The World Cup... the greatest show on earth

denirobob

denirobob

IBERIAN PRIMERA
28 June 2002
Henley, Oxfordshire
Afternoon chaps,

Eurosport are currently running a series called WC legends where they feature a nation and look at its WC past. That got me thinking, why don't we discuss our favorite memories of tournaments gone by (the more obscure the better!)

- fav tournament
- your fav ever goals
- fav merchandise
(for me it has to be the Mexico 86 rubbers in the shape of team shirts)
- fav kit
- fav ball (Azteca 86)
- fav nets (Again Mex 86 Mondial nets.. can you see a theme developing!)
- fav mascot

Also...

I've booked off 10 afternoons, to ensure I manage to miss as few games as possible - only S Korea v Togo, Ecuador v C Rica and Togo v Switzerland this time. Every 4 years (and to a lesser extent every 2) it's the same. Anyone else do something similar ?

USA 94 was a hard one with my GCSE's but who gives a fig about a 9am maths exam, when Saudi Arabia are 1-0 up against Holland at 2am in the morning!

db
 
hands down, everything about Mexico 86 was class!!! The best penalty shoot out too with France v Brazil, and of course, Super Bryan Robson's super fast goal.

one thing i hated...... the shorts were, um, very short weren't they?

Nice thread dude!
 
IceMan_Bergkamp said:
hands down, everything about Mexico 86 was class!!! The best penalty shoot out too with France v Brazil, and of course, Super Bryan Robson's super fast goal.

one thing i hated...... the shorts were, um, very short weren't they?

Nice thread dude!
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How old were you then mate?

It was my first ever WC (was 9/10) and i think thats why memories of it are heightened.

Do u recall Josimar's stunners and Negrete? Have you ever seen 'Hero' the official video of Mex 86 voiced over by Michael Caine !! :)

db
 
Junka said:
No way,nothing was more class than diego armando maradona at world cup 1986
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IceMan_Bergkamp said:
hands down, everything about Mexico 86 was class!!!
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Everything was good... Diego Maradona dribble past the whole England team.. after the infamous handball! :)

denirobob said:
How old were you then mate?
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I was 12 mate.... loved the Panini sticker album as well! :)


Manuel Negrete!!!! What a volley from outside the penalty area!!! I also enjoyed Burrachaga's (sp?) goal against Germany. Also, remember the one Honduras player doing the bicycle kick off his own line!

Memories!! Going to dig out my VHS tape! hahaha!

1986-mascot.jpg


Mexico86.jpg
 
Worldcup 1990

Germany kicks netherlands, germany kicks england in penaltys (like always) germany go to the final (like nearly always :) ) an Andreas Brehme scored with a penalty (such a coincidence :D ) in the 89 min. germany to the worldchampions. Germany is a tournament crew, caution 2006 ago...

vorneT.jpg
 
Sitting at night waiting to get to the airport to go on holiday to Portugal in 1994. Romania - Argentina is on, still one of the greatest matches I've ever seen. 1998, the goal Sunday Oliseh scored against Spain. I was watching that game by myself cheering out loud. Great moment.
Also from 1998, the whole summer was great. I was a heavy pot smoker back then and so were 99% of my friends. We watched every game stoned, which even made Japan - Jamaica a top game. Before every game we were out on a schoolyard playing 5 on 5, then 10 minutes before the game we went to a guy's place and watch it (first smoking some weed ofcourse). Fuck, that was a great tourney. I remember Holland beating Argentina and we went out to a club with 20 guys, all drunk and singing. Then in that club we heard Germany was eliminated and 3000 people just started singing and everybody was shaking hands. It was great, I ended up talking with a black dude about Alpha Blondy, the African reggae star.
 
Ha ha Jooste, i know exactly what you mean about the Oliseh goal. I had a similar experience from 94, when South Korea equalised against Spain to make it 2-2. i was going nuts sitting in my front room at 1am!

Italia 90 was quality too......

403488818.jpg


and one of my fav ever moment has to be this...he shook that net like the Ultimate Warrior used to shake the ropes!

4122927257.jpg


db
 
Italia '90 was my first ever tournament, I know lots of people think it sucked but it was my first one and I will always have fond memories of it. For some reason, I loved the Cameroon 'World Cup Song' :eh:.

Looking back, Scotland had a decent team then although I didn't think so at the time (I was eight, and if my nation wasn't in the same league as Diego's Argentina or Matthaus' Germany then they sucked IMO!). We lost our first match against Costa Rica in Genoa, a major shock at that time. We lost narrowly to Brasil 1-0, when Leighton spilled a shot at the feet of Careca and then Maurice Johnstone missed an open goal in the last minute (scum!). Last match we beat Sweden 2-1, but it was not enough :(.

USA '94 was harder to enjoy because of the match times, and had a crap final. Ray Houghton's goal against Italy was the highlight of that tournament for me.

