I’m not quite sure how the city of Oviedo got the gig for España 82. You see, whilst Real Oviedo had some first division pedigree, it hardly held a place amongst the league’s most stellar clubs. The World Cup was already going to pay a visit to the region of Asturias, with three games 18 miles up the road in Gijón. So maybe it boiled down to the fact that Oviedo was prepared to be a willing host and rebuild its ageing stadium. Something that the northern cities of Santander & San Sebastian could or would not do.
Opened in 1932 and originally called the Estadio Buenavista, the stadium stood in open fields to the west of the city centre and featured the first full-length concrete cantilevered stand at a Spanish stadium. By 1980, the landscape, if not Estadio Carlos Tartiere, had changed dramatically. Gone were open fields and the two small houses that stood behind the west terrace and in their place stood high rise urban development. Architect Florencio Muniz Uribe had a tricky job of rebuilding a stadium under the very noses of the local residents. The concrete stand had not weathered well (it had required extensive refurbishment after the Civil War), so it was replaced with a modern main stand, whose roof was metallic rather than concrete. This theme was continued around the other three sides of the ground, with the end stands slightly lower than the two side enclosures. With a capacity of 22,284, it was the smallest of the venues used in España 82 and saw three matches featuring Algeria, Chile & Austria. Many of the venues used in for the 1982 World Cup have seen significant redevelopment, however the Estadio Carlos Tartiere, along with Espanyol’s Estadi de Sarria, Athletic Club’s San Mamés & Atlético Madrid’s Vicente Calderón have been demolished. The site of Real Oviedo’s famous old stadium is now the Asturian Regional Parliament. You can read more about the original Estadio Carlos Tartiere here.
CHILE vs AUSTRIA – GAME 2 GROUP II
Austria had featured strongly in the 1978 World Cup, recording a memorable victory over West Germany, and were up and running in game one with a comfortable win over the South Americans. The midfield was run with aplomb by Prohaska, whilst Krankl and Schachner proved a handful up front. It was Schachner, who was based with Italian club Cesena, that scored in the 21st minute with a glancing header. Austria suffered their only scare four minutes later when Krauss conceded a penalty, however Caszely struck his shot wide.
ALGERIA vs AUSTRIA – GAME 4 GROUP II
For nearly an hour, Algeria looked set to repeat their shock win of five days earlier. However it was Austria who prevailed thanks a strike on 56 minutes by Schachner. Eleven minutes later Hans Krankl scored with a fine left foot drive from the edge of the area. Victory sealed Austria’s qualification to the second phase, whilst Algeria had to beat Chile and hope that the Austrians would stretch the Germans.
ALGERIA vs CHILE – GAME 5 GROUP II
Algeria kept their part of the bargain thanks to a stunning first half performance that saw the North Africans score three first half goals. Admittedly, the Chileans were complicit with poor keeping and defending, but their was no doubting the quality of Algeria’s play, which was exemplified by Assad’s first goal. They ran out of steam in the second half and Chile got back into the game with two goals. Algeria held on for the win, but it was to no avail thanks to the contrived result in the West Germany-Austria match 24 hours later.
Estadios de España 