Card of the Day - 2024-08-03

Panini Argentina 78
Panini [trade/commercial : O/S - Italy] "FIFA World Cup Argentina 1978" (1978) 4/400

The clue here was Argentina, the current holder of the Olympic title, and possibly the first glimmer of its return to the games.

Now it may have come as a surprise to many of the spectators that Argentina were so good, but they were hotly tipped as favourites by the bookies. The reasons for this are clear, if you think of the geography, those long, flat grasslands where cattle are raised, and the horsemen who keep them in check and bring them in to face their unseemly fate. A polo pony needs to be speedy, bendy, and fast, and to be used to any kind of ground. To this day it is one of the most popular sports in that country - more than three hundred clubs, a thousand fields, and at least five thousand players.  Compare this to the two hundred football clubs, seventy five stadiums, and I have no idea how many football players. Maybe you do, if so please tell us. I may have miscounted the clubs as well, but there is a list at Wikipedia/ArgentineFCs

So we started the week with this man, Jorge Carrascosa, who, quite coincidentally, was born in August (the 15th, 1948) though the truth is that I picked him for his moustache. He was born in Buenos Aires and was nicknamed El Lobo - or the wolf. 

He started his footballing career in the late 1960s and made his national team debut in 1970. He was also at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. He retired shortly after this card was issued, in 1979.

This set is sometimes just known as "Argentina 78" but its full title shows that it was issued for the World Cup. Actually some of this confusion is caused by the fact that there were two albums, one saying "Argentina World Cup 1978" and another just saying "World Cup 78". You can see those at the Football Cartophilic Info Exchange/Panini WC78

The tournament was held in Argentina, starting on June the 1st 1978, and ending on the 25th of June, with the final, which was at the Estadio Monumental, being between Argentina and the Netherlands. And Argentina won, three nil. 

South American countries have a pretty good record at winning the World Cup, and also have the honour of winning the first ever one in 1930, that team being Uruguay. They also won it in 1950. Brazil was the next team to take the cup, in 1958, and they have now won it five times, the last being in 2002. The other team was ours, Argentina, who have won it twice, in 1978, and in 1986.