Robert Chase would never have spent 3.5 even if they had won the title, they probably would have ended up like Blackburn did in 1995.
Alternate Football Scores
- Thread starter Romantic Nihilist
- Start date
Robert Chase would never have spent 3.5 even if they had won the title, they probably would have ended up like Blackburn did in 1995.
They probably just wanted seventy minutes just to bring in the viewers. It makes me wonder about the current crop of players who have more sponsorship deals than trophies...
If that was true what about Romario who was excluded due to an injury before the World Cup? I'm not sure exactly how long he took to heal but he might of been available to play in the latter stages of the game?
2009 FA Cup Final
Wembley Stadium, London
Everton 1-0 Chelsea
Everton lift the FA Cup for the first time since 1995 as they beat Chelsea in the final. Everton scored the fastest goal in the competition's history just 28 seconds in as Louis Saha scored it. The Toffees will finish middle of the BPL, but the cash infusion as well as the trophy allow them to compete more equally with the Big Four.
Wembley Stadium, London
Everton 1-0 Chelsea
Everton lift the FA Cup for the first time since 1995 as they beat Chelsea in the final. Everton scored the fastest goal in the competition's history just 28 seconds in as Louis Saha scored it. The Toffees will finish middle of the BPL, but the cash infusion as well as the trophy allow them to compete more equally with the Big Four.
Yeah, it could, though Everton certainly could have won, and as a supporter of Everton I feel that could have helped us out with some more money earned as well as more respect. It also could have helped Moyes if he still would have gone to United.
True, speaking of which how about even more Brazilian wank? Same timeline I posted.
2010 World Cup Quarter Finals:
Brazil 2-1 Netherlands
A list minute decision by Dunga to call up Ronaldinho to the World Cup along with Thiago Silva instead of Felipe Melo see's Brazil beat Netherlands after a 83rd minute free kick from Ronaldinho. Brazil would go on to beat Uruguay 3-0 in the semi finals and they would beat Spain in a scoreless final on penalties after Gerard Pique missed his penalty shot. Brazil would go on to retain Dunga as captain as Brazil won an unprecedented 7th World Cup and would go onto the 2014 World Cup as favorites......
2014 World Cup Round of 16
Brazil 1-3 Chile
A lackluster performance in their group matches where they drew with Mexico and Croatia saw their fates finally sealed against Chile in the final 16 match.
World Cup France 1998
Quarterfinals - Stade Velodrome, Marseille - 4 July 1998 -16:30hs
Netherlands
1 – 3
Argentina
Kluivert
12' - López
17', Ortega
37', Batistuta
63'
After the dramatic Round of 16 against England, this match against Netherlands seemed to be a little easier to Passarella's team that it really was. Argentinian players were a bit tired because of the effort and the emotional charge of penalties, and because the rival were the english one. And that tireness became plausible when the dutch started in better way in physical aspect as well as the way they played, and at 12 minutes, Patrick Kluivert scored to Netherlands after some advantages that the last line of Argentina gave...but Argentina started to regain field, and Claudio el Piojo Lopez tied with a risky goal. The match itself was not clear for everyone, but at 37 minutes, a powerful shot outside the area by Ariel Ortega became unreachable to Van der Saar and 2-1 was declared. (in fact, the shot hit the right post in OTL)
At second half, the match became flat and the dutch team played as if they were 1-1...and in that situation, Juan Sebastian Verón, after a long pass to Gabriel Batistuta, left the Fiorentina striker in great position, lefting Van der Saar as an expectator of the tremendous shot which sealed 3-1 to Argentina (another hit in the post, clearer than the first above in OTL).
At semifinals, two well known rivals met again, and the match was similar to that one in Maracaná in april 1998, even at the score...1-0 to Argentina, again by Claudio Lopez...
But there are some things that were meant to be. At Final, France defeated Argentina 2-1, with an unstoppable Zinedine Zidane which scored twice before 1st half ended. The goal made by Batistuta at the last minute of the match was more decorative than useful. And France crowned World Champions in 1998, while Brazil was at 3rd place with Davor Zuker sharing the top scorer position with Batistuta.
Quarterfinals - Stade Velodrome, Marseille - 4 July 1998 -16:30hs
Netherlands
ArgentinaKluivert
After the dramatic Round of 16 against England, this match against Netherlands seemed to be a little easier to Passarella's team that it really was. Argentinian players were a bit tired because of the effort and the emotional charge of penalties, and because the rival were the english one. And that tireness became plausible when the dutch started in better way in physical aspect as well as the way they played, and at 12 minutes, Patrick Kluivert scored to Netherlands after some advantages that the last line of Argentina gave...but Argentina started to regain field, and Claudio el Piojo Lopez tied with a risky goal. The match itself was not clear for everyone, but at 37 minutes, a powerful shot outside the area by Ariel Ortega became unreachable to Van der Saar and 2-1 was declared. (in fact, the shot hit the right post in OTL)
At second half, the match became flat and the dutch team played as if they were 1-1...and in that situation, Juan Sebastian Verón, after a long pass to Gabriel Batistuta, left the Fiorentina striker in great position, lefting Van der Saar as an expectator of the tremendous shot which sealed 3-1 to Argentina (another hit in the post, clearer than the first above in OTL).
At semifinals, two well known rivals met again, and the match was similar to that one in Maracaná in april 1998, even at the score...1-0 to Argentina, again by Claudio Lopez...
But there are some things that were meant to be. At Final, France defeated Argentina 2-1, with an unstoppable Zinedine Zidane which scored twice before 1st half ended. The goal made by Batistuta at the last minute of the match was more decorative than useful. And France crowned World Champions in 1998, while Brazil was at 3rd place with Davor Zuker sharing the top scorer position with Batistuta.
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Someone made it real...Argentina World Champions - FIFA WORLD CUP Brazil 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-u8nMbRSN0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-u8nMbRSN0
FIFA WORLD CUP USA '94...BILARDO'S COMEBACK... (NOT ONE WHAT IF...SEVERAL WHAT IF...BUTTERFLIES ALL OVER THE CUP)
Real frontpage after Colombia's victory over Argentina in WCQ 1994 -september 1993
After 0-5 defeat against Colombia, Alfio Basile’s persistence as Argentina National Team manager became a blur matter. If Argentina doesn’t qualify to FIFA World Cup USA ’94, all previous victories - Copa America 1991 &1993, King Fahd Cup 1992 (now Confederations cup) 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup victory against last euro Champion, Denmark and that 33 invictus matches – would became useless and a mere acnecdotic. The major scandal facing an elimination would be a bigger failure than the sum of all triumphs.
AFA chairman, Julio Grondona, didn’t want to fire Basile. Until that time, and from 1974, argentinian managers started and ended all their contracts, 4 years, and even in dark moments, like Bilardo previous 1986, all contracts were respected. But media was furious, and people as well, argentina’s largest sport magazine – “El Gráfico” - put a black frontpage with a title in white “SHAME!” , and 1986 and 1990 was still so fresh to be outsted from a WCQ , “Coco” Basile was in danger, with AFA president support, but no one else, it was less than a year to the World Cup, and little time to play offs ahead against Australia. Besides, the favourite manager of mass and media, Daniel Passarella, was still Maradona’s nemesis, and Maradona promised to be at Play offs, so he was discharged. But Maradona was antagonist of Basile and captain at his absense, Oscar Ruggeri as well. But it was in a less degree.
So, with a leap into unknown, or a jump of faith, Grondona left AFA comitee (it means the 1° and 2° division club votes), to decide…they decided to dismiss Basile. So Grondona covered himself of not to be the responsible for that decision ( a hoax, because nothing was made without Grondona consenment) . So, emergency declared, little time for play offs against Australia, Passarella in a black list, Carlos Bianchi, 1993 champion with Velez, didn’t show interest, so an experienced manager was called again, Carlos Bilardo agreed to retake his place in Argentina National Team, but only signed until “the end of world cup, and then I will be retired, this time for real” (1)
Despite mass media support, like “El Gráfico” or Canal 13 Clarin Group, Bilardo had a tremendous back up, but was not people’s favourite, because everybody had in mind the horrible games played by Argentina prior World Cup and now he had little time for experimentations, so he focused in Australia.
