Football World Cup 1978 / Italy

The Italian national football team at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina :

qualification

Italy could only qualify for this World Cup because of the better goal difference compared to England with equal points. Both games against England ended with 2-0 wins for the respective home team. England had to watch a World Cup tournament for the second time in a row.

The qualifying matches of the Italian team on the way to the 1978 World Cup:

Pl.	country	Gates	Pt.
1	Italy	18: 04	10: 02
2	England	15: 04	10: 02
3	Finland	11:16	04: 08
4th	Luxembourg	02:22	00:12

10/16/1976	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	Italy	1: 4 (0: 2)
11/17/1976	Rome	Italy	-	England	2: 0 (1: 0)
06/08/1977	Helsinki	Finland	-	Italy	0: 3 (0: 1)
10/15/1977	Turin	Italy	-	Finland	6: 1 (3: 0)
11/16/1977	London	England	-	Italy	2: 0 (1: 0)
December 3rd, 1977	Rome	Italy	-	Luxembourg	3: 0 (2: 0)

Contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Dino Zoff	Juventus Turin	02/28/1942	7th	0	0	0
12	Paolo Conti	AS Roma	04/01/1950	0	0	0	0
22nd	Ivano Bordon	Inter Milan	04/13/1951	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Mauro Bellugi	Bologna FC	02/07/1950	5	0	0	0
3	Antonio Cabrini	Juventus Turin	10/08/1957	7th	0	0	0
4th	Antonello Cuccureddu	Juventus Turin	04.10.1949	5	0	0	0
5	Claudio Gentile	Juventus Turin	09/27/1953	7th	0	0	0
6th	Aldo Maldera	AC Milan	10/14/1953	1	0	0	0
7th	Lionello Manfredonia	Lazio Rome	11/27/1956	0	0	0	0
8th	Gaetano Scirea	Juventus Turin	05/25/1953	7th	0	0	0
midfield player
9	Giancarlo Antognoni	AC Florence	04/01/1954	5	0	0	0
10	Romeo Benetti	Juventus Turin	October 20, 1945	6th	1	0	0
11	Eraldo Pecci	Torino Calcio	04/12/1955	0	0	0	0
13	Patrizio Sala	Torino Calcio	06/16/1955	1	0	0	0
14th	Marco Tardelli	Juventus Turin	09/24/1954	6th	0	1	0
15th	Renato Zaccarelli	Torino Calcio	January 18, 1951	5	1	0	0
16	Franco Causio	Juventus Turin	02/01/1949	7th	1	0	0
17th	Claudio Sala	Torino Calcio	09/08/1947	2	0	0	0
striker
18th	Roberto Bettega	Juventus Turin	December 27, 1950	7th	2	0	0
19th	Francesco Graziani	Torino Calcio	December 16, 1952	3	0	0	0
20th	Paolino Pulici	Torino Calcio	04/27/1950	0	0	0	0
21st	Paolo Rossi	Vicenza Calcio	09/23/1956	7th	3	0	0
Trainer
	Enzo Bearzot		09/26/1927

Italian games at the 1978 World Cup

Preliminary round

Italy - France 2: 1 (1: 1)

Italy		France
	1. Group game Friday: June 2nd, 1978 at 1:45 p.m. in Mar del Plata ( Estadio Mundialista ) Spectators: 42,373 Referee: Nicolae Rainea ( Romania )   Match report
	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Claudio Gentile , Mauro Bellugi , Antonio Cabrini - Romeo Benetti , Giancarlo Antognoni (46th Renato Zaccarelli ), Marco Tardelli - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega Trainer: Enzo Bearzot	Jean-Paul Bertrand-Demanes - Marius Trésor - Gérard Janvion , Patrice Rio , Maxime Bossis - Henri Michel , Jean-Marc Guillou , Michel Platini - Christian Dalger , Bernard Lacombe (72nd Marc Berdoll ), Didier Six (76th Olivier Rouyer ) Coach: Michel Hidalgo
	1: 1 Rossi (29th) 2: 1 Zaccarelli (54th)	0: 1 Lacombe (1st)
	Tardelli (35.)	Michel (??.), Platini (60.)

Italy - Hungary 3: 1 (2: 0)

Italy		Hungary
	2. Group game Tuesday: June 6, 1978 at 1:45 p.m. in Mar del Plata ( Estadio Mundialista ) Spectators: 26,533 Referee: Ramón Ivanoes Barreto Ruiz ( Uruguay )   Match report
	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Claudio Gentile , Mauro Bellugi , Antonio Cabrini (75th Antonello Cuccureddu ) - Romeo Benetti , Giancarlo Antognoni , Marco Tardelli - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega (83rd Francesco Graziani ) Trainer: Enzo Bearzot	Ferenc Mészáros - István Kocsis - Győző Martos , Zoltán Kereki , József Tóth - Károly Csapó , Sandor Pinter , Sándor Zombori - László Pusztai , László Fazekas (46th István Halász ), László Nagy (46. András Tóth ) Coach: Lajos Baróti
	1: 0 Rossi (34th) 2: 0 Bettega (36th) 3: 0 Benetti (60th)	3: 1 A.Tóth (81st, foul penalty )
		Zombori (26th), Martos (64th)

