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It Was 18 Football Years Ago Today...
July 8, 1949: Almost 60 years ago, Chelsea were also building a team that they hoped would win the championship, and for £6,500 they got left-back Stan Willemse from Brighton. He helped form the backbone of the 1955 title-winning side alongside such names as Roy Bentley and Eric 'The Rabbit' Parsons. Willemse was at Stamford Bridge in 2005 to present the trophy to the new title-winning captain John Terry, who probably spends that £6,500 a year on parking fines.
July 8, 1990: Brian Glanville described it as 'probably the worst, most tedious, bad-tempered final in the history of the World Cup' and he was right. England had lost to West Germany in the semi-finals, and Franz Beckenbauer's hard men faced an Argentina side who had lost half their team to suspension or injury in the Stadio Olimpico. It had been a poor tournament for football and the final reflected that.
The Argentines had Diego Maradona but he barely got a touch in a dull, dull 'spectacle' which was marked by the first sending-off of any World Cup final when Pedro Monzon was shown a red card for a foul on Jurgen Klinsmann, who of course jumped straight up as if nothing had happened.
The Germans still struggled to make any impact on the Argentines' goal until they were given a penalty for a foul on Rudi Völler, with Andreas Brehme stepping up to convert (just about - Sergio Goycochea had a good pop at saving it). The Argentines lost any semblance of discipline and Gustavo Dezotti soon joined Monzon in the tunnel before the Germans played out the final minutes to be crowned world champions.
And On This Day In Real History...
1884: The NSPCC is founded.
1965: Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs uses the hi-tech method of a rope ladder to escape Wandsworth Prison and hotfoot it to Brazil.
1994: North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung dies to spark days of public mourning.
And At Number One...as the World Cup final was being played out was Elton John's Sacrifice. Actually, that was number one for about three years.