Many Basile’s favourite names didn’t return, but many new local revelations, even praised by Bilardo himself as sport commentator were cited, Ferrocarril Oeste Df Roberto Ayala (recently transfered to River Plate), Df Pablo “morrón” Rotchen and midfield Gustavo Lopez (both from Independiente) experienced Boca Juniors defender Carlos McAllister, independiente midfield Perico Perez, mf Leonardo Astrada, df Hernan Diaz and local sensation Ariel “burrito” Ortega, from River Plate as well (all three from River Plate).
Of course, well known stars, and Bilardo’s well known, went on, like “cholo” Simeone (Bilardo called up him in 1988-89, when he was only 18 years old ) and Oscar Ruggeri. Another “european” well known, like Roberto Nestor Sensini and Abel Balbo (both weren’t called by Basile prior 0-5) were called by Bilardo, as well as 1990 WC player Jose Basualdo, and Alejandro Mancuso both from Velez, and defenders Fernando Cáceres and Nestor Fabbri, but in his first controversial decision, he didn’t call up to Fernando Redondo (Bilardo called up him in 1989, when he was in Argentinos Juniors, but he said no because he was studying but then, a month later he was sold to a spanish club, and he went away without hesitate), but he would eventually be called up for the World Cup. He was a well known of Bilardo’s aides, because he was sparring of national team before and part of national youth team in mid ‘80s as well as Caceres.
Of course Gabriel Batistuta was called without a shadow of doubt.
Maradona hired a chinese nutritionist (2) and he regained his Spain 1982 weight althought lack of football, and signing for Newell’s Old Boys, but always Maradona, and with Bilardo madly working during days of week with local players, and travelling abroad to explain the other players the things he wanted (3). Eventally, Argentina beated Australia, the game Argentina displayed had Bilardo’s mark, far defensive than Basile, not let the rival to play, but much better treatment of the ball so, far offensive than 1990, because of the quality of players. And the trauma for the 1988 australian victory 4-1 against Bilardo’s Argentina was finally buried.
Caniggia was banned due drug tested, but Bilardo assured to press he would call him for USA 1994, but meanwhile the attack line was Maradona&Balbo–Batistuta, with Ariel Ortega entering into the last minutes like victory 3-1 against Germany in december 1993 (4). This time, wth a few months only for work, Bilardo used all his experience to use tactics he felt sure were the right one, no space for deep experimentations. Friendlies previous to USA ’94 had good results, the game displayed didn’t leave margin for concerns, but everyone agree they were no brillant, like 1-1 against Brazil in Recife, on april 1994 (and without Diego) o or 1 -0 against Croatia and 2 -0 against Austria (5)
Maradona, after a meeting with Bilardo and Grondona, in december 1993, commited to play all the remaining season, it means until May 1994, with Newell’s, and both would intercede to Newell’s president because the misunderstood that damped Maradona staying in the club, although Diego didn’t honoured his word and went away on april 1994 (6). Nothing could avoid his verbal attacks against Pele, Havelange and Blatter.
After leaving Newell’s, Maradona started to train in Ezeiza, for a delighted Bilardo, who will have him plenty of time, so with his personal trainer “el ciego” Signorini, and AFA trainers, profe Etcheverria, Dr Madero, and Bilardo himself, he pursuit his finest shape for the World Cup, as they did in 1986-90. (7)
So, USA 1994 would start, Abel Balbo would go to the bench, and attacking line up will be Maradona- Caniggia – Batistuta
A 2-1 victory against France who started by winning 0-1 thanks to Frank Sauzee with a shot outside area, Ariel Ortega entrance at last 15 minutes, and a penalty kick scored by Maradona, sealed a smooth triumph. 4-0 vs Greece, saw Maradona scoring a tremendous goal after an exquisite combination, and against México, two goals by Batistuta, 2-1, and Goycochea stopping a penalty shot by Marcelino Bernal (9)
Argentina’s headlines, and press was delighted, fans were plenty of illusion, “Ole” sport newspaper entitled “Narigón del Siglo”, when Argentina qualified to Round of 16. So, there was another miracle, Brazil, at Parreira’s orders, was playing a “bilardism football”
Maradona vs Greece - USA '94
In second round, it means from Round of 16 until final, they were all 90 minutes victories, but all for minimun differences. Midfield became the key( with Redondo, Mancuso or Jose Basualdo, Perico Perez, Simeone and Maradona) , defense became tighter. Maybe the worst match was against USA, when Maradona didn’t play due injure (Ortega did it, and Ortega also replaced Caniggia in one match), but Argentina won the same.
Italy vs France - Round of 16 - USA 1994
England vs Spain - Round of 16 - USA1994
Argentina's sport newspaper "Ole". Simeone screaming goal after 2-0
Romario did it. His goal again Romania gave the ticket to the final...
Against Italy and Brazil, matches were like chess made, that’s why result were so short. Arrigo Sacchi and Carlos Parreira played in similar ways, and that reflexed in the struggle for midfield
(****) I planned to do only two butterflies...Argentina and France in Bulgaria out...but, well, let's do some messy things...Another butterflies, France achieved the 1 point they needed to qualify, so no defeat 2-3 against Israel or no defeat 1-2 against Bulgaria, in Parc des Princes, so qualifed, that means no Bulgaria too. England qualified as well, so in UEFA WCQ draw, England didn’t share group with Netherlands and Norway, or Netherlands or Norway didn’t share group with England, or one of three combinations. By the way, Switzerland did not qualify…Uruguay won 2-1 his game against Ecuador in Montevideo (OTL 1-1), and Ecuador beat Bolivia 2-1 in Ecuador at last date (OTL 1-1)...so Bolivia out. And there were no “miracle of Doha”, for South Korea, so Japan qualified for their first time, all a succes for newly born J-League
NOTE: I still think that Argentina, with a capable manager would be able to reach the final, and win it...that was not Alfio Basile's case.
NOTe 2: I use again some pics now are blocked thanks to photobucket...
(1) Grondona never wanted Bilardo to resign after 1990, and it was well known he wanted him back, during the first years and beyond after he went away
(2) Absolutely true
(3) Like he did in 1984, very different from Basile, a lazy but lucky one, who in OTL, called players but didnt’t have time to work along, and didn’t prepare time for that.
(4) It was 2-1, Argentina used several local players, except for Balbo. This victory used as a parallel of 1-3 victory in Stuttgart, in 1984 european tour of Argentina nat’l team, who gave a lot of breath to Bilardo at that time
(5) Actually Argentina lost 2-0 this friendly, played in Recife, Brazil… the game was so poorly played by Argentina and his defense was so lame, that many wondered what was doing Basile with his job, or if he was really keen on job. Against Croatia, was 0-0 and the match against Austria was suspended.
(6) He actually went away from Newell’s during southern summer of 1994 amidst a scandal, maybe Grondona intervention or a more commited argentina’s national team manager would have been useful to avoid a precipitation of that crisis. Basile wasn’t that man.
(7) Basile and aides, perhaps for ignorance, perhaps Maradona didn’t trust them at all, so they didn’t have any kind of control over Maradona’s preparation, and one of their effects was…Ephedrine. But he went to a field in countryside (La Pampa) to train, but lesser amout of days
(8) Basile in OTL 1994 put Balbo as some kind of “offensive midfield” who made him inaccurate to score and he was not able to mark anybody as well. He scored against Romania, and played putting more heart and effort than efficience.
(9) Goycochea was into the line up until early 1994, but manager Basile, because his old friend Pedro Marchetta, Independiente Manager, asked him for Luis Islas as titular GK, put Goyco into the bench. If you watch all goals Argentina received in WC 1994, Islas had plenty of fails which allowed rivals to score against him.
Real frontpage after Colombia's victory over Argentina in WCQ 1994 -september 1993
After 0-5 defeat against Colombia, Alfio Basile’s persistence as Argentina National Team manager became a blur matter. If Argentina doesn’t qualify to FIFA World Cup USA ’94, all previous victories - Copa America 1991 &1993, King Fahd Cup 1992 (now Confederations cup) 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup victory against last euro Champion, Denmark and that 33 invictus matches – would became useless and a mere acnecdotic. The major scandal facing an elimination would be a bigger failure than the sum of all triumphs.
