The Story of Italy in The World Cup Part 3

We continue our story about the Italian national team in the World Cup, and we reach the 1982 World Cup hosted by Spain.

Italy traveled to the neighbor Spain, not a candidate to win the title at all, with the presence of the historic Brazilian team generation, and the presence of Argentina, the defending champion.

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, Italy came in Group A along with Poland, Cameroon, and Peru.

Italy opened its first-round matches on June 14 at Balaidos Stadium in Vigo against Poland, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

Italy tied again in its second match against Cameroon, which was held at the Riazor stadium in the Spanish city of A Coruña, where Italy tied without goals again.

Italy finished its first-round matches on June 18 at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo against the Peruvian national team.

Italy tied for a third time in the group stage against Peru, with a score of 1-1, as Bruno Conte scored for Italy, while Ruben Torribo Diaz scored for Peru.

Italy was very fortunate to qualify for the second round without achieving any victory, as it came behind leaders Poland, and outperformed Cameroon on goal difference.

In the second round (which was a group stage system at the time).

Italy is in Group C along with Brazil and Argentina.

Italy opened its second-round matches on June 29 at Sarria Stadium in Barcelona (the stadium of Espanyol club at the time, the stadium was demolished in 1997) and under the management of Romanian referee Nicolai Reina, and with the attendance of more than 40,000 spectators who filled the stands of the match stadium, Italy managed to achieve its first victory In that tournament, when beat Argentina 2-1.

scored for Italy: Marco Tardelli and Antonio Cabrini, while Argentina's Daniel Passarella scored.

In its second match in this round, Italy faced Brazil.

At Sarria Stadium in Barcelona on July 5, in front of more than 40,000 spectators who filled the stands of the match stadium.

Italy faced the "so-called" golden generation of the Brazilian national team led by Zico "nicknamed The White Pele", Socrates and Falcao.

Italy, which qualified for this round with great difficulty, managed to beat its opponent 3-2 with a "hat-trick" scored by striker Paolo Rossi, who was in prison before the tournament and came out on the recommendation of the Italian president at the time.

Zico and Falcao's goals were not enough to prevent the Brazilian golden generation from leaving the tournament (Brazil finished second behind Italy, and the tournament system at the time required only the first-placed to qualify for the semi-finals).

In the semi-finals, Italy faced Poland at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on July 8, 1982. Italy managed to win 2-0 with 2 goals scored by Paolo Rossi again.

In the final match, Italy faced Germany at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish capital, Madrid, and managed to win 3-1 with goals from Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli, and Alessandro Altobelli, while Paul Winter scored for the Germans.

Thus, Italy crowned the World Cup for the third time in its history.