SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2014

Bitter-sweet memories of 1982 World Cup

A Brazil player during the 1982 World Cp. No other World Cup has filled me with stronger emotions than 1982. PHOTO/FILE

A Brazil player during the 1982 World Cp. No other World Cup has filled me with stronger emotions than 1982. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

  • No other World Cup has filled me with stronger emotions than 1982; my heart ached for my favourite teams, Cameroon and Brazil, and it ached for Algeria, victims of one football's worst conspiracies. 1982 was the year I came clean with myself – I was a man who loved football first and was only afterwards a sports journalist. I let my feelings flow. I was a fan.
By Roy Gachuhi
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Though not unusual considering the consuming passions of the beautiful game - and though to be expected after the final whistles of the knockout stage matches in Brazil next month - the act of one heartbroken Bangladeshi woman shortly after Cameroon and Italy drew 1-1 in the last Group 1 game of the 1982 World Cup still reverberates across the football universe.

She leapt out of a balcony window leaving a suicide note that read: "With Cameroon out of the World Cup, I also take leave of the world."

Millions of people around the world who didn't go where she went still acutely felt where she was coming from. And they mourned – they mourned Cameroon's exit even as they comforted themselves with memories of the stellar performance that had seen the Indomitable Lions go out without losing a single match.

No other World Cup has filled me with stronger emotions than 1982; my heart ached for my favourite teams, Cameroon and Brazil, and it ached for Algeria, victims of one football's worst conspiracies. 1982 was the year I came clean with myself – I was a man who loved football first and was only afterwards a sports journalist. I let my feelings flow. I was a fan.

BLIND DEVOTION

In his first-rate essay titled "Hopelessly Devoted" describing his blind devotion to Liverpool FC since he was a child, Time Magazine journalist Michael Elliot wrote: "What on earth makes this – let's admit it – pretty unsophisticated devotion to the fortunes of men I've never met and don't really want to so powerful? Fandom – the obsessional identification with a sports team – is universal.

"We fans like to describe our passion in religious terms, as if the places our heroes play are secular cathedrals. It's easy to see why. When you truly, deeply love a sports team, you give yourself up to something bigger than yourself, not just because your individuality is rendered insignificant in the mass of the crowd, but because being a fan involves faith. No matter what its current form may be, your team is worthy of blind devotion – or will soon redeem itself. Belief is all."

With the passage of time, some people's belief gets shaken. But for others like me, it hardens like concrete. Like 1982, all three teams which made my spirits rise and fall with their fortunes – Cameroon, Algeria and, of course, Brazil – are on the big stage. Let's remember 1982 for each one of them:

Cameroon.  Those of us fortunate to witness the Canon Yaoundé team that wrecked an 8-0 destruction of Gor Mahia in the 1979 Africa Cup Winners Cup final had no doubt we'd seen the best ever from Africa – club or national. Eight of those players turned out for the Indomitable Lions. By Spain '82, due to age and other attrition, five remained and they formed the team's bedrock.

The five players who bewitched us at the City Stadium and proceeded to capture the world's imagination in Spain were goalkeeper Thomas N'kono ("The Black Spider" or "The Jaguar of Yaoundé"), Emmanuel Kunde, Theophile Abega (captain, "The Doctor"), Jacques Nguea and Ephraim Mbom.  

Playing a brilliantly open and enterprising game with enchanting ball control and crisp passing, Cameroon drew 1-1 with eventual champions Italy and 0-0 with both Poland and Peru.

They only couldn't make the next round on the basis of having scored fewer goals than Italy with both teams having an equal goal difference. Poland, the group leaders, and Italy qualified over Cameroon and Peru.

Out Cameroon went with their heads held high but the world had been introduced to the pride of Africa. With a seventh appearance at the World Cup in Brazil, Cameroon are way ahead as Africa's most successful World Cup team. I've been a fan of Cameroon since 1979 and I will be following their progress with intense interest.

Already, I have become a nuisance to those around me who don't think Pepe Kalle's soaring song, Roger Milla, a product of their trailblazing run in 1990, must be played over and over again. Sorry, I can't help it.

Algeria.  One of football's worst crimes was committed against Algeria in 1982. The culprits were West Germany, a title favourite, and Austria. This match spawned a new legend in sarcasm and finally drove the ever conservative FIFA into changing a key rule. In Germany, it became known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (Non-aggression pact of Gijón) or Schande von Gijón (Disgrace of Gijón). Gijon is the city in Spain where it took place.

The Desert Foxes, for that is the nickname of Algeria's national team, pulled off one of the World Cup's greatest upsets by defeating European champions West Germany 2-1 in a Group 2 match. Algeria played their final group game the day before Germany and Austria met for their own last match. Both teams went into it knowing that 1-0 win for Germany would qualify them both while a bigger German victory would qualify Algeria and Austria. A draw or a win for Austria would qualify Algeria and Austria and eliminate the Germans. Knowing thus, the teams got into their infamous conspiracy. After Germany scored their first and only goal, the teams simply stopped playing. They just kicked the ball aimlessly around. A German television commentator asked his viewers to switch off their sets and then stopped commentating. A German fan burnt his national flag in disgust. From the stands, Algerian supporters waved bank notes at the players.

