As India and Pakistan clash in Sunday’s Champions Trophy final, we take a look at some other traditional rivalries across various sports
Srinath Sripath17-Jun-2017India and Pakistan have a long-standing rivalry across sports•Getty ImagesField hockeyIndia v Pakistan
The Olympics years – 1956, 1960, 1964
India and Pakistan played three successive Olympic gold medal matches over eight years. Pakistan, whose first Olympics appearance came immediately after independence in London in 1948, were the only team to run India close in Melbourne in 1956. Four years on, Naseer Bunda gave them gold in Rome, snapping India’s streak of six successive gold medals. India got their revenge in 1964, in the first Olympics held in Asia, beating Pakistan 1-0 in the final in Tokyo. They have never faced off in an Olympic final since.The World Cup final, 1975
The World Cup in hockey was conceived by Pakistan’s sports administrator of repute, Air Marshal Nur Khan, and Pakistan remain the most successful team in the men’s game, with four titles, including the first one in Barcelona in 1971. Four years on, they seemed on course for their second title in Kuala Lumpur. The final against India was an absorbing match, with Surjit Singh and Ashok Kumar, son of the legendary Dhyan Chand leading India to a 2-1 win. The team led by Ajit Pal Singh remains the only Indian team to have won the World Cup.Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have had a history of facing off in NBA finals•Getty ImagesBasketballLos Angeles Lakers v Boston Celtics: 12 NBA Finals, 1959 – 2010
The two most successful franchises in NBA history – Celtics 17 titles, Lakers 16 – have met a record 12 times in the finals, starting from 1959. The Celtics dominated during the Bill Russell era of the 1960s, as he regularly bested fellow legendary big man Wilt Chamberlain by winning each of the first seven match-ups. The rivalry gained steam again in the 1980s during the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson era. From 1980-88, the Lakers or Celtics won eight of nine titles with five for the Lakers and three for the Celtics. The two teams went head to head in 1984, 1985 and 1987. After going dormant for 21 years, the rivalry was sparked once again at the end of the 2000s, when Kobe Bryant’s Lakers took on Celtics teams led by Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.The US basketball team questions the decision of the officials•Rich Clarkson/NCAA PhotosUSA v USSR: The Munich showdown, 1972
Amid geopolitical Cold War implications, the USA and USSR faced off for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics. USA had won all their men’s basketball matches since the sport was included in the Olympics in 1936. With three seconds remaining, USA took the lead for the first time in the game at 50-49. USSR inbounded the ball and the time went down to one second left, when a timeout was given to USSR. A dispute about when the timeout was called resulted in the clock being reset to three seconds. A failed full-court inbound pass resulted in the final seconds ticking away and the Americans began celebrating their gold-medal win. But officials ruled that a horn was sounded prematurely and gave the USSR another chance with three seconds. This time the full-court pass connected and a simple layup gave the USSR a controversial win as the clock ticked down. The Americans refused the silver medal in protest.Geoff Hurst scored three goals in the 1966 World Cup final, becoming the first and only man to achieve a finals hat-trick•PA Images Archive/Getty ImagesFootballEngland v Germany: Geoff Hurst and the goal line controversy, 1966
England’s only football World Cup title came at the expense of rivals West Germany at a packed Wembley Stadium. At the time, it was the most-watched television event ever in the United Kingdom, with TV audience peaking at 32.3 million viewers. England won 4-2 after extra time, and Geoff Hurst’s third goal remains one of the most controversial moments in football history. Till date, the Germans refuse to accept that the ball crossed the line, with the newspaper recently making a cheeky offer to accept its validity if England went back on its Brexit vote. While the two sides’ paths have diverged since, and Germany sees The Netherlands and Italy as greater rivals, England’s triumph remains one of the greatest moments in their sporting history.East Bengal v Mohun Bagan: A 5-0 drubbing and the suicide note, 1975
