Italy 1990

The 1990 finals in Italy were a curious mixture of good and bad games, the final fitting into the second category. There were also several wonderful surprises and days of woeful refereeing.

Penalty shootouts began to decide more matches and, although the fans in soccer-mad Italy were passionate about it all, the event left behind bitter-sweet memories. Italy’s failure to reach the final and the disappointing quality of that showpiece occasion were two of the main reasons.

The 1990 World Cup was the pinnacle of Roger Milla’s career. At 38, he had taken his leave of the big time to play for JS Saint-Pierroise, a team of modest abilities on Reunion Island. But he came out of retirement to leave a memorable mark on the Italian World Cup propelling Cameroon into the quarter finals.

In winning their third title, Germany joined Italy and Brazil as the tournament’s most honoured nations.

Did You Know?

Even though fewer nations took part in the qualifying rounds than in 1986 (112 rather than 121), reaching the finals proved to be just as difficult. Among the teams that failed along the way were Denmark, Portugal and even France, the 1986 semi-finalists having named Michel Platini as coach to replace Henri Michel.

A virtually unknown quantity at the tournament’s outset, Schillaci, better known as “Toto” in his homeland, carried an Italian XI which, though they played entertaining football, were lacking in finishing power. Schillaci, 25, who played his club football for Juventus, was in such tremendous form ? he scored six goals and finished as the tournament’s top goal-scorer ? that he virtually lifted Italy into the semi-finals on his own. There, however, the Squadra Azzurra went out on penalties against Argentina, having only let in two goals in seven games.

Diego Maradona again took Argentina to the final, but Andreas Brehme converted a penalty kick to decide the match in West Germany’s favour.

Off-side

• Like Julius Caesar before him, Salvatore “Toto” Schillaci came, saw and conquered. For three weeks he was Italy’s hero. Originally from Palermo but on the books of Juventus, he had played only one international match before the World Cup started. In the first Italian game he came on as a substitute and scored the the winner against Austria four minutes later. He was back on the bench again for the USA match, but was then used in every game and scored in every one too.
  
  
• After Mexico in 1986, the 14th World Cup returned to Europe: to Italy, a mighty footballing nation where no expense was to be spared in making the World Cup a roaring success. Ten of the twelve World Cup stadiums were given a complete face-lift and the other two (in Turin and Bari), were built from scratch especially for the event.
  
  
• Italy also became the first European country to stage the World Cup twice after hosting and winning the 1934 finals.
  
  
• Argentina became the first team not to score in the final ? and also the first team to have not one, but two players sent off in the final.

Official Awards

• Winner — Germany
• Second — Argentina
• Third — Italy
• Fourth — England
• Golden Shoe— Salvatore Schillaci (Ita): 6 goals
• Golden Ball — Schillaci
• Fifa Fair Play — England
  

USA 1994

Fifa’s decision to stage the finals in the United States was a brave one, even though it ultimately failed to realise the goal of establishing soccer as a major sport there. It did, though, produce a fine World Cup, marred only by a 0-0 draw in the final between Brazil and Italy. In a sense it was a World Cup held in a bubble.

Around the stadiums, or in the cities where matches were played, there was a level of local interest and the competition did produce the biggest total attendance figures in World Cup history.

But millions of Americans had no idea the World Cup was happening in their country and, if they did, they were not in the least bit interested.

Still, those who did turn up seemed to enjoy themselves, even if they tended to think that a long goal-kick or a powerful throw-in deserved applause every time. This was football in America but not football as they knew it.

Did You Know?

There was drama when Diego Maradona, Argentina’s hero of 1986, tested positive for drugs and was expelled from the tournament, and there was tragedy too when Colombian Andres Escobar was murdered days after returning home from scoring an own goal against the United States.

147 countries ? a new record ? entered for the qualifiers. Among them was South Africa, back after a lengthy exclusion. Many big guns, however, were not to make it to the finals: England, Denmark, the 1992 European champions, Portugal, Poland, and once again France, knocked out by a Bulgarian goal in the last second of their last qualifying game. Also excluded was Yugoslavia, where civil war raged with Bosnia. 24 counties competed in the finals of the 15th World Cup.

