World Cup 1990

Or put another way, Italia 90. Unusually for FIFA they went with the old adage, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' and stuck to the tried and tested 24 teams, split into 6 groups of four to be followed by rounds of 16, 8, 4 and the final.

The tournament saw England's best performance since 1966, with Bobby Robson (God Rest His Soul) showing those morons, sorry, gentlemen of the press what a fantastic manager he was in getting the team to the semi finals, where but for a certain je ne sais pas, we could have seen a replay of the infamous quarter final of 1986 in Rome's Olympic Stadium. But we didn't know what it was we were lacking so how could we have found it? Sorry, that's the last of my amateur philosophy.

Anyway, like I said, the tournament was set up with 24 teams in 6 groups of 4. Qualifiers from the British Isles included first time qualifier, Republic of Ireland, along with England and Scotland. The teams were seeded into 4 groups and each was in a different pot, so theoretically all three could have been drawn together. As it was, England got the Republic along with the Netherlands and Egypt, whilst what the World Cup be without a group including Scotland and Brazil together (not to mention Costa Rica and Sweden)?

First Round

Group A saw the hosts qualify, along with Czechoslovakia at the expense of Austria and the USA. It was a progression typically lacking in goals for the Italians, however one Salvatore Schillaci did make some noise with 2 of their four goals as 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0 wins saw them comfortably through. The Czechoslovaks were more expansive with a 5-1 win over the US and a 1-0 against Austria.

Group B was the best-group-ever-in-the-history-of-the-first-round-of-World-Cup-Finals-ever. We should have known from the very first game of Italia 90 as 1986's winners Argentina were famously beaten by Cameroon at the Guiseppe Meazza aka San Siro. Of course you will remember that it was Omam-Biyik who scored the only goal, in between Cameroon's two sendings off. Football, what a great game. Things very nearly went completely pear-shaped for the Holders, however in beating the USSR and drawing with Romania, they did manage to squeak through as one of the fastest losers. In the throes of disintegration (little did we know) the USSR also lost to Romania and despite thrashing Cameroon in the final game finished fourth.

Group C also saw a shock. Not involving Brazil, no no no. Costa Rica did a USA (v England, 1950) and beat Scotland 1-0 in their opening game after Sweden had been beaten by Brazil. In their second game, the Scots gave themselves a slim chance of progression by beating Sweden - I say slim because Brazil were their last opponents, but I think that this also goes to fuel Scotland's acute sense of 'if only' in World Cup after World Cup after World Cup. After all the games had been played, Scotland were third to Brazil and Costa Rica (who beat Sweden 2-1 in their last game), and unfortunately bound once again for Prestwick.

Group D saw a stroll for the West Germans as they thumped Yugoslavia 4-1 and the UAE 5-1 before easing up to win the group with a 1-1 draw with Colombia. The Yugolslavs seemed at the time to be handling their impending break up rather better than the Soviets as they recovered to beat Colombia 1-0 and the UAE 4-1 to qualify in second. Colombia were fastest losers after equalising late on in their final group match with West Germany.

Group E saw perennial under achievers Spain top the group and perennial punchers-above-their-weight Belgium finish second as perennial footballing sophisticates Uruguay slip through as a fastest loser. Korea Republic (i.e South Korea) were the unlucky fourth placed outfit.

In Group F things started with two 1-1 draws. England and the Republic of Ireland had Gary Lineker and Kevin Sheedy to thank for their goals, whilst Wim Kieft's opening goal was cancelled out by Magdi Abdelghani's penalty in the Netherlands-Egypt clash. So far so symmetrical and things carried on in the same vein as this time the teams managed no goals at all in the second pair of matches. And so to the (hopefully) deciding third pair of games. Well, England secured the ownership of the first spot, Mark Wright's header being the only goal in their game with Egypt. However, Ireland and the Netherlands were refusing to join in this new decisiveness and their 1-1 draw meant that they had to toss for second spot - Ireland duly relegating the Dutch to the status of one of the fastest losers.

Second Round - Round of 16

In the second round, we saw serene progress from the hosts; an ugly, bad tempered affair between neighbours (at least one); a couple of surprises; the usual early departure of Spain and an extra time surprise for Belgium.

