EURO 1968: Suffering, Italian Style

Facchetti looked Albert Shesternyov in the eye. The Soviets took 30 seconds to answer a simple question from German referee Kurt Tschenscher.

The Three men were isolated from everybody else on the pitch but still under the looks of 68,000 spectators in Naples.

The two young captains looked at Tschenscher as he performed the coin toss. Facchetti looked back at 30 years of disappointments with faces of Mussolini and Pozzo, the students’ revolt, failure in England and finally 18 months of exhausting qualification that might go with the wind.

DEMANDING FORMAT

The disastrous first round exit in the 1966 World Cup had put Facchetti and his teammates under severe pressure to demonstrate their quality in the European championship in which they never reached semi-finals.

The Italians accepted taking part in the competition despite the highly demanding format of eight qualification groups whose winners qualify to the two-leg quarterfinals.

Surprises were present as World Cup runners-up West Germany missed out behind Yugoslavia, while Eusebio’s Portugal couldn’t overcome Bulgaria losing 0-1 in Sofia.

Meanwhile, Spain struggled to make their way past Czechoslovakia who was only one point away from eliminating title holders.

World champions England confirmed their status as title favourites at the expense of British Isles neighbours and secured a place in the quarterfinals after holding Scotland to a 1-1 draw with 134,000 spectators packed in Hampden Park.

TERRIFYING WARNING

Hungary, gold medallists at the 1968 summer Olympics, reached the quarterfinals easily alongside France and Italy.

The Azzurri then had to edge stubborn Bulgaria who won the first leg in Sofia 2-1 before Pierino Prati and Angelo Domenghini scored in Naples to take Italy to their first major semi-final in three decades.

The USSR lost 0-2 in Budapest but thrashed Hungary by three goals in Moscow to reach the final tournament while England defeated Spain 1-0 at Wembley and 2-1 at the famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.

Yugoslavia sent the most terrifying warning beating France 6-2 on aggregate to complete the semis.

WAITING FOR A WINNER

After Facchetti watched the coin flying over following 120 intense minutes, Domenghini saw Tschenscher pointing towards the Italian side of the pitch while Shesternyov looked disappointed.

The fans at he San Paolo stadium celebrated reaching the final even thought it was only coin toss that made their country go so far.

The Italians had to wait for the winner of the other semi-final in Florence between England and Yugoslavia led by Dragan Dzajic, the Red Star goal machine.

The absence of Geoff Horst was a disadvantage for England; however Bobby Chartlon could have scored in the final thirty minutes of the game.

Dzajic won the game for Yugoslavia with a clever touch past keeper Gordon Banks as his country reached their second final in eight years.

Italy didn’t start the final with star Sandro Mazzola and Domenghini missed a chance to score before being punished by Dzajic.

The Yugoslav marksman silenced 85,000 fans in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico by scoring a goal six minutes before half time.

Domenghini hit the post twice while Castano cleared a ball off the line before Dzajic missed another chance to finish the game, as the home fans had nothing to do but to pray.

Domenghini then converted a free kick over the Yugoslav wall to equalise for Italy with ten minutes left forcing extra time.

The final score didn’t change after 120 minutes and the game would be replayed two days later.

Italian coach Ferruccio Valcareggi made five changes in his line-up for the replay match introducing Mazzola and Gigi Riva among others.

Unmarked Riva gave Italy the lead after 12 minutes and could have doubled the score but for Pantelic’s heroic save.

Pietro Anastasi added the second for Italy with a beautiful strike form the edge of the area on 31 minutes as 55,000 fans in Rome were relaxed.

Zoff held the ball while Spanish referee Jose Maria de Mendibil blew his whistle and Facchetti enjoyed watching the Olimpico turning into fire flames as lit by the fans.

Fachetti then wondered what could have happen if that coin chose the side where a Soviet guy called Shesternyov stood.