AFA chairman, Julio Grondona, didn’t want to fire Basile. Until that time, and from 1974, argentinian managers started and ended all their contracts, 4 years, and even in dark moments, like Bilardo previous 1986, all contracts were respected. But media was furious, and people as well, argentina’s largest sport magazine – “El Gráfico” - put a black frontpage with a title in white “SHAME!” , and 1986 and 1990 was still so fresh to be outsted from a WCQ , “Coco” Basile was in danger, with AFA president support, but no one else, it was less than a year to the World Cup, and little time to play offs ahead against Australia. Besides, the favourite manager of mass and media, Daniel Passarella, was still Maradona’s nemesis, and Maradona promised to be at Play offs, so he was discharged. But Maradona was antagonist of Basile and captain at his absense, Oscar Ruggeri as well. But it was in a less degree.
So, with a leap into unknown, or a jump of faith, Grondona left AFA comitee (it means the 1° and 2° division club votes), to decide…they decided to dismiss Basile. So Grondona covered himself of not to be the responsible for that decision ( a hoax, because nothing was made without Grondona consenment) . So, emergency declared, little time for play offs against Australia, Passarella in a black list, Carlos Bianchi, 1993 champion with Velez, didn’t show interest, so an experienced manager was called again, Carlos Bilardo agreed to retake his place in Argentina National Team, but only signed until “the end of world cup, and then I will be retired, this time for real” (1)
Despite mass media support, like “El Gráfico” or Canal 13 Clarin Group, Bilardo had a tremendous back up, but was not people’s favourite, because everybody had in mind the horrible games played by Argentina prior World Cup and now he had little time for experimentations, so he focused in Australia.
Many Basile’s favourite names didn’t return, but many new local revelations, even praised by Bilardo himself as sport commentator were cited, Ferrocarril Oeste Df Roberto Ayala (recently transfered to River Plate), Df Pablo “morrón” Rotchen and midfield Gustavo Lopez (both from Independiente) experienced Boca Juniors defender Carlos McAllister, independiente midfield Perico Perez, mf Leonardo Astrada, df Hernan Diaz and local sensation Ariel “burrito” Ortega, from River Plate as well (all three from River Plate).
Of course, well known stars, and Bilardo’s well known, went on, like “cholo” Simeone (Bilardo called up him in 1988-89, when he was only 18 years old ) and Oscar Ruggeri. Another “european” well known, like Roberto Nestor Sensini and Abel Balbo (both weren’t called by Basile prior 0-5) were called by Bilardo, as well as 1990 WC player Jose Basualdo, and Alejandro Mancuso both from Velez, and defenders Fernando Cáceres and Nestor Fabbri, but in his first controversial decision, he didn’t call up to Fernando Redondo (Bilardo called up him in 1989, when he was in Argentinos Juniors, but he said no because he was studying but then, a month later he was sold to a spanish club, and he went away without hesitate), but he would eventually be called up for the World Cup. He was a well known of Bilardo’s aides, because he was sparring of national team before and part of national youth team in mid ‘80s as well as Caceres.
Of course Gabriel Batistuta was called without a shadow of doubt.
Maradona hired a chinese nutritionist (2) and he regained his Spain 1982 weight althought lack of football, and signing for Newell’s Old Boys, but always Maradona, and with Bilardo madly working during days of week with local players, and travelling abroad to explain the other players the things he wanted (3). Eventally, Argentina beated Australia, the game Argentina displayed had Bilardo’s mark, far defensive than Basile, not let the rival to play, but much better treatment of the ball so, far offensive than 1990, because of the quality of players. And the trauma for the 1988 australian victory 4-1 against Bilardo’s Argentina was finally buried.
Caniggia was banned due drug tested, but Bilardo assured to press he would call him for USA 1994, but meanwhile the attack line was Maradona&Balbo–Batistuta, with Ariel Ortega entering into the last minutes like victory 3-1 against Germany in december 1993 (4). This time, wth a few months only for work, Bilardo used all his experience to use tactics he felt sure were the right one, no space for deep experimentations. Friendlies previous to USA ’94 had good results, the game displayed didn’t leave margin for concerns, but everyone agree they were no brillant, like 1-1 against Brazil in Recife, on april 1994 (and without Diego) o or 1 -0 against Croatia and 2 -0 against Austria (5)
Maradona, after a meeting with Bilardo and Grondona, in december 1993, commited to play all the remaining season, it means until May 1994, with Newell’s, and both would intercede to Newell’s president because the misunderstood that damped Maradona staying in the club, although Diego didn’t honoured his word and went away on april 1994 (6). Nothing could avoid his verbal attacks against Pele, Havelange and Blatter.
After leaving Newell’s, Maradona started to train in Ezeiza, for a delighted Bilardo, who will have him plenty of time, so with his personal trainer “el ciego” Signorini, and AFA trainers, profe Etcheverria, Dr Madero, and Bilardo himself, he pursuit his finest shape for the World Cup, as they did in 1986-90. (7)
So, USA 1994 would start, Abel Balbo would go to the bench, and attacking line up will be Maradona- Caniggia – Batistuta
A 2-1 victory against France who started by winning 0-1 thanks to Frank Sauzee with a shot outside area, Ariel Ortega entrance at last 15 minutes, and a penalty kick scored by Maradona, sealed a smooth triumph. 4-0 vs Greece, saw Maradona scoring a tremendous goal after an exquisite combination, and against México, two goals by Batistuta, 2-1, and Goycochea stopping a penalty shot by Marcelino Bernal (9)
Argentina’s headlines, and press was delighted, fans were plenty of illusion, “Ole” sport newspaper entitled “Narigón del Siglo”, when Argentina qualified to Round of 16. So, there was another miracle, Brazil, at Parreira’s orders, was playing a “bilardism football”
Maradona vs Greece - USA '94
In second round, it means from Round of 16 until final, they were all 90 minutes victories, but all for minimun differences. Midfield became the key( with Redondo, Mancuso or Jose Basualdo, Perico Perez, Simeone and Maradona) , defense became tighter. Maybe the worst match was against USA, when Maradona didn’t play due injure (Ortega did it, and Ortega also replaced Caniggia in one match), but Argentina won the same.
Italy vs France - Round of 16 - USA 1994
England vs Spain - Round of 16 - USA1994
Argentina's sport newspaper "Ole". Simeone screaming goal after 2-0
Romario did it. His goal again Romania gave the ticket to the final...
Against Italy and Brazil, matches were like chess made, that’s why result were so short. Arrigo Sacchi and Carlos Parreira played in similar ways, and that reflexed in the struggle for midfield
(****) I planned to do only two butterflies...Argentina and France in Bulgaria out...but, well, let's do some messy things...Another butterflies, France achieved the 1 point they needed to qualify, so no defeat 2-3 against Israel or no defeat 1-2 against Bulgaria, in Parc des Princes, so qualifed, that means no Bulgaria too. England qualified as well, so in UEFA WCQ draw, England didn’t share group with Netherlands and Norway, or Netherlands or Norway didn’t share group with England, or one of three combinations. By the way, Switzerland did not qualify…Uruguay won 2-1 his game against Ecuador in Montevideo (OTL 1-1), and Ecuador beat Bolivia 2-1 in Ecuador at last date (OTL 1-1)...so Bolivia out. And there were no “miracle of Doha”, for South Korea, so Japan qualified for their first time, all a succes for newly born J-League
NOTE: I still think that Argentina, with a capable manager would be able to reach the final, and win it...that was not Alfio Basile's case.
NOTe 2: I use again some pics now are blocked thanks to photobucket...
(1) Grondona never wanted Bilardo to resign after 1990, and it was well known he wanted him back, during the first years and beyond after he went away
(2) Absolutely true
(3) Like he did in 1984, very different from Basile, a lazy but lucky one, who in OTL, called players but didnt’t have time to work along, and didn’t prepare time for that.
(4) It was 2-1, Argentina used several local players, except for Balbo. This victory used as a parallel of 1-3 victory in Stuttgart, in 1984 european tour of Argentina nat’l team, who gave a lot of breath to Bilardo at that time
(5) Actually Argentina lost 2-0 this friendly, played in Recife, Brazil… the game was so poorly played by Argentina and his defense was so lame, that many wondered what was doing Basile with his job, or if he was really keen on job. Against Croatia, was 0-0 and the match against Austria was suspended.
