UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Prominent football / soccer magazine, Soccer World has recently conducted a global poll of experts to determine the greatest matches of all time. Among them are Liverpool’s come-from-behind win against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final (ranked second), England’s 4-2 win against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final (ranked seventh) and Brazil’s 4-1 win against Italy in the 1970 World Cup final (ranked eighth).

But the one which towers among them all happened on 17th June 1970 during the 1970 World Cup in a game which surprisingly did not feature the greatest team of all time, the incomparable Brazilian side of 1970.

Instead it was a match between Italy and West Germany, dubbed the Game of the Century.

For sheer drama, even the Liverpool-AC Milan Champions League Final of 2005 cannot compare.

Italy scored at the 8th minute and led until injury time when Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalised for the Germans. German TV commentator Ernst Huberty could hardly have chosen his words better when he exclaimed “It had to be Schnellinger!” Schnellinger played in the Italian Serie A with AC Milan, for whom he did not score a single goal. It was his first goal in 47 matches.

During extra time, a staggering 5 goals were scored. It is the one and only World Cup game ever to have five goals scored in extra time!

The extra time goals:
- Gerd “Der Bomber” Müller (West Germany): 94th, hence giving the Germans the lead for the first time in the match. Score 1-2.
- Tarcisio Burgnich (Italy): 98th. Score: 2-2.
- Luigi Riva (Italy): 104th. Score: 3-2.
- Gerd Müller (again!): 110th. Score 3-3. Picture:

- As TV cameras were still replaying Müller’s goal, Gianni Rivera, unmarked near the penalty box, put away Boninsenga’s cross. Score: 4-3.

Such is the magnitude of the match that a monument has been erected commemorating the match in front of Aztec Stadium.

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