"Military Martial Second Plane" author: Xia worm can not speak ice
Recently, because of the World Cup, military mushrooms can hear the surrounding friends talking about football every day, as a quadrennial sports event, it is no surprise that in the next month, football will become a topic of conversation after tea for men and women, especially the majority of male compatriots.
Such a hot topic of military mushrooms naturally cannot be missed, but it is not interesting to talk about the game alone, so today military mushrooms will talk to everyone about a different World Cup.
Competitive sports have always been regarded as "war without gunsmoke", as the world's largest sport football is even more so, what national grievances, national contradictions, all on the court to see the truth, so the victory or defeat on the field is often associated with the country's honor and disgrace. For example, Qatar lost at the opening ceremony a few days ago, setting a record for the host to lose the opening match.
▲Qatar lost 0:2 to Ecuador in the opening match, which was the first time in history that the host lost the opening match
For example, a country with an Asian population of more than 100 million has hit the World Cup every year, and has not been able to participate in the World Cup for many years, yes, I am talking about Indonesia.
However, if it comes to the most regrettable team in this World Cup, Italy must be one. The Italian, who has won the title four times in history, has missed two consecutive World Cups, and such a crotch-pulling performance might not have even been lost 88 years ago. That's right, it's really not a joke to die if you don't kick a football well.
The person who Italy has to thank most for winning the title twice is Benito Mussolini?
When it comes to Italy, one person must be mentioned, he is Mussolini, who is not only a famous fascist dictator in world history, but also the "first man" in Italy to develop football. Because in the era of Mussolini's rule, he raised the development of football to the height of national policy, and he was the first country in the world to do so.
▲ Mussolini
Back in 1934, the World Cup was held in Italy, and in order to show his face on his doorstep, Mussolini rejected FIFA's proposal that "the host country directly qualify for the final stage" and insisted that the Italian team participate in the qualifiers. As the host, Italy is also worthy of its hometown father, and it made it all the way to the final.
After qualifying for the final, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, their "beloved Prime Minister", personally came to the team's dressing room to congratulate the players and coaching staff.
Just after an impassioned long speech, Mussolini excitedly told the players that if they can win the championship, then the country will ensure that they will eat and drink for the rest of their lives with the treatment of national heroes. At this time, I don't know who has an extra mouth, what if I lose? Mussolini's face sank, "If you lose, don't worry about the second half of your life, because you won't have the second half of your life", win, or die!
▲ 1934 World Cup Italian team
Before the final, there was also an episode. Italy and Germany both advanced to the semifinals, but did not meet in advance, so Mussolini was very much looking forward to the finals of the two fascist national teams of Italy and Germany, but Czechoslovakia eliminated Nazi Germany 3-1, laying the groundwork for the future annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany (no).
On the day of the game, the players carried such a heavy psychological baggage, how could they still have the mind to play, but let the opponent score first. There were only 20 minutes left before the end of the game, and if the goal could not be scored, the players and coaches would have these last 20 minutes left in their lives.
Finally, in the 81st minute, a miracle happened, Italy equalized and eventually beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 in extra time, becoming Europe's first World Cup winner while saving his life.
▲ Italian players celebrating their victory
Four years later, Italy once again defended their title with a 4-2 victory over Hungary under Mussolini's "personal care". After the match, the Hungarian players said: "Although we lost the game, we saved 22 lives. ”
A similar thing happened at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, when the Soviet men's football team lost to Yugoslavia in the knockout round, and the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin, believed that this was not only a failure of a football game, but also a painful defeat of Soviet "socialism" against Yugoslav "revisionism". As a result, those members became the "culprits", fortunately, they were greeted not by guns, but by the icy Siberia. The following year, Stalin saw Lenin go, and only then was this group of members rehabilitated and ended their exile.
▲ Soviet Union men's football team VS Yugoslav men's football team
But if you think that Mussolini only uses this trick of "making jokes about life", you are very wrong. Now you can sit in front of the TV and watch the live broadcast of various events, which is also the credit of Lao Mo back then.
At that time, there was no concept of "live broadcasting", if you want to watch the game, you have to go to the scene, otherwise you will only wait for the next day's newspaper or radio, after all, the people who can go to the scene to experience it in person are a minority, most people can not feel the charm of football at all, let alone make football national.