(6) He actually went away from Newell’s during southern summer of 1994 amidst a scandal, maybe Grondona intervention or a more commited argentina’s national team manager would have been useful to avoid a precipitation of that crisis. Basile wasn’t that man.
(7) Basile and aides, perhaps for ignorance, perhaps Maradona didn’t trust them at all, so they didn’t have any kind of control over Maradona’s preparation, and one of their effects was…Ephedrine. But he went to a field in countryside (La Pampa) to train, but lesser amout of days
(8) Basile in OTL 1994 put Balbo as some kind of “offensive midfield” who made him inaccurate to score and he was not able to mark anybody as well. He scored against Romania, and played putting more heart and effort than efficience.
(9) Goycochea was into the line up until early 1994, but manager Basile, because his old friend Pedro Marchetta, Independiente Manager, asked him for Luis Islas as titular GK, put Goyco into the bench. If you watch all goals Argentina received in WC 1994, Islas had plenty of fails which allowed rivals to score against him.
Attachments
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So here's the big one: would such a scenario have prevented Brexit?
I'd say it could very well have done so, especially seeing how the Leave vote tended to be strongest in working-class, Ingerlund-supporting areas. That level of reconciliation could have turned a lot of people round and, quite possibly, made the euro a much easier sell, possibly convincing Blair to overrule the doubters and go for the referendum. That might have gone very badly indeed after a while, of course, but at least we would have been locked into the EU. Even if we hadn't joined the single currency, I think certain people would have had fewer hang-ups had such a result happened.
Interesting to see the "different Britain because Argentina don't win in 1978" scenario recur, twice. Another variant of that, on another forum, also had the Premier League never developing in the same way because satellite TV would (as was originally planned anyway) have been harnessed within the public service duopoly system and Sky nipped in the bud.
Gah, I remember getting up early in OTL to watch the England-Brazil QF in 2002. Poor old Seaman let in a howler IIRC.
Had we won that World Cup (and our squad was better than any other we've sent out since at least Italia '90, if not Mexico '70) then yeah, a lot of our political landscape would look quite different. I imagine the likes of Nuneaton, Cannock Chase, Mansfield etc would be in Labour hands right now. Scottish independence might have been more likely to happen (England winning the WC while the Scottish team continuing to decline would have further highlighted the divide).
Had we won that World Cup (and our squad was better than any other we've sent out since at least Italia '90, if not Mexico '70) then yeah, a lot of our political landscape would look quite different. I imagine the likes of Nuneaton, Cannock Chase, Mansfield etc would be in Labour hands right now. Scottish independence might have been more likely to happen (England winning the WC while the Scottish team continuing to decline would have further highlighted the divide).
FIFA World Cup 2002 Finals
South Korea 1 : Brazil 0
Having won in quaterfinals against germany, South korea faced the legendary Canarias. South korea and Brazil scored zero goals despite Brazil shooting more. This was because of Lee Woon-Jae, south korean goalkeeper of the period.
Lee Woon-Jae after punching kaka's shoot at 40:11
As we approached latter half, we saw Ahn Jung-Hwan making a goal at 60:11
Ahn Jung-Hwan after scoring a goal.
However, afterwards, Lee chun-soo and Cha doo-ri tried to make a shoot, but couldn't make the goal.
This resulted in 1:0 score for south korea, marking South korea's first win at World cup.
South Korea 1 : Brazil 0
Having won in quaterfinals against germany, South korea faced the legendary Canarias. South korea and Brazil scored zero goals despite Brazil shooting more. This was because of Lee Woon-Jae, south korean goalkeeper of the period.
Lee Woon-Jae after punching kaka's shoot at 40:11
As we approached latter half, we saw Ahn Jung-Hwan making a goal at 60:11
Ahn Jung-Hwan after scoring a goal.
However, afterwards, Lee chun-soo and Cha doo-ri tried to make a shoot, but couldn't make the goal.
This resulted in 1:0 score for south korea, marking South korea's first win at World cup.
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(xpost) Yeah, it's strange ... Canterbury was as amazing a Labour gain as anything in their landslides, but was much more a fluke situation because it is a liberal-bourgeois university seat, and it was won for precisely the same reasons (actually slightly surprising to me when it happened, because it was very much despite Corbyn's intransigence in the referendum campaign, which for me damaged the Remain camp to the extent that I will go to my grave convinced that Burnham could have swung the rust belts of England & Wales sufficiently to keep us in) that cost them once rock-solid Midlands seats ...
So we have the multiple counterfactuals (whether dystopian quasi-fascist - as in you-know-what - or utopian social-democratic as in the Nick Hancock/Chris England book) around England still being in on election day 1970 (Milton Shulman, in his 1973 book 'The Least Worst Television in the World', was one of the first seriously to put forward the theory that it had disrupted and distorted the election severely and that Labour would indeed have won), Argentina not winning in 1978 as the PoD for a social democratic or socialist Britain, and England winning in 1996 or 2002 (why did nobody reply to my 'Roger Milford' thread?) as the PoD preventing Brexit ...
I was up early that day too. I feel increasingly like someone who had been full of life and optimism at the time of the 1970 quarter-final would have felt, pushing forty and disheartened at everything, at the height of Thatcherism (and indeed Bradford & Heysel) - however much football's fortunes have been transformed, the broader story seems depressingly familiar.
So we have the multiple counterfactuals (whether dystopian quasi-fascist - as in you-know-what - or utopian social-democratic as in the Nick Hancock/Chris England book) around England still being in on election day 1970 (Milton Shulman, in his 1973 book 'The Least Worst Television in the World', was one of the first seriously to put forward the theory that it had disrupted and distorted the election severely and that Labour would indeed have won), Argentina not winning in 1978 as the PoD for a social democratic or socialist Britain, and England winning in 1996 or 2002 (why did nobody reply to my 'Roger Milford' thread?) as the PoD preventing Brexit ...
I was up early that day too. I feel increasingly like someone who had been full of life and optimism at the time of the 1970 quarter-final would have felt, pushing forty and disheartened at everything, at the height of Thatcherism (and indeed Bradford & Heysel) - however much football's fortunes have been transformed, the broader story seems depressingly familiar.
1998 FIFA World Cup Final
England 2-0 France
In a match far less eventful than the final of 1966, England breezed past the hosts with a Michael Owen header on twenty-seven minutes and a victory-sealing David Beckham free-kick on seventy-nine minutes. This victory put the lid on a memorable decade for the English, who had seen the rise of Britpop, the death of a Princess and the emphatic ousting of a Tory government all within the space of a few years.
England 2-0 France
In a match far less eventful than the final of 1966, England breezed past the hosts with a Michael Owen header on twenty-seven minutes and a victory-sealing David Beckham free-kick on seventy-nine minutes. This victory put the lid on a memorable decade for the English, who had seen the rise of Britpop, the death of a Princess and the emphatic ousting of a Tory government all within the space of a few years.
Scenario 2 - In this ATL, the all 24 qualified to USA '94 were exactly the same than in OTL....the background story, this time, Argentina with Bilardo again is the same...
Real frontpage after Colombia's victory over Argentina in WCQ 1994 -september 1993
After 0-5 defeat against Colombia, Alfio Basile’s persistence as Argentina National Team manager became a blur matter. If Argentina doesn’t qualify to FIFA World Cup USA ’94, all previous victories - Copa America 1991 &1993, King Fahd Cup 1992 (now Confederations cup) 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup victory against last euro Champion, Denmark and that 33 invictus matches – would became useless and a mere acnecdotic. The major scandal facing an elimination would be a bigger failure than the sum of all triumphs.
AFA chairman, Julio Grondona, didn’t want to fire Basile. Until that time, and from 1974, argentinian managers started and ended all their contracts, 4 years, and even in dark moments, like Bilardo previous 1986, all contracts were respected. But media was furious, and people as well, argentina’s largest sport magazine – “El Gráfico” - put a black frontpage with a title in white “SHAME!” , and 1986 and 1990 was still so fresh to be outsted from a WCQ , “Coco” Basile was in danger, with AFA president support, but no one else, it was less than a year to the World Cup, and little time to play offs ahead against Australia. Besides, the favourite manager of mass and media, Daniel Passarella, was still Maradona’s nemesis, and Maradona promised to be at Play offs, so he was discharged. But Maradona was antagonist of Basile and captain at his absense, Oscar Ruggeri as well. But it was in a less degree.
