Still boycotting the World Cup? Even if you aren't, watch these videos!

A fly on the wall documentary from 1998 on Gillingham football club as the Gills push for promotion just missed out on the play-offs on goal different



First broadcast in May 1994, when producer Carl Ross chose to document Swindon Town during the 1992/93 season, he originally intended to look beyond the glamour of football at an unfashionable club - instead he ended up documenting a behind the scenes view of one of the most successful seasons in the club's history in this superb programme, as STFC were promoted to the Premier League.
 
Day 20 - 30 June

1981 was a great year for Ipswich Town, and today's entry celebrates this.

Runners-up in the league under Bobby Robson, they won the UEFA Cup, which I think is their last major honour.

More importantly, the team found the time to beat the Nazis in a game of football.

Yes, that is a real sentence, and yes, it is accurate.
 
Back in the day the UEFA Cup Final was played over two legs, home and away.

Ipswich won the home leg 3-0, and took that to the Netherlands to play AZ Alkmaar (yes, I know that's a redundant name).

Highlights of the 1st leg appear to be nearly non-existent, which I assume must be down to copyright claims:



Here's highlights of the 2nd leg with John Motson commentating:



And here is the full game without commentary:

 
Okay, so Ipswich Town and the Nazis.

In 1981 the film Escape to Victory was released (it was just called Victory in the US).

Here's a trailer:



I am going to quote liberally from the Wikipedia page as that describes this far more matter-of-factly than I could.

The film is about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during the Second World War who play an exhibition match of football against a German team.

The film received great attention upon its theatrical release, as it starred professional footballers Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Kazimierz Deyna, Paul Van Himst, Mike Summerbee, Hallvar Thoresen, Werner Roth and Pelé.

Numerous Ipswich Town players were also in the film, including John Wark, Russell Osman, Laurie Sivell, Robin Turner and Kevin O'Callaghan.

The film was inspired by the story of the so-called Death Match in which FC Dynamo Kyiv defeated German soldiers while Ukraine was occupied by German troops in World War II. To be fair, the story was discredited after the film was made. Here's a podcast explaining that story:



A film where Pele tries to act and Michael Caine tries to play football?!



Sadly the film is not freely available, although you can pay to watch it on NOW or Amazon.

What I love about this is the filmmakers went out of their way to ensure historical accuracy and continuity, but then at some point threw their hands in the air and gave up. I'll explain.

The movie is set in the early years of the German occupation of France (post August 1942 as reference is made to being ‘captured at Dieppe’), and the match is played near Paris.

Two immediate problems. Brazil declared war on Germany in 1942 but Brazilian soldiers only started serving in Europe in 1944, and then only in Italy. No problem - Pele suddenly comes from Trinidad. Thankfully he doesn't even attempt an accent.

(I even spent 20 minutes finding out if West Indian soldiers would have theoretically served in Europe and been captured before realising that none of you would care and this is only a football forum).

Argentina didn't declare war on Germany until March 1945. What about Ossie Ardiles? Well, he plays 'Carlos Rey' (King Charles?), and the filmmakers don't even bother giving him a nationality. A man with a Spanish name and an Argentinian accent who apparently fought the Germans? Sure, why not.

But then Kevin O'Callaghan is openly identified as being Irish. I assume he was a volunteer. See what I mean? A backstory for Pele and Ardiles but not for poor Kevin.



Oh, and Sylvester Stallone is a 'Canadian' goalkeeper. They even mentioned the 1942 Dieppe Raid so Sly could have a plausible reason for being there. Apparently Gordon Banks trained him for the film.





Love the music.

This needs to be remade.
 
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Day 21 - 1 July
Here are your choices for today.

A preview of the 1982 World Cup in Spain:



A documentary about the 1986 World Cup in Mexico:



When Lineker met Maradona, a BBC documentary from 2006:



Here are two matches from the 1991/92 First Division season, in which you can watch a 17 year old Ryan Giggs absolutely skinning defenders:






And finally, here is a documentary covering DR Congo's attempt to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, whilst the country is engulfed in a civil war:

 
Remember when France weren't good?

