[EDIT 6/12/2018: Changing letters with diacritical marks for formatting reasons]
I figured out earlier this year that some USA players' dreams of playing in Maracana, that prestigious stadium in Rio, are unlikely to be fulfilled because we've got Germany and Portugal. Well, 40 years ago, the Yanks had known for quite a while that they wouldn't play in the World Cup at all because Mexico swept them and Canada in the summer of '72.
And recently, a certain club lost a championship they'd also failed to win 40 years ago. If you don't know which one, you'll find out here.
1974: THE YEAR IN SOCCER
West Germany, the home team in the World Cup, wins the final at Munich 2-1 against the Netherlands. Gerd Mueller's 43rd-minute goal is the winner. The West Germans are the first recipients of the new World Cup trophy.
West Germany loses its group match against East Germany 1-0, though both teams would have qualified for the next round win, lose, or draw. East Germany draws once and loses twice in a difficult group. West Germany, on the other hand, wins all the matches in its group and qualifies for the final.
The leading scorer in the World Cup is Grzegorz Lato of Poland with 9 goals. Mueller, with four goals in the finals, reaches 14 in his World Cup career, and Jairzinho of Brazil has 9 in his World Cup career. Those goals bring Mueller's total to 68 in 62 international matches.
This is the lowest-scoring World Cup until 1986, with 2.55 goals per match.
Johan Cruyff, the Dutch legend, is named European Player of the Year, receiving the Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") from France Football. He's also the winner of the World Cup MVP award. Cruyff helps Barcelona win the Spanish league championship, as does Dutch national manager Rinus Michels.
Sometime this year, Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff concedes a goal in an international match for the first time since Sept. of 1972. The clean sheet of 1,142 minutes is a record for internationals.
This is star defender and West German captain Franz Beckenbauer's last World Cup, but he will continue playing for Bayern Munich for a couple of years and for the national team until 1977. Beckenbauer finishes a close second to Cruyff in the voting for the Ballon d'Or, and no one else is even in the neighborhood.
Bayern Munich wins the European Champions' Cup, and they're the first German club to do so. In the final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels May 15, attended by 65,000, Bayern draws with Atletico Madrid 1-1, but the replay two days later, with only 20,000 on hand, is a 4-0 victory. Both goals in the first match are scored in extra time. Mueller scores two of Bayern's four goals in the replay, and Uli Hoeness the other two.
Feyenoord, a Dutch club, wins the UEFA Cup (a "best of the rest" tournament for clubs that didn't win a league championship or a national cup) by defeating England's Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in a two-leg final.
At the European Cup-Winners' Cup, East Germany's Magdeburg defeats Italy's AC Milan 2-0. Normally, Cup-Winners' Cup winners play Champions Cup winners in the Super Cup, but being from different sides of Germany and not agreeing on dates, Bayern and Magdeburg end up not playing.
It takes three games, but Independiente, an Argentine club, wins the Copa Libertadores (South American club championship) for the third of four consecutive years. They score three goals to Sao Paulo's two in the first two matches, but both had won a leg, and their aggregate points are equal, so a playoff is forced Oct. 19 in Santiago, Chile.
Like many other European Cup winners of the '70s, Bayern elects not to play the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. Runner-up Atletico will play the South American champions in March and April of '75.
Zaire wins the African Cup of Nations. Their final against Zambia is a 2-2 tie, but they win the replay 2-0. The match is held in Cairo soon after a disaster at local club Zamalek's stadium kills 49. There is no league or cup championship awarded that year in Egypt.
Israel makes it to the final of the Asian Games soccer tournament in Tehran, only to be defeated by their Iranian hosts 1-0. In the second group phase, North Korea and Kuwait refused to play Israel, and they got their place in the final with those forfeits and a 3-0 win over Burma. The next year the country will be kicked out of the Asian Football Confederation because so many teams refused to play them over the years.
English manager Alf Ramsey finishes his 11-year career with the national team with a record of 69 wins, 27 draws, and 17 losses, including a World Cup championship in '66. The team having failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, it is announced this spring that he will be let go.
Leeds United wins the Football League in England, while last year's champions, Liverpool, win the FA Cup. In Italy, Lazio wins Serie A (their country's top league). In West Germany, Bayern wins its third consecutive Bundesliga title.
Cruz Azul wins its third Mexican Primera Division championship in a row, but America defeats them in the Copa Mexico final. Both teams are located in Mexico City, although Cruz Azul moved there from a short drive outside a few years before.
In the NASL, the Los Angeles Aztecs defeat the Miami Toros in the championship game after a 3-3 match goes to a shootout. The league's leading scorer is Paul Child of the San Jose Earthquakes with 15 goals and 6 assists (36 points). The league MVP is Peter Silvester of the Baltimore Comets.
This is the first season for eight NASL clubs, including the Aztecs, the Earthquakes, the Seattle Sounders, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.
On June 2, Greek American of New York defeats Chicago Croatia 2-0 to win the US Open Cup.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosts a friendly tournament in August, one that features two Mexican clubs, a European squad, and a South American team. Brazilian championship runners-up Cruzeiro defeat Cruz Azul 3-2 for third place, while Portuguese league and cup runners-up Benfica beat America with the same score for the championship.
In his last season with his home club, Santos, Pele scores 10 goals in 27 appearances, making his club total 643 tallies in 656 matches. He puts 14 in the net over 49 friendlies, making his total including friendlies 1,087 goals in 1,120 matches.
In the NCAA championship, Howard defeats St. Louis 2-1 after four overtime periods to topple the college soccer dynasty.
Besides being a new member of the UN this year, Bangladesh is also now affiliated with FIFA. Liechtenstein also joins FIFA this year, but it will not join the UN until 1990.
More on soccer at RSSSF
A piece about Beckenbauer's role in his country's World Cup success from Beyond the Last Man
A piece on Cruyff's season with club and national teams from Football Espana
All of Dino Zoff's appearances, including the 12 straight in which he shut out the opposition, from RSSSF
COMING IN JULY: A look at college football in the '74 season, including the only double Heisman winner, the divided nature of the national championship, and an NFL legend's college career.