So, with a leap into unknown, or a jump of faith, Grondona left AFA comitee (it means the 1° and 2° division club votes), to decide…they decided to dismiss Basile. So Grondona covered himself of not to be the responsible for that decision ( a hoax, because nothing was made without Grondona consenment) . So, emergency declared, little time for play offs against Australia, Passarella in a black list, Carlos Bianchi, 1993 champion with Velez, didn’t show interest, so an experienced manager was called again, Carlos Bilardo agreed to retake his place in Argentina National Team, but only signed until “the end of world cup, and then I will be retired, this time for real” (1)
Despite mass media support, like “El Gráfico” or Canal 13 Clarin Group, Bilardo had a tremendous back up, but was not people’s favourite, because everybody had in mind the horrible games played by Argentina prior World Cup and now he had little time for experimentations, so he focused in Australia.
Many Basile’s favourite names didn’t return, but many new local revelations, even praised by Bilardo himself as sport commentator were cited, Ferrocarril Oeste Df Roberto Ayala (recently transfered to River Plate), Df Pablo “morrón” Rotchen and midfield Gustavo Lopez (both from Independiente) experienced Boca Juniors defender Carlos McAllister, independiente midfield Perico Perez, mf Leonardo Astrada, Gustavo Zapata, df Hernan Diaz and local sensation Ariel “burrito” Ortega(all three from River Plate) .
Of course, well known stars, and Bilardo’s well known, went on, like “cholo” Simeone (Bilardo called up him in 1988-89, when he was only 18 years old ) and Oscar Ruggeri. Another “european” well known, like Roberto Nestor Sensini and Abel Balbo (both weren’t called by Basile prior 0-5) were called by Bilardo, as well as 1990 WC player Jose Basualdo, and Alejandro Mancuso both from Velez, and defenders Fernando Cáceres and Nestor Fabbri, but in his first controversial decision, he didn’t call up to Fernando Redondo (Bilardo called up him in 1989, when he was in Argentinos Juniors, but he said no because he was studying but then, a month later he was sold to a spanish club, and he went away without hesitate), but he would eventually be called up for the World Cup. He was a well known of Bilardo’s aides, because he was sparring of national team before and part of national youth team in mid ‘80s as well as Caceres.
Of course Gabriel Batistuta was called without a shadow of doubt.
Maradona hired a chinese nutritionist (2) and he regained his Spain 1982 weight althought lack of football, and signing for Newell’s Old Boys, but always Maradona, and with Bilardo madly working during days of week with local players, and travelling abroad to explain the other players the things he wanted (3). Eventally, Argentina beated Australia, the game Argentina displayed had Bilardo’s mark, far defensive than Basile, not let the rival to play, but much better treatment of the ball so, far offensive than 1990, because of the quality of players. And the trauma for the 1988 australian victory 4-1 against Bilardo’s Argentina was finally buried.
Caniggia was banned due drug tested, but Bilardo assured to press he would call him for USA 1994, but meanwhile the attack line was Maradona&Balbo–Batistuta, with Ariel Ortega entering into the last minutes like victory 3-1 against Germany in december 1993 (4). This time, wth a few months only for work, Bilardo used all his experience to use tactics he felt sure were the right one, no space for deep experimentations. Friendlies previous to USA ’94 had good results, the game displayed didn’t leave margin for concerns, but everyone agree they were no brillant, like 1-1 against Brazil in Recife, on april 1994 (and without Diego) or victory 3-1 against Chile in Santiago, 1-0 victory in Quito against Ecuador, victory 3-1 against Morocco in Salta, Argentina, 1-0 against Croatia and 2-0 against Austria (5)
Maradona, after a meeting with Bilardo and Grondona, in december 1993, commited to play all the remaining season, it means until May 1994, with Newell’s, and both would intercede to Newell’s president because the misunderstood that damped Maradona staying in the club, although Diego didn’t honoured his word and went away on april 1994 (6). Nothing could avoid his verbal attacks against Pele, Havelange and Blatter.
After leaving Newell’s, Maradona started to train in Ezeiza, for a delighted Bilardo, who will have him plenty of time, so with his personal trainer “el ciego” Signorini, and AFA trainers, profe Etcheverria, Dr Madero, and Bilardo himself, he pursuit his finest shape for the World Cup, as they did in 1986-90. (7)
So, USA 1994 would start, Abel Balbo would go to the bench, and attacking line up will be Maradona- Caniggia – Batistuta (8)
Argentina's round Robin (9) (10)
That result changed a lot the round of 16, because the best four 3rd places, were...
So, according to FIFA, for WC 1994, if the best four best 3rd places were from groups A, B. E, F...the Round of 16's would be 1º GROUP A vs 3º Group E / 1º Group B vs 3° Group A /1º Group C vs 3° Group B /1st Group D vs 3°Group F(11)...so the rest of the story is well known...
Maradona vs Greece - USA '94
Argentina’s headlines, and press was delighted, fans were plenty of illusion, “Ole” sport newspaper entitled “Narigón del Siglo”, when Argentina qualified to Round of 16. So, there was another miracle, Brazil, at Parreira’s orders, was playing a “bilardism football”
In second round, it means from Round of 16 until final, they were all 90 minutes victories, but all for minimun differences. Midfield became the key( with Redondo, Mancuso or Jose Basualdo, Perico Perez, Simeone and Maradona) , defense became tighter. Maybe the worst match was against Belgium, when Maradona did play with some injure (and manager Bilardo replacing Caniggia with Balbo, due a severe injure that left him away of the World Cup (12) ), but Argentina won the same.
Against Spain and Brazil, matches was like chess made, that’s why result were so short. Bilardo and Javier Clemente, and Bilardo and Carlos Parreira played in similar ways, and that reflexed in the struggle for midfield
--- ----- ----- ----
(1) Grondona never wanted Bilardo to resign after 1990, and it was well known he wanted him back, during the first years and beyond after he went away
(2) Absolutely true
(3) Like he did in 1984, very different from Basile, a lazy but lucky one, who in OTL, called players but didnt’t have time to work along, and didn’t prepare time for that.
(4) It was 2-1, Argentina used several local players, except for Balbo. This victory used as a parallel of 1-3 victory in Stuttgart, in 1984 european tour of Argentina nat’l team, who gave a lot of breath to Bilardo at that time
(5) Actually Argentina lost 2-0 this friendly, played in Recife, Brazil… the game was so poorly played by Argentina and his defense was so lame, that many wondered what was doing Basile with his job, or if he was really keen on job. Against Chile was 3-3, with a lame defensive attitude, as well against Ecuador, Argentina lost 1-0. The result against Morocco was like that. Against Croatia, was 0-0 and the match against Austria was suspended.
(6) He actually went away from Newell’s during southern summer of 1994 amidst a scandal, maybe Grondona intervention or a more commited argentina’s national team manager would have been useful to avoid a precipitation of that crisis. Basile wasn’t that man.
(7) Basile and aides, perhaps for ignorance, perhaps Maradona didn’t trust them at all, so they didn’t have any kind of control over Maradona’s preparation, and one of their effects was…Ephedrine. But he went to a field in countryside (La Pampa) to train, but lesser amout of days
(8) Basile in OTL 1994 put Balbo as some kind of “offensive midfield” who made him inaccurate to score and he was not able to mark anybody as well. He scored against Romania, and played putting more heart and effort than efficience.
(9) Goycochea was into the line up until early 1994, but manager Basile, because his old friend Pedro Marchetta, Independiente Manager, asked him for Luis Islas as titular GK, put Goyco into the bench. If you watch all goals Argentina received in WC 1994, Islas had plenty of fails which allowed rivals to score against him.
