I am just curious to hear what other fans think. For me it is simple. It is the Final of the 1966 Copa Libertadores. After both River and Peñarol had won at home, a winner take all play off was played in Santiago, Chile. River was far superior, leading the Montevideo side 2-0, only to lose 4-2. That day, started our name as Gallinas (chickens). Had River won that game, its likely River would have dominated south american football, but since that day, we have been cursed. Although we have dominated our local league, in international tournaments we have horrible luck, mainly losing on penalties. We won two copa libertadores- without the aid of penalties, but were cursed in penalty shoot outs, while boca, relies on penalties to win the majority of their international titles. That fateful day was the beginning of much suffering for River fans.
I have two one national game and one club game 1986 World cup qualifiers Argentina vs Peru = 2-2 we went into this game 1 point behind Argentina, it was the final game and we were leading 1-2 with around 10 minutes to go, Gareca (I think) scored in the 81st minute and Argentina maintained their 1 point advantage and qualified directly, the team went into the playoff and couldn't deliver If we had held on, we would have gone to our 4th world cup out of the last 5 attempts, who knows it might have delayed the eventual crisis that overtook our national team (which we haven't really recovered from) 1997 Copa Libertadores final Cruzeiro vs Sporting Cristal = 1-0 The first final had finished 0-0 in Lima, If SC had somehow managed to win this it could have sparked a mini revival in our club scene, but without it SC and the rest of the league got worse and the other nations progressed
National Team (New Zealand): Change 1-1 draw with Italy at 2010 World Cup Club Team (Manchester United): This seems counter-intuitive but I'd change the 1-0 second leg European Cup defeat to Dukla Prague in the 1957-58 European Cup into a 4-0 loss so the horrors of Munich don't eventuate and we have a greater level of success throughout the late 1950's and early 1960's.
Here are a few I'd like to be able to change, take your pick. 1) World Cup 1982 second round, Argentina vs Italy: Minute 3: Claudio Gentile violently fouls Diego Maradona.... ref pulls out the red card, I guess he's taking no crap from nobody! 2) World Cup 1990 final, Argentina vs Germany: Minute 85: Rudy Voller goes down in the penalty area... ref gives him a yellow for simulating! 3) World Cup 1994 first round, Argentina vs Nigeria: After the game: The player randomly chosen for the post game doping test is... Abel Balbo, not Diego Maradona! 4) World Cup 1998 quarterfinal, Argentina vs Holland: Second half, game tied, Gabriel Batistuta shoots, ball hits the post and.... goes in! 5) World Cup 2006 quarterfinal, Argentina vs Germany: Second half, Argentina up 1-0, coach Pekerman makes a substitution... Messi comes in for Crespo, Riquelme stays in the game! 6) World Cup 2010 quarterfinals, Argentina vs Germany: Before kickoff, due to torrential rain, the game is suspended. Maradona resigns as manager before the game can be replayed!
I guess that's the WC 1934 Semifinal Austria - Italy as I don't like their chances to pull a 'Wunder von Bern' against the Magyars in '54.
1970 European Cup Final Celtic are looked upon as one season wonders when it comes to European football. That image owes as much to this defeat than anything else. After dismantling Leeds in the semi's we'd gone into this final as favourites. And as so often happens in football the favourites fell. I'm sure many Dutch fans wouldn't change this result for the world as it announced their club teams onto the main European stage and limelight but a second European title in 3 seasons would have painted my club in such a different light. We also lost the semi final on pens to Internazionale in '72 but the '70 final was the big one.
actually we where already coming into european limelight and knocking on the door. in 1969 ajax lost the championsleague final against ac milan and in 1966 we beat the great liverpool and made it in 1967 to the quarterfinals. 1963 feyenoord reaching semi final of the championsleague.
Fair point. But what I meant was winning the European Cup for the first time could be seen as heralding the arrival of Dutch football as a genuine force in European football. If Celtic had won then they would have been looked upon far more admiringly for winning a 2nd European Cup and not so much as an aberration.
actually i like celtic a lot. especially from that time. lennon, johnstone, auld etc etc great players. also danny mcgrain from celtic imo top 5 rb ever. betetr then thuram for example imo
Regarding national team games I remember in person: 1990: Beenhakker isn't appointed. Players get coach they asked and Holland wins the world title. 1992: no underestimation of the Danes 1994: no two offside goals by the Brazilians and no Arab ref 1998: no injury of Bergkamp, Holland receives deserved penalty and is through to final. Other ref too. 2000: one of the two penalties against Italy go in. No strange subs 2010: too many to mention
yeah when i become 101 yars old i still cannot forget 1990. the knvb lets the players vote wich coach they want. the majority (and all teh big stars like gullit, van basten rijkaard, r. koeman) say we want cruyff. and what does the knvb do ? no you don't get cruyff why the hell let them vote in teh first place ??
1970 semifinal against italy...no beckenbauer injury and a better referee.. germany reach the final and has a good chance to beat brasil ....gerd müller with a perfect 12 game goalscoring streak combinated worldcup qualifers 1970 (6 games)/worldcup 1970 (6 games) ..
why not ? i think brazil 1970 gets very very overrated and many people calling it the greatest teame ver show that they have no knowledge of the game. lets take a look at brazil 1970. goalkeepr felix ?? terrible terrible goalkeepr. defenders : everaldo, piazza and brito ?/ average defenders nothing great or spectacular about them. midfielder clodoaldo ?? just a good player. nothing all tiem great about him. attacker tostao ? average attacker nothing great. pele, jairzinho, rivelinho, gerson, carlos alberto those are atg players. i think brazil 1970 was lucky some average players had their peak of their career their best form ever. but germany 1970 could have had a good chance to beat brazil 1970. brazil 1958/62 was a way way better team then brazil 1970
It does not matter if Felix was not a Bank or Yashin. It does not matter if Brazil70 needed a Scirea Baresi Moore and Beckenbauer in their DF. They were so good in handle the ball to attack, so most often the opponent were busy in defending them Look : 1- STATS said at WC70 they allowed 7goals/6games = decent (enough) defensive stats! 2- Brazil Samba mind = opponent scores 1 and we'll score 2,3 STATS said WC70 allowed ~1.1 gpg, and they scored 3.3goals per game (just like they commit) Scored 19 allowed 7 over 6games WC70!
my point is that people always refer to brazil 1970 as the greatest team ever. i truly think that many teams would beat them. where they to play eachother 5 times the following teams would beat brazil 1970 at least 3 times. brazil 1958/1962, holland 1974, hungary 1954, germany 1974, italy 1982
Well maybe or maybe not ...in chances But I could hardly think of any team could resist the Brazil 70 team from scoring goals.
italy 1982 had one of the best defenses i have ever seen. very tough to score against the likes of gentile, scirea, bergomi, cabrini, collovati and zoff.