The end of the 1940s and the entire 1950s were terrible for Italian football. In 1949, the air disaster that killed Grande Torino, one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport, directly affected the Italian team, which lost some of its greatest stars. For the Nazionale, this resulted in an absence from the 1958 World Cup and poor campaigns in the previous two editions of the competition. One of the rare joys of this period was the defeat of Belgium in 1954.
The 1954 World Cup, held in Switzerland, had peculiarities – which were not pleasing and were not repeated in other World Cups. According to the regulations, the two teams drawn as top seeds in their groups would not face each other, and each team would only play two matches at this stage of the competition. In the event of a tie on points between the second and third placed teams, an extra game would be played to decide which one would advance to the knockout stages. It is also worth noting that there was a 30-minute extension if a match ended in equality, even in the first phase of the tournament. If the result persisted until the end of the 120, only then would a point be given to each of the teams. In other words, there were no penalties.
If this picturesque regulation wasn’t enough, Italy would still have bad luck in the draw for the keys. The Azzurri fell into Group 4, the only all-European group, alongside England, Belgium and hosts Switzerland. Playing against the home team is usually unfavorable for outsiders and this was confirmed in the Nazionale’s debut, defeated 2-1 in Lausanne, in a controversial refereeing by Brazilian Mário Vianna, who ended up being beaten by some Italian athletes. In the other game of the first round, the English and Belgians ended in a curious 4-4.
As Italy and England were the top seeds, they would not face each other. To remain with a chance of advancing to the quarter-finals, the Azzurri, therefore, would have to beat Belgium and still hope for a British triumph over the Swiss. At least, the Nazionale would have a favorable environment: the game would take place in Lugano, a city located in the canton of Ticino, the only one with an Italian majority in all of Switzerland, and on the border with the Italian territory itself. In other words, it would be like playing at home.
Against Belgium, Pandolfini was the heir to the Italy captain’s belt, as Boniperti was absent from the team (Guerin Sportivo)
It wasn’t just the 1954 World Cup that had its peculiarities. Italy, which competed in the competition, too. To begin with, it was led by a foreign coach, which has rarely occurred in history – previously, only in the 1910s, the Swiss Hugo Rietmann and the Englishmen William Garbutt and Harry Goodley were part of the Azzurri’s technical committees, at a time when there were no a single coach. Since November 1953, the person responsible for the Nazionale was the Hungarian Lajos Czeizler, assisted by Angelo Schiavio and Silvio Piola, world champions in 1934 and 1938, respectively.
The experience with Czeizler would not work – and, therefore, no foreigner subsequently returned to command Italy. However, the Hungarian was an accomplished coach. Lajos had experience with Italian teams in the 1920s and 1930s, but would stand out in Sweden over a decade of work. Thus, he returned Belpaese to Milan and took the trio formed by Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm in tow. Simply the three athletes who, in 1951, put an end to a Scudetti drought that had existed since 1907 and elevated the Rossoneri, then modest, to the level of giants. The professor had plenty of credit and was therefore chosen by the FIGC to lead the Azzurri.
Czeizler, however, had to deal with a divided locker room and athletes with strong personalities. His style was not draconian, like that of Vittorio Pozzo, Azzurri coach from 1929 to 1948 and two-time world champion in that period. On the contrary, the Hungarian tried to be diplomatic, which ended up displeasing everyone a little. And the coach was under pressure from all sides, including federation directors, who tried to impose his preferences.
In aerial plays, Galli gave the fragile Belgian defense a lot of trouble (Archive/Città di Lugano)
With six players, Inter, two-time Italian champions in 1953 and 1954, formed Italy’s base. The team also had star Giampiero Boniperti and four other players from Juventus, runner-up twice in a row, and four from Fiorentina, third in the recently concluded Serie A. Out of parochialism, part of the Milan press pushed for Nerazzurri supremacy; the newspapers in Turin asked for the Bianconeri and, finally, those in Florence demanded space for the Violets. Internally, the athletes echoed those intrigues and the directors tried to suffocate them, at the same time as they sought to interfere in Czeizler’s work.
Italy arrived in Lugano very nervous due to the events of the debut, caused by Vianna’s controversial refereeing, and unfocused. Many directors dealt with personal matters and the players did not contribute, getting involved in everyday nitpicking. Czeizler would still have to deal with an injury to captain Boniperti, who injured his ankle and would not play in the World Cup again. Thus, he reformulated the team, removing Ermes Muccinelli (Juventus) and Guido Vincenzi (Inter) to make room for Ardico Magnini (Fiorentina) and Amleto Frignani (Milan). Bologna’s Gino Cappello won Boniperti’s job.
All the problems, however, did not prevent a sovereign performance against Belgium – which, despite the heroic draw with England, did not have a great team. At the end of a first half of Azzurri dominance, defender Marcel Dries brought down Frignani in the area and Roman player Egisto Pandolfini, who took over the captain’s armband from Boniperti, took the penalty perfectly: he displaced goalkeeper Léopold Gernaey and opened the scoring, at 41 minutes.
Rare joy: in the 1954 World Cup, Italy only beat Belgium (Archive/FIGC)
Italy went into the break with the advantage and, as soon as the second half began, their tranquility increased. In the 48th minute, Inter player Benito Lorenzi, the most talented of the players on the field, played with Frignani, confused the markers and crossed just enough for Roman player Carlo Galli, known as the “golden head”, to send a beautiful fish into the net. .
Having control of the match and a good advantage on the scoreboard, Italy could save themselves, but decide to crush Belgium. Pandolfini managed to make a good save and, upon infiltrating the area, fired a beautiful shot at the crossbar. In the 58th minute, the third goal fell from the sky: archer Gernaey failed badly when trying to catch a dropped ball and dropped it at the feet of Frignani, who only hit it into the net.
Taking advantage of goalkeeper Gernaey’s inconsistencies, Italy continued to press and scored their fourth goal in the 78th minute. After a corner kick, Galli scored with a header and Lorenzi completed the ball into the net. In the 81st minute, almost immediately, Léopold Anoul scored for Belgium with a crossed shot. And it was like this: after 4-1, the Italian fans invaded the Cornaredo lawn to celebrate with the athletes.
With the victory, Czeizler and his team would have the chance to rematch Switzerland, who were defeated 2-0 by England. The draw on points between the Italians and the Swiss would then lead to the extra game provided for in the regulations. For Italy, in fact, this would only serve to prolong its ordeal. After all, the hosts would score 4-1 against Nazionale and seal their elimination from the 1954 World Cup.
Italy 4-1 Belgium
Italy: Ghezzi; Magnini, Giacomazzi; Tognon, Nesti, Neri; Pandolfini, Frignani; Cappello, Lorenzi, Galli. Coach: Lajos Czeizler. Belgium: Gernaey; Dries, Van Brandt, Huysmans; Carré, Mees; Mermans, Anoul, Coppens, H. Van den Bosch, P. Van den Bosch. Technician: Dug Livingstone. Goals: Pandolfini (41′), Galli (48′), Frignani (58′) and Lorenzi (78′); Anoul (81′) Referee: Carl Erich Steiner (Austria) Local e data: Cornaredo stadium, Lugano (Switzerland), on June 20, 1954
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2024-06-20 16:50:40
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