Italy - Argentina 1: 0 (0: 0)

Italy		Argentina
	3. Group game Saturday: June 10, 1978 at 7.15 p.m. in Buenos Aires ( Estadio Monumental ) Spectators: 71,712 Referee: Abraham Klein ( Israel )   Match report
	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Claudio Gentile , Mauro Bellugi (6th Antonello Cuccureddu ), Antonio Cabrini - Romeo Benetti , Giancarlo Antognoni (73rd Renato Zaccarelli ), Marco Tardelli - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega Trainer: Enzo Bearzot	Ubaldo Fillol - Daniel Passarella - Jorge Olguín , Luis Galván , Alberto Tarantini - Osvaldo Ardiles , Américo Gallego , José Daniel Valencia - Daniel Bertoni , Mario Kempes , Oscar Ortiz (72nd René Houseman ) Trainer: César Luis Menotti
	1-0 Bettega (67th)
	Benetti (60.)

Italy finished first in the group ahead of hosts Argentina without losing points .

Second final round (Group A)

Germany - Italy 0-0

Germany		Italy
	1. Group game Wednesday: June 14, 1978 at 1:45 p.m. in Buenos Aires ( Estadio Monumental ) Spectators: 67,547 Referee: Dusan Maksimovic ( Yugoslavia )   Match report
	Sepp Maier - Manfred Kaltz - Berti Vogts , Rolf Rüssmann , Bernard Dietz - Rainer Bonhof , Heinz Flohe (68th Erich Beer ), Herbert Zimmermann (53rd Harald Konopka ) - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , Klaus Fischer , Bernd Hölzenbein Trainer: Helmut Schön	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Claudio Gentile , Mauro Bellugi , Antonio Cabrini - Romeo Benetti , Marco Tardelli , Giancarlo Antognoni (46th Renato Zaccarelli ) - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega Trainer: Enzo Bearzot

Italy - Austria 1: 0 (1: 0)

Italy		Austria
	2. Group game Sunday: June 18, 1978 at 4:45 p.m. in Buenos Aires ( Estadio Monumental ) Spectators: 66,695 Referee: Francis Rion ( Belgium )   Match report
	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Claudio Gentile , Mauro Bellugi (46th Antonello Cuccureddu ), Antonio Cabrini - Romeo Benetti , Renato Zaccarelli , Marco Tardelli - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega (72nd Francesco Graziani ) Trainer: Enzo Bearzot	Friedrich Koncilia - Erich Obermayer - Robert Sara , Bruno Pezzey , Heinrich Strasser - Herbert Prohaska , Josef Hickersberger , Eduard Krieger , Wilhelm Kreuz - Walter Schachner (63rd Johann Pirkner ), Hans Krankl Trainer: Helmut Senekowitsch
	1-0 Rossi (14th)

Netherlands - Italy 2: 1 (0: 1)

Netherlands		Italy
	3. Group game Wednesday: June 21, 1978 at 1:45 p.m. in Buenos Aires ( Estadio Monumental ) Spectators: 25,000 Referee: Angel Franco Martínez ( Spain )   Match report
	Piet Schrijvers (21st Jan Jongbloed ) - Ruud Krol - Ernie Brandts , Jan Poortvliet - Wim Jansen , Johan Neeskens , Arie Haan , Willy van de Kerkhof - René van de Kerkhof , Johnny Rep (65th Adrie van Kraay ), Rob Rensenbrink trainers : Ernst Happel ( Austria )	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Antonello Cuccureddu , Claudio Gentile , Antonio Cabrini - Romeo Benetti (77th Francesco Graziani ), Renato Zaccarelli , Marco Tardelli - Franco Causio (46th Claudio Sala ), Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega Trainer: Enzo Bearzot
	1: 1 Brandts (50th) 2: 1 Haan (75th)	0: 1 Brandts (18th, own goal )
	Rep (35.), Haan (50.)	Benetti (40th), Cabrini (65th), Tardelli (70th)

Italy had to win the last group game and Italy was in the final up to the 50th minute. After losing 2-1 to the Netherlands , Italy played in third place against Brazil .

Third place game

Brazil - Italy 2: 1 (0: 1)

Brazil		Italy
	Saturday: June 24, 1978 at 3:00 p.m. in Buenos Aires ( Estadio Monumental ) Spectators: 69,659 Referee: Abraham Klein ( Israel )   Match report
	Émerson Leão - Oscar - Nelinho , Amaral , José Rodrigues Neto - Toninho Cerezo (64th Roberto Rivelino ), Batista , Jorge Pinto Mendonça , Dirceu - Gil (46th Reinaldo ), Roberto Dinamite Trainer: Cláudio Coutinho	Dino Zoff - Gaetano Scirea - Antonello Cuccureddu , Claudio Gentile , Antonio Cabrini - Patrizio Sala , Giancarlo Antognoni (78th Claudio Sala ), Aldo Maldera - Franco Causio , Paolo Rossi , Roberto Bettega Trainer: Enzo Bearzot
	1: 1 Nelinho (64th) 2: 1 Dirceu (72nd)	0: 1 Causio (38th)
	Nelinho (35th), Batista (44th)	Gentile (72.)