Chile 2-0 Italy: 1962 World Cup, the Battle of Santiago – as it happened

Meanwhile down on the touchline ... BBC presenter and commentator David Coleman is recording his introduction to the highlights package that will be transmitted on BBC Television in three days time, this coming Tuesday at 10.25pm, by which time the film will have been flown back to London. Still a couple of months until Telstar goes up, innit. Anyway, Coleman doesn’t look very happy! “Good evening. The game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football in the history of the game. This is the first time these countries have met; we hope it will be the last. The national motto of Chile reads, By Reason or By Force. Today, the Chileans weren’t prepared to be reasonable, the Italians only used force, and the result was a disaster for the World Cup. If the World Cup is going to survive in its present form something has got to be done about teams that play like this. Indeed, after seeing the film tonight, you at home may well think that teams that play in this manner ought to be expelled immediately from the competition.” Coleman stopped just short of a strangulated cry of “Won’t somebody think of the children?!?”, but we’re a little bit less sanctimonious. Remember to tune in on Tuesday, folks, sit back and enjoy! We guarantee you’ll like it!

So the hosts are guaranteed a place in the quarter finals. Italy, on the other hand, are going home. Perhaps, given all that’s gone down on and off the field, that’s just as well. And anyway, there’s always next time. 1966 can’t pan out any worse for them, can it?

FULL TIME: Chile 2, Italy 0, Dignity −783

The last act of the match sees Salvadore, thoroughly razzed off, jump in on Landa with little interest in connecting with the ball. Aston once again positions himself to stop World War Three breaking out, and then, utterly bored, takes the opportunity to blow for full time. As Mora rushes up to get in the ref’s grille, ostentatiously applauding in the sarcastic style, there’s one last majestic piece of childish nonsense. Maschio offers his hand to Landa; as the two are shaking hands, Maschio crumps his other fist onto Landa’s jaw. Snide as hell, but set your morals aside and there’s something quite special about that, so cold and calculating and cynical. Contreras rushes in to assist his friend, who aims a kick at Maschio, but the Argentina-born Italian takes up a boxing stance, sticks up his dukes in the old-fashioned I’m-prepared-to-go-ten-rounds fashion, and he’s left well alone. Aston trudges off the field in a straight line, the shortest route, head slightly bowed. He’s away, washing his hands of the bedlam continuing behind him, and leaving everyone else to sweep up a mess which, let’s face it, was partly of his own making.

90 min: Mora goes in late on Eyzaguirre, meeting his dangling leg, the full back having long dispatched the ball. He follows up by throwing hands. Eyzaguirre doesn’t seem that interested in engaging, his unwillingness to get involved in unarmed combat no doubt influenced by the scoreline. Altafini races in to separate the two, and ends up laying hands on referee Aston, which doesn’t go down too well. The official, clearly long tired of the whole affair, tetchily throws the ball to the floor so the free kick can be taken. The message seeming to be: the sooner that’s done, the sooner we can all go home.

GOAL!!! Chile 2-0 Italy (Toro 88)

Nope. This is all over, and Italy are going home, in retrospect the inevitable outcome since events of 80 minutes past. The prize wrestler Toro ends the bout with one almighty blow, lashing a shot into the bottom right from 25 yards. A gorgeous goal, totally out of keeping with the general aesthetic.

87 min: Salvadore goes on a desperate scamper after a Mora wedge down the inside right, but ends up in a sea of photographers behind the goal. Time’s running out for the Italians. Can the nine men somehow find the equaliser that would mean survival?

86 min: Mora has a wild, opportunistic strike from out on the left. It’s quite hopeless. Chile go up the other end, where Leonel Sanchez replicates Mora’s under-achievement of seconds earlier.

85 min: Fouilloux is in acres down the left. He curls a ball into the middle for Landa, who is clear in the box. Landa lets the ball clank around between his feet and can only dig out a poor shot that flies straight towards Mattrel. Somehow, Italy are still in this match, and retain a chance of staying in this World Cup. One goal is all they need.

83 min: Nando Martellini seems to think the jig is up. “A long-distance free kick is all we’ve got left,” sighs our man from RAI.

