World Cup histories

[rondwisan]

World Cup dari masa ke masa :ron

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THE DREAM COMES TRUE


Uruguay - 1930


13 countries participated in the first ever World Cup in Uruguay. It was no qualification at that time, the hosts invited teams to the cup. Because of the distance, only four European countries decided to take part in the cup. Most countries rejected to spend several weeks on a ship to cross the Atlantic ocean. In Montevideo the hosts had built a beautiful stadium that could hold 95.000. The work had been delayed because of heavy rain, so the stadium wasn't completed until 5 days into the tournament. It was appropriate, for several reasons, that Uruguay should be chosen to host the first tournament. They were the holders of the Olympic title, good enough credentials in its own right. Furthermore, in July 1930 the country was celebrating the centenary of its independence. It was certainly going to be carnival time in Montevideo during the two weeks of the World Cup, because the entire tournament would be held in the capital of Uruguay.

Only four teams from Europe participated in this first World Cup, and none of them were expected to win the cup. Powerful nations like Italy, Germany, Holland, England and Spain stayed home. One of the entrants, Romania, even had their team picked by his Royal Highness King Carol himself! However, he would have little to celebrate for in this tournament.

France and Mexico played in the first ever World Cup game, and the French won 4-1 with Lucien Laurent of France scoring the first ever World Cup goal. But the two teams who dominated this tournament were Argentina and Uruguay. They both topped their groups easily. Stábile was this tournament's best player, originally a substitute, he came into the side and scored a hat-trick against Mexico. The semifinals saw Argentina trash the United States by 6-1, and Uruguay won by the same score versus Yugoslavia. There was no bronzematch at that time, so both USA and Yugoslavia shared the third place. In the final Argentina looked like the better side in the first half, but the hosts came back in the second half to win the title 4-2.

[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

EUROPE'S TURN TO PLAY HOST


Italy - 1934

Now the World Cup came to Europe. At a FIFA congress in October 1932, after eight lengthy conferences, Italy was chosen as the venue for the second World Cup. At the time Italy was under the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, who had taken power in 1922. The awarding of the World Cup to his country was seen by the dictator as a great propaganda platform and he ensured that Italy would provide a footballing spectacle that would be the envy of the world. But even the hosts had to qualify to be allowed to participate in their own tournament! The organizing committee breathed a sigh of relief when Italy beat Greece 4-0 in the decisive match. What an anticlimax it would have been with the hosts not participating.

Uruguay didn't participate in this cup, because many European nations refused to go to Uruguay for the previous World Cup, and therefore still remain the only champions not to defend their title. The British associations were still at loggerheads with FIFA, and neither England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland entered the qualifying rounds.

Qualification was now necessary for the first time. 32 nations wanted to participate. 16 nations qualified, only four were non-European. The exceptions were USA, Brazil, Argentina and Africa's first ever team, Egypt. There was no groupstage in this World Cup, just ordinary knock-out competition with extra-time in case the teams were level after 90 mins, and a replay if they were level after 120 minutes. No penalty shoot-outs at that time. Unlike in 1930 when all the matches were played in one city, the Italians spread the games all over the country with Rome as headquarters.

Italy got a brilliant start when they trashed USA by 7-1 on the tournament's opening day. It was clear that the South American dominance in the first World Cup would not repeat itself. After the first round only European countries were left in the competition. One of the reasons to Europe's superiority, was the fact that Uruguay didn't enter and Argentina fielded a team full of reserves. Their stars from 1930 had moved to Europe, among them Guillermo Stábile the top-scorer of World Cup 1930 and Monti.

However, new stars would show up in this tournament. Italy with Raimundo Orsi, Angelo Schiavio and Giuseppe Meazza proved to be unbeatable in their own World Cup. Spain's goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora and the Czech striker Oldrich Nejedly were other names that people of that time remember. Nejedly secured his country a place in the final when he scored a hat-trick against Germany in the semifinal. In the final Italy waited. It was not going to be a great final. Italy came back from being 1-0 down to win by 2-1 in extra-time.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

ITALY DEFEND THEIR TITLE


France - 1938


This World Cup held in France was the last before World War II. In 1934, Mussolini had used the World Cup in Italy to full advantage as a propaganda platform. Two years later, Adolf Hitler tried to do the same with the Berlin Olympics. Now, with Europe teetering towards the brink of war, FIFA had to be diplomatic over its choice of venue for the 1938 World Cup. Argentina had applied to stage the finals and, believing the venue would alternate between South America and Europe, they were confident of playing host to the world's leading soccer tournament. But FIFA were mindful of the problems with the first competition in Uruguay, not to mention the travelling difficulties. There was now 57 nations with membership in FIFA and most of those were from Europe. It therefore made sense to give the third World Cup to a European country, and that honour fell to France. FIFA's choice was probably out of loyalty to Jules Rimet, the man who played a big part in getting the tournament started in the first place.

The tournament schedule was the same as in Italy four years earlier, with knockout stage all the way. Argentina and Uruguay were still absent from South America. Argentina snubbed the competition because they had not been allocated the tournament. Only Brazil represented that continent. 15 nations took part, and that meant one nation had to get a free passage into the next round. Sweden was the lucky country. It was to a very tight round, as five of the seven first round matches needed extra time or a replay. Italy was in one of those matches, they played Norway and were lucky not to get eliminated when Norway got a late goal disallowed for offside. Brazil beat Poland 6-5 when Leonidas and Willimowski scored four goals each for their countries. Cuba surprised many by beating Romania after a replay, and Germany were also knocked out after a replay when they lost to Switzerland.

Defending champions Italy beat the hosts 3-1 in the quarterfinal, while Sweden finally entered the competition and beat Cuba 8-0. Brazil beat the runners-up from the last World Cup, Czechoslovakia after a replay. Italy marched on to the final after beating Brazil in the semifinal with 2-1. Brazil unbelievably had left the topscorer Leonidas out of the team, to save him for the final! It was one of the most controversial managerial decisions in World Cup history. The other semifinal was between Sweden and Hungary. Sweden with lots of confidence after their victory over Cuba had a disappointing afternoon as Hungary trashed them 5-1 with Zsengeller getting a hat-trick.

Leonidas was back in the team for the bronzematch against Sweden and scored two goals as the South Americans won the game 4-2. The final in Paris produced six goals, four to Italy who defended the title.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

URUGUAY SHOCK THE HOSTS


Brazil - 1950


Brazil was the host for the first World Cup after World War II. In the FIFA congress in Luxembourg in July 1946, Brazil was the only candidate to host the World Cup in 1950, although it was originally planned to be held in 1949. The decision to stage the fourth World Cup in South America stemmed from the fact that a large part of Europe was still in turmoil after the war. The choice of Brazil was to be a good one. They were reigning South American champions and interest in football was reaching remarkable levels of fanaticism in that vast country. FIFA was confident Brazil would stage a spectacular carnival of football. At this 1946 congress, FIFA also announced that, from 1950, the World Cup trophy would in the future be known as the Jules Rimet Cup, although it was subsequently referred to as the Jules Rimet Trophy. This was to mark Rimet's 25th anniversary as FIFA president.

This 1950 Cup also finally saw the entrance of British teams. After Great Britain had beaten Rest Of Europe 6-1 in a match in 1947, England arrived as one of the hottest favourites to win. This tournament had a strange schedule. Some nations withdrew from the cup after the draw of various reasons. India, for example withdrew because FIFA wouldn't let them play in bare feet! This made the groups look weird, with two groups of four, one with three and one with only two teams. The groupwinners would progress to a final pool where the winners were crowned champions.

One of the biggest shocks in World Cup history came on June 29th when England were beaten by USA by 1-0. Uruguay who were lucky enough to only have one opponent in the groupstage, took advantage of that and trashed Bolivia by 8-0 with their starplayer Schiaffino scoring four of the goals. Sweden and Spain also showed class and topped their groups.

This World Cup has been the only one without a real final. When Uruguay met Brazil in the last match, the hosts needed only a draw to win the World Cup. They had beaten Sweden by 7-1 and Spain by 6-1 in their two earlier games in the group and were favourites. Uruguay had drawn against Spain and beaten Sweden by a single goal. A World record 200.000 spectators watched the game and couldn't believe the outcome. Uruguay stunned the crowd and won 2-1 after coming from behind.

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[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

WEST GERMANY'S SWEET REVENGE


Switzerland - 1954


Switzerland was the obvious choice of venue for the fifth World Cup. FIFA's headquarters were in Zurich and 1954 marked the 50th anniversary of its formation. The Swiss had been granted the tournament at FIFA's first post-war congress in 1946, and they had spent eight years building new stadiums for the great occasion. They did not live up to their promise and were not really up to the organizational requirements of such a tournament. Nevertheless, the competition proved to be a financial success, despite the fact that most stadiums had small capacities. The tournament received limited TV coverage for the first time and the Swiss showed a piece of marketing know-how by having special commemorative coins minted.

FIFA now had a new president, Rodolphe Seeldrayers of Belgium, and once more the governing body found it necessary to change the format, reverting to a pool and knock-out system. The 16 teams were divided into four groups with two teams in each group seeded. The two seeded teams, strangely enough, did not need to play eachother in the group. Also remarkable was that extra time was needed if the scores were level in the group matches!

In this first World Cup held in Europe after World War II, Hungary were the new force to be reckoned with. They banged in goals with a frequence never seen before in a World Cup. They beat West Germany 8-3 and South Korea 9-0. Never has a team been a bigger favourite to win the cup than this. The world was introduced to players like Puskas, Kocsis, Hidegkuti and Czibor. Another team among the favourites was Uruguay. They still hadn't lost a match in World Cup history at this stage and their run continued also after the groupstage after beating Czechoslovakia and Scotland.

The quarterfinal match between Austria and Switzerland brought a new World Cup record. Austria won 7-5, that's the highest number of goals ever in a World Cup match, it's still unbeaten. Uruguay beat England 4-2, and Hungary beat Brazil by the same score in one of the most brutal matches ever. It's later dubbed "The Battle of Berne", as three players got sent off and the fighting continued also after the final whistle. West Germany who had recovered after they got trashed by Hungary in the first round, beat Yugoslavia.

