In 1963, the Football Association celebrated its centenary. That was the occasion to designate England as host of the eighth World Cup, in 1966. England was the country that invented football, and FIFA's decision was widely accepted without too many debates. The 1966 World Cup started with good premises as all the previous winners participated and many legendary players boded a great show: Eusebio (who was the best goalscorer with 9 goals), Franz Beckenbauer, Helmut Haller, Bobby Charlton, Lev Jašin and, obviously, Pelè. Unfortunately, the tournament didn't keep its word and turned out to be quite colourless. Goals were few (the average was 2,78, the lowest so far together with Chile '62) and, once again, fierce debates were triggered by too many indulgent referees directing in favor of the home team.

 

The 1966 World Cup is remembered especially for two events: the theft of the Cup and the phantom goal in the final game. In March 1966 the Rimet Cup was exposed in London and someone stole it. Researches went on for a week and led to nothing. The Cup was found by a dog, that unearthed it in a London park... but it wasn't a police dog! Pickles (in the photo) was a pooch and its owner was a travel agency employee. The theft is a mistery still today: the thief never asked for a ransom and never came forward. Someone suspects that the real Cup was never found and that Pickles's story was invented to save England's face. That happened before the World Cup... but the epilogue of England '66 also made history. Alf Ramsey's side reached the final. They did it after an acrimonious quarter final against Argentina. The Albiceleste complained about the referee that privileged England (he booked four Argentinian players and expelled Antonio Rattin, who left the pitch after 11 minutes of objections.) The two countries were close to a diplomatic incident. Then, England won a hard-fought game against Portugal. West Germany prevailed over USSR in the semifinal with two red cards that the Soviets harshly contested.

 

The final between England and West Germany was spectacular. Haller scored the opener but Ramsey's boys completed a comeback and changed the momentum of the game. Germany, however, drew in the 89th minute, leaving everyone with bated breath. After eleven minutes of extra time, Geoff Hurst hit a show that stroke the lower part of the bar. The ball bounced on the line and the linesman suggested the final decision to the referee: goal! After the game, TV images showed that the ball didn't cross the line. Hurst scored another goal (he had a hat-trick) and England started to celebrate a historic win before the Queen's eyes. Once again, Italy left the World Cup in the Group Stage. 1966 was one of the bitterest failures ever fot the Azzurri as they lost in a humiliating way against North Korea, an underdog side that reached the quarter finals. That defeat became part of Italy's culture: still today “una Corea” ("a Korea") means “a debacle” in Italian. After that disastrous English campaign, Italian football closed the door to foreign players until 1980.

The "Phantom goal"

 

Helmut Haller, 1939-2012, 33 caps and 13 goals for West Germany. Haller, who scored the opener in the final against England, was among the best players of the 1966 World Cup. He was a fantasista and he could play both as a number 10 and as a winger. He had a brilliant dribbling, a good ball control and nutmegs as his secret weapon. In addition, he was very strong. The German player was already well known in Italy as he arrived at Bologna in 1962. He stayed six years before signing for Juventus, where he played another five. Haller was an uncharacteristic German: a friendly and extroverted guy, he loved to joke and he was very far from the proverbial Teutonic discipline as very often his nights were... very long! He loved to spend nights in pubs and bars. Haller reached the hearts of both Juve's and Bologna's fans.

 

With Bologna, he was a protagonist of the only postwar title. The Rossoblu won it in the 1963-64 season after a playoff against Inter: a memorable game since never before (and never again) was a Scudetto assigned in a playoff. Haller scored 48 goals in Serie A for Bologna and he had a perfect harmony with forwards Ezio Pascutti and Harald Nielsen. In 1968 Juventus' president Gianni Agnelli finally managed to see Haller with the black-and-white jersey. He was 29 and many thought that Haller's years in Turin would have been a golden retirement. Things went in a very different way as Haller played five seasons at high level, athough he scoring rate went down (21 goals with Juventus). This good-natured German striker contributed to the 1971-72 and 1972-73 titles. “Haller was still a child: he loved jokes and he loved life”, his ex team mate Pietro Anastasi said about him.

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