The World Cup in West Germany was played just two years after the terrible terrorist attack when 11 Israeli athletes were killed during the Olympic Games in Munich 1972.
The Jules Rimet trophy had been awarded to Brazil after their third success in Mexico 1970 so a new trophy was designed and used for the first time in 1974.
Australia , East Germany , Haiti and Zaire competed for the first time and were joined by Scotland for the first time in 20 years as the only UK team to qualify.
There were 16 qualifiers divided into 4 groups of 4 teams with the top two qualifying for the second group stage where there were 2 groups of 4 teams with the 2 group winners qualifying for the final.
Sweden beat Austria 2-1 in a playoff to win Qualifying in Group on 27th November 1973.
The draw for the finals was made on 5th January 1974 in Frankfurt with Yugoslavia or Spain draw in Group 2 with Brazil , Scotland and Zaire.
Yugoslavia qualified on 13th February 1974 with a 1-0 playoff win over Spain in Frankfurt after the teams finished level on points and goal difference in Qualifying Group 7.
The winner of European Qualifying Group 9 , Soviet Union had to play an Inter Continental Playoff against Chile. the first leg was drawn 0-0 in Moscow but after a coup in Chile , the Soviets refused to play the second leg in Santiago and the tie was awarded to Chile by FIFA.
PART ONE – 13TH JUNE TO 23RD JUNE 1974
Thursday 13th June
Group 2 – BRAZIL 0 YUGOSLAVIA 0 – Frankfurt
The opening game saw a cautious approach by both teams as the holders Brazil much weakened by the retirement of Pele struggled to breakdown the high skilled Europeans, on a wet evening in Frankfurt.
Friday 14th June
Group 1 – WEST GERMANY 1 CHILE 0 – West Berlin
The German full back Paul Breitner scored the first goal of the 1974 World Cup with a superb long range strike into the top corner after 18mins.
The Germans struggled to add to their lead against the Chilean defence.
Group 1 – EAST GERMANY 2 AUSTRALIA 0 – Hamburg
Two nations competing for the first time which saw the hosts neighbours in the end comfortably beat the Aussies 2-0 after a dour first half
Group 2 – SCOTLAND 2 ZAIRE 0 – Dortmund
Scotland with veteran Denis Law making his only appearance at a World Cup would struggle to break down the Africans after taking an early two goal lead through Peter Lorimer and Joe Jordan.
Saturday 15th June
Group 3 – HOLLAND 2 URUGUAY 0 – Hanover
Two goals by Johnny Rep gave the Dutch a winning start to their campaign
Group 3 – SWEDEN 0 BULGARIA 0 – Dusseldorf
In an entertaining match Sweden and Bulgaria drew 0-0
Group 4 – ITALY 3 HAITI 1 – Munich
The minnows of Haiti looked to be causing a shock when they took a 1-0 lead early in the second half but Italy came back with three goals as they outclassed their Central American opposition.
Group 4 – POLAND 3 ARGENTINA 2 – Stuttgart
Poland came out of the blocks and scored two goals inside the first 10 minutes before taking a 3-0 lead through Lato for his second goal of the game early in the second half. Argentina mounted a comeback but could only score twice, as the Poles held on for victory.
Tuesday 18th June
Group 1 – WEST GERMANY 3 AUSTRALIA 0 – Hamburg
The host nation moved through the gears after their uninspiring opening 1-0 win to comfortably see off World Cup new boys Australia with two first half goals before Gerd Muller scored his first goal of the competition with their third goal in the second half. A maximum of 4pts from their fist two games saw West Germany qualify for the Second Round ahead of their meeting with local rivals East Germany.
Group 1 – EAST GERMANY 1 CHILE 1 – West Berlin
East Germany despite taking the lead early in the second half were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by Chile. Chile were still to play minnows Australia with the two German nations to meet in the final group games.
Group 2 – YUGOSLAVIA 9 ZAIRE 0 – Dortmund
Zaire crumbled at the hands of Yugoslavia after a fall out between the players and their association over payments during the tournament and also the fact their coach was Yugoslav made their performance on the night suspicious after they had fared well against Scotland in the opening game.
