Finally – the World Cup finals came to Argentina and the World’s Ultimate football Prize captured. Despite the fears of teams mainly due to the Military rule which began two years earlier while thousands of persons were murdered, tortured or disappeared the Greatest Show went on. Two of the outstanding stars of Germany ’74’- Franz ‘Kaiser’ Beckenbauer and Johan Cryuff – were absent. The ‘Kaiser’ accepted an offer of US$2.5M to play for the New York Cosmos alongside the great Pele and Cryuff had permanently withdrawn. There was also great concern for the violent and intimidating behaviour of the Argentine players and supporters.
A few weeks before the World Cup kicked off a bomb was found in the Press Center in Buenos Aires and while it was being taken away it exploded and killed one policeman and injured another. There were two newcomers among the 16 nations competing, while top teams England, Uruguay and Russia did not qualify.
On June 1st at the refurbished River Plate Stadium the 11th World Cup finals got underway with a rather dull opener between defending Champions, West Germany and Poland that failed to produce a goal. Both sides, in the end, qualified for the 2nd stage with the Poles topping the group 2 after securing 1- 0 and 3 -1 wins over Tunisia and Mexico respectively. The Germans exploded against Mexico with six unanswered goals but were held to a goal-less tie versus Tunisia who became the first African Nation to win a match at the finals when they beat Mexico 3-1.   
Group One was dominated by Italy with comprehensive victories against France 2 -1, Hungary 3 -1 and then it was the hosts’ turn 1-0.The Argentines kept their Cup dream alive with 2 -1 wins over the French and Hungary. France and their supporters cried foul as Swiss referee Jean Dubach while gifting the home side a penalty for ball handling that was purely accidental and not intentional and strangely when it was clear to all that Didier Six was pulled down in the area he refused to blow, and the French with a new star named Michil Platini were eliminated. Earlier the French had beaten Hungary 3 -1.
In group 3, goals were hard to come by and only 8 were made in the six games as Austria and Brazil advanced. The Austrians had the better of Spain 2-1 and Sweden 1- 0, but went under 0 -1 to Brazil who had stalemates with Sweden (1-1) and Spain (0-0).In the game to decide who end at the bottom Spain beat Sweden 1- 0.
A total of 19 goals were scored in Group 4 and in the final analysis Peru who topped the group was joined by Holland who had a superior goal difference to Scotland, victors over the Dutch by a 3-2 margin. The Dutch welcomed Iran to the finals with a 3-0 humbling while they were held to a 0 – 0 draw with Peru who also disposed of the Iranians 4-1. Iran secured a point after holding the Scottish to a 1-1 deadlock. The Scots other fixture resulted in a 3 -1 loss to Peru.
On June 14th the second stage began with half of the teams failing to score in the opening four matches. In group ‘B”, Argentina put away Poland 2- 0 and in an All South American affair Brazil stopped Peru 3-0, but in Group ‘A’, Italy and West Germany played out an ultra-defensive encounter that failed to produce a goal while the Dutch rekindled the spark of Total Football played in Germany four years ago to surprisingly thrash Austria 5-1. Four days later it was Brazil and Argentina playing to a goal-less tie, while Poland needled Peru 1-0 in group ‘B’ action. In Group ‘A’, a repeat of the ‘74’ final delivered the excitement fans wished for as it see-sawed then ended 2-2. Germany opened the score and Holland ended it in what was the best game of the Tournament.
The final day of play to determine who will contest the Championship game left bitter memories  for the Brazilians, especially, while the Italians cried poor refereeing on Spanish Angel Martinez. To this day the Italians firmly believe that Martinez aided the Dutch in reaching two consecutive finals, though it was the tall Dutch player Ernie Brandts who scored the opening own-goal for the Italians after 18 minutes. Brandts equalised for the Dutch five minutes on the resumption and Arie Haan guaranteed their final appearance with a 75th minute winner. In the other match-up Austria ended the reign of the Germans with a 3-2 defeat.
The last game of the 2nd round was reserved for the Host and as it turned out they were gifted a place in the final after Peru refused to put up a fight in a game the Argentines needed to win by at least four goals. The end result 6-0 and Brazil who had earlier beaten Poland 3-1 to remain the only unbeaten side at the Tournament had to settle for the 3rd place play-off against Italy which they won 2-1. Ever since that World Cup FIFA has played all final round matches simultaneously so as to avoid a repeat of what transpired in Argentina. The 1978 World Cup also unearthed the first case of a failed Doping Test in the person of Scottish Willie Johnston.
Argentina was in a World Cup final for the second time, but unlike 1930 when they faced Uruguay in Montevideo and lost this time the opponents are the Dutch and more importantly they are at home. On June 25th close to 72,000 fans filled the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires with great expectations for a Nation under Junta Military rule.
The game itself was hotly contested, at times physical, forcing Italian Sergio Gonella to take control even before a ball was kicked. Holland’s Rene Van de Kerkhof who had a bruised elbow covered with bandage was ordered off after the home side protested. The Dutch reminded the referee that Van de Kerkhof had played in previous games without any complain, but Gonella upheld the protest and thus the start was delayed and Vande Kerkhof returned to the field after placing another bandage over the already covered area.
Gonella’s afternoon was always destined to be full of action, in fact, he served up 4 Yellow Cards during the course of the 120 minutes of play, with the Dutch receiving 3. Argentina and the Tournament’s top marksman Mario Kempes delighted the fans with a 38th minute strike, but all in attendance knew that it was far from over. Both sides attacked in search of goals, while Blue and White strips of paper from the stands were evident all over the stadium. The Dutch finally leveled the score when Dick Nanninga who replaced Johnny Rep 15 minutes into the 2nd period headed home with 8 minutes left. Inspired, the Dutch attacked the Argentine goal relentlessly but without luck and to add to their woes a referee who refused to blow for obvious fouls committed by the host. In the final minute of regulation time Rob Rensenbrink muffed a golden opportunity to give the Dutch the game when his attempt from inside the area was blocked by the post.
In the extra period Argentina responded to their fans call for a goal as they added two thanks to Kempes and Daniel Bertoni and the Dutch had stumbled at the final hurdle yet again. It is still the only time a side had played ‘back to back’ championship games and lost and for the 5th time the home team ended up as Champions of the World. The wild celebrations that followed in Buenos Aries all night was continued for days and Daniel Passarella became the first Argentine Captain to hoist the prestigious Cup and the second captain to lift the FIFA World Cup which replaced the Jule Rimet at the previous competition.