This immediately touched the sensitive nerves of Mussolini, who had been the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, so he ordered that the Italian national radio station must immediately produce a program that "can vividly reflect the excitement of the football game to the public", if not, sorry, see you in the next life. Thus, live sports events were born under Mussolini's "earnest care".
In addition, under the personal command of Mussolini, in 1925, Italy spent 5 million lira a year to build the world's top San Siro stadium in Milan for players and fans to play and watch, you know, at the same time German football clubs were still looking for a place to train in the graveyard. To this day, the San Siro Stadium is also a five-star stadium in the Europa League, the shared home of AC Milan and Inter.
▲ San Siro Stadium
It can be said that Mussolini has supported football from the media to finance to national policy, which has also left Italy a "glorious mark" in world football. Coincidentally, two years later, his little fan brother Adolf Hitler also managed the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and he also "left a name in history".
▲ Mussolini and Hitler
Some people say that if Hitler had been admitted to the Vienna Academy of Arts, there would have been one less dictator and one more painter in the world. This phrase does not seem to be exaggerated for Mussolini, if Mussolini had been the president of the football association, then he may be one of the most successful football federation presidents in the world.
Argentina doesn't want to win the title?
After talking about Italy, let's talk about Argentina, like Italy, Argentina is also a football powerhouse, and there are many fan groups in the world, and the 1:2 defeat to Saudi Arabia a few days ago also surprised many fans.
We know that world-class sports events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games are very money-burning, and this time Qatar smashed 220 billion US dollars, which is 1.28 times its GDP last year.
The 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina, but Argentina did not have as much money as Qatar, when domestic inflation reached 200%, the economy could collapse at any time, and there was no money to host the World Cup. As a result, many people have come forward to demand the cancellation of the World Cup.
However, the Argentine government is determined to hold it, firstly, it is a football event such as the World Cup, and if you miss it, you don't know when you can catch up, and then the government hopes to pull related industries through the World Cup and bring the economy back to life.
As a result, the World Cup did not wait, first waited for its own end, and in 1976 the commander of the Argentine army, Vidilla, staged a military coup and came to power to form a military government.
▲ Vidila (center) with his military dignitaries
Old Master Kong said: "If a dangerous country does not enter, a chaotic country does not live", as soon as the military coup came out, the football associations of European countries began to retreat. But the Argentine military junta was unwilling to let go, in addition to the two reasons mentioned earlier, Argentina was in a military dictatorship at that time, and its international reputation was not good, so they needed the winner of this World Cup to change their image, so the World Cup was not only held, but also specially organized.
In order to show sincerity, the Argentine military government also made a bloody commitment, promising an additional budget of 700 million US dollars, equivalent to 10% of Argentina's GDP at that time, which is really "measuring Argentina's material resources and making the country happy", coupled with the real money of FIFA officials, and finally the World Cup was held in Argentina as scheduled.
▲ 1978 World Cup in Argentina
In the group stage, Argentina's opponents are the old wrongdoer Brazil, Peru in South America and Poland in Europe, no one is a soft persimmon, Argentina's performance is also very average. Especially in the last match against Peru in the group stage, according to the rules, Argentina must win by 4 goals if they want to qualify, not to mention that Peru itself is not weak, even if it really meets a weak team, it is not so easy to win 4 goals.
Almost everyone thought that Argentina wanted to qualify unless the sun played west, but on the day of the game, the sun did come out of the west, and against the sluggish Peruvian team, Argentina swept the opponent 6-0 and successfully qualified.
▲ In a weird 6-0 game, Peru was more anxious to kick into its own goal than Argentina.
The bizarre performance of the Peruvian team also aroused suspicions, and after the fact, Peruvian media broke the news that the Argentine military government traded with the Peruvian military government with 35,000 tons of food and a loan of 50 million US dollars, and "bought" the victory.
In the knockout rounds that followed, Argentina also had a smooth ride and soon reached the final. The opponents of the final Netherlands were also outrageous, first against the number one inside star Cruyff did not participate in this tournament, except for the opening goal, the game was also a slump, and finally Argentina successfully won the championship 3-1.
▲ Defeated the Argentine team that won the championship in the Netherlands
The name of the uncrowned king of the Dutch team was born, and many people thought that if Cruyff had been in the team, the result might have been different. In 2008, Cruyff revealed that he withdrew from the 1978 World Cup because he and his family were threatened with kidnapping.
