Disaster of Sweden
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 Francisco Lombardo (4) on the pitch while Czechoslovakia players celebrate | |||||||
| Event | 1958 FIFA World Cup, first round, group 1 | ||||||
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| Date | 15 June 1958 | ||||||
| Venue | Olympiastadion, Helsingborg, Sweden | ||||||
| Referee | Arthur Edward Ellis (England) | ||||||
| Attendance | 16,418 | ||||||
The Disaster of Sweden (Spanish: Desastre de Suecia)[1] is the name given to the early elimination of the Argentina football team from the 1958 FIFA World Cup at the hands of the Czechoslovakia football team. The match was played on 15 June 1958, at the Olympiastadion in the city of Helsingborg, Sweden, the host country of the championship. That day, Czechoslovakia beat Argentina 6–1. The final result means the heaviest defeat for the Albiceleste team in a FIFA World Cup.[2][3]
Before that meeting, the two teams had only met once, on 16 August 1956, at El Gasómetro in Buenos Aires with a 1–0 victory for the locals.[4][5]
Argentina arrived at the World Cup with the title of South American champion in tow, after the achievement obtained a year earlier in Peru. Many of the Argentinian football figures of that time, such as Amadeo Carrizo, Ángel Labruna (both members of River's La Maquina), Omar Corbatta, José Ramos Delgado (who later played alongside Pelé in Santos) and José Sanfilippo (historic goalscorer of San Lorenzo de Almagro) took place in the final squad that traveled to Sweden in search of the first world conquest of the Argentinian team and after 24 years of absence from the biggest event.[6] With Guillermo Stábile as coach, the Argentinian team reached qualification after eliminating Bolivia and Chile.
Czechoslovakia, for its part, had qualified in UEFA group 4 beating Wales and East Germany. As at that time there was still no official football championship between all the European teams (the UEFA Euro only began in 1960), the only rivals arose from the friendlies determined by FIFA, and from the Central European International Cup, a tournament which was played between the late '20s and '50s by the strongest teams in said continental region. The Czechoslovak team entered the World Cup with 7 consecutive matches without defeat, 2 of them friendlies, 3 in the qualifying round and 2 in the Central European Cup.
The World Cup in Sweden
In 1958, both teams met in Group A of the World Cup with West Germany and Northern Ireland.
After the dispute of the first two matches, Argentina arrived with 2 points as a result of a defeat against West Germany by 3-1 and a victory against the British team by the same score. Czechoslovakia, on the other hand, had achieved a single point due to a draw against the Germans and a narrow defeat against Northern Ireland, so they had to win to achieve a qualification attempt.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 West Germany |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 3 |
 Argentina |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
 Northern Ireland |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | –1 | 2 |
 Czechoslovakia |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | –1 | 1 |
Match
Summary
The Europeans quickly took control of the match and in the 8th minute defender Milan Dvořák scored the first goal with a shot from outside the area. At 17' the Czechs scored through Zdeněk Zikán after a failed rejection by Francisco Lombardo. At the end of the first half, at 40', Zikán scored again.
Already in the second half the South Americans tried to close the gap. Thus, at 65' Orestes Omar Corbatta made it 1-3 through a penalty. However, four minutes later Jiří Feureisl scored the fourth goal. Then Václav Hovorka would score twice, at 82' and 89', making the final score 6 to 1.
Details
     Czechoslovakia
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    Argentina
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