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WORLD CUP RECORDS
French hit by World Cup jinx?
By Nimish Dubey (nimishsoccer@yahoo.co.in)
Ever since the trophy of the World Cup was changed in 1974, defending champions have had a terrible time winning their opening matches. France’s defeat against Senegal on Friday is the latest in a series of opening round shocks for reigning world champions.
Blame it on the trophy?
It seems a trifle daft to blame a change in trophy for the change in fortune of defending world champions, but the fact nevertheless remains that the new World Cup trophy has not brought much luck to those who possess it. The original Jules Rimet trophy was given to Brazil for keeps in 1970 when they won it for the third time in 1970. A new trophy replaced it. While there is no doubting the passion of the teams who compete for it, some might be tempted to think that the new trophy brings bad luck upon its owners.
Find that difficult to believe? Well, let us view the evidence.
1930-1970: When being defending champs was fun!
In the initial years of the World Cup, the defending champions inevitably had an easy run in the opening match of the tournament. The first team to win the tournament, Uruguay, decided not to defend its title in the second edition of the tournament in 1934. Italy won that tournament and although Norway made them sweat a bit in the opening match of the 1938 edition, the Italians came away 2-1 winners and went on to retain their title.
The next World Cup was held in 1950. And it also saw the defending champion lose its opening match for the first time as Sweden defeated Italy 3-2. Uruguay went on to win the title and it faced no problems whatsoever in its opening match in the next World Cup, beating Czechoslovakia 2-0. West Germany won that edition of the World Cup and they too got off to a flier in 1958, beating Argentina 3-1.
The 1958 World Cup saw the dawn of the Brazilian era. Inspired by Pele and Garrincha they took the title that year. They had no problems in their opening match four years later, defeating Mexico 2-0 before going on to win the title again. Once again, they had no problems starting their defence in 1966, Bulgaria being on the receiving end of a 2-0 defeat. England won the World Cup this time around and although they did not have things their own way for much of their opening match in 1970, they managed to scramble through 1-0 against Romania.
Brazil won the title for the third time in 1970 and were given the existing World Cup trophy to keep permanently. Orders were also given for a new trophy to be made for the 1974 tournament. Though no one knew it at that time, defending world champions would have to struggle to win their opening matches from there onwards.
1974-2002: Defending champions beware!
Brazil were the first to experience the jinx of being defending champions. They were widely tipped to rout Yugoslavia in their opening match of the 1974 World Cup, but could only manage a goalless draw! West Germany won the World Cup that year, but four years later it was their turn to come unstuck in their opening match of the 1978 tournament. The Germans were also held to a goalless draw with Poland playing the spoilsports.
Argentina, the champions in 1978 would have been happy with a goalless draw in 1982. They were stunned 1-0 by an inspired Belgian side. Italy won the title that year inspired by Paolo Rossi. But he was not on the pitch four years later when they commenced their defence with a 1-1 draw against a Bulgarian side that would not win a World Cup match until 1994.
The 1986 World Cup of course belonged to Diego Maradona. He single-handedly (and ‘handedly’ is the word) inspired Argentina to victory in the World Cup. But even he could not stop Cameroon from a shocking 1-0 win over the defending champions in the opening match of the 1990 World Cup.
Germany won the tournament in 1990 and four years became the first defending champions to win their opening match when they beat Bolivia 1-0 in 1994. And when the 1994 champions Brazil also won their opening match of the 1998, 2-1 against Scotland, there was a feeling that the defending champions may have shaken off their opening match bogey.
As France found out on May 31 that is certainly not the case. Another fact that has to be remarked is that no country has won the World Cup twice in succession ever since the trophy was changed.
Does that make this a case for the X-files? Who knows…
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