Fifa World Cup history

1978

Argentina was awarded the rights to host the 1978 World Cup and that didn’t go down too well for many as a military coup had taken place in the country two years earlier.

None of the teams decided to stay away from the World Cup though. Iran and Tunisia were first-time participants and the latter won their first match against Mexico 3-1 and became the first African team to ever win a World Cup game.

An on-field controversy was triggered during the second round. Argentina were scheduled to play Peru but the kick-off was several hours after Brazil’s match with Poland. Brazil won their match 3-1 and Argentina knew that they had to beat Peru by four goals to advance to the final. Trailing 2-0 at half-time, Peru simply collapsed in the second half, and Argentina eventually won 6-0.

There were rumours that Peru were bribed into allowing Argentina to win the match by such a large margin. Argentina went on to win the final 3—1 beating the Dutch with Mario Kempes scoring twice.