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When everybody is busy discussing and enjoying club football which is undoubtedly at its highest peak, let us move from this modern era and turn our gaze into the history of football to dig out some fantastic inspiration. The football World Cup on its 82nd birthday still continues to stun and hypnotize us with evergreen contests and epic battles. One of the epic battles is considered till now as the “Game of the Century”.
The semi-final of the 1970 world cup between Italy & West Germany is known as the “Game of the Century” or “Partita del Secolo”. The match was played on June 17 at the Aztec stadium or “Estadio Azteca” in Mexico City. Italy went on to win the match 4-3 after extra time. An interesting fact is that five of the seven goals were scored in extra time! This is a rare milestone in the history of football world cup & is still unmatched.
The match witnessed some brilliant skills & techniques of German legend Gerd Muller who went on become the highest goal scorer in football world cups only for Brazilan Ronaldo to break it in later years. The Italians meanwhile endured the initial lashing but led the majority of the match. It was Roberto Boninsegna who scored a quick goal inside ten minutes to give the Italian a glimpse of the third world cup crown but out of nowhere Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalized (his first & only goal in 47 matches for his country) in the injury time of the second half to take the game in extra time. Here the drama & the excitement unfolded.
Gerd Muller put the Germans ahead in 94th minute but Tarcisio Burgnich leveled four minutes later. Luigi Riva again put the Azzuri’s back in the front for the second time but Muller scored a fantastic & superb goal to keep Germans hope alive, tying 3-3. As the television camera was still showing the replay of Muller’s goal, Italy’s Gianni Rivera scored the decisive goal in the 111th minute. Being left unmarked in the penalty area he connected a fine cross from Boninsegna to secure the victory for Italy at 4-3.
That was the match which changed the game of football totally. It implanted the belief on players that never to give up hope. It’s never too late to score an equalizer or to put the team back in action. What we see in now a days is the outcome of that belief. It’s now a part of the game. Late goals or injury time goals are the deciding factor of a match. Recently UEFA champion’s league matches saw the late goals & injury time winners. Critic’s term it differently according to their opinions but it can be simply termed as never say never or never say die.
Who is the greatest player of all time remains a debatable topic but the greatest game of football is definitely the contest between these two giants. The silence before the kick & the thunder afterwards which rises & rises until it fades & creates another one. This match is an inspiration for all the footballers across the universe. It is the hard document of the fact that the game of football is bigger than the performance or the brilliance of any individuals.
