Last Wednesday, Argentina y Poland they faced each other in a crucial duel at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Two squads that shared an anecdotal and fraudulent moment in another World Cup event; Germany 1974.
This time the victory was resounding for the South American pro team 2-0. However, in the aforementioned and old appointment, the European team ended up ‘giving’ a hand to the ‘Albiceleste’… although out of interest.
In that World Cup, the trans-Andean team made its debut against the Poles, with a painful 3-2 loss that could have ended in a win in favor of the European team and that, after later equalizing against Italy, left the ‘Albiceleste’ hanging by a thread with their game against Haiti still to come.
However, for the team led by Mario Kempes, Roberto Perfumo, Miguel Ángel Brindisi, among other stars, not only a victory against the Central Americans was enough, but they had to wait for their executioner to defeat the ‘Azzurra’ on the first date. .
Prior to the last date, the Argentine squad came up with a ‘brilliant’ idea to ensure qualification for the second round; offer Poland an ‘incentive’ to beat the Italiansand thus, avoid obstacles to reach the next phase, as long as they were imposed on the Haitians.
The ‘capricious’ was stained
Despite the fact that, for many years, the members of the team led by Vladislao Cap denied bribery, he went to Enrique ‘Quique’ Wolff (defenders of the ‘Albiceleste’ in ’74), in his work as a renowned sports journalist, who let the truth slip and revealed details of the negotiation with Germany’s neighbours.
In the book ‘This is how we play’written by Diego Boronsky, Wolff confirmed that the squad met $25,000 to offer them as encouragement to Poland.
“The Poles came to offer and we said ‘well,’ because if they didn’t they were going to play with substitutes and what do I know. We pooled the money from our pockets and each of the players paid $1,000. The funniest thing was that there were guys who didn’t have money to pay and the AFA put it up, then discounted it from the prizes “confessed the popular communicator.
What happened next is known history. The Polish squad defeated Italy 2-1 and Argentina did the same with Haiti (4-1), qualifying for the next round, where they had to face the Netherlands, Brazil and Democratic Germany. However, he barely got a point -against the Germans- and said goodbye to the tournament.
What happened to the $25,000?
From the other side, the controversial moment is told in another way and includes a second part of the story. And it is that, despite confirming the negotiation with the trans-Andean squad, the former Polish striker Gregory Summer accused the ‘Albiceleste’ of ‘running’ with the money, through a television interview.
The former defender Wladyslaw Zmuda He confirmed the version told by Lato and, in his biography ‘And you will be’, but pointing to a culprit within Poland’s own squad in Germany 1974; the former striker Robert Gadocha.
“We didn’t get a penny. I spoke with Gadocha, who now lives in the United States. She neither answered nor called. Back then, not even after knowing all this.”Zmuda revealed.
Finally, and after 48 years of that World Cup, nobody knows who kept those 25,000 dollars.
