Fifa worldcup: 1978

This worldcup was held in Argentina between 1st and 25th of June and it was no ordinary event.

The world cup had not taken place in a southamerican country since 1962. Three stadiums were built, and other three were remodeled. A lot of money was spent. This was a huge event and everyone felt excited and hopeful…

• Argentina’s situation was peculiar: the country was under a dictatorship called “The National Reorganization Process”, which had started two years ago (in 1976) due to the conflicts between supporters of Juan Domingo Perón (Ex President) and the economical problems.

The first three The first president of this period was Jorge

Rafael Videla, who was still in charge during the worldcup. José Alfredo Martinez de Hoz was the Minister of Economy and Emilio Eduardo Massera was the Naval military officer

Argentina for the win!Argentina beat Netherlands in the River Plate Stadium after extra time. It was the first time our country won the world cup…Was this a coincidence? Had the military government anything to do with this fact?

“It hurts to know that we were an element of distraction”Osvaldo Ardiles, who played in the world cup, said in an interview. Most of the people didn’t know what kind of atrocities were taking place at that time. A few streets down the River Plate stadium was the Naval mechanics school, known as ESMA, which was full of prisioners.

Some people who belonged to the “resistance” were tortured or killed. And maybe the only way to hide such an

issue was to bring the world cup to our country….

• There remain some doubts about Argentina’s success in the world cup: Was it a coincidence? Or was it a strategy? One reason to think this is that the government wanted to distract people from the fact that a whole country was being affected in several ways…

To sum up, we could say there are two versions of this world cup, and that is why it is going to be

remembered…

Fare victory? Or Political strategy?