1982 was the best World Cup ever. On hindsight, the strategy of Enzo Bearzot was simply marvellous, having learnt his lesson in World Cup 1978, when his Italy went all out to win all first three games in the first round only to crumble to Holland in the de facto semi-final. Whereas Holland's first round performance was so-so (perhaps learning from their 1974 lesson), even losing to Scotland, but still reached the Grand Final.
In 1982, Brazil and England were the ones going all out to win all first three group games only to falter in the later round. It's clear that Enzo Bearzot and Italy have studied all that Brazil could do, however the Brazilians were taken by surprise believing it was a mediocre Italy. Naviety was the word most commentators used to describe the Brazil defeat.
Simply put, the Brazil 1982 was still not at the level of Brazil 1970 when they didn't have to care less and simply bulldozed through to the Cup.
For the opening game, I'd hazard a guess for a 1:1 draw.
This reminds me of 1970 Q-Final when England goalkeeper Gordon Banks (undisputedly the best in the world then) got something like stomachache or diarrhoea, and West Germany happily won 3:2 with Gerd Muller gleeing.
