West Germany v Italy, 1970 World Cup semi-final, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City.
This match was later named "The Game of the Century", and the football alone would have earned it the title. Italy won 4-3 after extra time. Five of the seven goals came in the 30 minutes of extra time.
But the image that lasted belonged to a player who scored none of them.
Midway through the match Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder. In those days teams were allowed two substitutions, and West Germany had already used both. Most players would have gone off anyway and left their side a man short. Beckenbauer had his arm strapped against his body in a makeshift sling and carried on. He played the rest of normal time and the whole of extra time like that.
What did Beckenbauer's sling prove?
That a captain can lead without the use of one arm, for a start. He could not tackle properly, could not fall safely and could not balance the way a footballer needs to. He stayed on because leaving would have left his teammates short on the biggest stage there is.
Italy won the match. Yet many people who saw it remember Beckenbauer's courage more clearly than the scoreline.
The photograph of Der Kaiser in his sling became one of the best-known pictures in World Cup history, and it still turns up whenever anyone tries to explain what captaincy looks like.
Up next tomorrow: number 28.
