boring / record breaking

setting

A civil war raged in El Salvador at the time, Hungary was still behind the iron curtain. According to the commentator only one Salvadorian played professionally.

the ref

Before the start of the match there are three referees standing in the centre of the field, two of them renown (Corver and Lund-Sorensen) and one guy from Bahrain. It seems odd that that last one gets to do the match while the other two have to run the line. In 1982 they still hadn't come up with the idea of proper linesmen. All referees had to assist in matches too.
Al Doy does not look the part: he is slow, moves awkwardly and stands in the way of the players. He does not seem to anticipate what will happen and then gets caught in a struggle.

the ref

Any old referee would have done in this match, but Al Doy makes a few weird decisions, decisions we will have to view according to the rules at the time. For instance he doesn't show his yellow card for bad fouls, but he does when two Hungarian players go for a refreshment. It was really hot that night. If you wonder why modern day referees show so much yellow, remember that cards are now used to warn a player, in the 1970s and 80s cards seemed to be considered more of a punishment.
Al Doy should have sent off a Hungarian player for taking down Gonzalez on his way to a chance on goal. Just outside the box. But again: that is someone speaking from 2012. No one protested this then.

rules

So were the rules different then? Some were. You could pass back to your goalkeeper for instance. But were you allowed to foul badly without getting any kind of warning? Salvadorian Jorge Gonzalez gets fouled a couple of times by the same player.
I seem to remember it was considered off-side even when a player didn't play the ball, if so, than the one Salvadorian goal should have been canceled. (!)
Not all Hungarian players had their shirts tucked in.

match

From the start players jog up en down the field, no one runs.