The semifinal between Hungary and Uruguay, who participated in a World Cup on European soil for the first time, is regarded to be one of the best ever in a World Cup. Hungary won 4-2 after extra-time and with that, Uruguay's unbeaten run was broken. The Germans had hit topform and trashed their neighbours Austria by 6-1 and the stage was set for a great final. Austria recovered quickly and surprisingly beat Uruguay and secured the bronzemedals. The final turned out to be dramatic. Hungary were leading 2-0 early on and everything looked safe, but then West Germany in well-known style pulled back both goals and scored a winner to win their first World Cup.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

PELÉ MAKES HIS ENTRANCE


Sweden - 1958


The World Cup stayed in Europe. Sweden hosted it and for the first time, the tournament received international television coverage. None was to be disappointed as the tournament turned out to be the best so far. The format of the competition changed yet again. The 16 teams were split into four groups as in 1954, but now all the teams in the group played eachother. If teams tied for second and third place, the outcome was decided by a play-off. Thankfully, extra-time was not played in pool matches this time. The top two of each group progressed to the quarterfinals, and from then on it was knock-out competition. The teams were not seeded as in 1954, but each of the four groups contained one team from Western Europe, one from Eastern Europe, one from the United Kingdom and one from Latin America. England found themselves in a nightmare group with Brazil, Russia and 1954 bronze medalists, Austria. Hungary were no longer the force they were four years earlier. Leading players like Puskas, Kocsis and Czibor all left the country in 1956 when the Soviet Union invaded their country. The Soviets, on the other hand, entered the World Cup for their first time and were installed as one of the favourites.

This World Cup saw the emergence of the great Pelé. Brazil started the tournament without him though, but he was brought into the side after Brazil's match against England which ended 0-0. That was by the way the first ever goalless draw in a World Cup match! Brazil were the clear favourites to win the World Cup. they brought with them the innovative 4-2-4 system. It didn't take long until the rest of the soccer world employed the same formation.

Remarkable was the way Frenchman Juste Fontaine banged in goals. France scored 11 goals in the groupstage and qualified easily for the quarterfinals. Host nation Sweden qualified as did Wales from their group. Four British teams participated in this cup, and few would have expected that the two qualifying for the quarterfinals were Northern Ireland and Wales. England disappointingly and Scotland had to book the earliest possible flight home.

The quarterfinals saw no surprises, the Germans predictably knocked out Yugoslavia, the hosts eliminated the Soviets, France with a sparkling Fontaine trashed a brave Irish team, while Pelé scored his first ever World Cup goal when Brazil beat Wales by a single goal.

It was goals galore in the latest stage of the cup. The last four games in the cup saw 27 goals! Sweden beat West Germany in a tight semifinal, when the Germans were one man short the last 30 mins. Brazil finally stopped Fontaine & Co when Pelé scored a superb hat-trick in the 5-2 win. Fontaine added 4 more goals in the Bronzematch to take his tally to 13, the highest ever in World Cup history. Pelé and Brazil went on to beat the hosts in the final by 5-2.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

BRAZIL DEFEND THEIR TITLE


Chile - 1962

At the 1956 FIFA congress in Lisbon, three nations formally applied to host the 1962 World Cup - Argentina, Chile and West Germany. It was generally agreed that the tournament couldn't be held in Europe for the third successive time, so the Germans application was rejected. Argentina had better cards on their hands, because of their footballing heritage, larger stadiums and a tremendous interest in the game amongst its people. They were the hot favourites, but in May 1960 Chile was rocked by dreadful earthquakes which claimed 5000 lives. This tragedy, one would have thought, would have made Argentina even stronger candidates, but powerful pleading by the Chilean FA president, Carlos Dittborn, won the sympathy of FIFA and Chile were declared hosts for the 1962 tournament. Dittborn said: "We have nothing - that is why we must have the World Cup."

The Chileans set about building new stadiums and the magnificent National Stadium in Santiago was completed in time for the start of the tournament. For a poor nation, Chile did not disappoint FIFA as World Cup hosts. But the organizers could do little about the football.

This World Cup in Chile brought us little new, only one surprise and that was in the qualification. Sweden who were runners-up four years earlier failed to qualify. Brazil came to Chile with a team very much like the one who won in 1958. Only one major addition, Amarildo, who would take over after Pelé who got injured already in the second match. June 2nd was a black day in World Cup history. Chile met Italy in front of nearly 70.000 spectators in Santiago. They were witnessing discraceful scenes on the field as Latin temperament took over. Only two players were sent off, both Italians, but it should have been a lot more. The English referee Aston said the match was uncontrollable as the players were punching and kicking eachother. The teams needed the police to get escorted off the field safely. The hosts won the football match 2-0.

In the quarterfinals Yugoslavia and West Germany met again for the third time running. On both the previous occasions, the Germans had ended up winning. This time a Radakovic goal three minutes before time sent Yugoslavia through. Brazil with a sparkling Garrincha beat England, the Czechs beat Hungary and Chile surprisingly beat the Soviet Union and now found themselves in the semifinal.

There they met Brazil who looked unstoppable and Garrincha and Vava scored two goals each to send Brazil to yet another final. Czechoslovakia won the other semifinal against Yugoslavia. Chile captured the bronzemedals with a winning goal which was the last kick on the ball in the match. It was a great achievement for Chile who didn't expect their team to go this far. Garrincha who was sent off in the semifinal eventually was allowed to play in the final. Even though Czechoslovakia took the lead early on, Brazil looked like the better team and came back and won the final 3-1. Even without Pelé for most of the tournament, Brazil managed to defend their title.

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[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of England '66


England - 1966

Finally it was England's turn to host the World Cup - sixteen years after taking part for the first time. Coach Alf Ramsey had a great generation of players in their prime age at his disposal; Banks, Moore, the Charltons, Greaves, Hurst and Hunt. Quarterfinalists in Chile 1962, Ramsay was confident his team would do better on home soil and boldly predicted his men would win the trophy. That trophy - the Jules Rimet Cup - caused a lot of drama months before kick-off in the tournament. It was stolen at an exhibition at Westminster's Central Hall in March. Due to its unique and not easily copied design, the organizers feared they would have no cup to hand out to the winners, but a dog named Pickles sorted out all problems when he sniffed around some bushes in Norwood, South London and found the trophy wrapped in newspaper just a week after the theft.

Apart from the trophy hiccup, England staged a flawless tournament from an organizing point of view. England had few problems getting through from their first round group, although some people were critical after the goalless opening match against Uruguay. The teams in Group A (Uruguay, France and Mexico) did not push Ramsey's men to the limit of their capabilities, but things would be different in the quarterfinals. Uruguay followed the hosts to the knock-out stage. Mexico's goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal appeared in a record fifth World Cup and bowed out in style on Wembley keeping a clean sheet against Uruguay - his only clean sheet in his World Cup career.

Group B was tough with West Germany, Argentina, Spain and Switzerland. The Germans had an aspiring young midfielder called Franz Beckenbauer who played superb in the early stages of the tournament. He scored two when Switzerland were beaten 5-0 in the first game. Argentina went through alongside West Germany, but their violent style, particularly in the goalless encounter against the Germans, forced FIFA to caution the whole team. With players like Rattin, Artime and Onega, Argentina were capable of much more than rough play. Reigning European champions, Spain, with loads of ageing stars like Gento, Suarez and Del Sol failed to reach old standards and finished third.

Before the World Cup most people envied people on Merseyside who got to host the Brazilian team in all their first round games plus a likely quarterfinal if groupwinners. Everything went according to plan in Group C when Pelé and Garrincha knocked in a free-kick each to bag a 2-0 win against Bulgaria in the opening match. But the 1958 and 1962 world champions then faced problems against Hungary and lost 3-1. Pelé missed the game through injury. Florian Albert and Ferenc Bene stole the show and were the stars of this Hungarian team who surprised many.

Still they were both overshadowed by a star-player from a country making their World Cup debut in 1966 - Eusebio from Portugal. He led the attack of a team which also featured great names like Torres, Augusto, Simoes and Coluña. Portugal won all their first round matches and put the final nail in Brazil's coffin when beating them 3-1 on the last matchday of the groupstage. Brazil's elimination was a huge upset and it meant the end of the national team careers of such great names as Garrincha, Bellini and Orlando.

Huge upsets were to follow in Group D. The Soviet Union - just like Portugal - came through the first round stage with three wins. The Russians had a solid team with Yashin, Shesterniev and Porkuyan. They easily brushed aside debutants North Korea 3-0 in the first match, but the underrated Asians came back in the second game stealing a point from Chile seconds before the end before achieving their historic 1-0 win against Italy. It ranks up there among the greatest shocks in World Cup history. North Korea - with the youngest team in the finals - found themselves in the quarterfinals at the expense of twice winners Italy.

In the quarterfinals the Koreans continued where they left off against Italy - shocking the world. 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 against Portugal halfway through the first half, but then the tide turned, Eusebio scored four goals and Portugal won 5-3 in the end. It remains the only time in World Cup history a team has come from three goals down to win.

West Germany beat Uruguay 4-0 in their quarterfinal, but the South Americans had two players sent off early in the second half which made the scoreline look a bit more impressive than the performance really was. Still, nobody could deny the obvious quality of players such as Haller, Overath, Held, Seeler and Kaiser Franz. The Soviet Union put an end to Hungary's adventure with a display of solid defence particularly in the second half and thereby secured themselves a first ever semifinal place.

England played most of their match against Argentina one man up after Rattin's much-talked-about dismissal. It took the Argentina captain nearly ten minutes to leave the field having had a running argument with the referee for much of the first half. Even the police entered the field to control the emotions of players who did not understand what was going on. England coach Ramsey refused his players to exchange shirts after the match with the Argentinians whom he described as "animals". Geoff Hurst headed home a cross 12 minutes from time to the relief of a packed Wembley who could look forward to a semifinal with Portugal.