Can Maradona be a god and the British help?
In fact, today's Argentine fans will choose to ignore 1978 when they mention the glorious history of the past, preferring to say that in 1986, Maradona's World Cup, that World Cup is the best proof of Argentina's strength to win the championship, and it is also Maradona's battle of gods.
However, what really made Maradona an Argentine national hero was not only to win back the title, but also to play Argentina and England in the quarterfinals.
Argentina and England in 1986
Time goes back to the 1978 World Cup under the "efforts" of the military government, Argentina won the championship, the world championship did give the Argentines a shot in the arm, the reputation of the military government is also increasing, but soon slapped in the face by reality, it turns out that no matter how high the enthusiasm can not withstand unemployment, inflation, and the three mountains of the dictatorship.
After the World Cup, Argentina's economy continued to languish, Videla was emptied in internal military battles, and Galtieri came to power to form a new junta.
▲Galtieri
Don't look at the military-turned-Galtieri who is an economic layman, but he decided to give Argentina another "shot in the arm", so on April 2, 1982, Argentina sent troops to the Falklands, and the Falklands War broke out immediately. Galtieri originally thought that the declining British Empire would not work for a projectile land, but the Royal Navy fleet had to fight for this breath even if it was half the world, and finally the Argentine army was defeated at home, and Galtieri himself was forced to resign.
▲Falklands Island
How much did the Falklands defeat affect the Argentines? Before the start of the 2014 World Cup, before a warm-up match between Argentina and Slovenia, Argentine players also pulled banners to mention the Falklands issue, more than three decades later, Argentines have not forgotten this incident, let alone 1986, just a few years after the end of the war?
▲ Argentine team members pulling banners
The new hatred and old hatred also make the significance of this quarterfinal between Argentina and Britain far beyond the football victory itself, this match is regarded as Argentina's national honor battle, a game that must not be lost.
Under the influence of national sentiment, Argentina successfully advanced to the semifinals by eliminating England 2-1 with two magical goals from Maradona. This victory dispelled the gloom of Argentina's defeat in the Falklands War, and at that moment, Maradona became Argentina's national hero, national hope, and even founded the Maradona religion.
▲ Victory over England's Maradona
It can be said that without this race, Lao Ma's legendary life would have been greatly reduced.
Brazil, which has been the favorite to win the championship every time, can't even eat enough?
In fact, when it comes to the World Cup, even people who don't pay attention to football must know the Brazilian team, Brazil has won the championship five times in history, so it has the title of "five-star Brazil".
If Italian football is thanks to Mussolini, Brazilian football is thanks to Medisi.
Medisi was president of Brazil's military junta that came to power in 1969 and, like all military juntas, ruled dictatorship. History has proven time and again that dictatorship inevitably invites discontent, so in order to divert attention, he thought of football.
Emilio Galastasu Medisi (December 4, 1905 – October 9, 1985) was a Brazilian military leader and politician. President of Brazil from 1969 to 1974
As a result, he began building new stadiums across the country to provide plenty of playing space for the public. At the same time, Medici also scoured talented football talents around the country, built a strong Brazilian team, and won the World Cup for the third time in 1970.
Before every World Cup, Brazil is seen as a favorite to win the title, but it is such a country known as the "kingdom of football" that still struggles with hunger to this day.
A protester in Brazil holds up a sign with the Portuguese word "hunger" written on it.
According to the Brazilian National Food Insecurity Survey, released on September 14, 2022, the proportion of hungry people in Brazil has risen from 5.8% in 2018 to 15.5% this year, that is, in 2022, 33 million Brazilians are expected to have enough to eat. So much so that a few days ago, the 77-year-old President-elect of Brazil, Lula da Silva, made a wish to "let all Brazilians eat three meals a day" before the start of his term in 2023.
Jun Wu Mu also hopes that he can get his wish as soon as possible.
Combined with the above examples, sometimes competitive sports are not just about the game itself, but for the most part it is inseparable from politics. While international attempts have been made to keep sport out of politics, with little success.
Tracing back to the roots, don't forget that the earliest competitive sports, the ancient Olympic Games, were not made when several Greek city-states were tired of fighting?
Therefore, competitive sports itself is born of politics, breaking bones and connecting tendons. And football, as the world's number one sport, is even more the brunt.