italy could only keep up with the Brazilians in the first half, in the second half, still weakened from the semi-final against Germany, they collapsed and had to accept three goals. Despite the defeat, second place was the greatest success since winning the title at the 1938 World Cup in France .

Italy - Brazil 1: 4 (1: 1)
Data	Sunday June 21, 1970 in Mexico City , Estadio Azteca
Italy	Albertosi - Burgnich, Cera, Bertini (75th Juliano) - Rosato, Facchetti (captain), Domenghini, de Sisti, Mazzola - Boninsegna (84th Rivera), Riva
Brazil	Félix - Carlos Alberto (captain), Brito , Piazza , Everaldo - Clodoaldo , Gérson , Jairzinho , Tostão - Pelé , Rivelino .
Gates	0: 1 Pelé (18th), 1: 1 Boninsegna (37th), 1: 2 Gérson (66th), 1: 3 Jairzinho (71th), 1: 4 Carlos Alberto (86th)