In the ninth World Cup, Italy qualified from the
first-round group stage with only one goal scored, against Sweden, and two (0:0) draws.
They stepped up a gear in the quarter finals, to beat the hosts
(4:1), and went on to win a classic semi-final against West Germany (4:3); scoring three
of the five extra time goals.
The quarter-final match between the 1966 finalists was another classic. West Germany were
trailing the World Cup holders, England, by two goals to nil with 20 minutes to go. The
Germans leveled the scores to take the game into extra-time and finally earn their sweet
revenge, with a (3:2) victory.
But 1970 belonged to Pelé, who earned his third World Cup winners'
medal when Brazil got their hands on the Jules Rimet Cup; for keeps.
If Italy were saving their energy in the first-round group stage, they
were sapped after their semi-final marathon with West Germany and fell apart as the
Brazilian samba drummed in four goals to the Azzura's one; Jairzinho scoring in every
match for Brazil.
