The Story of Argentina in The World Cup Part 2

We continue our story about the Argentine national team in the World Cup.

The Argentine national team, which won the title at home and among its fans 4 years ago, traveled to the European continent, specifically to Spain, where the 1982 World Cup was held.

World Cup 1982

The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th tournament in the history of the FIFA World Cup was held in Spain from June 13 to July 11, where Spain was chosen to host the tournament after Germany withdrew.

The tournament witnessed the participation of the first Arab Asian team, the Kuwait national team, and witnessed the participation of the Algerian team for the first time in its history. England returned to the world championships after an absence of 12 years, specifically from the 1970 World Cup, while the runner-up of the last two editions Runner-up, the Netherlands, missed the tournament.

Before the start of the tournament, doubts swirled about a possible withdrawal of the teams of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland from the tournament due to the Falklands War between them and Argentina, but the situation calmed after the intervention of officials in the British government.

This tournament was characterized by many exciting and enjoyable matches, and the tournament was considered one of the most exciting tournaments after the 1970 World Cup. This was the first tournament that included 24 teams instead of 16 in the previous tournaments after the International Football Association approved the increase of participating teams before the 1978 World Cup. The participating teams were divided into 6 groups, from which the first and second of each group qualify, to be divided again into 4 groups, and the group champion qualifies for the quarterfinals. The tournament witnessed the fastest hat-trick in the history of the FIFA World Cup, when Hungary striker László Kiss scored three goals in 8 minutes against El Salvador, in a match that ended 10-1, in a meeting that witnessed the greatest number of goals in the history of the FIFA World Cup.

Argentina was placed in Group C along with Belgium, Hungary, and El Salvador.

Argentina opened its matches at the Camp Nou stadium of FC Barcelona, against Belgium, which managed to defeat the Argentines with a goal scored by Erwin Vandenberg.

Before Argentina regained its balance by beating Hungary, which was a very strong team at the time) 4-1.

Argentina legend Diego Armando Maradona scored twice, Daniel Bertone and Osvaldo Ardiles scored the rest, while Hungary's Gabor Poloski scored.

Argentina finished their first-round matches with a victory over El Salvador 2-0, with goals scored by Daniel Passarella, and Daniel Bertone.

In the second round, Argentina was placed in Group C along with Brazil and Italy.

Argentina lost the first match against Italy 2-1, scored by Marco Tardelli and Antonio Cabrini, while Argentina's Daniel Passarella scored.

Argentina then lost its second match in a disastrous manner, with a 3-1 result against Brazil, scored for Brazil Zico, Serginho Chulapa, and Levigildo Junior, while Ramon Diaz scored for Argentina.

The Argentine national team, the defending champion, came out empty-handed from the 1982 World Cup, in the first tournament in which the legend Maradona participated.