82 min: Salvadore is bundled off the ball in the middle of the Chilean half. Mora decides what the hell, and goes for goal straight from the free kick. He’s nearly 40 yards out! The ball bounces out of play harmlessly wide right of goal, an overly optimistic effort rewarded with ironic cheers from the home support. What a waste, with time very much of the essence.

80 min: Toro goes on the most basic but brilliant of runs, straight down the middle of the pitch. Sheer determination and presence allows him to retain possession, and he whistles a low shot inches wide right of goal. That snippet of football was superlative sport, nearly as good as the all-in wrestling.

79 min and a bit: FOOTBALL AS SCRIPTED BY DH LAWRENCE! Mora is wandering with the ball near the centre circle. Toro gives chase, and rugby tackles the Italian to the ground. Then refuses to let go! Aston is forced to bend down and prise them apart, as though the pair were wrestling naked on a rug in front of an intense fire. This is beyond pathetic. Toro finally gets up and presents the very picture of innocence, while Mora has to be stopped from attempting to spark a Hegelian dialectic using only his hands. He’s livid, real after-last-orders let-me-at-him stuff. There’s a lot of pushing and shoving, before Aston finally tries to calm Mora down. He doesn’t meet his targets: Mora stomps off waving his hands around in the Mediterranean fashion. Toro should probably have seen red as the aggressor, and there’s a case for Mora receiving his marching orders too.

79 min: A bit of space for Fouilloux, who batters a rising shot from a tight angle on the right straight at Mattrel.

78 min: Well, this game has opened up, all of a sudden! Altafini feeds Maschio down the right. Maschio swings a long ball into the area, which Altafini meets, eight yards out. But his header is weak and straight at Escuti. On another day, Altafini could have had two goals. Perhaps another day for the Milan striker, another big match.

77 min: Italy are rocking here. Landa nearly breaks clear down the left but is forced to check back. Toro picks up possession, drops a shoulder to get into the box, and fires a shot towards the bottom-left corner. Mattrell parries brilliantly.

76 min: ANOTHER GOAL FOR CHILE!!! BUT IT’S DISALLOWED. What a lovely sweeping move this was. Ramirez, to the right of the centre circle, rolls the ball inside to Rojas, who romps upfield and sets Landa into the area, free down the inside right. He sort of half-rounds Mattrel on the outside before slotting home, helped by the keeper’s hands flapping back like the doors of a saloon. The pitch again fills with over-excitable snappers, but they quickly u-turn when it’s clear Landa was some way offside.

75 min: Mora and Altafini cause the restart to be delayed, as they’re complaining to Aston about goodness knows what.

GOAL! Chile 1-0 Italy (Ramirez 74)

So much for holding on for that point! Toro bustles down the left, and is clattered by Robotti. Maschio arrives on the scene to throw a little snide kick into the mix. The karmic payback is instant. Navarro swings a free kick into the Italian area. Mattrel comes off his line to punch clear, but it’s a weak effort, the ball dropping towards Ramirez, eight yards out, level with the right-hand post. He sends a looping header towards the top right, and despite two blue shirts defending the line, it creeps in. The instant snap and crackle of celebration pops many an eardrum. The pitch is flooded by photographers again, who finally have a few smiling faces to snap instead of the usual sour phizogs.

73 min: Ramirez curls a cross to the far post from the right. Janich clears, but only to Rojas, who snatches at his shot from the edge of the area, the ball flying well wide left.

71 min: Italy win a corner down the right, but nothing comes from it. They’ve rarely threatened since Altafini missed that header in the first half. It looks like they’ve settled for the point which would at least keep them in this competition, understandable in the circumstances.

69 min: Rojas goes on a slalom down the inside-left channel, but he’s crowded out, blue shirts swarming around him. Italy have been very disciplined at the back, like that’s ever news, nine men or no.

67 min: Mora exchanges passes with Altafini down the left, and cuts inside as he approaches the box. Contreras bundles him over, then stamps on the prone Italian captain’s leg for good measure. This didn’t start well, and it isn’t going to end well.

66 min: ITALY HAVE THE BALL IN THE NET!!! But it won’t count. Altafini ghosts past Navarro, tight on the right touchline, then drifts inside, past two other Chileans, and sticks the ball away from a tight angle. But the whistle’s long gone, the ball having marginally drifted out of play. That was an extremely close call, and it’d be lovely to see another angle of that. Still, Italy can’t feel too hard done by, as the covering players, Raul Sanchez and Landa, had stopped competing, and Escuti didn’t even pay lip service to making a save. Mora isn’t happy with the decision, though, and engages the referee in appropriate discourse.

