In the first round, Austria, as a supposedly weak team, got three strong opponents drawn. But after surprising victories against Spain and Sweden, where Walter Schachner and Hans Krankl scored , the intermediate round had already been reached. Since the game against Brazil was only lost 1-0, Austria even won the group.
June 3, 1978 in Buenos Aires
AustriaAustria
-
Spain 1977 Spain
2: 1 (1: 1)
June 7, 1978 in Buenos Aires
AustriaAustria
-
Sweden Sweden
1: 0 (1: 0)
June 11, 1978 in Mar del Plata
Brazil 1968Brazil
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Austria Austria
1: 0 (1: 0)
Intermediate round
In the intermediate round, Austria, as group winners, met the runners-up Federal Republic of Germany (Group 2) and the Netherlands (Group 4), as well as the group winner of Group 1, Italy. After a clear 1: 5 (0: 3) defeat against the Netherlands and a narrow 0: 1 (0: 1) against Italy, Austria could not move into the final or into the game for third place. The last group opponent, the FRG, could only have made it into the final with a high win and a simultaneous draw between Italy and the Netherlands. But again it was Hans Krankl who scored the first victory in 47 years against the big neighbor with a late goal, which went down in Austrian football history as the " miracle of Córdoba ". The radio commentary by Edi Finger sen. : "... and now Sara can get a seemingly hopeless ball in, pass over to the left, there is infestation for him. Then comes Krankl, this time past his guard, is in the penalty area, pulls, shot, goal! ! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! I'm going to be foolish! Krankl scores, 3: 2 for Austria! Ladies and gentlemen, we fall around our necks, the colleague Rippel, the graduate engineer Posch, we piss off. 3: 2 for Austria thanks to a great goal from our Krankl. He played everything over, ladies and gentlemen, and wait a little longer, wait a little longer, then maybe we can have a fourth ... "
Austria
German Democratic Republic
Turkey
Malta
VfB Stuttgart
Feyenoord Rotterdam
Club Bruges
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Spain
Sweden.svg){kind=small}
Brazil
Italy