(10)But the world cup, well.. there was a slightly result that changed everything. Because there was no ephedrine affair in Maradona, Argentina played against Bulgaria in “normal” conditions, and manager, being other than Bilardo instead of Basile, made different tactics maneuvers to control Stoichkov, Sirakov, Balakov, etc…
The day Argentina lost 2-0 against Bulgaria, was the same day Maradona was forbade to keep on playing World Cup, Argentina's team could get over the huge blow of that...at minute 26, Caniggia got injured, and the world Cup was over for him as well...Bulgaria didn't play better than Argentina, had 2 goal situations, two errors from Argentina's mid and last line, specially at Stoichkov goal...and Sirakov goal at minute 92, which allow Bulgaria to went on...if the match would have ended seconds before...Bulgaria would have been eliminated...this happened here.
So, in this ATL, Argentina locked midfield, and result was victory 2-0 against a mediocre Bulgaria. (when you watch that game in OTL you can see the negative effects of the early Maradona suspension, that the went to sleep at 6 am and that they felt unprotected...if the best player in the world didn't have the right protection by AFA, because of ephedrine, what can be expected for the rest)… and a 1-0 against Nigeria, no mistakes in defense but more cautious on attact...that sole goal by Greece at last minute, made Bilardo's obsession to tighten defense and midfield against powerful Nigeria...
(11) According to FIFA, for WC 1994, if the best four best 3rd places were from groups A, B. E, F...the Round of 16's would be 1º GROUP A vs 3º Group E / 1º Group B vs 3° Group A /1º Group C vs 3° Group B /1st Group D vs 3°Group F(2)...so the rest of the story is well known... but if they were best third places from A,D,E,F...Round of 16 matches would be the way it were in OTL...
(12) Caniggia as in OTL would have his injure and got replace by Balbo, and would lost the rest of the World Cup (in OTL with his, he had for 3 weeks recovery, so he would never could be into the line up even in Argentina would have reach the final in OTL 1994)
Real frontpage after Colombia's victory over Argentina in WCQ 1994 -september 1993
After 0-5 defeat against Colombia, Alfio Basile’s persistence as Argentina National Team manager became a blur matter. If Argentina doesn’t qualify to FIFA World Cup USA ’94, all previous victories - Copa America 1991 &1993, King Fahd Cup 1992 (now Confederations cup) 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup victory against last euro Champion, Denmark and that 33 invictus matches – would became useless and a mere acnecdotic. The major scandal facing an elimination would be a bigger failure than the sum of all triumphs.
AFA chairman, Julio Grondona, didn’t want to fire Basile. Until that time, and from 1974, argentinian managers started and ended all their contracts, 4 years, and even in dark moments, like Bilardo previous 1986, all contracts were respected. But media was furious, and people as well, argentina’s largest sport magazine – “El Gráfico” - put a black frontpage with a title in white “SHAME!” , and 1986 and 1990 was still so fresh to be outsted from a WCQ , “Coco” Basile was in danger, with AFA president support, but no one else, it was less than a year to the World Cup, and little time to play offs ahead against Australia. Besides, the favourite manager of mass and media, Daniel Passarella, was still Maradona’s nemesis, and Maradona promised to be at Play offs, so he was discharged. But Maradona was antagonist of Basile and captain at his absense, Oscar Ruggeri as well. But it was in a less degree.
So, with a leap into unknown, or a jump of faith, Grondona left AFA comitee (it means the 1° and 2° division club votes), to decide…they decided to dismiss Basile. So Grondona covered himself of not to be the responsible for that decision ( a hoax, because nothing was made without Grondona consenment) . So, emergency declared, little time for play offs against Australia, Passarella in a black list, Carlos Bianchi, 1993 champion with Velez, didn’t show interest, so an experienced manager was called again, Carlos Bilardo agreed to retake his place in Argentina National Team, but only signed until “the end of world cup, and then I will be retired, this time for real” (1)
Despite mass media support, like “El Gráfico” or Canal 13 Clarin Group, Bilardo had a tremendous back up, but was not people’s favourite, because everybody had in mind the horrible games played by Argentina prior World Cup and now he had little time for experimentations, so he focused in Australia.
Many Basile’s favourite names didn’t return, but many new local revelations, even praised by Bilardo himself as sport commentator were cited, Ferrocarril Oeste Df Roberto Ayala (recently transfered to River Plate), Df Pablo “morrón” Rotchen and midfield Gustavo Lopez (both from Independiente) experienced Boca Juniors defender Carlos McAllister, independiente midfield Perico Perez, mf Leonardo Astrada, Gustavo Zapata, df Hernan Diaz and local sensation Ariel “burrito” Ortega(all three from River Plate) .
Of course, well known stars, and Bilardo’s well known, went on, like “cholo” Simeone (Bilardo called up him in 1988-89, when he was only 18 years old ) and Oscar Ruggeri. Another “european” well known, like Roberto Nestor Sensini and Abel Balbo (both weren’t called by Basile prior 0-5) were called by Bilardo, as well as 1990 WC player Jose Basualdo, and Alejandro Mancuso both from Velez, and defenders Fernando Cáceres and Nestor Fabbri, but in his first controversial decision, he didn’t call up to Fernando Redondo (Bilardo called up him in 1989, when he was in Argentinos Juniors, but he said no because he was studying but then, a month later he was sold to a spanish club, and he went away without hesitate), but he would eventually be called up for the World Cup. He was a well known of Bilardo’s aides, because he was sparring of national team before and part of national youth team in mid ‘80s as well as Caceres.
Of course Gabriel Batistuta was called without a shadow of doubt.
Maradona hired a chinese nutritionist (2) and he regained his Spain 1982 weight althought lack of football, and signing for Newell’s Old Boys, but always Maradona, and with Bilardo madly working during days of week with local players, and travelling abroad to explain the other players the things he wanted (3). Eventally, Argentina beated Australia, the game Argentina displayed had Bilardo’s mark, far defensive than Basile, not let the rival to play, but much better treatment of the ball so, far offensive than 1990, because of the quality of players. And the trauma for the 1988 australian victory 4-1 against Bilardo’s Argentina was finally buried.
Caniggia was banned due drug tested, but Bilardo assured to press he would call him for USA 1994, but meanwhile the attack line was Maradona&Balbo–Batistuta, with Ariel Ortega entering into the last minutes like victory 3-1 against Germany in december 1993 (4). This time, wth a few months only for work, Bilardo used all his experience to use tactics he felt sure were the right one, no space for deep experimentations. Friendlies previous to USA ’94 had good results, the game displayed didn’t leave margin for concerns, but everyone agree they were no brillant, like 1-1 against Brazil in Recife, on april 1994 (and without Diego) or victory 3-1 against Chile in Santiago, 1-0 victory in Quito against Ecuador, victory 3-1 against Morocco in Salta, Argentina, 1-0 against Croatia and 2-0 against Austria (5)
Maradona, after a meeting with Bilardo and Grondona, in december 1993, commited to play all the remaining season, it means until May 1994, with Newell’s, and both would intercede to Newell’s president because the misunderstood that damped Maradona staying in the club, although Diego didn’t honoured his word and went away on april 1994 (6). Nothing could avoid his verbal attacks against Pele, Havelange and Blatter.
After leaving Newell’s, Maradona started to train in Ezeiza, for a delighted Bilardo, who will have him plenty of time, so with his personal trainer “el ciego” Signorini, and AFA trainers, profe Etcheverria, Dr Madero, and Bilardo himself, he pursuit his finest shape for the World Cup, as they did in 1986-90. (7)
So, USA 1994 would start, Abel Balbo would go to the bench, and attacking line up will be Maradona- Caniggia – Batistuta (8)
Argentina's round Robin (9) (10)
That result changed a lot the round of 16, because the best four 3rd places, were...
So, according to FIFA, for WC 1994, if the best four best 3rd places were from groups A, B. E, F...the Round of 16's would be 1º GROUP A vs 3º Group E / 1º Group B vs 3° Group A /1º Group C vs 3° Group B /1st Group D vs 3°Group F(11)...so the rest of the story is well known...