That semifinal was perhaps Bobby Charlton's best game in an England shirt. The Manchester United star scored both goals in the 2-1 win over the tournament's most exciting team. Eusebio scored on a late penalty - it was England's first goal conceded in the finals. West Germany beat the Soviets 2-1 in the other semifinal. Beckenbauer scored a wonderful goal from long range past Yashin who seemed to misjudge the ball's direction. Yashin would have to pick out two more balls from his net in the consolation final against Portugal. Eusebio scored his ninth goal of the finals which made him topscorer - three more than West Germany's Haller - and also secured his country bronze medals.

The 1966 World Cup Final saw Alf Ramsey's prediction come true. His team triumphed at Wembley. Geoff Hurst scored the first (and only so far) hat-trick in a final game. His second, the much debated "did the ball cross the line?" and the third in the dying seconds "some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over....It is now!" are both World Cup classics. Of course the match also featured a late German come-back, but Hurst's two goals in extra-time sealed the win for England in a tournament which generally grew in quality and entertainment as it progressed.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Mexico '70


Mexico - 1970

The 1970 World Cup is regarded by many to be the best ever. Mexico ousted Argentina during the FIFA congress in 1964 and won the right to host the ninth edition of the tournament. Many delegates were a bit worried about the high altitude and how that would affect the matches, but despite the thin air, hot temperatures and early kick-off times the quality shown on the field by the best teams was impressive.

Defending champions England had their own problems before the World Cup started. During the preparation camp in Bogota, skipper Bobby Moore was accused of stealing a bracelet and was forced to stay in Colombia while the rest of the England team travelled to Mexico. Thankfully, he was released due to lack of evidence and could join the England party a few days later. Moore went on to play up to his brilliant best in this World Cup despite the pre-tournament distraction.

The World Cup tournament set-up was identical to the one four years earlier. Sixteen teams - four groups of four teams with the best two teams in each group through to the quarterfinal knock-out stage. The new additions from FIFA for this World Cup included yellow and red cards plus substitutions. The red card was not used a single time during the three weeks in Mexico, making 1970 one of only two World Cups to this day (the other 1950) to be staged without a player being sent off.

The boring Group A 0-0 curtain-raiser between the hosts and Soviet Union was not a worthy teaser to the remaining 31 games. The players lined up and waited an extra-half hour in the mid-day sun, listened to speeches and watched balloons fly into the sky before kick-off. May be that took some energy out of them. By 1970 opening ceremonies at World Cups had started to become huge spectacles.

Both Soviet Union and Mexico progressed rather comfortably to the quarterfinals. Belgium gave some resistance, but could not occupy any of the top spots. El Salvador was the group's fourth team. They literally fought a war to qualify for the World Cup. The decisive 3-2 win over arch rivals Honduras triggered off military actions for four days between two countries who already were at loggerheads with each other. Thousands of people were killed. El Salvador's football team, made up by amateur players, could not measure up against the three other teams in the group and lost all games without scoring a goal.

Group B produced only six goals in six games. Slow starters Italy impressed nobody, but did enough to top the group thanks to a Domenghini goal against Sweden - their only first round goal. Israel made their World Cup debut and got two creditable draws with Italy and Sweden, but it wasn't enough to avoid the bottom position. They went home early with Sweden. Uruguay qualified alongside Italy.

Group C brought together first and foremost champions England and favourites Brazil. The match between them is regarded as one of the best in World Cup history - certainly among first round matches. Brazil won 1-0 thanks to a Jairzinho goal after a fine attack, but the game is also remembered for the "save of the century" by Gordon Banks from a Pelé header. Pelé himself looked rejuvenated after the beating he took in 1966. In Brazil's first match against Czechoslovakia they won 4-1 after coming from behind with Pelé in sparkling form. He once tried to score from 60 yards out, but missed the target by a few inches.

Romania stood up well against Brazil, but lost 3-2 in another entertaining match in this group. Despite some fine efforts none of the Eastern European teams matched up against England and Brazil who marched into the last eight with confidence.

The last group featured some great action too. Peru came from 0-2 down to beat Bulgaria 3-2 to soften the pain felt by their countrymen after the devastating earthquake which killed over 60,000 people just days before the World Cup. Teofilo Cubillas made a name for himself and he would become one of the stars of the tournament.

Debutants Morocco held a 1-0 lead against West Germany for nearly an hour before Uwe Seeler and Gerd Müller saved the day for the 1966 finalists. Müller was unstoppable and knocked in consecutive hat-tricks against Bulgaria and Peru taking his goaltally to seven by the end of the first round groupstage. Peru followed the Germans to the quarterfinals.

The knock-out stage was badly organized from the TV-audiences' point of view. All matches had kick-off at the same time which caused fans to miss a lot of live action. There were 80,000 empty seats at Azteca for the Uruguay v Soviet Union match. Mexico played against Italy in the tiny stadium at Toluca at the same time. At Azteca both teams looked certain to head for a special kind of tie-breaker - the toss of coin - but after 117 minutes a controversial goal gave Uruguay the victory. Victor Esparrago headed in a cross from Luis Cubilla which might have gone out of play before it was headed in. The goal stood anyway.

In Toluca, Mexico took an early lead to the delight of the home crowd, but Italy - who only scored one goal in the groupstage - made an heroic comeback and won 4-1. Gianni Rivera came off the bench and transformed the game.

Nobody could stop Brazil either who scored four more goals in an open game against Peru who bowed out in style. Tostao and Rivelino played key-roles in this game. The fourth quarterfinal was a replay of the Final four years earlier. England had a 2-0 lead deep into the second half when Beckenbauer brought West Germany a glimmer of hope with a fine goal. West Germany's equalizer came from a looping header by Seeler. Peter Bonetti - stand-in goalkeeper for a sick Banks - looked out of position. Just like in 1966 the game went to extra time, but this time West Germany won - the winning goal was scored by Gerd Müller, who else?

The semifinal stage saw two more great games - one of them an all-time classic. Italy lead West Germany by 1-0 at Azteca when defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger - a veteran of four World Cups - went forward and knocked in his only international goal in stoppage time to secure extra time. The extra thirty minutes brought no less than five goals. Italy bowed out 4-3 winners with Rivera - once again coming off the bench - getting the winner. In Guadalajara Brazil came from behind to beat Uruguay 3-1 with some breath-taking attacking football. Rivelino, Tostao, Pele and Jairzinho once again the deadly quartet.

The World Cup Final at Mexico '70 has become one of the most classic of all time. Pelé headed in 1-0 - Brazil's 100th goal in World Cup history. Gerson followed up with a great goal from long range, Jairzinho kept his goal-in-every-game-record going and captain Carlos Alberto finished it all off with a thunderous shot following a wonderful move. 4-1 the final score and a fantastic ending to a tournament that thrilled the world. A grand total of 34 goals scored from the quarterfinals onwards contributed a great deal in making this World Cup unforgettable.

Brazil won permanent possession of the Jules Rimet Cup. FIFA said in 1930: The first country to win it three times keeps it forever. Pelé crowned his career with his third title, Mario Zagallo became the first man to win the World Cup both as player and coach and the whole team of 1970 has become some kind of yardstick for all others to measure up against.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of West Germany '74


West Germany - 1974

The 1974 tournament in West Germany marked the start of a new era in World Cup history for several reasons. Firstly, a new trophy was introduced because Brazil had won the Jules Rimet Cup for their third time four years earlier in Mexico, which meant they got to keep the trophy forever according to guidelines created already in 1930. The new cup was simply called FIFA World Cup, identical with the tournament's official name.

Secondly, a new FIFA president was elected just days before kick-off in the finals. Sir Stanley Rous went out after 13 years in the hot seat and in came Brazilian Joao Havelange. He was the first non-European to hold the post since FIFA was founded in 1904.

Thirdly, the tournament set-up changed format again. A second phase groupstage replaced the knock-out rounds after the preliminary round. It guaranteed half of the teams at least six games in the finals. The four groups of four teams would become two groups of four teams in phase two. Both winners of the second phase groups would play in the World Cup Final itself, where as the two runners-up would meet in the bronze match.

And fourthly, security was tighter than ever after the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972 where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered. A lot was at stake for both hosts and visitors at this 10th World Cup. Thankfully, football stole all the headlines as the tournament went on. Well, almost...

Unlike Mexico '70, a tournament baked in sun, the 1974 World Cup was to be plagued by torrential rain. Many matches were played in bad conditions, particularly the game between West Germany and Poland with a place in the Final at stake. The pitch in Frankfurt was water-logged and the city's fire department was called in to soak up the better part of the water - to little avail. What could have been a classic encounter between two of the best teams in the finals turned out to be a farce. Luck was more the decisive factor than skill.

West Germany were hot favourites to win the cup, in 1972 they had won the European Championships in a convincing way, and as hosts in 1974 with virtually an identical team, they looked like certain finalists although their confidence got a knock when East Germany beat them in the first round. West Germany's central line with Maier, Beckenbauer, Overath and Müller looked frightening and ultimately won them the tournament. Gerd Müller retired from the national team after the Final with his classic matchwinning goal, his 68th in only 62 appearances. It was also his 14th goal in the World Cup finals overall - a record which still stands to this day.

Two other countries which hadn't even qualified for any World Cup after World War II prior to 1974, went on to play leading roles in these finals; Netherlands and Poland. The Dutch with inspirational captain Johan Cruijff played some of the best football seen in a World Cup ever - despite the wet conditions. The phrase "Total-Football" became well-known due to the performances of the 'Clockwork Orange'. Memorable wins against Argentina and Brazil laid the foundations for a well-deserved place in the Final against West Germany. To this day many people felt the best team lost in that Final.

Poland lined up a well-drilled team very much similar to the one that won the Olympics two years earlier in Munich. It included the World Cup's topscorer Grzegorz Lato, a speedy winger who went on to score seven goals as Poland beat teams like Italy and Argentina on their way - and England in the qualifiers. This fine team mastered by Kazimierz Deyna in midfield scored more goals than any other team in the finals and captured the bronze medals with a deserved win against Brazil.

