World Cup 2006

At the time of the World Cup, Argentina was living under a military dictatorship commanded by General Videla. Even under the threat of several countries to desert the competition in view of the country’s political situation, the tournament ended without problems with the attendance of the 16 national teams that qualified for the World Cup.

In the field, the polemic situation was generated by the suspicious 6-0 victory of Argentina over Peru, a match that led the Argentinians to the final by disqualifying Brazil for goal difference. Goalkeeper Quiroga, a Peruvian player nationalized as Argentine, received the six goals of the match.

Still today, many believe that Peruvians gave away the match; however, there is no evidence confirming suspicions. Brazil lost chances to fight for the fourth tournament, even though the Brazilian team won all matches, and came back home with the third position, and named themselves as the “Moral World Cup Champion”.

Ready to win the title on that occasion, Netherlands faced Argentina with courage and waged a hard war in the playfield. The 1-1 tie allowed Argentina to win the title when Mario Kempes opened the score in overtime.

Bertoni sealed Argentina’s victory five minutes prior to the end of the game, with a goal scored against Netherlands before the crazy excitement of the over 77,000 fans who attended the Monumental Stadium.