64 min: Yes, so much for Mora of the United Nations. He takes a full-blown rake down Contreras’s calves as the two tangle out on the right wing. He’d already won the free kick, for goodness sake. Aston, showcasing what appears to be his signature move, does absolutely nothing. Having said that, the ref then makes a small show of ordering Maschio to hurry up with the set piece, a strange diktat seeing the player’s nowhere near the ball and clearly never going to be taking the free kick anyway. It’s fair to say Mr Aston’s head is scrambled too, albeit in a different way to the constantly sparring players.

63 min: It’s been fairly quiet in terms of nonsense since the restart, but things may just be heating up again. First Mora – the peacemaker in the first half, remember – hacks at Navarro and Raul Sanchez in quick succession as he goes on a wild sortie down the right. Then Eyzaguirre pointlessly and provocatively runs into Maschio on the other wing, before trotting away waving his arms dismissively.

62 min: A couple of long shots from Chile: the first from Rojas earns two rugby points, the second is an over-ambitious effort by Contreras on the left touchline. It stays left. Italy are holding out easily enough right now. Less than half-an-hour to see out, and they’ll maintain an interest in this year’s tournament.

60 min: The ever-busy Toro is brought down 30 yards from goal by Janich. Leonel Sanchez sends the free kick rising towards the top left, an unerring heat-seeker. But Mattrel is its equal, and tips the ball round for a corner at full stretch. Italy deal with the resulting corner without fuss.

58 min: A rare moment of attacking creativity from Italy, as Mora tries to make ground along the right by flicking the ball over his own head and spinning away. It’s a cute trick but Navarro is waiting for him a couple of steps up the field, and puts a stop to his gallop.

56 min: Toro is bundled over as he makes his way down the right. The free kick is blasted into the wall, and the rebound is dragged well wide left by the incessant Toro. Before Mattrel can restart the game, Salvadore decides to sit on the turf and roll around for a while, eating up another minute or so. This is a masterclass in sharp practice.

55 min: Toro, drifting right to left, evades two reckless sliding challenges before firing a shot just over the bar from 20 yards. Chile are getting closer, step by careful step. Mattrel takes an age to gather the ball from behind the goal. The crowd do their pantomime duty. In the next phase of play, Landa, perhaps getting a tad frustrated that the game remains goalless, chases a ball he’s never going to get down the inside right and leaves a foot in on Salvadore, who was shielding his keeper as he came out to collect. There’s a bit of passionate debate about this, a lively back-and-forth.

54 min: Maschio plays a little basketball as he prepares to take a throw. He’d have stopped and whistled four verses of Sweet Georgia Brown if the referee had let him, but Aston runs over and for the benefit of those in the stands, taps his watch theatrically.

53 min: Italy are already trying it on with a view to running down the clock. Mattrel and Salvadore faff around at the back, tapping it to each other until Landa jogs up and forces the keeper to pick the ball up and get a wriggle on.

51 min: Ramirez, from the edge of the box, fires a header straight at Mattrel. Chile, two men to the good, are bossing the possession, but still haven’t put Italy’s keeper under serious pressure.

49 min: Landa and Toro so nearly one-two their way through the thick blue line on the edge of the Italian area, but their intricate work doesn’t quite come off. Toro is scythed to the floor by Maschio, just to the right of the D. Leonel Sanchez takes a long run up, but pea-rolls the free kick straight to whoever wants it in the wall. That was dismal. The ball’s reclaimed and Navarro has a dig from distance. It’s on target for the bottom right but easily smothered by Mattrel.

47 min: No, they’ve decided the best form of defence is attack. Mora entertains himself with a sly kick in the back of Navarro. That might have been a good old-fashioned boot up the arse, actually, but it’s hard to tell in the bright sun whether toecap connected with Special Place. Mattrel, staring into the yellow menace, claims a deep Leonel Sanchez cross from the left with élan.

And we’re off again! Italy restart the bout, and quickly lose the ball. Maschio reclaims and sets Menichelli and Mora scampering upfield. They reach the edge of the area before the move breaks down. Have Italy decided that the best form of defence is attack?