Brazil, despite a fourth place finish in the end, was the big negative surprise of the finals. Pelé was no longer in the team, but with Rivelino and Jairzinho still present, fans around the world expected much more than they got. Brazil failed to score a goal in four of their seven appearances and of their six goals scored in total, three came against Zaïre, the undisputed minnows of the World Cup. With time running out against Netherlands in what effectively was a semifinal, Luis Pereira hacked down Johan Neeskens from behind in frustration with one of the ugliest tackles in World Cup history. Red card was inevitable.

Brazil's opponents in the 1970 Final, Italy, failed to reach the second phase mostly because of the unexpected rise of Poland. Dino Zoff's proud defensive record of 1142 minutes without goals conceded in international matches was ended by Haiti's Emmanuel Sanon already in the first game, and even if Italy recovered and won that game, they couldn't progress further. For Haiti, Ernst Jean-Joseph created the first doping scandal in World Cup history when an illegal substance was found in him on a random test after this Italy-game. He was suspended from the rest of the tournament.

Scotland, Britain's only qualified team, set some kind of World Cup record as they were eliminated in the first round without losing a match, they were infact the only unbeaten team in the 1974 series. Every other team with a zero in the column for defeats in World Cup history up until 1974, had ended up winning the whole tournament. For Scotland this was the first of five straight finals with 'oh-so-nears' and 'if-onlys' first round eliminations.

Australia, Haiti and Zaïre all made their World Cup debutes in 1974. The Socceroos from 'down under' managed to hold Chile to a draw, it was the only point captured by these three debutants combined. The fourth, East Germany, showed more, but they were after all playing almost on home soil. South America had a poor World Cup by their standards. Uruguay, semifinalists last time, finished bottom in their group, while Chile finished third in theirs. Chile's Carlos Caszely became the first man in World Cup history to be sent off using the red card system after his foul against West Germany. The cards were introduced already to 1970, but no players were sent off in Mexico. Caszely saw red already on the tournament's second matchday. Uruguay's Montero-Castillo was sent off the following day against the Netherlands. Argentina's team in 1974 had certain qualities, but only Kempes and Houseman were found worthy of featuring in their championship winning team four years later.

Of other highlights, Sweden made impression with excellent goalkeeper Hellström and Edström up front and Yugoslavia had Dzajic in sparkling form. Despite the bad weather, it was a World Cup which gave much more than people could expect under these conditions. Even the introduction of the second phase groupstage was considered a success. FIFA would keep that format also in 1978 when incidents occured that perhaps gave them second thoughts on that subject...

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[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Argentina '78


Argentina - 1978

The World Cup came back to South America for the first time since 1962. FIFA awarded the tournament to Argentina, but the country had suffered under a brutal military dictatorship headed by General Videla over the recent couple of years. Thousands of people had been killed and even Omar Actis, president of the World Cup Organizing Committee, was assassinated by the guerrillas. Scepticism increased among the qualified nations and many feared for their safety, but the junta guaranteed there would be no violence during the tournament. West German captain Berti Vogts stated after the World Cup he never saw any signs that Argentina was ruled by dictatorship. The tournament went by without a major incident of violence.

Some of the greatest stars in the game bowed out of various reasons from the World Cup. Franz Beckenbauer had quit the international game shortly before, and Johan Cruyff and Paul Breitner refused to go because of the political situation in Argentina, but there were plenty of other stars ready to fill in for them. Hans Krankl,Teofilio Cubillas, Paolo Rossi, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kenny Dalglish and Johan Neeskens made appearances with class that thrilled the spectators.

But the most sparkling star of them all was Mario Alberto Kempes - the host nation's own hero and only foreign based player called up by coach Menotti. After a slow start Kempes began scoring in the vital matches in the second phase and scored twice and set up the third goal when Argentina beat the Netherlands in the final. Also Fillol's great goalkeeping, Passarella's leadership in defence and Ardiles' tireless running contributed to Argentina's first World Cup triumph. This was something Argentina had been waiting for ever since 1930 when they lost to Uruguay in the inaugural World Cup Final across the Rio de la Plata.

The Netherlands once again ended up losing the final to a host nation. This time by the smallest of margins. Rob Rensenbrink's long outstretched leg almost brought Buenos Aires to silence in injury-time when his effort went against the post at 1-1. It would have been Rensenbrink's sixth goal in the series and enough to earn him the World Cup trophy and Golden Boot instead of Kempes. The trophy stayed in Argentina. The Dutch didn't qualify again for a World Cup until 1990.

Italy appeared with many young emerging stars who would peak four years later in Spain, but also in Argentina they showed their capacity by beating the hosts and eventual winners in a first round match. France too had a young and promising side, but grouped with both Italy and Argentina, advancement to the next phase looked difficult from the start and became too tough in the end. France would also come back stronger in 1982.

Brazil went home undefeated although their football wasn't as memorable as earlier editions. Rivelino had one last outing, but wasn't efficient and Zico spent much time on the bench, but Nelinho and Dirceu impressed with free-kicks and long range shooting - a Brazilian speciality over the years. Argentina's suspicious 6-0 demolition of Peru, meant Brazil missed out on a place in the final by goaldifference.

Tunisia made history by becoming the first African nation to win a match in the World Cup finals when they beat Mexico 3-1. It was an important step in the right direction for African football after Zaïre's poor showing four years earlier. Tunisia later held defending champions West Germany to a goalless draw, but it wasn't enough for advancement to Phase Two.

Reaching Phase Two had been a nightmare for Scotland as well - once again Britain's sole representative in the finals. Once again a talented Scottish side had to go home after three first round matches. Only one point picked up after the games against Peru and Iran virtually killed Scottish dreams, but Ally's Army finished on a high note with a 3-2 win over the Netherlands including Archie Gemmill's fabulous solo-goal, the best of the tournament. The same match also featured the 1000th goal in World Cup history scored by Dutchman Rob Rensenbrink on a penalty.

Argentina '78 was staged virtually without hiccups, but the match schedule needed to be modernized for Spain '82. Too many matches were played simultaneously in Argentina thus avoiding maximum live TV-audience world-wide. There was also time to scrap the 16-team format and increase the number of competing nations to 24. FIFA had plenty of new challenges to deal with over the next four years. Some were handled well, some were not.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Spain '82


Spain - 1982

At the congress shortly before the 1978 World Cup, FIFA decided to increase the number of teams from 16 to 24 for 1982. It was about time. The football family had grown over the years and 16 teams had been standard ever since 1954. Already in April 1970 Sir Stanley Rous, FIFA president at the time, said the World Cup would be better balanced with 24 teams. Twelve years later on there was an opportunity to see whether he was right or not. The tournament set-up somewhat remained the same with six groups of four teams and a second phase groupstage like in -74 and -78, but with four groups with three teams this time.

Argentina played Belgium in the opening game of the 1982 cup in Barcelona. The Catalan crowd was eager to see their new world-record signing Diego Maradona in action, but it was Belgium's Erwin Vandenbergh who stole the show with his matchwinning goal after the hour - the first goal scored in a World Cup opener since 1962. Coach Menotti was criticized for keeping faith in too many of the champions from 1978, but Argentina picked themselves up and progressed alongside Belgium despite the defeat. Menotti's men had nothing in store though when they came up against Italy and Brazil in Phase 2. They finished both games with ten men. Maradona lost his temper and kicked a Brazilian player on purpose as time ran out and received the red card. Only Daniel Passarella played up to 1978 standard, Mario Kempes barely had an effort on goal all tournament and new striker Ramon Diaz couldn't get on the scoresheet until it was too late so Argentina were dethroned.

Argentina's first round group also contained Hungary and El Salvador. The match between them, on the tournament's third matchday, produced the most unlikely scoreline: 10-1 to Hungary featuring the fastest ever World Cup hat-trick by Laszlo Kiss, three goals in seven minutes. FIFA president Joao Havelange was in the crowd and must have had second thoughts on the 24-team issue.

Thankfully for FIFA that massacre in Elche was to be the only humiliating scoreline in the tournament. El Salvador's CONCACAF colleagues Honduras held Spain to a draw when many people expected the hosts to top Hungary's ten goal haul. Spain flopped big time in their own tournament. Only one win in five games. Northern Ireland won Spain's group with a team basically made up of players from the lower leagues in England. The new nations stepped up and showed pride and guts when playing against better prepared and more professional players as the tournament wore on. Kuwait and New Zealand made brave efforts, but were unfortunate to play in very tough groups which hampered their chances, but they were not without talent.

The best challenge from the "minnows" came from Africa. This was hardly surprising. Tunisia showed already in 1978 that African football was on the rise. In Spain, Cameroon went home undefeated after three draws - one of them against Italy. Roger Milla had a good goal wrongly disallowed against Peru that could have sent them through, but his day was still to come. Algeria beat West Germany, but were victims of FIFAs poor match set-up which enabled West Germany and Austria in the group's final match to know before kick-off which result suiting them both for progression to Phase 2. That result (1-0 to the Germans) was obtained early in the game and the teams virtually stopped playing to let time run out. FIFA has since then made sure the final two matches in the groupstage will be played simultaneously to avoid future scandals. In FIFA's case they had to learn the lesson the hard way twice. The Argentina-Peru farce at the expense of Brazil in 1978 was still a touchy subject back then.

Brazil came to Spain with their best team since 1970 - some experts regarded it to be even better. The beautiful flowing samba style won hearts all over the world as the goals piled up against Soviet Union, Scotland, New Zealand and Argentina. Zico, Eder, Socrates and Falcao simply looked unstoppable until they ran into a skinny little striker called Paolo Rossi. Italy beat Brazil 3-2 with a semifinal spot at stake in one of the best matches ever seen. Rossi had three efforts on target all game and scored three goals. He bagged two more against Poland in the semifinal and opened the scoreline in the final itself against West Germany with his sixth goal. Enzo Bearzot's Italy triumphed 3-1 in Madrid and Dino Zoff became the oldest ever winner at 40 years of age. Cabrini, Tardelli, Antognoni and Scirea also had keyroles in this team who mastered the art of counter-attacking better than most champions and it became obvious in the big games.

