Day in history: how the national team kicked into the third gear
If someone today decides to make a forecast for the outcome of the final match of the FIFA World Cup™, and will start looking for clues in the historical events that happened on July 15, he will be extremely puzzled
It would seem that everything speaks in favor of the French. July 15, 1795, France got its national anthem - "Marseillaise". Claude Joseph Rouget de Lille – a military engineer, poet and composer, wrote its words and music back in 1792. It was then called "The Battle Song of the Rhine Army", but later it became the "March of the Marseilles" - it was sung by military detachments from Marseilles, who arrived in Paris to defend the republic. March enchanted Paris - the "Marseillaise" sounded everywhere and from July 15 became an anthem.
However, this day is also connected with the defeat of the French. On July 15, 1812, an artillery salute was given in the Peter and Paul Fortress in honor of Russia's victory over Napoleon.
The same ambiguous was on July 15, 1952, the first Olympic match of our team: when it seemed that everything had already been decided and the winner was obvious, the Soviet players were able to change the course of history.
This was the first official match of the USSR national team after a long break. Exit to the 1/8 Olympics was at stake. The main time ends with a goalless draw, and in the first minutes of the extra time, our team misses the goal.
"There was almost no chance for a draw - Bulgarian football players went to the defense. However ... The missed goal seemed to add stubbornness to the whole team. We played as if we kicked from the second into to the third gear. Of course, it was necessary to hurry, every second pulled us away from victory. And we won!
"You did a miracle!" - they told us after the match with the Bulgarians," - Igor Netto recalled later in his book "This is Football".
Bulgaria - the USSR - 1: 2 (0: 0, 0: 0); July 15, 1952. Match of the 1/16 finals of the XV Olympic Games. Kotka. Sports Complex. Goals: Kolev (95), Bobrov (99), Trofimov (103).
