Menotti era and revival of Argentina football. Part 5.

Argentine stood as host for the 1978 World Cup.ladislao Cap had lost his job as head coach for the national team after the 1974 World Cup and Luis Menotti took over. Menotti would remain at the post for eight years and became one of the most remembered AFA coaches. His philosophy of football would set marks on Argentinian football for a long time and he would also be the first to lead the team to a world champion title.

More players were tried before a squad were decided for a World Cup than had been the case before. One of the candidates for the Argentina XI at that time was the 17-years old Diego Maradona, who has made his debut in 1977. In the end, Maradona was left outside the 1978 World Cup squad

The squad Menotti had put together for the 1978 World Cup tournament consisted exclusively of players based in South America except the Valencia player Mario Kempes.

The much-awaited tournament took off and it looked great for Argentina after two victories against Hungary and France. Italy waited in the last group match and now the drawback came, AFA were defeated with 1-0. Nevertheless, Argentina advanced to the second round and were placed in the same group as Brazil, Peru and Poland. The key match against Brazil was a draw and that made it a race for the best goal difference. Brazil had a 5+ goal difference after three played games and Argentina had only 2+ before their last match against Peru. They needed to win by at least three goals.

The match on the 21 June at Estadio Gigante de Arroyito has become one of the controversial matches in the history of World Cup. When the referee blew the final whistle, Argentine had won 6-0 and would play the final whereas Brazil would be playing for the third place. Some has speculated that the match against Peru was fixed, but no proof of any kind has ever been accounted for.

In the end, white confetti would rain over Argentina..