Other teams had success too. England was back after 12 years in the cold and went home undefeated after five games including two goalless draws in Phase 2. Lack of inventiveness up front hurt England's chances especially since Keegan struggled with injury throughout the tournament and barely played. France and Poland, on the other hand, had their stars in prime condition. Both teams started slowly, but improved with every game. Zbigniew Boniek was excellent for Poland and his veteran partner up front, Grzegorz Lato, was still going strong. Unfortunately Boniek was suspended in the semifinal against Italy, but was back with vengeance when Poland beat France in the bronzematch.

France fielded a team with many reserves in that game after the painful semifinal defeat against West Germany a few days earlier. The Germans won this six-goal thriller on penalties after being two goals down in extra-time. Dutch referee Corver was heavily criticized for overlooking a spiteful foul by German keeper Harald Schumacher on French player Patrick Battiston who was sent to hospital in an unconscious state. Schumacher emerged as the hero in the first ever World Cup penalty shoot-out, but France like Brazil won the hearts of the fans world wide with their elegant style orchestrated by Michel Platini.

FIFA could look back at the first 24-team World Cup with satisfaction. A deserved winner, plenty of great goals, competitive matches, the new nations appeared with dignity and class, but the tournament set-up needed tuning. The knock-out stage was to be re-introduced for 1986.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Mexico '86


Mexico - 1986

Originally Colombia was awarded the 13th World Cup, but the South American country had to throw in the towel because of financial reasons in 1983. Mexico made sure the cup stayed in the western hemisphere when they took on the responsibility on short notice to host the greatest event in sport and thus became the first nation to do so twice. A horrific tragedy struck Mexico in September 1985 only eight months before the tournament started when around 20,000 people died in an earthquake. Once again the tournament was in jeopardy, but the stadiums were not affected. The country picked up the pieces and went on to stage a fine tournament despite all the obstacles.

The World Cup once again changed its competition schedule. The two-phase groupstage format used since 1974 was now dropped and replaced by the knock-out format. In Spain 1982 the second phase groupstage contained only three teams of four groups leaving one team inactive and unable to control its own destiny in the final game. In Mexico the four best third placed teams would join the six groupwinners and runners-up into the KO-stage round of 16. The matches in Mexico were played at high altitude and at difficult hours of the day. Kick-off was at noon and 4:00pm in broiling mid-day sun to get optimal TV-audience world-wide.

The hosts brought back topscorer Hugo Sanchez from Spanish football to lead the attack on home soil, but "Hugol" spent most of the time complaining to the referee and received unnecessary bookings. Mexico still advanced to the quarterfinal where they lost on penalties to West Germany, but it was a creditable overall showing by the hosts.

West Germany like France and Brazil kept faith in ageing superstars. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Michel Platini and Zico all felt they had the ability to shine in one more World Cup, but only Platini came remotely close to old standard. Rummenigge and Zico struggled with knee-problems and rarely played full games where as Platini lifted his game in the KO-stage as the opposition got tougher. France and Brazil met in an epic do-or-die quarterfinal in Guadalajara. A number of legendary players in their thirties left blood, sweat and tears on the field for two full hours before France emerged as winners on penalties even if Platini missed from the penalty spot. Zico missed in regulation time. France then met West Germany in a semifinal replay of 1982, but this game had none of the drama and action of four years earlier as the Germans once again came out on top.

The Soviet Union, Denmark and Belgium, the latter after a slow start, were other teams who impressed. Especially the former two looked like title contenders early on and showed impressive attacking strength. The Soviet Union, or Dynamo Kiev plus Dasaev in goal, played a fast paced mordern game with Belanov up front causing all sorts of problem. Denmark with dynamite-duo Laudrup and Elkjær got through the first round with three wins, but vulnerable defences were exposed in the second round as Denmark crashed to four-goal-Butragueño's Spain and the Soviets messed up against Belgium in a seven-goal thriller that could have swung their way with a little bit of luck.

Luck was not on England's side either when the referee ignored the handball goal scored by the man the 1986 World Cup has become synonymous with: Diego Armando Maradona. Never has one man dominated an entire tournament such as Maradona in 1986. Coach Bilardo built his whole team around this stocky figure who was determined to redeem himself after Spain '82. His solo-goal against England brought back memories of what football used to be like among kids in the streets and parks ages ago. One player running circles around others. Maradona did this in the World Cup knock-out stage in the most high-profile games. Argentina won a well-deserved title after a classic final against West Germany. Maradona's personal contribution in this World Cup was five goals and five assists. Burruchaga, Valdano and Ruggeri were other key players in this team.

It wasn't the best of World Cups for the unfancied nations. Iraq and Canada made their debut, but made little impression. South Korea ended last in Argentina's group, but showed off some impressive long-range shooting. Africa though continued their improvement and wrote history when Morocco became the first country from that region to advance to the second round - they even won their group which also contained England, Poland and Portugal.

England's campaign looked disastrous before Gary Lineker scored a hat-trick in the final first round game against Poland. No goals scored, captain Bryan Robson sent home with a shoulder injury and Ray Wilkins sent off against Morocco. Things suddenly turned for England and Paraguay were brushed aside with ease before Maradona awaited. Lineker's six goals made him the first ever English topscorer in a World Cup. That was some consolation.

Portugal and Poland both disappointed. Zbigniew Boniek now played deeper for the Poles, but the team lacked overall individual talent which had graced Poland over the previous three World Cups. Portugal became the first country in history to beat West Germany in a qualifying game, but stumbled after beating England in the first round group's opening game.

But 1986 was all about Maradona.

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[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Italy '90


Italy - 1990

Italy became the second country, after Mexico, to host two World Cups when their bid was preferred in competition with England, Soviet Union and Greece. The upgrading of stadiums took more time than planned and the organizers feared they would have to start the competition with some of the stadiums unfinished, but everything was perfect by June 8th 1990 - the date for the opening match in Milan. The only thing that went wrong was the official opening of the tournament and the order of speeches. FIFA President Joao Havelange waited for the President of the Organizing Committee to hold his speech and vice versa. So no speeches were held.

Cameroon kept their unbeaten run in the World Cup (3 draws in 1982) after the opening match against defending champions Argentina. Omam-Biyick headed past Pumpido and gave the Africans a sensational 1-0 win. The Indomitable Lions had more in store and beat Romania in the following match with the hero being a 38 year old semi-retired substitute. Roger Milla burst onto the scene with two magnificent goals and became an instant favourite among neutral fans around the world. He took his team all the way to the quarterfinals and a legendary match with England. Prior to that game he had scored two more brilliant goals against Colombia in the round of 16. Both again as substitute. He helped Cameroon turn the game against England when he came on at half-time, but two late penalties by Lineker ended the dream for the Lions. Cameroon's successful run along with Egypts respectable showing made FIFA increase Africa's quota of spots from two to three for USA '94.

England had a tiresome World Cup and got nothing for free. Three tight matches in the groupstage were followed by three more matches that went to extra-time, the last against West Germany, even to penalties. Paul Gascoigne had a fine tournament and Lineker got better as the tournament progressed and scored four goals.

Italia '90 was a World Cup for the old powers. All the previous winners were present. All the previous winners survived the groupstage and the semifinal places were occupied by four of the five best teams on the all-time ranking. Only Brazil disappointed and lost against Argentina against the run of play in the second round. A single Maradona-Caniggia combination was enough to send Careca and company home. Maradona showed glimpses, like against Brazil, of his old self but couldn't fully repeat what he did in 1986. Argentina were a shadow of the side that triumphed in Mexico, but they were tactically and mentally strong and knew how to survive in international football. 22 yellow and 3 red cards gave them many suspensions, but they always found a way to get by much thanks to an unlikely hero; goalkeeper Sergio Goycoechea who came on only because first choice keeper Pumpido broke his leg early in the tournament.

Goycoechea was the hero in consecutive penalty shoot-outs. First against Yugoslavia and then in the semifinal against Italy where he saved efforts from Donadoni and Serena. Italy had until midway through the second half of that semifinal not conceded a single goal in the tournament before Caniggia headed past Walter Zenga who was out of position. Unbeaten for 517 minutes is a World Cup record.

Another record was West Germany's three consecutive appearances in the Final of a World Cup. Lothar Matthäus and Pierre Littbarski were members of the two previous silvermedal teams, but in Italy it was glory at third attempt for them. Matthäus was the best player of the tournament. A great spielführer who worked all over the pitch and contributed with four goals. The team had two strong forwards in Völler and Klinsmann, plus a very good left-back in Brehme and as always with German teams - a well organized defence. They did lack creative forces in midfield other than Matthäus' running and relied heavily on set pieces to win games in the latter stages. Only three goals scored from the quarterfinal onwards with two of them coming from penalties is a rather poor record for a World Cup winning team although they did impress with a 4-1 win over powerful Yugoslavia in the preliminary round.

Another team who definitely had a poor record was the Netherlands who arrived in Italy as hot favourites to win the cup, but fell flat and didn't win a single match in the tournament. Van Basten failed to score and Gullit had just come back from injury and was out of shape. The Netherlands did give West Germany a good match in the second round, which might also have been the best performance by the eventual winners, but the World Cup missed the Dutch flair and style of Euro 88 as the tournament went into its final rounds.

That match in Milan was marred by the expulsions of Rijkaard for spitting and Völler for pushing and alledged abusive racial comments. Sixteen players were sent off at Italia '90. More than at Mexico '86 and España '82 combined. Fans are stuck with lots of other negative impressions from this World Cup. Pedro Monzon of Argentina became the first man to be sent off in a Final and Dezotti followed shortly after as Argentina finished with nine men. Italia '90 was also the lowest scoring tournament ever. Ireland got to the quarterfinal without winning a single match and scored only two goals in total. The Soviets were title challengers before the tournament, but never showed signs of being capable of winning and ended dead last in their group with a bunch of ageing has-beens. Not even Brazil impressed in attack and coach Lazaroni used five out-and-out defenders in his starting line-up. Most teams played to avoid losing rather than to win. This was especially evident in the knock-out stage when half the matches went to extra-time and/or penalties.

