Summary

First Round
The 1970 World Cup is now remembered as a classic - but, as usual, the tournament was preceded by disputes over the organisation of the event. This World Cup was the first one to be televised in colour. However, to fit into the European viewing schedules, some matches kicked off at noon. This was an unpopular decision with many players and managers because of the intense heat in Mexico at that time of day.

Telstar, the official 1970 FIFA World Cup ball.
The format of the competition stayed the same as 1966: 16 teams qualified, divided into four groups of four playing each other once in a round-robin tournament format. There were no seeds, instead the organizers formed geographical ‘sections’ from which the four groups were drawn in Mexico City, on 10 January 1970. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals. However, for the first time in the World Cup finals, teams level on points at the end of the group stage were separated by goal difference (replacing play-offs and goal average) and where two or more teams had equal goal difference, by the drawing of lots. If a quarter-final or semi-final match resulted in a draw after extra time the referee would have drawn the name of the team to progress to the next round out of a hat.
Controversy surrounded the world cup before a ball was even kicked. For England, the build-up to the tournament took a bizarre turn when their captain was accused of theft. While England were in Colombia for a pre-tournament friendly, Bobby Moore was arrested for allegedly stealing a bracelet from a jeweller's shop. He was released on bail to allow him to appear in the World Cup finals, and the charges were later quietly dropped.
In Group 1, hosts Mexico lived up to the expectations of an entire nation by advancing along with the Soviet Union, though there was controversy over the home side's 1-0 victory over Belgium and their 4-0 win over El Salvador.
Group 2 of the opening round produced just six goals in six games as Uruguay, reigning South America champions, and the reigning European champions, Italy, prevail over Sweden and surprise qualifier Israel after a series of dull, uninspired games. Italy would, however, show the true measure of its talent in the knock-out phase.
The first great moments of this memorable World Cup happened in Group 3, where two-time former World champion Brazil were pooled with the current world champions England and solid European sides Czechoslovakia and Romania. In the rematch of the 1962 World Cup final, they fell behind early in their opening game against Czechoslovakia, but fought back strongly and eventually won 4-1. Pelé scored one of their goals, but a goal attempt that in which Pelé audaciously attempted to lob a shot over Czechoslovak goalkeeper Ivo Viktor from the halfway line, missed the goal by a whisker. The "Clash of the Champions" between Brazil and England lived up to all expectations. The match is best remembered for a Pelé near-miss. His powerful close-range downward header was kept out by an amazing save from Gordon Banks, who somehow managed to get down to the ball and flick it upwards and over the bar. In the end, a single Jairzinho goal was enough to win the game for Brazil. Romania ran Brazil close in their third game, but were finally beaten 3-2. England joined Brazil with two 1-0 victories over Romania and Czechoslovakia.
In Group 4, Peru and its attacking style created a sensation by beating established side Bulgaria 3-2 after trailing 0-2 at halftime. Morocco also got off to a bright start, taking the lead against West Germany in their first match, but the Germans came back to win 2-1. West Germany also went behind against Bulgaria in their second match, but a Gerd Muller hat-trick helped them fight back to win 5-2. Muller hit another hat-trick in the Germans' last group game, scoring all their goals in a 3-1 win over Peru. In the end, Peru eventually advanced along with West Germany after scoring three times in 11 second-half minutes to beat Morocco 3-0.