You may have noticed that each game in the groups today are being played at exactly the same time.
In a world where TV viewership is everything, leading to an array of bizarre kick off times to make sure all games can be watched by everyone, this might seem strange.
It’s not.
The rule was bought in after an infamous clash between West Germany and Austria in 1982, forever known as The Disgrace of Gijón.
Algeria played Chile the day earlier and won 3-2. With the earlier results in the group, West Germany needed a win to progress, while Austria would still qualify for the next round so long as it didn’t lose more than 3-0.
So, having had a day to stew on this information, after going 1-0 up in the opening 10 minutes, Germany and Austria sat on the result to ensure both would progress.
It was not received well, with West German television commentator Eberhard Stanjek refusing to commentate, while his Austrian counterpart Robert Seeger told his viewers to switch off.
The local newspaper, El Comercio, printed the match report in its crime section.
That match prompted a rethink of the scheduling for future tournaments, but it is almost unfair to single out these two nations for such a low display of skulduggery.
Spain and Northern Ireland manufactured the exact same situation on the same day, a 1-0 Northern Ireland win a perfectly adequate result to see both teams progress to the next round, while there was an equally suspicious result at the 1978 World Cup, when Peru fell to a 6-0 defeat against Argentina in the second group phase, when Argentina had to win by four clear goals to surpass Brazil, which had played earlier in the day, and reach the final.
Guess who plays each other in a winner takes all match on Sunday?
Why it’s Algeria and Austria. Revenge is in the air…
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