On the bright side we had Cameroon as pointed out earlier and also Costa Rica who put Sweden and Scotland behind them and advanced through to the second round. With Mexico banned for illegal use of overaged players in a FIFA youth tournament and the US only in Italy to learn, most people predicted a poor showing by Concacaf in this tournament, but Costa Rica gave their confederation some fine moments when it needed it the most.

1990 was definitely a year for unlikely heroes. Milla and Goycoechea are already mentioned and so should Salvatore Schillaci be. He who took over the role Gianluca Vialli was supposed to have as hero for the host nation. Schillaci scored six goals and became topscorer. He scored in six different matches and opened his account as a substitute against Austria and closed it with a goal against England that secured bronzemedals for Italy. He never found this form again and faded quickly after the World Cup.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of USA '94


USA - 1994

Many people were sceptical when FIFA made the ground-breaking decision of holding its monster event in a country foreign to football.. uh soccer. Pessimists predicted half empty stadiums during the tournament, but USA '94 turned out to be the most successful cup in history attendance-wise with nearly 70,000 spectators in average per game. These fans witnessed the re-birth of attacking football in the World Cup. The defensive play of Italia '90 was soon forgotten as the action unfolded in the US. The newly invented backpass rule was an instant success and basically forced defenders to look for forward movement on the ball instead of knocking it between eachother in the backline and home to the keeper who could safely pick it up with his hands and waste time. The rule-change contributed a great deal in making USA '94 a much more entertaining tournament than Italia '90. A vast number of teams played football that will linger in the memory of World Cup fanatics.

The opening match of every World Cup is seldom a highlight and USA '94 followed a well-known pattern in that matter. Germany beat Bolivia 1-0 following President Clinton's opening speech. Klinsmann scored one of his five goals in this World Cup for a German team that looked tired and lacked new blood. Matthäus was now libero and old hero Völler was called back to action when younger forwards failed to deliver alongside Klinsmann. Berti Vogts' team lacked sparkle. They almost wasted a solid 3-0 lead to South Korea and lost to Bulgaria in the quarterfinal having been 1-0 in front. Germany would not reach a fourth consecutive final and Klinsmann - the only veteran playing up to his full standards - left the World Cup in tears.

Brazil were back as usual, but had lost their first ever qualifying match against Bolivia and people wondered whether this edition was any stronger than the team who disappointed in Italy four years earlier. Romario led the attack in America partnered by Bebeto and these two players showed early on that Brazil had serious ambitions of ending their 24 year long titledrought since Mexico 1970. This Brazil was a much more "European" Brazil than ever. More defensive minded players in midfield, better organization and solid centerbacks mixed with more traditional Brazilian flying full-backs like Jorginho and Leonardo. This team was going to be very hard to beat. As it turned out only the Netherlands managed to fully stretch Parreira's men when they came from two goals down to equalize in the quarterfinal. A spectacular Branco free-kick goal gave Brazil a famous 3-2 win. The following two games, Sweden in the semifinal and Italy in the final, were very one-sided affairs. Brazil looked winners all the way and when Roberto Baggio missed his penalty in the shoot-out after a goalless draw, the fans could start celebrating Brazil's first World Cup triumph in nearly a quarter of a century.

Italy had struggled throughout the tournament and their place in the final was a great reward in itself. Roberto Baggio saved the team in every game during the knock-out stage making up for his disappointing groupstage performances. Arrigo Sacchi's men lost to Ireland in the first match and had captain Franco Baresi injured against Norway in the second game after goalkeeper Pagliuca was sent off. Dino Baggio managed to score the important winner against Norway which kept Italy in the tournament. A freakish finale to this group saw all teams end on same points and goaldifference. Norway eliminated on least goals scored.

More luck for Norway's neighbours Sweden who really shone in the US after the fiasco in Italy four years earlier. Dahlin, Brolin and Andersson led Sweden's attack which was the most efficient in the tournament. A 4-0 demolishion of Bulgaria gave Sweden well-deserved bronzemedals. Bulgaria had experienced a fair share of glory themselves before that humiliating bronzematch. Both finalists from 1990 - Argentina and Germany - had been beaten by Stoitchov, Letchkov and their teammates. Who would have thought that after their lacklustre 3-0 defeat to Nigeria in the first match? Stoitchkov in particular was impressive and was alongside Baggio and Romario the best player of the tournament. His six goals made him joint topscorer. His most memorable goal was the beautiful bending free-kick against Germany.

Stoitchkov shared that topscorer's title with Oleg Salenko of Russia who made history scoring five of his six goals in one match against Cameroon. Sadly for him, it wasn't enough to stay in the tournament. Another goalscorer who made history in that game was Roger Milla. Cameroon's 42-year old supersub became the oldest ever player and goalscorer when he netted Cameroon's consolation goal in their 6-1 defeat. A few days earlier Rigobert Song, only 17, was sent off for a wreckless tackle on Brazil's Bebeto and became the youngest ever player to receive a red card. The Indomitable Lions looked toothless and nowhere near the side that impressed so much in Italy. Africa's torch was instead carried by Nigeria who had Italy in their grasp for 89 minutes in the second round before Roberto Baggio woke up and scored twice after sleep-walking through the groupstage.

Nigeria surprisingly topped Argentina's group. Maradona was back again as playmaker for Argentina and looked impressive in the first two games before failing the drugtest. Argentina, with an impressive line-up including Batistuta, Caniggia and Redondo, failed to function without their old master and fell apart with two defeats in a row and bowed out against Romania in the second round.

That match was one of the best in recent World Cup history and symbolized the optimistic atmosphere and attacking will of the 1994 World Cup. Gheorghe Hagi reached the zenith of his career this summer and was the heart and soul of Romania's team. He scored a goal in the 3-2 win over Argentina, but his goal against Colombia from long range will always be the most classic. Another classic goal scored in this World Cup was by Saeed Owairan of Saudi Arabia against Belgium when he got past five players on a counter-attack to score the winner that sent the Saudis, against all odds, to the second round. Saudi Arabia thus became the first Asian team to reach the knock-out stage of the World Cup since North Korea in 1966.

Seven out of eight quarterfinalists were European. This was especially strong knowing that England, France and European Champions Denmark didn't even qualify. Colombia was the big disappointment of USA '94. They were hyped up big time before the cup, even by Pelé, much thanks to the 5-0 demolishion of Argentina in Buenos Aires, but Valderrama & Co couldn't deliver the goods on the field even if they were handed a favourable first round group. Despite big European representation in the latter stages, the trophy stayed in the Americas with Brazil. The hosts had their big day when playing the eventual winners on 4th of July. Prior to that Team USA had already achieved their primary goal of advancing from the groupstage thus avoiding being the first host ever to be eliminated in the first round.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of France '98


France - 1998

The World Cup came back to France after 60 years. The tournament's founding father Jules Rimet would have been proud to see his home country organize and later win what had become a monster event since his influential time way back in 1930. By 1998 there was time for expansion again after four straight tournaments with 24 teams. FIFA decided to increase the number of competing teams with 8 to 32 to allow a greater representation from the weaker confederations. Boosted by the expansion of final spots a record 174 countries entered the qualifying competition for France '98. The expansion also meant there was no room for third placed teams to go through. Now only the top two teams in the eight groups would have a future in the finals.

All the major countries qualified for the 1998 World Cup. The hosts hadn't played in a World Cup since 1986 and the home fans were cautious in their predictions before the tournament, but after three comfortable wins in the first round the football temperature reached fever heights. Coach Aime Jacquet had built a solid defensive foundation that refused to be beaten. Only two goals were conceded in the whole tournament as France captured their first ever World Cup title with a convincing 3-0 win over Brazil in the final. Zidane stepped up and wrote his name in with golden letters in World Cup history with two headed goals in the final - which was the heaviest defeat Brazil has suffered in World Cup history.

Brazil dreamt of a deadly Ronaldo-Romario duo up front, but the 1994 hero had to pull out of the squad shortly before the tournament started with an injury. Other attacking gladiators like Rivaldo and Bebeto made sure Brazil still reached yet another World Cup Final, but Romario was missed.

Croatia was a positive surprise with tournament topscorer Davor Suker as the leader of the pack. Six goals in six different matches was the kind of consistency Croatia needed from their marksman. They ended up with bronzemedals beating the Netherlands in the play-off. Robert Prosinecki made history by scoring for two different countries in World Cups, he also netted for Yugoslavia 1990.

Argentina, Netherlands and Denmark all contributed in France '98 being an enjoyable competition for neutral fans with their attacking football. Gabriel Batistuta with powerful finishing, Dennis Bergkamp with elegant ballcontroll and two Laudrups gave strong performances throughout the tournament along with the rest of their teams. They were all ousted on small margins.

England and Italy yet again failed from the penalty-spot and were left with memories of what could have been. 18 year-old Michael Owen scored his classic solo-goal against Argentina in the tournament's most memorable match which also saw David Beckham being sent off.

A record 22 red cards were handed out during the weeks in France much because referees had stricter guidelines to follow when booking players. Rigobert Song of Cameroon became the first man in history to be sent off twice. He also saw red in 1994 versus Brazil. Cameroon once again failed to get out of the groupstage and Nigeria was the sole African team left after the first round. Morocco had their moments, but were eliminated because Norway managed to overcome Brazil in the final game. Debutants South Africa had a tough job grouped with France, but came away with credit. Tunisia sacked coach Kasperczak after two games, but it made little difference.

Iran was back after 20 years and won a prestigious match against USA, but couldn't get through anyway. South Korea, in their fourth straight cup, started well against Mexico, but then had a player sent off and the team collapsed. Jamaica and Japan were exotic additions in France, but lacked experience and learnt valuable lessons about what it takes to have sucess at this level. Their colourful fans made impression though. The Japanese fans even cleaned up after themselves before leaving the stadium.

Spain, not for the first time, was the big disappointment. They were eliminated in the first round much thanks to a horrible error by veteran keeper Zubizarreta against Nigeria. That incident turned the game and Spain never recovered. Not even a 6-1 demolishion of Bulgaria could save the Spaniards as other results went against them.

Germany with a very ageing team ran out of steam against Croatia in the quarterfinal. Lothar Matthäus made his record 25th World Cup appearance and participated in his fifth finals. Jürgen Klinsmann also said farewell to the international scene after this.

