What was the best all time World Cup?

[glennaldo_sf]

What were your three favorite all time World Cups?

[Mani]

1986, 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

[almango]

What were your three favorite all time World Cups?

1982, 2002, 1994

[The Potter]

70,86,98

[RichardL]

People almost always choose their first world cup when asked this question, and I'm not any different, going for 1982. It did have some great games, alot of strong teams and some massive controversies to back up that claim though.

Other than that I'd go with 1990 and 1998 for the atmosphere and feel of the events.

[Revelian]

1966
1970
1978

Revelian

[Germanshepherd]

1954 - Das Wunder von Bern, just love it
1970 - wonderful world cup, best game Italy-germany
1994 - yes, my first world cup + great player personalities, Romario, Stoichkov, Matthaeus, Baggio, Hagi.. etc.

[SueB]

1994 was my first World Cup, and it WAS great. There was not a single 0-0 game .... until the final. :(

[lanman]

1994 was my first World Cup, and it WAS great. There was not a single 0-0 game .... until the final. :(

Apart from South Korea - Bolivia, but you can be forgiven for forgetting that "classic".

[bigredfutbol]

I didn't start following the game until the 1998 WC, so I really can't say. In 98, I was just trying to figure out what was going on. 2002 was the first WC where I knew the background and context--i.e., in '98 I wouldn't have appreciated the implications of something like the first-round exit of Argentina or France.

[Ombak]

Apart from South Korea - Bolivia, but you can be forgiven for forgetting that "classic".True, but how could you forget Ireland x Norway???

[MoRado]

For me it was Italy 90, cause it was the frist one that i watched and understood completely (i was 8), and also because it was the first time ever that Costa Rica qualified to a WC....
US94 and Asia2002 were also fine

[bracer028]

1994...my first world cup game...it was great to see USA lose...against romania...i was like 12 back then

[glennaldo_sf]

I meant to make this thread a poll but then realized there have been 17 world cups and a maximum of 16 choices. Was fiddling around a bit with the poll (no wordplay intended :eek: ) and it accidentally came out like this.. oh well I guess it works as it is.

As for me, I got into football just after the 1986 world cup. I was about 7 then. So really the first world cup that I thorougly followed was the 1990 world cup. Of course I was totally fascinated by it - especially as the US was playing. It wasn't until much later that I realized what an incredibly dour tournament it really was. I guess out of the four I experiened.... I'd have to say that '94 was my favorite. Especially with it being at home. Too bad about the final though. 1998 was also a decent tournament with some really good teams like France and Hollad.

[FARFAN 17]

I enjoyed 2002 Wc very much. It was great to see technology/football blend to create such an awesome atmosphere, I remember I skipped school just to watch some of the games because they were on at about 6-7 AM. :D

[dor02]

1954, 1982 and 1986.

The 1954 World Cup has the greatest scoring average, 5.38 goals a match.

Some of the greatest matches were played at the 1982 World Cup, Italy vs Brazil and France vs West Germany for instance.

1986 was also filled with great matches and the first round here was better than the one in 1982.

I've only seen WC 98 and WC 2002 live but I've looked at highlights, I have got matches on video from the World Cups I've listed and I have looked at the statistics. WC's 1954, 82 and 86 were much better than WC's 98 and 2002.

[Trussy in Oz]

This is a tough call; if you enjoyed the total football of the Dutch then certainly ’74 or ‘78 would be the best.
Now without wishing to divulge just how ancient I am, I would nominate 62 or 58 as being the best world cup, just before the whole thing became so big and unimaginably commercial.
Then again every cup is special, USA v Iran in ’98 is one huge example of the event it is a competition that united the world, we can all forget our various politicians and simply enjoy the challenge of the world’s game.
So you painted me into a box, therefore I would nominate the ’62 final as being the best ever.

[dor02]

This is a tough call; if you enjoyed the total football of the Dutch then certainly ’74 or ‘78 would be the best.
Now without wishing to divulge just how ancient I am, I would nominate 62 or 58 as being the best world cup, just before the whole thing became so big and unimaginably commercial.
Then again every cup is special, USA v Iran in ’98 is one huge example of the event it is a competition that united the world, we can all forget our various politicians and simply enjoy the challenge of the world’s game.
So you painted me into a box, therefore I would nominate the ’62 final as being the best ever.

Chile 62 has been considered to be one of the worst World Cups ever. I respect your choice but there are a few things that have to be considered.

Chile 62 was a violent World Cup where there was lots of fouls and kicking. Soviet Union vs Yugoslavia and Italy vs Chile were bad, especially the latter known as the "Battle Of Santiago."

In 32 matches there were 89 goals. In those days that was a poor goal average.

Around this time some coaches were starting to put defensive tactics into use.

Here we are talking more about gameplay but the facilities were very poor and only four stadiums were used, one of them was in Arica, which was in the desert.

The good things from this World Cup would have to be Garrincha's performances, Hungary's group matches, Czechoslovakia's surprise run to the final, the surprising 4-4 draw between Colombia and the USSR and the Final (Amarildo's goal was a beauty).

[dor02]

This is a tough call; if you enjoyed the total football of the Dutch then certainly ’74 or ‘78 would be the best.
Now without wishing to divulge just how ancient I am, I would nominate 62 or 58 as being the best world cup, just before the whole thing became so big and unimaginably commercial.
Then again every cup is special, USA v Iran in ’98 is one huge example of the event it is a competition that united the world, we can all forget our various politicians and simply enjoy the challenge of the world’s game.
So you painted me into a box, therefore I would nominate the ’62 final as being the best ever.

Out of your choices, you probably should have picked 1974. This is only my opinion and your still intitled to yours. ;)

[ChivaCongelado]

70, 86 & 98.