France '98 was pretty good, I remember Holland vs Brasil in the semi-final as my favourite game.

Japan/Korea - good tourney, but again the kick-off times weren't the best for us Europeans.
 
For me it has to be Spain 82. Firstly, because Italy won the WC. Secondly because it had possibly 2 of the best games I have ever seen played. First one was the Italy - Brazil game when Rossi scored the Hat trick in the 2nd round which was actually groups back then. The final score was 3-2 and it was a briliant game against a great Brazil side.

The other game was Germany vs. France in the semi finals. The game was tied 1-1 after Regulation. They played the entire 30 minutes back then which they doing again now I believe. Anyway, France scores 2 goals and are up 3-1 in ET to only see Germany come back and score 2 to level the score at 3. It then goes to PK's with Germany winning 5-4 after I think 10 shooters a piece. It was unreal.

Also 86 was good too. USA 94 also because I got to games and the atmosphere was incredible. That was the only WC i have attended.

Ezio
 
Since i'm probably the oldest member on this forum i have most memories.

The best World Cup ever was undoubtably the one in Mexico in 1970 with that fantastic Brazilian team and very good Italian team who played the final (after a legendary semi-final between Germany and Italy).
In that final Carlos Alberto scored the the second best WC goal ever.

In 1974 there was the magical Dutch team.

The World Cup of 1978 was the World Cup of Robbie Rensenbrink and Arie Haan who both played for Anderlecht in Belgium (imagine this now).

The 1982 World Cup is the one where Belgium beat Argentina in the opening game. It's the WC with that shame match between Germany and Austria...due to that match a very spectacular Algerian team had to go home.
That same World Cup produced the best World Cup goal ever: A goal from Brazilian forward Eder against Scotland. That Brazilian team with Zico, Socrates, Eder, Falcao,... is the best team that never won a World Cup. To me only the 1970 team is better then that team...it's the last time Brazil was really spectacular in a World Cup (how strong they have been afterwards, i did not like them). The 1982 World Cup is also the WC with the semi-final between a fantastic France team and a cynical German team with the assault of Schumacher on Battiston...as usual the Germans came away with their cynical play...

1986 was perhaps the most memorable WC for us Belgians. Our national team finished fourth in that World Cup and the match against the Soviet Union was perhaps one of the best WC matches ever. My father still has that match on video. It was of course also the WC of Maradonna, the most influential player ever in one World Cup (but Argentina had other good player too like Burruchaga and Valdano, people tend to forget that now). Of course i remeber Maradonna's both goals against England which is typical for Maradonna: the bad and the good side...

The World Cup in 1990 was perhaps the one were the Belgian team really played attractive football. They lost sadly against England, with the famous David Platt goal in extra time of prolongations. That year was also the world cup of Gazza and of Cameroon. In that Cameroon team was one of my all-time favourite players, the dreadlocked Cyril Makanaky...It was also the World Cup with a very good Italian team with another of my all-time favourites: Giuseppe Giannini, the most elegant CMF i ever saw (not the best however).

1994 was the World Cup that i remember for the fantastic Argentina-Roumania that Joost mentioned. Maybe the best WC match i ever saw. Otherwise i did not like that tournament nor the winners Brazil with Romario.


1998 was the year of France and Zizou. I was delighted that the French national team finally won some silverware, in the past they had very attractive teams but they were unlucky...I always felt a litle bit for the France team of 1998 because everybody talked about the Ronaldo incident and that being the reason why Brazil lost that final...Of course France had by far the best team of that World Cup (although the Dutch played a couple of great matches too and Bergkamp scored a fantastic goal...).

I did not like the 2002 World Cup particularly, once again Germany was favoured by the refs (remember the game against the USA) and i was disappointed with the 2 finalists....but of course that very subjective...
 
The first WC i saw was in 1998. Boy was it a good one seing Nigeria play so well and Brazil with all their wonderful players on stage (especialy Rivaldo and Ronaldo). I was at a 1 week "end of primary school" trip during this, so it was nice watching it friends. When Nigeria were playing i had friends who spoke Yoroba and we were saying some crazy shit, to bad all the white boys never understood what we were talking about, shit was funny.

Also England, can't forget about England, that match against Argentina was exciting as hell, remember that because of the way my teacher was jumping up and down when Owen scored that goal, usual the guy is stiff as hell! His always calm and everything, seing him break loose like that was funny!
 
Stringer Bell said:
The first WC i saw was in 1998. Boy was it a good one seing Nigeria play so well and Brazil with all their wonderful players on stage (especialy Rivaldo and Ronaldo). I was at a 1 week "end of primary school" trip during this, so it was nice watching it friends. When Nigeria were playing i had friends who spoke Yoroba and we were saying some crazy shit, to bad all the white boys never understood what we were talking about, shit was funny.