But 1998 was a celebration of French football. The cup had finally come "home".

.................................................. ....

[rondwisan]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Korea/Japan '02


Korea/Japan - 2002

The new millennium arrived and so did a new era in world football. The successful tournament set-up from France '98 with 32 teams and eight groups stayed the same, but South Korea and Japan became the first two countries to co-host a World Cup, and it was also the first time the tournament was held in Asia.

Both countries went on a major spending-spree to upgrade infrastructure in the cities and built 20 stadiums combined, most of them from scratch. As it turned out, it became a World Cup unlike anything seen in history. Debutants Senegal beat defending champions France 1-0 in the opening match in Seoul and that result pretty much symbolized what would happen during the following four weeks in the Far East.

France, Portugal and Argentina arrived as favourites to win the title, but none of them made it past the first round. Zidane picked up an injury in a warm-up friendly days before the World Cup and missed the first couple of games. The French team collapsed without him and didn't score a single goal in either of the three games. Portugal's disastrous first half hour against the US couldn't be repaired properly in later matches and Figo's Golden Generation went home disappointed. Argentina, based in the Group of Death, lost the prestigious game against England and failed to beat Sweden which was required for advancement. Batistuta's bitter tears by the bench is already football history.

The underdogs triumphed in great style. Turkey, Senegal, USA and of course South Korea led the way for the "new nations", but also Costa Rica and Japan surprised. Turkey's group with Brazil, Costa Rica and China, was considered by mainstream media to be the weakest of all before the tournament, but went on to contain two semifinalists including the eventual champions. England's group with Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria was supposed to be the strongest, but none of those teams survived the quarterfinals.

Players like Ilhan Mansiz, El Hadji Diouf and Landon Donovan came from nowhere to steal headlines in media around the world, but the most unlikely hero was Ahn Jung-Hwan. South Korea's matchwinner against Italy in the second round was fired by his Italian club Perugia for insulting Italian football by scoring that goal. The Koreans also eliminated Spain in the quarterfinal after being on the receiving end of some controversial decisions by the referee. Millions of people took to the streets in cities across the country to celebrate the unlikely success of Korean football. Going deeper than Japan in the World Cup had been the primary goal, so a fourth place finish was celebrated like a World Cup victory. Japan was knocked out by Turkey in the second round.

Asia had four representatives in the finals for the first time. Saudi Arabia and China lost all their matches without scoring a single goal and showed that Asian football below the co-hosts still had some way to go before they reached a competitive level. It wasn't the best of World Cups for Africa either. Apart from Senegal no other African team survived the group stage. Nigeria and Cameroon in particular underachieved. Cameroon only made headlines for their "basketball shirts" which were originally rejected by FIFA as uniform. To get FIFA's approval the Lions instead covered the upper-arms with some bad looking textiles to make them appear like regular football shirts.

Despite all the sensational results that occured during June 2002 in Korea/Japan, there could be no more fitting finale to the first World Cup of the new millennium than Brazil against Germany - the two most successful nations in the history of the competition. Ronaldo against Kahn, the best goalscorer against the best goalkeeper. Ronaldo scored twice to take his goal tally to eight and become the first man to break the six-goal-topscorer-spell existing since Grzegorz Lato's seven in 1974.

Brazil won all their seven World Cup matches and thereby set a new record. Many people doubted Brazil after struggling so much in the qualifiers, but the samba- boys led by Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo turned on the style when needed in the finals. It was a well-deserved triumph and a victory for the Beautiful Game. So was the fact that five confederations were represented in the quarterfinals of a World Cup. That might very well never happen again, but you never know with the Beautiful Game. It is always full of surprises.

Originally Posted by rondwisan

Story of Germany '06


Germany - 2006

A unified Germany hosted the World Cup for the first time. The Germans beat South Africa by the tiniest of margins at the FIFA Congress in July 2000 for the right to host the 18th World Cup. There were only a few minor changes from 2002 in terms of the competition format. The defending champions were no longer guaranteed a spot in the next World Cup. Brazil therefore went through qualifiers to be at Germany 2006. In addition, the Golden Goal was replaced with ordinary 2 x 15 minutes of extra-time. FIFA also made sure the teams would get enough rest before the finals. The club season in Europe had to be finished a month before kick-off in Germany. It was a good decision.

The tournament slogan was "a time to make friends" and Germany made lots of them during the course of the tournament. The whole country embraced the World Cup and millions of visitors from all corners of the world watched matches on big screens in the major cities. The Fan Mile project was a huge success and contributed a great deal in making these finals probably the most successful ever - at least from an off-the-field point of view.

On the field we saw a positive sign early on although it didn't last the full distance when the tournament reached the knock-out stage. Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 to the delight of Jürgen Klinsmann who had been under pressure after some poor friendly games. Six goals scored in an opening match was quite unique in the modern era of the World Cup. Due to the above mentioned changes of no secure spot for the champions, the host nation played the opening game instead - a tradition now revived which was kept intact until 1970 when the Jules Rimet Cup-era ended.

Group A also featured Poland and surprise package Ecuador. The South Americans beat Poland and Costa Rica with some entertaining football and followed the hosts into the knock-out stage. Poland disappointed again although they were brave against Germany, but just like in 2002 they were eliminated already after two games. Costa Rica made little impression this time.

Group B brought together England and Sweden again in addition to Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago. It was a low-scoring group with few impressive performances. Sweden drew against T&T and needed a late Ljungberg header to beat Paraguay. England needed late goals to beat T&T and an own goal to beat Paraguay. For the second World Cup running Sven Göran Eriksson drew against his native country - now 2-2 in a fine match which also featured the 2000th goal in World Cup history by Marcus Allbäck. His headed goal was a bit more exclusive than Rob Rensenbrink's penalty which marked the 1000th goal back in 1978. England and Sweden went through like most people predicted, but Trinidad and Tobago put up more resistance than expected.

Group C had all the action which Group B lacked. Argentina's 6-0 win against Serbia & Montenegro was particularly impressive. Cambiasso's goal after twenty-something passes will go down as one of the best team goals in World Cup history. Also the Netherlands and Cote d'Ivoire impressed from time to time. The game between them was quality wise perhaps the best and tightest in the group. It was sad that three teams couldn't get through from this group. Serbia & Montenegro looked nowhere near as good as in the qualifiers when they topped Spain's group.

Group D brought together Mexico, Portugal, Iran and Angola. Portugal controlled the group early on when Mexico failed to follow up their win against Iran with another win against Angola. During the third round of matches Angola could have stolen Mexico's spot in the last sixteen had they beaten Iran. Instead Iran equalized and Mexico survived despite losing to Portugal. Iran and Angola were not strong enough on the attacking third of the field to upset any of the top two. Lack of experience may be taken into account also. Despite winning three matches Portugal didn't impress. Mexico, who performed very well in the Confederations Cup the year before, showed nothing of this here.

Group E was considered one of the toughest before the World Cup began. It contained much drama and thereby lived up to the tag. Three players were sent off in the Italy-USA game. De Rossi's elbow on McBride was particularly ugly. It resulted in a four match ban. The Americans fought bravely and achieved a draw with a man down for almost half the match. The Czechs couldn't follow up their 3-0 win over USA with another win against Ghana. The Africans won 2-0 in one of the best matches in the World Cup and later beat the USA to qualify for the second round as only African team. Italy knocked out the Czechs who missed injured Koller badly.

Group F featured Brazil who came into the tournament as arguably the hottest favourites ever to win a World Cup. Ronaldinho was expected to write his name with golden letters alongside Pelé and Maradona in the World Cup hall of fame. After Brazil's first match in Berlin against Croatia it was clear that this team couldn't live up to the hype even though Kaka scored a brilliant winning goal. More entertaining was the match between the other teams in the group, Australia and Japan. The Socceroos came from a goal down to win with three late goals. On the group's final matchday Brazil rested some of their regulars and beat Zico's Japan convincingly 4-1. Australia managed to oust Croatia in a dramatic match in Stuttgart where English referee Poll famously by mistake gave three yellow cards to one player (Simunic). Guus Hiddink took South Korea to the semi-finals four years earlier, could he work his magic on Australia too?

Group G was considered to be a cakewalk for France before the finals. Instead the 1998 champions failed to win any of their first two games. Zidane received his second booking against South Korea which forced him to miss the decisive third match against Togo. The fiasco of 2002 looked well possible to be repeated. Thankfully, Henry and Vieira made sure of qualification to the last sixteen with goals against the African debutants. Switzerland topped the group without conceding a goal, their 2-0 win against South Korea sealed the deal for them.

In Group H, Spain looked winners all the way and they delivered on the field as well. The 4-0 opening win against Ukraine set the standards. Tunisia and Saudi Arabia disappointed in these finals although the 2-2 game between them in Munich was entertaining. Sami Al-Jaber, in his fourth World Cup for the Saudis, scored one of the goals there. Ukraine bounced back with two wins including the one against Tunisia settled by a Shevchenko penalty which may have been the most boring match of the World Cup. Both European teams progressed with ease from this group.

The second round saw a number of good games. Hosts Germany brushed aside Sweden 2-0 with an impressive performance. Sweden missed a penalty by Larsson and had a player sent off at a stage when things could have turned. Still, the trio of Ballack, Klose and Podolski seemed to have an extra gear when needed.

Argentina needed extra-time to beat Mexico in a game many thought would be one-sided in favour of the blue and white. Maxi Rodriguez scored perhaps the best goal of the tournament with a superb volley from long range in extra-time which sent Argentina to the quarterfinals.

England beat Ecuador by the game's only goal from a Beckham free-kick. It was an uninspiring game from both teams. The South Americans could not produce any of the sparkle showed in the first two games in the first round and England advanced unimpressively.

So too did Italy, but the Azzurri were a man short for almost half the match against Australia and used all their experience to solve the problem. After Grosso fell over cunningly in the penalty-box deep into injury-time, Totti converted the penalty and sent the Aussies home.

The match between Portugal and the Netherlands contained no less than sixteen yellow and four red cards. Maniche scored the game winner midway through the first half in a match Russian referee Ivanov lost control over. The game was not nearly as bad as the total number of cards suggested.

