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With the completion of the 1982 World Cup, an updated set of World Cup soccer cards were issued. Brazil continued to lead the pack in all categories (other than goals received). Still having a soft spot for Italy, I was somewhat agitated that they hadn’t overtaken West Germany as the second highest team in overall points. The fact that West Germany was in such close pursuit of Brazil in all categories made me uncomfortable. With the possibility of them eventually catching up and passing Brazil, I made a conscious decision to always hate the German national team and all things related to German soccer. Poland’s third place finish in the World Cup hardly ranked them high in these cards’ standings as their poor past performances yielded a low aggregate number of points.

Updated stats aside, another observation regarding the new cards was the shoddy work that had been done regarding their pictures. While many of the pictures were just too dark, the actual content was also questionable. Brazil’s team picture featured a player standing, looking almost squished between two of his teammates. Years later when I came across the original photo, a friendly at Wembley against England, I realized there was a gap there and the goalkeeper, Waldir Peres, had been not so successfully cut from the side and photoshopped in the space.

 


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