biggest upset

[jraanan]

What are the biggest soccer upsets over the last 20 years?

[Fiorentina lives!]

It's 20 years?

That takes away the ultimate upset from 1982 (22 yrs. back):
Algeria 2, Germany 1 in Spain '82.

As for the last 20 years? Hmmm...

You could make a case for these, in terms of national teams:

USA 3, Portugal 2 in WC 2002
South Korea 2, Italy 1 in WC 2002
USA 2, Colombia 1 in WC 1994
Denmark winning Euro 1992
US beating Brazil in some Copa America I cannot remember
Senegal's whole WC 2002
Bulgaria over Germany (?) in WC 1994 reaching the Semis
Cameroon 1, Argentina 0 in WC 1990

[unclesox]

1986: Steaua Bucharest going to Seville and doing everything they possibly could to hold out for penalty kicks against favored Barcelona and steal the European Cup.

1988: Mechelin beating Ajax in the Cup Winners' Cup final.

1992: Denmark not qualifying for EURO 92 and then being invited weeks before the competition began because Yugoslavia was at war. They would go on to lift the Cup!

1994: AC Milan beating favored Barcelona to win the European Cup, not much of an upset in itself... but 4-nil?! And it wasn't even THAT close!

1998: Kaiserslautern winning the Bundesliga the season after gaining promotion from the 2nd division.

2000: The amatuer side Calais thrilling a nation (indeed, the world!) by reaching the French Cup Final where they actually took the lead against Nantes but ended up losing on a last minute goal. (I cried on this one)

[Fiorentina lives!]

Well, unclesox, to continue with your line of thought...

This year Depor lost to Milan 4-1 in the CL QFs... game over, right?

Nope... Depor thrashes Milan 4-0 and moves on. That was considered an upset by many...

I think Lorient recently won a French Cup while descending to the 2nd division the same year.

[saabrian]

What are the biggest soccer upsets over the last 20 years?

I have three nominees.

Unfancied Senegal making the 2002 African Nations Cup final, losing only on penalties to Cameroon. (This is why their World Cup run didn't totally shock me, even if their win over France did)

Denmark winning Euro '92, a tournament they didn't initially qualify for and were only a last minute replacement for the ex-Yugoslavia.

1990 World Cup, Cameroon beats holders Argentina 1-0. The win that put African football on the map.


I think USA 3-2 Portugal was probably the most impressive (not the greatest) single upset because most of upsets tend to be 1-0 with David bunkering and countering the whole game and poaching a lucky goal off Goliath. The US certainly didn't adopt that strategy in this game.

As for club football, unfancied Rosenborg of Norway made the Champions League semifinals either once or twice ahead of far more prominent names in recent years. That always impressed me

[Offside2]

World cup 2002: The winless streak of France

[unclesox]

World cup 2002: The winless streak of France
Winless and goalless.

[Offside2]

Winless and goalless.

Goalless aswell? DAMN!

[Andy TAUS]

2003, Australia def England 3-1 (2-0 against ENG 1st team in the 1st half).
:D
"Meaningless friendly" to the English, now !!!
:mad:

[Frankfurt Blue]

2003, Australia def England 3-1 (2-0 against ENG 1st team in the 1st half).
:D
"Meaningless friendly" to the English, now !!!
:mad:

Never happened. Figment of your imagination.

[Offside2]

2003, Australia def England 3-1 (2-0 against ENG 1st team in the 1st half).

"Meaningless friendly" to the English, now !!!
:mad:

That's the biggest upset? I'd say the penalty that Neville (I believe) cost England a quarter final place during Euro 2000 against romania :)

I saw a paper say 'we're coming home'

[saabrian]

Come to think of it, Bulgaria's run to the '94 semis and their defeat of holders Germany was pretty impressive since Bulgaria had never won a WC finals game in their history before then.

[Offside2]

Oh no, WAIT!

The BIGGEST upset was the DEATH of an African player who died on the field after he collapsed during an important game. I forgot the name and game. R.E.S.P.E.C.T

[unclesox]

Oh no, WAIT!

The BIGGEST upset was the DEATH of an African player who died on the field after he collapsed during an important game. I forgot the name and game. R.E.S.P.E.C.T
Marc-Vivian Foe of Cameroon during the Confederartion's Cup semi-final against Colombia. I saw post-match film of players from both teams just sitting on the pitch with unbelievably sad looks on their faces. :( "Upset" of a different kind.

[um_chili]

This year's champion's league final is the product of four major upsets: Porto beating ManU in the Round of 16; Depor beating Milan in the quarters (after being down 4-1 in the first leg--unreal); Monaco beating Real in the quarters (after being down 4-2 in the first leg--unreal #2); and Chelsea beating Arsenal in the quarters (coming from behind in the second half of the second leg to win at Highbury for the first time in god knows how many years--impressive if not unreal). This all coming after years where the CL semis were the virtually exclusive preserve of Europe's predictable elite.

as for saabrian's comment about rosenborg of trondheim, their best result was the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 1996, where they lost to Juventus.

[Offside2]

Marc-Vivian Foe of Cameroon during the Confederartion's Cup semi-final against Colombia. I saw post-match film of players from both teams just sitting on the pitch with unbelievably sad looks on their faces. :( "Upset" of a different kind.

Indeed

[saabrian]

as for saabrian's comment about rosenborg of trondheim, their best result was the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 1996, where they lost to Juventus.

Thanks for the correction. They actually beat Milan at the San Siro that year, which confused me. But it must've been in the group stage.

[Pasha]

World Cup 2002 was full of upsets. France and Argentina out in the group stage... USA and Korea ahead of Portugal and Poland... Korea making the semis... who could have foreseen that?

Last year, the biggest upset was probably Latvia beating Turkey in Euro 2004 playoffs... even though, strangely enough, all teams that finished third in World Cup since 1982 failed to make it to the next Euro (Poland 1982, France 1986, Italy 1990, Sweden 1994, Croatia 1998, and now Turkey 2002)...

[CW1980]

Like The Highlander, there can be only one...

Spain 0
Northern Ireland 1 (Armstrong)

World Cup 1982

[Fiorentina lives!]

CW 1980:

Whenever Spain loses, it's not an upset. Spain are the KINGS OF CHOKE. I'm not impressed by that score...

Anyway, remember one Algeria 2, Germany 1???

THAT IS AN UPSET!!!

THAT ONE PUT AFRICA ON DA MAP BEFORE CAMEROON!