44 years ago… the story of a scandal that crowned the Argentine national team with the first World Cup

The 1978 World Cup saw Argentina win their first World Cup title, after waiting 48 years.

And in that version of world Cup held in Argentina 44 years ago, the “Albiceleste” team defeated the Netherlands in the final, 3-1, to put Argentina among the world champions.

However, a major shock was triggered by “Times” magazine 8 years after the tournament, when it published an investigation in 1986 in which it said that Argentina had won the title. world Cup in a suspicious way.

Argentina faced difficulty in qualifying from the second round of the tournament (group stage), as it beat Poland 2-0 before drawing with Brazil 0-0, to need to win a wide score (4-0) in the last round against Peru in order to reach final match.

The “Times” reported that the Argentine national team made a deal with the Peruvian national team, and the match between them ended in a clean six-for-Tango, in return for the Argentine government’s waiver of its money in Peru.

The disclosure of the scandal came at a sensitive time, as Argentina was on a date with England in the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup, but despite that, the Tango team managed to win, as the late legend Diego Armando Maradona led the team to achieve the second title after defeating Germany in the final.