CONSTELLATION OF STARS

Writing for The Guardian ahead of World Cup 2010 in South Africa, Paul Doyle remembered the scandal:  "The reigning European champions had stomped imperiously into the finals, winning all eight qualifiers with a goals for-against record of 33-3. They had a constellation of stars in their squad – Paul Breitner, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Uli Stielike and so on – and were so certain of victory over Algeria that they entertained themselves in the pre-match press conferences by ridiculing their opponents.

"We will dedicate our seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs," quipped one player, while the manager, Jupp Derwall, promised that if his team contrived to lose he would "jump on the first train back to Munich".

"One player even said that he would play against us with a cigar in his mouth," said Algeria's full-back Chaabane Merzekane, who, as it transpired, was made man of the match. "Some of us wondered if this was just a psychological ploy, whether they were only saying these things to lull us into thinking that they weren't going to take us seriously – after all, who has ever heard of a German team that doesn't do its homework?"

Germany eventually faced Italy in the final and pre-match discussions were dominated by the feelings in Algeria. A German victory, many said, would be met with derisive laughter across the vast desert land. Italy won 3-1 and some sort of justice was seen to be done. But most important is what FIFA did immediately after the World Cup. It decreed that final group games would henceforth be played simultaneously.

Paul Doyle asked Algeria's full back Chaabane Merzekane if the Algerian players took offence at the conduct of the two European teams. He said: "Not at all. We weren't angry, we were cool. To see two big powers debasing themselves in order to eliminate us was a tribute to Algeria. They progressed with dishonour, we went out with our heads held high."

And their star forward, Lakhdar Belloumi remarked: "Our performances forced Fifa to make that change, and that was even better than a victory. It meant that Algeria left an indelible mark on football history."

Brazil. Brazil's footballers are not only the greatest on earth, they are also the finest poets and musicians. If you want to know about them and the country that is hosting this year's World Cup, read the book Futebol, The Brazilian Way of Life by Alex Bellos.

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, or just Socrates to millions of people around the world, was the medical doctor who captained the greatest team never to win a World Cup – the Brazilian Selecao of 1982.

After their defeat by Paolo Rossi (bad boy!) and Italy, some of us just became sick for the rest of the year and needed years of psychological therapy – a book here, a documentary there, a drink over there, a hug now, a song in the evening, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera - to get over it all. Do you know the pain of mentally trying to undo the done thing? The pain of trying to reverse the clock and start afresh? Yes, that one.

In Futebol, Socrates writes: "I am absolutely enchanted – in all senses of the word – by passion. It is what guides us through the unknown like an experienced commander; angry seas never scare us when we face them with the madness of love.

"Of all nations, none has a people that loves and falls in love more than mine. We are surrounded by exaggeration, happiness, spontaneity and creation. The expression of hope on our faces is the trade mark even of those who have never received the tiniest advantages of society.

"We devotedly believe in the new world and in the beautiful humanity we know we will construct, without the muzzle that can take our freedoms away or the whips that try to frighten us. Our populace that was born enslaved frees itself every day with a soaring voice in search of the truth.

"Its truth. That which bases its strength in an irremovable culture because it comes from the soul, from the aura, from the smile, and where whites and Indians, blacks and the poor, migrants and the young delight in life's pleasures. And what pleasures!"

I don't want to recall how Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Toninho Cerezo, Junior, Oscar, Paulo Isidoro, Eder, Luizinho, Edevaldo, Dirceu, Renato and Leandro failed to win the World Cup. I might sink into a depression all over again.

       

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LIKELY WINNERS               

Many people have asked me who I think will win the World Cup. Here is my answer - and for the avoidance of doubt, I will use language that is familiar to every Kenyan.

The World Cup has its owners, and England is not one of them. Neither is any African country. These suffer stage fright on the big platform when they most need their composure, resilience and courage. They also tend to be unlucky and as every experienced footballer or coach will tell you, you can't win without a healthy dose of luck. Please ensure that you have not forgotten your luck in your hotel or dressing room. Always take your luck with you to the pitch.

So don't mention Pele's prediction, made in 1997, that an African team will win the World Cup by the year 2000 - 14 years later, it is still way over the horizon. The World Cup is like the nuclear club; you can do plenty of knock, knock at the door but the management, which reserves the right of admission, bristles with hostility at your very presence, your effrontery. Ask Iran. You will have to break down that reinforced door, like North Korea.

Spain did. For years, it was the underachieving boy of world football – despite its enormous talent. Then Vicente del Bosque came along and infused the qualities listed above. The rest is history. Spain is now a full member of the prospective World Cup winners club. Others are, as we always like to say, the usual suspects: Brazil, Italy, Germany and Argentina. One of these will do it and the rest will assume their customary escort responsibilities.

Having said all that, let me register my eternal sadness for The Netherlands. They should have won in 1974, and to a slightly lesser extent, 1978. But Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Johnny Rep and Willy van de Kerkhof left the stage a long time ago.

I loved Holland, the team that gave the world the unforgettable concept of total football. But sadly, every good thing must come to an end.