These two clubs from Kolkata in India have had many great clashes over the years, but few eclipse the IFA Shield final of 1975, when East Bengal ended a 1559-day drought with a 5-0 drubbing. It remains a record margin for this derby, and the aftermath remains the most infamous in its history. Some Bagan stars spent the night on a boat in River Hooghly, for fear of extreme reactions from fans back home, while a number of fans committed suicide.The Madrid rivals have faced off in the Champions League final twice in the last four seasons•Getty ImagesReal Madrid v Atletico Madrid: Two Champions League finals in three years, 2014, 2016The first city-derby Champions League final took place in the tournament’s 59th edition, but then happened twice in three years. Both times it was Real Madrid who came out on top, winning the first one with a deluge of goals in extra time, followed by a penalty shootout to decide the 2016 tie. The Madrid derby is seen by fans as a battle between Real’s capitalist riches and Atletico’s relative working-class background, making the latter the perennial underdog in these battles. So far, Real have twelve Champions League titles, while Atletico have never won the competition.Jonny Wilkinson launches his famous drop-kick in the 2003 World Cup final•Getty ImagesRugbyAustralia v England: Contrasting World Cup finals, 1991, 2003The first final between these two sides was foreshadowed by Australian star David Campese’s comments following England’s try-less semi-final against Scotland. Campese gave England a dose of pre-match sledging, stating he wouldn’t play for them even if he was paid a lot of money to do so. Australia went on to win 12-6, and Campese was named the Player-of-the-Tournament. Twelve years later, England would exact revenge in the most dramatic of finishes, as Jonny Wilkinson scored a drop-kick goal in the dying seconds of extra time to deliver them their first Rugby World Cup title.Mario Lemieux and his Canadian side put it past rivals USA at the 2002 Winter Olympics•Getty ImagesIce hockeyUSA v Canada: Super Mario & Sid the Kid claim Olympic gold, 2002, 2010While USA’s thrilling underdog triumph against USSR in 1980 at Lake Placid deservingly gets all the headlines, having been declared the best international ice hockey story of the past 100 years by governing body IIHF, it was only a semi-final clash between Cold War rivals. In terms of geography and modern quality of players, the twin gold-medal matches between USA and Canada were exhibitions of epic skills between two exceptional sides. Mario Lemieux ended his four-year retirement in 2000 and came back for the Olympics at Salt Lake City in 2002, leading Canada to gold against arguably USA’s best generation of talent. In 2010, Canada, heavy favourites at home in Vancouver, won in overtime on a goal by captain Sidney Crosby, in what turned out to be the most watched TV broadcast in Canadian history and the most-watched hockey game on US television since the gold medal game at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.Boston Red Sox fans hold a placard referring to the Curse of the Bambino, 2004•ESPN Films/30 for 30BaseballNew York Yankees v Boston Red Sox: The battle to break the Curse of the Bambino, 1977 – 2004Twenty-nine times from 1921 to 1969, the Yankees won the American League pennant to go to the World Series. The Red Sox had won the pennant four times from 1912 to 1918 before their owner sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, sparking the “Curse of the Bambino”. Over the next 50 years, Red Sox finished second six times, five times behind the Yankees, and won the pennant just twice in 1946 and 1967. When League Championship Series (LCS) began in 1969, the Yankees and Red Sox were in the same division (AL East), meaning only one could go to the playoffs. The teams were tied at end of the 1977 season with a one-game playoff held in Boston to decide who would go to the ALCS. Bucky Dent hit a famous home-run to help the Yankees beat the Red Sox that year, and when playoffs were expanded in 1995 to include a wildcard round, it meant both could make playoffs and, if they won in the initial round, face off in the ALCS. It happened in 1999, 2003 and 2004. The Yankees won in 1999 and 2003 to keep the Curse of the Bambino alive, the latter thanks to an extra-innings home run in game 7 by Aaron Boone. In the 2004 rematch, the Yankees had a 3-0 series lead before the Red Sox produced the greatest comeback in baseball history, winning four straight including games 6 and 7 in New York to advance to the World Series, which they won for the first time since 1918. From 2004 to now, the Red Sox have gone to win World Series three times, while Yankees have done so just once.
