The 1973 Intercontinental Cup was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match played on 28 November 1973 between

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, runners-up of the

1972–73 European Cup The 1972–73 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by Ajax in the final against Juventus at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. The win by Ajax resulted in the fourth consecutive championship by a D ...

, and Independiente, winners of the

1973 Copa Libertadores Copa Libertadores 1973 was won by defending champions Independiente of Argentina after defeating Colo Colo of Chile in a third decisive game. The third match which ended 2–1 in extra time was necessary after the previous two leg matches ended ...

. The match was played at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian N ...

in Rome. It was Juventus' first appearance into the competition and Independiente's fourth appearance after the defeats against

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

and against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. Despite initially refusing to participate in the competition, Juventus replaced

as representative UEFA team in the competition after Ajax as the European champions declined to contest a possible meeting in South America officially for financial reasons. The Cup was played in a single match instead of a two-legged final as happened in the previous and following years until

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Background

Independiente was the

title holder after beating Chilean club

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

with a goal in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

. The Intercontinental Cup was a long longing for the club so they had lost the previous final v Dutch team

–led by

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a p ...

, most of its players would were part of the Netherlands national team that showed the revolutionary tactical theory (called the " total Football") at the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

– just one year before and had the opportunity to take revenge of that defeat. Nevertheless, the Dutch club refused to play the 1973 edition alleging they didn't want to suffer the "rough game" of the Argentine team again. Therefore, the runner-up of

, Juventus, took Ajax's place to contest the competition. The Italian club refused to come to Buenos Aires, putting as a condition to play a unique match at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Independiente executives accepted it, scheduling the match for November 28, 1973. José Pastoriza, who had been the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and leader of the Copa Libertadores winning team, did not play the match because he was transferred to

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

short before the final in Rome.

Match

Summary

During the match, dominated by the Italian team, the ''Bianconeri'' had several opportunities to take the lead with two shots on the cross, a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

, drawn by Cuccureddu, ended up over the bar and a shot in the last minutes of the race, which was blocked by the goalkeeper Santoro in daring action. Ten minutes from the end, an own goal by Gentile in a Bochini's shot, the only significant offensive action made by Independiente in the match, was decisive for the victory of the ''Diablos Rojos'' ("Red Devils").

Details

Aftermath

It was the first Intercontinental Cup won by Independiente (and the third won by an Argentine club after

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

and

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, whe ...

success in 1967 and 1968 respectively). The victory was largely celebrated by Independiente fans due to the importance given to that competition in Argentina. The victory was also the breakthrough of 19-year old Ricardo Bochini as a raising star.El gol invisible de Bochini cumple 40 años
''Clarín'', 28 Nov 2013 Bochini would continue and finish his career always playing for Independiente, becoming one of the greatest idols in the history of the club. On the other hand, the other keyplayer of the match,

Daniel Bertoni Ricardo Daniel Bertoni (born 14 March 1955) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a right or left winger. In Argentina, he had a successful career at Club Atlético Independiente, where he won three Copa Libertadores, one Intercontine ...

, would then win the first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

with

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, also scoring the third goal v Netherlands in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

In their own words

The following phrases are extracted from an interview to Ricardo Bochini, Daniel Bertoni and Francisco Sá, three of Independiente players that won the Cup in 1973:

The lost video

Although the match was broadcast by Canal 7 in Argentina, it is believed that the video containing the images of the match could have been erased or stolen during the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the ...

that governed from

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. As those images were lost, the interest of Independiente fans and journalist in the match was increasing as years were by. On the basis on some Independiente members (with then president of the institution Javier Cantero among them) initiative, the search for the video started. After some contacts with

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(the Italian broadcasting company that had aired the match in 1973), they provided a copy of the film to musical producer (and Independiente fan) Mariano Asch,"El gol a la Juventus lo conseguí yo"
interview to Mariano Asch by Daniel Galoto, 9 Dec 2013 putting as condition it had to be returned after being used in Argentina. In 2009, the 3-minute long copy of the video was aired for the first time during a celebration in Teatro Roma of

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is conne ...

held to commemorate the 35th. anniversary of the victory. Independiente legend Ricardo Bochini (who scored the goal at the final in 1973) was the star guest attending the event.

References

{{Club Atlético Independiente matches Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

Intercontinental Cup 1973 Intercontinental Cup 1973 Intercontinental Cup 1973 Intercontinental Cup November 1973 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in Rome 1970s in Rome