The Switzerland v Ukraine match was the only in the second round needing penalties. It was goalless and dull for 120 minutes. The Swiss failed to score a single goal in the shoot-out which sent Ukraine to the quarter-finals by 3-0. Poor Switzerland didn't concede a single goal in the tournament during play time and were still eliminated - a World Cup record in itself.

Brazil met Africa's sole surviving representatives Ghana in Dortmund. It was a game where Ronaldo broke the all-time World Cup top-scorer record of Gerd Müller with his 15th goal. Two more goals followed from Adriano and Ze Roberto, but the result didn't give a correct picture of the way the game looked. Ghana had most of the play, but couldn't convert their chances and bowed out leaving a positive image of the Black Stars in their first World Cup.

The final match in the second round was between France and Spain. Spain's young team failed to match an older French side as they grew stronger. Villa gave Spain the lead from the penalty spot, but Ribery equalized, Vieira gave France the lead before Zidane put the icing on the cake with a fine individual goal in stoppage time.

to be continued ...................

Originally Posted by rondwisan

next .................................................. ........


Whereas the quarterfinal stage at Korea/Japan had five confederations represented, at this World Cup it was back to basics with Europe against South America's two giants. In Berlin, Germany met Argentina in the first match. It was a tight game with few chances, but early in the second half little Ayala popped up between giant German defenders and headed Argentina into the lead. Ten minutes from the end Klose equalized with his fifth goal of the tournament - which would earn him the Golden Boot. Minutes earlier, coach Pekerman took off playmaker Riquelme which hurt Argentina's game a lot. Germany ran out winners in the penalty shoot-out. Brawling occurred in the aftermath of the game with officials, players and trainers involved. For Argentina it was a bitter defeat. They had been the most entertaining team in the tournament.

Italy beat Ukraine who seemed very satisfied just being in the last eight. Surprisingly little resistance was put up by Blokhin's men. Luca Toni got twice on the score-sheet as the Italians coasted to a 3-0 victory.

England once again collapsed in a penalty shoot-out and just like at Euro 2004 they did so to Portugal. Wayne Rooney was sent off after the hour and with Owen already injured there was little England could produce in attack a man short. Portugal advanced to the semi-finals.

The last quarterfinal was a classic meeting between France and Brazil - combined winners of the past three World Cups. Zidane raised his game to a level not seen since his prime years. Henry scored the winner assisted by Zizou from a free-kick. Brazil could not find a reply and despite coming close in the dying minutes, the big favourites bowed out in the quarterfinal just like they did in the same fixture 20 years earlier in Mexico.

The semi-final stage contained only European teams for the first time since 1982. Germany and Italy met in Dortmund for the first match. It was a cracking game which looked certain to go to penalties before Italian coach Lippi decided to gamble and use four forwards in the second half of extra time to avoid penalties. It paid off. Grosso scored a minute from time and Del Piero added a second in injury time to secure Italy a place in the Final.

The second semi-final between France and Portugal didn't have the same quality. Zidane converted an early penalty and the experienced French team sat back and did nothing more than necessary after that. Portugal made one or two efforts to equalize, but it wasn't enough. France booked another place in the World Cup Final, their second in the past three tournaments.

Germany won the bronze-medals following a 3-1 win over Portugal. It was a fine consolation for a team that had received a lot of criticism before the World Cup. The hosts being in the tournament until the final week definitely helped creating the wonderful atmosphere under which the 2006 Mundial was played.

Italy and France met in the 18th World Cup Final in Berlin. It became just as dramatic and tight as most people had predicted. Zidane scored from the penalty spot with a clever chip, Materazzi equalized with a header shortly after. The game swung back and forth, but no further goals were scored. As the clock ticked away and penalties loomed the two goalscorers were involved in the most talked about incident of the 2006 World Cup. Zidane's outrageous headbutt assault on Materazzi in extra-time marked the end of his career. France had a good grip on the game until then, but with their captain off plus Henry and Vieira substituted Les Bleus had little more to offer in attack. Italy triumphed in the shoot-out 5-3. Trezeguet missed for the French and Grosso scored the winner for Italy. Cannavaro - who won his 100th cap in the Final - lifted the trophy knowing he had been the most outstanding defender in the World Cup.

2006 brought back the old order in the World Cup. The top six countries on the all-time table all featured among the last eight in the tournament. Since 1982 when the World Cup was increased to 24 teams and thereby got more representation from the smaller regions, only five different teams have occupied the fourteen spots in the seven World Cup Final matches: Germany 4, Brazil 3, Italy 3, Argentina 2 and France 2.

There were fewer surprising results compared to 2002. Whether that can be explained by European home advantage or extra rest before the tournament remains to be seen. With South Africa hosting in 2010 we should get some answers then.

Italy's triumph was based on a rock solid defence lead by Cannavaro and the tournament's best goalkeeper Buffon. Pirlo was the creative deep lying midfielder who made sure Italy became unpredictable in their build-up. The goals came from all over the team not only from a sole striker. This was a typical team victory and it was well-deserved in the end. Having lost three World Cup penalty shoot-outs in the past, it was Italy's year now to turn the trend.

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[rondwisan]

World Cup Final Result
1930 - 2006



1930
Uruguay 4
Argentina 2

1934
Italy 2
Czechoslovakia 1

1938
Italy 4
Hungary 2

1950
Uruguay 2
Brazil 1

1954
West Germany 3
Hungary 2

1958
Brazil 5
Sweden 2

1962
Brazil 3
Czechoslovakia 1

1966
England 4
West Germany 2

1970
Brazil 4
Italy 1

1974
West Germany 2
Netherland 1

1978
Argentina 3
Netherland 1

1982
Italy 3
West Germany 1

1986
Argentina 3
West Germany 2

1990
West Germany 1
Argentina 0

1994
Brazil 0 (3)
Italy 0 (2)

1998
France 3
Brazil 0

2002
Brazil 2
Germany 0

2006
Italy 1 (5)
France 1 (3)

[rondwisan]

Next World Cup 2010 - 2014



South Africa - 2010

Brazil - 2014

[finza_13]

Kiprah Indonesia di Piala Dunia 1938

Berbicara tentang Piala Dunia, Indonesia sebenarnya pernah berpartisipasi dalam pentas sepakbola antar negara terbesar itu. Mengusung nama Dutch East Indies (Hindia Belanda), Indonesia bermain untuk pertamakalinya pada Piala Dunia Perancis, 1938.

Para pemain asli Indonesia maupun warga Tionghoa dan Belanda bergabung dalam tim Hindia Belanda itu. Mereka diantaranya ; Anwar Sutan, Achmad Nawir, Mo Heng, Hong Djien, Henk Zomers, dan G Van Den Burg. Nama-nama mereka mungkin saja masih kurang akrab di telinga kita dibanding skuad tim Olimpiade Melbourne 1956 seperti Djamiat Dalhar, Thio Him Tjiang, Kiat Sek, Ramang, atau LH Tanoto (Tan Liong Houw) yang hingga kini masih melegenda.

Kendati bisa disebut berbau keberuntungan, karena Hindia Belanda tampil di Piala Dunia atas dasar penunjukan FIFA sebagai dampak Jepang yang urung tampil di event tersebut, namun kehadiran Dutch East Indies tetap tercatat dalam sejarah sebagai negara Asia pertama yang tampil di Piala Dunia.
Namun sungguh sayang pada pertandingan perdananya tim Hindia Belanda sudah harus menghadapi tim favorit, Hungaria. Sedikitnya 9.000 penonton yang memenuhi Stade Velodrome Municipal di kota Reims, Perancis, 5 Juni 1938, sore hari itu menyaksikan tim bagaimana tim Hindia Belanda dikandaskan 0 – 6 (0 – 4) oleh Hungaria.

Achmad Nawir dkk. harus mengakui bahwa mereka kalah kelas dari Hungaria yang diperkuat bintang-bintang pada zamannya, seperti Gyorgy Sarosi dan Gyula Zsengeller. Gawang Hindia Belanda yang dijaga Mo Heng harus bobol sebanyak enam kali tanpa balas oleh tendangan Gyorgy Sarosi, Gyula Zsengeller maupun Kohut Vilmos dan Geza Toldi. Sarosi dan Zsengeller bahkan kemudian masuk daftar 3 besar pencetak gol terbanyak di Piala Dunia 1938.

Tim Indonesia saat itu memang bukan yang terbaik. Pasalnya pemain sekelas Djawad, Jazid, Moestaam atau Maladi tak dilibatkan. Boleh jadi bila mereka tergabung dalam skuad Dutch East Indies bisa lain ceritanya. Organisasi PSSI yang masih belum rapi sebelum Indonesia merdeka kemungkinan menjadi penyebab Belanda melakukan sistem asal-asalan dalam hal perekrutan pemain.

Hingga 1945 memang tercatat masih ada dua badan yang mengendalikan sepakbola Indonesia yakni PSSI dan Nederland Indische Voetbaal Unie (NIVU). Baru pada tahun 1949, pemerintah Indonesia kemudian menetapkan nama PSSI (Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia). Kendati demikian prestasi tim Hindia Belanda yang diasuh Johannes Van Mastenbroek itu tetap patut diberi acungan jempol, karena tim sekelas Swedia pun dibantai Hungaria di babak semifinal dengan skor telak 0 – 5. Dan Hungaria-lah yang kemudian tampil sebagai runner up di kejuaran tahun 1938 tersebut, setelah Hungaria menyerah 2 – 4 pada Italia di babak final.

Berikut ini data skuad tim Hindia Belanda (Dutch East Indies) pada Piala Dunia Perancis pada 1938 : Tan Mo Heng (GK), Anwar Sutan, Tan Hong Djien, Frans Hu Kon, Frans Meeng, Tjaak Pattiwael, Jack Samuels, Suvarte Soedarmadji, Achmad Nawir, Henk Zomers, Hans Taihuttu
Cadangan : J Harting (GK), Bing Mo Heng, G Van Den Burg, G Faulhaber, R Telwe, Tan Se Han, Dorst, Teilherber