The biggest Tournament Shocker!

[Mhhz]

After watching Greece disposal of the Czechs, what are your thought on which event had the biggest surprise of all time?

My candidates are:

The Maracanazo: No matter what uruguayans say about the fact that they always knew they could beat Brazil in the 1950 final game, the fact of the matter is that Spain could've kept them from winning had they won a game they lead all the time. However the "orientales" beat the odds by rolling over a great offensive team and silencing a crowd of almost 200.000 brazilian fans.

Denmark in Euro1992: A team that got eliminated and only were allowed to participate because of political problems of Yugoslavia, went on to win the tournament against heavily favored foes, specially Holland and Germany... And without Michael Laudrup!

Nigeria wins the Olympic Golden medal in Athens 1996: to win it they had to surpass two national teams that had won everything except for Olympic Gold. Nigeria won brilliantly and kept the gold away from Brasilians and Argentinians.

The Perfect Team gets mauled!! Germany had been destroyed in the stage round by the magyars 8-3, so after Hungary beat both Brazil and Uruguay, nobody in their right mind thought Germany would have anything to use and win , but everybody forgot, that not only Seppl Herberger had an almost profetical influence over his players, but also guys like Rahn, Fritz Walter, Turek had enough talent to win, and they did it coming back from 0-2 dissavantage.

France in 2002. Along with Argentina and (incredibly lesser) Brazil, FRance was the one of the favorites, but a loss with Senegal in the first game led to a incredible No-goal tournament for Les Bleus.

Any thoughts?

[Jabinho]

Someone has to say it so I guess it'll be me..
You mentioned the 1950 WC.
The US victory of England had to be the biggest upset considering the US team was made up of part time players, amateurs and college players going against the "mighty" England team of pros.

Soon to be a major motion picture!
(This film has not yet been rated.. Check local listings for showtimes) ;)

[Mhhz]

Someone has to say it so I guess it'll be me..
You mentioned the 1950 WC.
The US victory of England had to be the biggest upset considering the US team was made up of part time players, amateurs and college players going against the "mighty" England team of pros.

Soon to be a major motion picture!
(This film has not yet been rated.. Check local listings for showtimes) ;)


You are right!, but this great surprise was just a One Game Shocker, not a brilliant or disastrouss all around tournament that no one expected from them.

Another thing was that at the time England's years as the Best in the World were behind them, Spain proved it beatin them later in the tournament, and Hungary completely destroyed that Myth of England's greatness 3 years later.

And you are right about another thing, The Movie!

[Spartak]

The Perfect Team gets mauled!! Germany had been destroyed in the stage round by the magyars 8-3, so after Hungary beat both Brazil and Uruguay, nobody in their right mind thought Germany would have anything to use and win , but everybody forgot, that not only Seppl Herberger had an almost profetical influence over his players, but also guys like Rahn, Fritz Walter, Turek had enough talent to win, and they did it coming back from 0-2 dissavantage.

This is the biggest shocker. Hungary was the big power at the time and up until 1954 (West)Germany was nothing compared to other great european teams. So for the Germans to beat(although some Hungarians may argue they were never beaten) a team that destroyed them only a few weeks earlier is impressive. This game gave birth to the superpower Germany was soon to become. And unfortunately it also spawned the demise of the great Magyars.

[patrickm]

how about usa qualifying for 4 straight finals, albeit once as the hosts, after not participating between 54 and 86?

[Spartak]

how about usa qualifying for 4 straight finals, albeit once as the hosts, after not participating between 54 and 86?
That's not that big of a shock considering how easy it is to qualify from CONCACAF. The bigger shocker is that the USA didn't qualify from 1950-1986. You'd a figured they would have sqeaked through at least once in that period. And considering how bad some of those Central American teams faired in the WC Finals you wonder how bad the US was during that period.

[ZeekLTK]

Also don't forget another game which has become a movie with the exact same title as the 1950 USA vs England ("Game of Their Lives")... and that game is 1966 North Korea vs Italy. Click here for more about the movie/game (http://www.thegameoftheirlives.com/) (of North Korea not USA).

[When Hell Unfreezes]

17th November 1999 was a bit of a shock! :(

I'm sure our skirt-wearing friends remember it well!!!