The 1982 World Cup was during my senior year in High School. That year, we had a lot of exchange students who shared my interest in the game. I was hooked into the game. We were lucky in Michigan because CBC televised the games on Channel 9. We were able to follow the games out of Canada. I was a senior in High School at the time. Italy made an improbable run to the final off the heroics of Paolo Rossi who had returned after a ban from the game for match fixing in Italy.
I was in Germany for the final to watch the Germans get handled by the Italians. It was a great German team who made it to the final, only to lose to Paolo Rossi and the Italians. I watched the game with my buddy and his host family. The passions were muted by my host family. I wished I had gone to Hungary to watch it with my Uncles. They would have been screaming at the TV and shouting for joy at the goals.
In 1986, I was in college at Bowling Green. I signed up for cable just to watch the games again. I believe my cable package was primarily through the CBC again. My beloved Hungarian team of 1986 was embarrassed by the then Soviet Union. (I did my year abroad program that August. I asked my Uncles, what happened? They said it was the pasta they ate in the elevation of Mexico City).
We all know about 1986. It was the year of Diego Maradona. The infamous “Hand of God” against England. Yet, I just watched a replay of the game. England really had nothing to complain about. They sucked in that game. Maradona was running circles around them. Argentina were the better team.
The 1986 final was actually shown on national TV. Argentina was by far the better team, but Germany made it game coming from behind to tie it up. All of those supporting Europe’s hearts were broken when Argentina went ahead for good. No German miracle would be had in 1986 – just runner ups – again.
Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.
Paul is an Internet consultant and President of Professional Blog Service. Professional Blog Service works with companies trying to beat their competition online using business blogging, social media and search engine optimization to dominate their markets. My interests are in Entrepreneurial pursuits, soccer, music, and travel.