Maradona vs Greece - USA '94
Argentina’s headlines, and press was delighted, fans were plenty of illusion, “Ole” sport newspaper entitled “Narigón del Siglo”, when Argentina qualified to Round of 16. So, there was another miracle, Brazil, at Parreira’s orders, was playing a “bilardism football”
In second round, it means from Round of 16 until final, they were all 90 minutes victories, but all for minimun differences. Midfield became the key( with Redondo, Mancuso or Jose Basualdo, Perico Perez, Simeone and Maradona) , defense became tighter. Maybe the worst match was against Belgium, when Maradona did play with some injure (and manager Bilardo replacing Caniggia with Balbo, due a severe injure that left him away of the World Cup (12) ), but Argentina won the same.
Against Spain and Brazil, matches was like chess made, that’s why result were so short. Bilardo and Javier Clemente, and Bilardo and Carlos Parreira played in similar ways, and that reflexed in the struggle for midfield
--- ----- ----- ----
(1) Grondona never wanted Bilardo to resign after 1990, and it was well known he wanted him back, during the first years and beyond after he went away
(2) Absolutely true
(3) Like he did in 1984, very different from Basile, a lazy but lucky one, who in OTL, called players but didnt’t have time to work along, and didn’t prepare time for that.
(4) It was 2-1, Argentina used several local players, except for Balbo. This victory used as a parallel of 1-3 victory in Stuttgart, in 1984 european tour of Argentina nat’l team, who gave a lot of breath to Bilardo at that time
(5) Actually Argentina lost 2-0 this friendly, played in Recife, Brazil… the game was so poorly played by Argentina and his defense was so lame, that many wondered what was doing Basile with his job, or if he was really keen on job. Against Chile was 3-3, with a lame defensive attitude, as well against Ecuador, Argentina lost 1-0. The result against Morocco was like that. Against Croatia, was 0-0 and the match against Austria was suspended.
(6) He actually went away from Newell’s during southern summer of 1994 amidst a scandal, maybe Grondona intervention or a more commited argentina’s national team manager would have been useful to avoid a precipitation of that crisis. Basile wasn’t that man.
(7) Basile and aides, perhaps for ignorance, perhaps Maradona didn’t trust them at all, so they didn’t have any kind of control over Maradona’s preparation, and one of their effects was…Ephedrine. But he went to a field in countryside (La Pampa) to train, but lesser amout of days
(8) Basile in OTL 1994 put Balbo as some kind of “offensive midfield” who made him inaccurate to score and he was not able to mark anybody as well. He scored against Romania, and played putting more heart and effort than efficience.
(9) Goycochea was into the line up until early 1994, but manager Basile, because his old friend Pedro Marchetta, Independiente Manager, asked him for Luis Islas as titular GK, put Goyco into the bench. If you watch all goals Argentina received in WC 1994, Islas had plenty of fails which allowed rivals to score against him.
(10)But the world cup, well.. there was a slightly result that changed everything. Because there was no ephedrine affair in Maradona, Argentina played against Bulgaria in “normal” conditions, and manager, being other than Bilardo instead of Basile, made different tactics maneuvers to control Stoichkov, Sirakov, Balakov, etc…
The day Argentina lost 2-0 against Bulgaria, was the same day Maradona was forbade to keep on playing World Cup, Argentina's team could get over the huge blow of that...at minute 26, Caniggia got injured, and the world Cup was over for him as well...Bulgaria didn't play better than Argentina, had 2 goal situations, two errors from Argentina's mid and last line, specially at Stoichkov goal...and Sirakov goal at minute 92, which allow Bulgaria to went on...if the match would have ended seconds before...Bulgaria would have been eliminated...this happened here.
So, in this ATL, Argentina locked midfield, and result was victory 2-0 against a mediocre Bulgaria. (when you watch that game in OTL you can see the negative effects of the early Maradona suspension, that the went to sleep at 6 am and that they felt unprotected...if the best player in the world didn't have the right protection by AFA, because of ephedrine, what can be expected for the rest)… and a 1-0 against Nigeria, no mistakes in defense but more cautious on attact...that sole goal by Greece at last minute, made Bilardo's obsession to tighten defense and midfield against powerful Nigeria...
(11) According to FIFA, for WC 1994, if the best four best 3rd places were from groups A, B. E, F...the Round of 16's would be 1º GROUP A vs 3º Group E / 1º Group B vs 3° Group A /1º Group C vs 3° Group B /1st Group D vs 3°Group F(2)...so the rest of the story is well known... but if they were best third places from A,D,E,F...Round of 16 matches would be the way it were in OTL...
(12) Caniggia as in OTL would have his injure and got replace by Balbo, and would lost the rest of the World Cup (in OTL with his, he had for 3 weeks recovery, so he would never could be into the line up even in Argentina would have reach the final in OTL 1994)
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From TL-191: Filling in the Future:
The 1950 FIFA World Cup
After a 16-year hiatus, the third FIFA World Cup went underway on 24th June 1950. The tournament was held in Brazil, who had been neutral in the Second Great War, and was the first in 16 years. Originally, 16 teams were pencilled in, but several did not turn up (Norway cited travel difficulties, for instance) and British teams were banned, along with France and Russia, as a result of the war. The tournament eventually went ahead with 13 teams.
The tournament took the format of four groups, with the winners going into a final pool.
Group A
1st: Brazil 5pts
2nd: Spain 4pts
3rd: Switzerland 3pts
4th: Mexico 0pts
Great things were expected of Brazil, who had a home crowd behind them, and a 4-0 win over Mexico in the opening match set the tone. But things threatened to turn sour in the second match, in which they twice lost the lead in a 2-2 draw with Switzerland while Spain beat Mexico 3-0. Spain would qualify with a draw, but Brazil comfortably beat them 2-0, to qualify from the group.
Group B
1st: Austria-Hungary 6pts
2nd: Ireland 2pts
3rd: Chile 2pts
4th: USA 2pts
A group of unknown quantities, Group B saw the USA and Austria-Hungary considered to be the two strongest teams. They faced off in their first games, with Austria-Hungary emerging as victors, scoring all three of their goals in the last ten minutes after the USA took the lead. The USA recovered to beat Ireland 1-0 in their next game, while the Austrians made short work of Chile. The USA finally went out in a 5-2 loss to Chile (a notable goalscorer being George Robledo, who was actually playing for English club Newcastle United, and would help them to win two consecutive FA Cups in the following years). Austria-Hungary beat Ireland 1-0 to book their place in the final pool.
Group C
1st: Sweden 3pts
2nd: Italy 2pts
3rd: Paraguay 1pt
W/D: India
India withdrew from the competition due to a dispute with FIFA, along with travel costs, saw the group reduced to three teams before the tournament started. In the end, reigning champions Italy suffered a surprise defeat against Sweden, who secured qualification with a draw against Paraguay, the South American side having lost to Italy. It should be noted that the Superga disaster of 1949, when much of the Torino senior squad lost their lives in a plane crash, had taken its toll on the national side.
Group D
1st: Uruguay 2pts
2nd: Bolivia 0pts
W/D: Norway
In a match that counted as both group and knock-out due to the withdrawal of Norway, Uruguay defeated Bolivia 8-0.
Final Pool
1st: Brazil 5pts
2nd: Austria-Hungary 4pts
3rd: Uruguay 2pts
4th: Sweden 1pt
It is pure coincidence that the final group match turned out to be the deciding game. Austria-Hungary continued their run of good form with wins over Uruguay and Sweden, while Brazil beat Uruguay 7-1 but could only draw 2-2 with Sweden. Uruguay took the Bronze, beating Sweden 3-1 after going a goal down in 5 minutes, but the main talking point is the final. Austria-Hungary needed only a draw to win the cup and, in the Maracana, overturned a 1-0 half time deficit to go 2-1 up early in the second half, stunning the home crowd into silence. However, a quickfire double from Ademir saw Brazil take the lead with 20 minutes to go, and Chico put the result beyond doubt in the final minute. As such, Brazil took their first World Cup trophy, while the rest of World football looked towards the 1954 tournament in Germany.
Titles:
1= Brazil, Italy, Uruguay 1
The 1950 FIFA World Cup
After a 16-year hiatus, the third FIFA World Cup went underway on 24th June 1950. The tournament was held in Brazil, who had been neutral in the Second Great War, and was the first in 16 years. Originally, 16 teams were pencilled in, but several did not turn up (Norway cited travel difficulties, for instance) and British teams were banned, along with France and Russia, as a result of the war. The tournament eventually went ahead with 13 teams.