Group 2 – BRAZIL 0 SCOTLAND 0 – Frankfurt
Scotland put on a heroic performance against the reigning World Champions and came close to winning the game when Scotland captain Billy Bremner could only push a close range effort the wrong side of the post.
This left Scotland needing to beat Yugoslavia in the final game if Brazil beat Zaire by more than the 2 goals Scotland had beaten the Africans.
Wednesday 19th June
Group 3 – BULGARIA 1 URUGUAY 1 – Hanover
Bulgaria seemed to put themselves in with a great chance of qualifying for Round 2 when they took a 75th min lead through Bonev, however Uruguay stayed in contention when Pavoni equalised in 87 mins.
Group 3 – HOLLAND 0 SWEDEN 0 – Dortmund
Sweden manged to stop the Dutch scoring and kept their chances of qualification alive, although the match provided the first Cruyff turn.
Group 4 – ARGENTINA 1 ITALY 1 – Stuttgart
Argentina took the lead after 20 mins through Rene Houseman before an own goal brought the sides level before half time as both teams kept their hopes of qualification alive.
Group 4 – POLAND 7 HAITI 0 – Munich
Poland stormed into Round 2 with a blitz of new boys Haiti with Szarmach scoring a hat trick and Lato scoring his second brace of the tournament
Saturday 22nd June
Group 1 – AUSTRALIA 0 CHILE 0 – West Berlin
Chile’s draw with Australia put both nations out of the 1974 World Cup.
Group 1 – EAST GERMANY 1 WEST GERMANY 0 – Hamburg
The only senior professional game between the two German nations with the surprise scoreline of the lesser fancied East Germany winning with a 77th min goal from Sparwasser.
Group 2 – BRAZIL 3 ZAIRE 0 – Gelsenkirchen
Brazil’s 3-0 win put them into round two as they scored more against Zaire.
Group 2 – SCOTLAND 1 YUGOSLAVIA 1 – Frankfurt
Scotland went into their final game knowing a win would take them into the second round, and needed Brazil not to win by 3 goals or more if they drew.
In a cagey game Yugoslavia knew a draw would be enough and gave Scotland few chances. Karasi scored after 81mins for Yugoslavia and virtually ended Scotland’s World Cup dreams.
Joe Jordan scored after 88 mins to give Scotland brief hope , but the game ended 1-1 and Scotland ended the tournament undefeated but eliminated.
Sunday 23rd June
Group 3 – HOLLAND 4 BULGARIA 1 – Dortmund
The Dutch produced an excellent performance although it took two first half penalties by Johan Neeskens to put them in front, before Johhny Rep put the result beyond doubt in the second half.
Group 3 – SWEDEN 3 URUGUAY 0 – Dusseldorf
Sweden progressed to Round Two with star man Ralf Edstrom scoring twice as they maintained their great defence with their third clean sheet.
Group 4 – ARGENTINA 4 HAITI 1 – Munich
Argentina comfortably qualified for Round Two
Group 4 – POLAND 2 ITALY 1 – Stuttgart
A major shock as Italy were knocked out despite a late Fabio Capello goal by Poland.
TABLES
GROUP 1
1 East Germany 3 2 1 0 4 1 +3 5
2 West Germany 3 2 0 1 4 1 +3 4
3 Chile 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2
4 Australia 3 0 1 2 0 5 -5 1
GROUP 2
1 Yugoslavia 3 1 2 0 10 1 +9 4
2 Brazil 3 1 2 0 3 0 +3 4
3 Scotland 3 1 2 0 3 1 +2 4
4 Zaire 3 0 0 3 0 14 -14 0
GROUP 3
1 Netherlands 3 2 1 0 6 1 +5 5
2 Sweden 3 1 2 0 3 0 +3 4
3 Bulgaria 3 0 2 1 2 5 -3 2
4 Uruguay 3 0 1 2 1 6 -5 1
GROUP 4
1 Poland 3 3 0 0 12 3 +9 6
2 Argentina 3 1 1 1 7 5 +2 3
3 Italy 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 3
4 Haiti 3 0 0 3 2 14 -12 0
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