Flying Down to Rio, Flight Seven

1962 and after having ten representatives in Sweden four years earlier this time around only two Tottenham players were involved in the World Cup Finals. England being the only one of the home nations to qualify they included in their squad Jimmy Greaves (22) and Maurice Norman (28).

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Four years after the tournament was held in Sweden the competition returned to South America, yet again Argentina losing out in the voting process to be the hosts. The competition was held in Chile where the country had experienced the biggest earthquake of the century just two years earlier and all the stadiums required repair or total rebuilding. The country was played at four centers with the Andes mountains as a backdrop.

England’s preliminary squad had also included Tottenham’s Ron Henry and Bobby Smith but neither made the final 22. This seems hard on Smith who has been in the squad for Sweden but had not played. Another victim of the cut who did not make the final 22 was Fulham’s Alan Mullery who would move to Tottenham two years later.

Norman, who like Smith had traveled to Sweden and not played, this time he played in all four games for England. Greaves also played in all four games. When he started the first game V Hungary he became the youngest Tottenham player, 22y 110d, to take part in the World Cup finals taking the record from Cliff Jones.

Less than 8,000 were in the ground to see this game and England lost 2-1. Hungary would win the group.

Jimmy Greaves in action V Brazil.

In the second game a larger crowd, 10,000, turned up. England beat Argentina 3- 1 and Jimmy got the third goal. This was only the third time the two sides had met, England had won at Wembley in 1951 and the second game in Argentina two years later had been suspended after 21 minutes because of rain and then abandoned after 36.

Their final group game was a goalless draw with Bulgaria. The first time these two sides had met. The crowds rushed in, well just under 6,000 of them anyway. Thus England finished on three points the same as Argentina. After the problems in Sweden with so many play-off games this was the first competition where goal difference was considered and thus England progressed at Argentina’s expense.  

In the quarter finals they met Brazil who they had shared the Final’s first 0-0 game with four years earlier. This time, in front of nearly 18,000,  Brazil won 3-1. Garrincha scoring twice. Brazil, with nine survivors from Sweden in their squad, would go on to retain the trophy they won four years earlier. Pele limped out of the tournament in the second game but Brazil had another star that took center stage Garrincha, known as the ‘little bird.’
Right - Clip of Jimmy Greaves wrestling with  Dog. Then below another link with Garrincha highlights from the quarter final. This lads not bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do983FplzkY

He had a stunning shot and could make the ball dip and swing in the air. Many people thought he was a more dangerous player than Pele  He was one of six players that shared the Golden Boot with four goals each. The average goals per game dropped to 2.78 for the first time in the competitions history.

The tournament also featured one of the dirtiest games in the competitions history. The game between Chile and Italy became known as 'Battle of Santiago'. The evening after the game had been played the BBC actually put out a warning before they showed the game. Their archives show that it was described as  "The most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football."  Two players were sent off by the English referee. One of them Italy’s David was for a neck-high kick aimed at Leonel Sanchez in retaliation for a punch by the Chilean, son of a boxer, who had earlier broken the nose of Umberto Maschio, one of Italy's naturalized South Americans. Chile won 2-0. The game involved players on both sides trying to harm opponents, and the Italian team needed police protection to leave the field in safety at the end of the game.

Apart from the battle this competition is often remembered for an incident in the England V Brazil match. A dog came on to the field in the opening minutes and avoided capture. top image shows him with England's Ray Wilson. Finally Jimmy Greaves, caught it and handed it to officials. However the dog took exception to being caught and passed urine over Jimmy. Garrincha found this so funny he adopted the animal.
The attendances quoted seem to vary in different sources, they are shown as at Englandonline.

Meanwhile back in N17, that summer had seen Tottenham retain the FA Cup, reach the Semi-Final of the European Cup, finish third in the League and win the FA Charity Shield.

Thank you - FIFA, Englandonline, FA, THFC, BBC, The Times,

About the author:
Keith Harrison, Nilgiris, TN
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