The final pitted Brazil against Italy, two nations which had already won the World Cup three times. But what in theory was the ideal match, proved to be a dour, physical and ultimately disappointing game. And for the first time in World Cup history, it all came down to penalties. As he stepped up, Italy’s saviour Roberto Baggio knew he had to score. But his penalty flew high into the blue California sky and the Brazilians were champions again, 24 years after their last success. Brazil had also become the first nation to win the World Cup four times.

Off-side

• In Morocco, America’s biggest rival to host the tournament, the disappointment was enormous. An African nation had still never organised a finals tournament since the World Cup was founded in 1930, but with just two stadia they lacked the facilities to stage such a major event.
  
  
• Cameroon’s consolation goal in their 1-6 defeat by Russia was scored by ? who else? ? Roger Milla, thus earning him another mention in the record book as the oldest goal-scorer in a World Cup final round.
  
  
• In the same match, Russia’s Oleg Salenko ? who was not even in the starting line-up for his team’s early games in 1994 ? scored 5 times in less than 60 minutes. After that, he faded from the international scene and finally had to end his career early for health reasons.

Official Awards

• Winner — Brazil
• Second — Italy
• Third — Sweden
• Fourth — Bulgaria
• Golden Shoe— Hristo Stoichkov (Bul), Oleg Salenko (Rus): 6 goals
• Golden Ball — Romario (Bra)
• Fifa Fair Play — Brazil
• Most entertaining team — Brazil
• Yashin Award for Best Goalkeeper — Michel Preud’homme (Bel)
  

France 1998

When Joao Havelange was bidding to become Fifa president in 1974, he promised that if he was elected Asian and African countries would get more opportunities to compete on the world stage.

The process began in 1982 when the World Cup was increased to 24 nations and was completed in 1998 when the first 32-team tournament was staged.

Japan, South Africa and Jamaica were among the debutants at France 98 which began with champions Brazil beating Scotland 2-1 in Paris on June 10.

Brazil were again expected to do well but France were expected to do even better.

The hosts had improved steadily over the previous decade and were reaping the benefits of a far-sighted national youth training programme.

By the time of the 1998 World Cup, the likes of Zinedine Zidane, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry were young, established and ready to take on the world and win, which is exactly what they did.

Did You Know?

As is often the case with the World Cup, the opening round threw up its fair share of surprises, with certain favourites having to make way for a few unfancied lesser lights in the second round. Spain failed to break their World Cup hoodoo after a slow start and despite a grandstand finish. Facing a race against the odds after a 2-3 loss to Nigeria in their opener, Javier Clemente’s side racked up six goals against the hapless Bulgarians only for Paraguay to beat the group-leading Super Eagles and qualify at Spain’s expense.

Colombia also failed to progress, in a group topped by a Romanian side which surprised England 2-1. Morocco also finished the tournament with a tinge of regret, after a last-minute penalty enabled Norway to beat a full-strength Brazil and steal second place in the group from the North Africans.

It was a dream final for France, on 12 July, “the day of glory arrived”, to borrow a line from France’s national anthem La Marseillaise. With a header in the 27th minute followed by a second in first half injury time, playmaker Zinedine Zidane sent shock waves through his Brazilian opponents from which they would never recover. Despite being reduced to ten men after Marcel Desailly’s expulsion in the 68th minute, the French fortress not only withstood a final pounding from Brazil but even slotted in another goal after a counter-attack from Emmanuel Petit in the last minute.

Off-side

• Moroccan referee Belqola became the first African ever to officiate at a World Cup final.
  
  
• The meet also helped the world discover fresh young talents such as Ariel Ortega (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France) and Michael Owen (England). Owen earned the distinction of scoring one of the most breathtaking goals of the whole World Cup, where 171 hit the target in a total of 64 matches.

Official Awards

• Winner — France
• Second — Brazil
• Third — Croatia
• Fourth — The Netherlands
• Golden Shoe— Davor Suker: 6 goals
• Golden Ball — Ronaldo (Bra)
• Fifa Fair Play — England/France
• Most entertaining team — France
• Yashin Award for Best Goalkeeper — Fabien Barthez (Fra)