Also England, can't forget about England, that match against Argentina was exciting as hell, remember that because of the way my teacher was jumping up and down when Owen scored that goal, usual the guy is stiff as hell! His always calm and everything, seing him break loose like that was funny!
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This is a bit racist in my view. Watch the tone Stringer. I like you, but you can't make jokes like that.
 
@joostebrood Whats so racist about! I can make comments like that, nothing wrong with.

We wern't saying anything rude.

-

gerd said:
Since i'm probably the oldest member on this forum i have most memories.

The best World Cup ever was undoubtably the one in Mexico in 1970 with that fantastic Brazilian team and very good Italian team who played the final (after a legendary semi-final between Germany and Italy).
In that final Carlos Alberto scored the the second best WC goal ever.

In 1974 there was the magical Dutch team.

The World Cup of 1978 was the World Cup of Robbie Rensenbrink and Arie Haan who both played for Anderlecht in Belgium (imagine this now).

The 1982 World Cup is the one where Belgium beat Argentina in the opening game. It's the WC with that shame match between Germany and Austria...due to that match a very spectacular Algerian team had to go home.
That same World Cup produced the best World Cup goal ever: A goal from Brazilian forward Eder against Scotland. That Brazilian team with Zico, Socrates, Eder, Falcao,... is the best team that never won a World Cup. To me only the 1970 team is better then that team...it's the last time Brazil was really spectacular in a World Cup (how strong they have been afterwards, i did not like them). The 1982 World Cup is also the WC with the semi-final between a fantastic France team and a cynical German team with the assault of Schumacher on Battiston...as usual the Germans came away with their cynical play...

1986 was perhaps the most memorable WC for us Belgians. Our national team finished fourth in that World Cup and the match against the Soviet Union was perhaps one of the best WC matches ever. My father still has that match on video. It was of course also the WC of Maradonna, the most influential player ever in one World Cup (but Argentina had other good player too like Burruchaga and Valdano, people tend to forget that now). Of course i remeber Maradonna's both goals against England which is typical for Maradonna: the bad and the good side...

The World Cup in 1990 was perhaps the one were the Belgian team really played attractive football. They lost sadly against England, with the famous David Platt goal in extra time of prolongations. That year was also the world cup of Gazza and of Cameroon. In that Cameroon team was one of my all-time favourite players, the dreadlocked Cyril Makanaky...It was also the World Cup with a very good Italian team with another of my all-time favourites: Giuseppe Giannini, the most elegant CMF i ever saw (not the best however).

1994 was the World Cup that i remember for the fantastic Argentina-Roumania that Joost mentioned. Maybe the best WC match i ever saw. Otherwise i did not like that tournament nor the winners Brazil with Romario.


1998 was the year of France and Zizou. I was delighted that the French national team finally won some silverware, in the past they had very attractive teams but they were unlucky...I always felt a litle bit for the France team of 1998 because everybody talked about the Ronaldo incident and that being the reason why Brazil lost that final...Of course France had by far the best team of that World Cup (although the Dutch played a couple of great matches too and Bergkamp scored a fantastic goal...).

I did not like the 2002 World Cup particularly, once again Germany was favoured by the refs (remember the game against the USA) and i was disappointed with the 2 finalists....but of course that very subjective...
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You have a rich history there stan :)
 
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gerd said:
Since i'm probably the oldest member on this forum i have most memories.
onlyfools3.jpg


During the war.....



Sorry mate, I don't know if you've ever seen 'Only fools & horses' or not :)


Seriously. Really interesting reading that Gerd,

one of the WC's iconic images...sorry i know it's against belgium (i'd actually forgotten you'd played Argentina before 86 actually.) You were pretty unlucky in 94 too, going out against Germany after beating Holland in the groups.

belgio_82.jpg
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That last post Gerd is beautiful man.. enjoyed reading it and so much history and football you've seen! Always a pleasure talking to you man! ;) :applause:
 
IceMan_Bergkamp said:
That Tardelli celebration in 1982!!! Brilliant!
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That is so true. Great stuff.

off topic: Bob, maybe not such raw emotion, but did you ever see van Basten saying goodbye to San Siro? Capello crying on the bench. I still have troubles watching that bit.
 
I dont recall ever seeing that mate.

You can even take it to the other extreme with Sammy Kuffour banging his first into the Nou Camp turf after the 99 Champions League final.

Football eh.
 
Mexico 86 was my favourite. Maradona was just unbelievable in that tournament, also Michael Laurdrup and Igor Belanov where also brilliant.

Also I thought 94 USA was excellent, some fabulous games, especially that Romania v Argentina game, one of my fav WC games.

I also remember a good part of 82 (only 10), with that great Brazil team, for me they where the best team I ever watched that never won the tournament. That team was full of some unbelievable players.


FD
 
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