Poland 1982
Poland at Spain 1982 were a formidable side built on the legacy of their brilliant 1974 third-place team. Zbigniew Boniek nicknamed the Beautiful by Michel Platini himself was the star, scoring a hat-trick against Belgium in the second group phase that remains one of the great individual displays of the tournament. Grzegorz Lato, the 1974 Golden Boot winner, provided experience, while goalkeeper Józef Młynarczyk was rock-solid. Poland swept through the first phase unbeaten and topped their second-round group to reach the semi-finals. There, Italy's resurgent Paolo Rossi struck twice in a 2-0 defeat. Poland claimed third place with a victory over France. In an era when Eastern European football was at its peak, Poland's 1982 campaign their second semi-final in three World Cups confirmed them as one of the decade's elite sides.