Hosts Italy defeated Uruguay easily enough by a score of 2 nil as Toto Schillaci added another to his total. Aldo Serena made sure with the second on 85 minutes. Cameroon continued their adventure by defeating Colombia 2-1 a.e.t. with the talismanic Roger Milla scoring both of their goals. Spain huffed and puffed and eventually had their own house blown down by Yugoslavia, again 2-1 a.e.t.

In the first game between neighbours, West Germany kept their nerve to defeat the Dutch 2-1 in normal time. The game is probably best remembered for the disgraceful behaviour of Rudi Voeller and Frank Rijkaard who were both dismissed following their little spat (surely spit) on around 25 minutes of the game. Klinsmann and Brehme scored the West German goals and Ronald Koeman pulled one back late on for the Oranje.

This time it was the turn of Argentina to prevail over their old friends, Brazil. A single goal by Claudio Caniggia was enough to win, following another hazy mazy run by the hero (sic) of the last World Cup. A sterling performance by keeper Sergio Goycochea also went a long way towards the victory, as did the profligacy of the Brazilians in front of goal.

Czechoslovakia had a relatively easy task to defeat Costa Rica, Tomas Skuhravy grabbing a hat-trick in their 4-1 win. And so to the last bastions of the British Isles. Ireland, managed by the taller of the two Charlton brothers (and of course England World Cup Winner) Jackie, managed to progress by dint of a penalty from David O'Leary as in Genoa they defeated Romania on pens after a drab, dull 0-0. England's game against Belgium was a classic smash and grab by the tam in white. Out played for large portions of the game, David Platt's winner on 119 minutes made me spill my pint.

Quarter Finals

The low scoring theme continued into the quarter finals. Two were decided by single goals as Schillaci saw off Ireland for Italy and Lothar Matthaus's penalty was enough for West Germany against Czechoslovakia. In the next game, Argentina and Yugoslavia shared no goals and even in the penalty shoot-out, it was the misses which decided things - Argentina only missed 2 whilst the Yugoslavs scorned 3 of theirs.

In one of the better games of the tournament, England eventually prevailed over Cameroon. At first progress looked serene as David Platt's goal saw them lead 1-0 at half time. But then, in their new tradition (established in beating Argentina in the first game of the tournament), Cameroon went 2-1 ahead with goals by Kunde and Ekeke. Times was running out for England until Gary Lineker was fouled when through on goal before getting up to slot from the spot for 2-2. In he last minute of the first half of extra time, England was awarded another penalty, which Lineker again converted, thus ensuring the agony of a semi final against West Germany...

Semi Finals

In the south at Naples, hosts Italy versus Argentina was a dour scrap of a game. The tournament's star, Toto Schillaci scored first for the Azzuri, but Claudio Caniggia equalised midway through the second half, just as the home was beginning to dream of the final in Rome. Events panned out almost as expected, no more goals; extra-time; an Argentinian sent off; and an agonising 4-3 penalty loss for the hosts.

In the north at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin, there was a much more memorable encounter, even though the result was almost a carbon copy. In their best performance since winning in 1966, England faced their old foes, West Germany. Andreas Brehme notched first for West Germany with a deflected goal off Paul Parker. England's challenge was petering out, but with just 10 minutes left up popped Gary Lineker to equalise. And so to extra-time. Perhaps the only real moment of note was the booking of England's star Paul Gascoigne in the first half of extra-time. This meant that should England qualify for the final, he would miss out. Unfortunately in the penalty shoot out, England missed 2 penalties (Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle) as the West Germans won through to a replay of the previous World Cup Final.

Final

Four years earlier with Maradonna in his pomp, the final had been one of the more memorable World Cup Finals. In the Rome's Stadio Olimpico, the 1990 version was no such thing. Bad tempered and tedious (remember, this West German team featured Rudi Voeller, 'star' of the infamous spitting incident with the Netherlands' Frank Rijkaard), the game was settled by Andreas Brehme's goal from the penalty spot on around 70 minutes. In losing their crown, Argentina finished the game with nine men. West Germany's third title saw them draw level on titles with Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer became the second man to win World Cups as player and manager. In 1994 we were off to pastures new for the Greatest Show on Earth... the USA.