Argentina at the FIFA World Cup playmaker position was instead filled by Mario Kempes, who ended up becoming the first Argentinian to win the Golden Ball in addition to being the tournament's top scorer with 6 goals. The Dutch side was missing a superstar of their own: Johann Cruyff did not join the 1978 World Cup squads due to the aftermath of a kidnapping attempt which occurred in 1977. He only disclosed this information 30 years later. The closely contested match was influenced by a hostile atmosphere and ended with the Dutch players refusing to attend the award ceremony after Argentina grabbed the title in extra
Argentina at the FIFA World Cup <section begin=Lineups /> Argentina has played a total of 81 FIFA World Cup games through 17 tournaments facing 36 rivals. Games that went on penalty kicks are shown as drawn. Teams in bold denote world cup winners, teams in "italics" show teams which played it first match ever in a World Cup against Argentina.<br> Teams with a * mark no longer exist. East Germany was annexed to Germany. Soviet Union now plays as Russia.<br> +Played as Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Through Argentinian team history, several coaches had trained it with different football styles from offensive to defensive tactics. There