The tournament took the format of four groups, with the winners going into a final pool.
Group A
1st: Brazil 5pts
2nd: Spain 4pts
3rd: Switzerland 3pts
4th: Mexico 0pts
Great things were expected of Brazil, who had a home crowd behind them, and a 4-0 win over Mexico in the opening match set the tone. But things threatened to turn sour in the second match, in which they twice lost the lead in a 2-2 draw with Switzerland while Spain beat Mexico 3-0. Spain would qualify with a draw, but Brazil comfortably beat them 2-0, to qualify from the group.
Group B
1st: Austria-Hungary 6pts
2nd: Ireland 2pts
3rd: Chile 2pts
4th: USA 2pts
A group of unknown quantities, Group B saw the USA and Austria-Hungary considered to be the two strongest teams. They faced off in their first games, with Austria-Hungary emerging as victors, scoring all three of their goals in the last ten minutes after the USA took the lead. The USA recovered to beat Ireland 1-0 in their next game, while the Austrians made short work of Chile. The USA finally went out in a 5-2 loss to Chile (a notable goalscorer being George Robledo, who was actually playing for English club Newcastle United, and would help them to win two consecutive FA Cups in the following years). Austria-Hungary beat Ireland 1-0 to book their place in the final pool.
Group C
1st: Sweden 3pts
2nd: Italy 2pts
3rd: Paraguay 1pt
W/D: India
India withdrew from the competition due to a dispute with FIFA, along with travel costs, saw the group reduced to three teams before the tournament started. In the end, reigning champions Italy suffered a surprise defeat against Sweden, who secured qualification with a draw against Paraguay, the South American side having lost to Italy. It should be noted that the Superga disaster of 1949, when much of the Torino senior squad lost their lives in a plane crash, had taken its toll on the national side.
Group D
1st: Uruguay 2pts
2nd: Bolivia 0pts
W/D: Norway
In a match that counted as both group and knock-out due to the withdrawal of Norway, Uruguay defeated Bolivia 8-0.
Final Pool
1st: Brazil 5pts
2nd: Austria-Hungary 4pts
3rd: Uruguay 2pts
4th: Sweden 1pt
It is pure coincidence that the final group match turned out to be the deciding game. Austria-Hungary continued their run of good form with wins over Uruguay and Sweden, while Brazil beat Uruguay 7-1 but could only draw 2-2 with Sweden. Uruguay took the Bronze, beating Sweden 3-1 after going a goal down in 5 minutes, but the main talking point is the final. Austria-Hungary needed only a draw to win the cup and, in the Maracana, overturned a 1-0 half time deficit to go 2-1 up early in the second half, stunning the home crowd into silence. However, a quickfire double from Ademir saw Brazil take the lead with 20 minutes to go, and Chico put the result beyond doubt in the final minute. As such, Brazil took their first World Cup trophy, while the rest of World football looked towards the 1954 tournament in Germany.
Titles:
1= Brazil, Italy, Uruguay 1
Euro 96 - Group A
Scotland 3-0 Switzerland
Thanks to a McCoist hatrick, and a little help from England beating Holland who are subsequently knocked out on goal difference, Scotland finally manage to get out of the group stage for the first time in their history and lying in wait is France at Anfield. With a packed house of only one third of the crowd being French supporters, the rest all being the Tartan Army traveling in their thousands with the game feeling a lot like Scotland's World Cup qualifier with Wales in 1977 when it was played at Anfield.
Despite French dominance throughout the game, Scotland somehow hold on to keep it 0-0 after full time. Thanks to their huge backing, Scotland gather more confidence in extra time and then within just five minutes of extra time being added, Gordon Durie fires home a screamer that sends the Tartan Army in raptures and onto a Semi-final with fellow surprise package Czech Republic.
The game takes place at Old Trafford where Alex Fergusson is seen famously trying to get the Manchester locals to get behind the Scots. The game proves to be a thrilling encounter with the Czechs scoring first in the 27th minute thanks to Pavel Kuka, but not before then in the 38th minute for McCoist to pull back a goal for Scotland.
Not more scores take place throughout most of the second half right up until the 87th minute when Stuart McCall scores a header thanks to a corner and helps to get Scotland back at Wembley for the final with famous scenes of the fans invading the pitch in celebration.
However, their Semi-final doesn't go unnoticed with the English players hearing about the result. With them playing the other Semi with Germany later that day, England are motivated to stop the Scots winning at Wembley like nothing before and managed to stun everyone by beating the Germans 2-0 thanks to a double from Shearer and thus setting up for not only a rematch but the first all British final.
The Build up to the game is mental with it being billed as the Match of the Century or the ultimate battle of Britain. Sadly the hype is somewhat diluted when England win a rather one sided final 4-1, with them ending 30 years of hurt and beating their oldest rivals, a classic case of killing two birds with one stone. Nonetheless, there is great respect among each other with them doing each of their nations proud.
Despite Scotland's damning loss, their run to the final has helped to improve the confidence of many Scots with hope that the country can do one step better and thus for France 98, Scotland make it all the way to the Quarter-finals only to get knocked out by France.
Scottish football has now become a much more exciting affair with the Old Firm monopoly now a thing of the past with much investment of youth development and sending many Scottish players abroad to learn new skills. As of 2018, they are now one of the teams who have made it to play in the next World Cup in Russia and all great achievements that have been made to Scottish football can all trace back to Euro 96 with many thinking had it not happened, none of this would've been possible.
And yes, if that had happened, wonder how England and Scotland fans would view each other after this?
Scotland 3-0 Switzerland
Thanks to a McCoist hatrick, and a little help from England beating Holland who are subsequently knocked out on goal difference, Scotland finally manage to get out of the group stage for the first time in their history and lying in wait is France at Anfield. With a packed house of only one third of the crowd being French supporters, the rest all being the Tartan Army traveling in their thousands with the game feeling a lot like Scotland's World Cup qualifier with Wales in 1977 when it was played at Anfield.
Despite French dominance throughout the game, Scotland somehow hold on to keep it 0-0 after full time. Thanks to their huge backing, Scotland gather more confidence in extra time and then within just five minutes of extra time being added, Gordon Durie fires home a screamer that sends the Tartan Army in raptures and onto a Semi-final with fellow surprise package Czech Republic.
The game takes place at Old Trafford where Alex Fergusson is seen famously trying to get the Manchester locals to get behind the Scots. The game proves to be a thrilling encounter with the Czechs scoring first in the 27th minute thanks to Pavel Kuka, but not before then in the 38th minute for McCoist to pull back a goal for Scotland.
Not more scores take place throughout most of the second half right up until the 87th minute when Stuart McCall scores a header thanks to a corner and helps to get Scotland back at Wembley for the final with famous scenes of the fans invading the pitch in celebration.
However, their Semi-final doesn't go unnoticed with the English players hearing about the result. With them playing the other Semi with Germany later that day, England are motivated to stop the Scots winning at Wembley like nothing before and managed to stun everyone by beating the Germans 2-0 thanks to a double from Shearer and thus setting up for not only a rematch but the first all British final.
The Build up to the game is mental with it being billed as the Match of the Century or the ultimate battle of Britain. Sadly the hype is somewhat diluted when England win a rather one sided final 4-1, with them ending 30 years of hurt and beating their oldest rivals, a classic case of killing two birds with one stone. Nonetheless, there is great respect among each other with them doing each of their nations proud.
Despite Scotland's damning loss, their run to the final has helped to improve the confidence of many Scots with hope that the country can do one step better and thus for France 98, Scotland make it all the way to the Quarter-finals only to get knocked out by France.
Scottish football has now become a much more exciting affair with the Old Firm monopoly now a thing of the past with much investment of youth development and sending many Scottish players abroad to learn new skills. As of 2018, they are now one of the teams who have made it to play in the next World Cup in Russia and all great achievements that have been made to Scottish football can all trace back to Euro 96 with many thinking had it not happened, none of this would've been possible.
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Yes this might sound like total ASB, but considering how much we hammered the Swiss in that last group, we should've been up more than 1-0 and you have to wonder if that feel good factor would've helped the Scots to go further?
And yes, if that had happened, wonder how England and Scotland fans would view each other after this?