Here they are in 1993, at home to Bulgaria. They need a draw to make it to the 1994 World Cup. They don't achieve it.

All the drama occurs in the final minute of normal time:

 
Last game of the 92/93 season, Wimbledon away.

United are Champions for the first time in 26 years, and there is a party mood:



Check out the pitch invasion at the end which spoiled the day.
 
Day 22 - 2 July

Documentary on Berlusconi's time in charge of AC Milan:



Quite simply the biggest derby in history. The match of the century. The derby to end all derbies. Boca Juniors vs River Plate in the Copa Libertadores final is like el clasico in the Champions League final with a bomb under it. Eli Mengem travelled to Buenos Aires knowing all this… but still couldn’t have predicted just how crazy this game was going to be.



Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United | Third Round | Emirates FA Cup 2011-12​




Parma’s journey from Italian football underdogs to European glory is one of the sport’s most dramatic stories. From the Hernán Crespo, Gianluigi Buffon, and Faustino Asprilla era to the shocking Parmalat scandal, this video explores how Parma rose to glory and fell into financial ruin.



THAT match. David Beckham helps England qualify for the 2002 World Cup:



In September of 1888 The Football League kicked off and paved the way for what professional football would become in England today, a multi-tiered league system that installs a sense of pride for traditional football fans, strikes fear into North American Franchise owners, and a collective oooo from Conspiracy theorists. But it was never intended to look like this. Go back 100 plus years, and professional football in England looked a lot more fragmented, so how did we go from the football league being a closed club of 12 teams, to a unified national structure with promotion and relegation?



Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia were formed as a nation for the first time. A nation that would last for 75 years before taking the decision to dissolve into two separate states: Czechia and Slovakia. Whilst their union was short, the impact they had both historically and through the prism of international football was seismic. Two World Cup finals, becoming European and Olympic Champions, Czechoslovakia was an unlikely contender for much of the most coveted prizes in international football. This is their story.

 
Frosty said:
Back in the day the UEFA Cup Final was played over two legs, home and away.

Ipswich won the home leg 3-0, and took that to the Netherlands to play AZ Alkmaar (yes, I know that's a redundant name).

Highlights of the 1st leg appear to be nearly non-existent, which I assume must be down to copyright claims:



Here's highlights of the 2nd leg with John Motson commentating:



And here is the full game without commentary:

Click to expand...

Actually, to be completely accurate (and why not), the club was called AZ '67 at the time. The '67 was a reference to the club having been founded in 1967 as a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek (AZ: Alkmaar Zaanstreek; although AZ was initially briefly short for Alkmaar Zaanstreek-Combinatie - but the C was never in the abbreviation).

The name was shortened to AZ in 1986, and that's all it's known as in the Netherlands. AZ Alkmaar is only used internationally, I suppose to promote the city (but not the Zaanstreek, poor guys) - same as PSV Eindhoven or Ajax Amsterdam.

(Other Dutch clubs did add the city they're from formally to their names, like Sparta Rotterdam, Excelsior Rotterdam, Heracles Almelo, NAC Breda and N.E.C. Nijmegen. That's often a sort of sponsorship arrangement.)
 
Cheimoon said:
Actually, to be completely accurate (and why not), the club was called AZ '67 at the time. The '67 was a reference to the club having been founded in 1967 as a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek (AZ: Alkmaar Zaanstreek; although AZ was initially briefly short for Alkmaar Zaanstreek-Combinatie - but the C was never in the abbreviation).

The name was shortened to AZ in 1986, and that's all it's known as in the Netherlands. AZ Alkmaar is only used internationally, I suppose to promote the city (but not the Zaanstreek, poor guys) - same as PSV Eindhoven or Ajax Amsterdam.

(Other Dutch clubs did add the city they're from formally to their names, like Sparta Rotterdam, Excelsior Rotterdam, Heracles Almelo, NAC Breda and N.E.C. Nijmegen. That's often a sort of sponsorship arrangement.)
Click to expand...
I always appreciate this level of accuracy.
 
Australia qualified for the 2006 World Cup by bearing Uruguay in a play off on penalties. I've found the 2nd leg match in full, and a documentary made about the game:



 
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