1994 - Italy vs Nigeria, Romania vs Argentina, Brazil vs Holland, Romania vs Colombia 1998 - Belgium vs Mexico, Holland vs Mexico, Spain vs Nigeria, Italy vs Chile, Demark vs Brazil 2002 Senegal vs Uruguay, Croatia vs Italy, USA vs Portugal, Korea vs Italy 2006 - Argentina vs Serbia, Italy vs Germany, Spain vs France, Germany vs Costa Rica 2010 Slovakia vs Italy, hell cbf writing anymore. Not even that many classic games. Just a bunch of ok ones.
1982: Italy vs Brazil, West Germany vs France, Brazil vs USSR 1986: Argentina vs England, Denmark vs Uruguay, Argentina vs West Germany 1990: West Germany vs England, Argentina vs Italy, Cameroon vs Colombia 1994: Brazil vs Netherlands, Bulgaria vs Germany, Romania vs Argentina 1998: Argentina vs England, Nigeria vs Spain, France vs Paraguay 2002: Sweden vs Senegal, South Korea vs USA, Spain vs Ireland 2006: Italy vs Germany, France vs Spain, Argentina vs Mexico 2010: Uruguay vs Ghana, Germany vs England, Brazil vs Chile 2014: Colombia vs Uruguay, Argentina vs Nigeria, Belgium vs USA
For me it has to be games where there was some back and forth and both teams could have won besides the sheer entertainment value of the game. Bonus points for knockout round games. Oh yeah ... great goals and some drama. 82 - Brazil 2 x 3 Italy 86 - Brazil 1 x 1 France; Belgium 4 x 3 USSR 90 - England 3 x 2 Cameroon 94 - Brazil 3 x 2 Netherlands 98 - Nigeria 3 x 2 Spain; Brazil 3 x 2 Denmark 02 - Uruguay 3 x 3 Senegal 06 - Don't recall any really great games ... Italy 2 x 0 Germany SF in ET would be my choice 10 - Uruguay 1 x 1 Ghana 14 - Germany 2 x 2 Ghana
WC86 had too many classics, and you are right USSR vs Belgium should be mentioned too. Mexico vs Paraguay was pretty good, with "Gato" Fernandez saving a last minute penalty on Hugo Sanchez.
From '86 I thought Belgium-Paraguay was more exciting than Mexico-Paraguay. Much more exciting. It was only the last five minutes that made Mexico-Paraguay interesting (Paraguay score + penalty save). Also feel France-USSR is very underrated. For me, Mexico 86 is the best tournament I've ever watched. That includes Euro 2000 which many rate as the best.
Mexico 86 was the best from the beginning to the end. I think Brazil 14 was the best opening round and France the best knock outs (Brazil vs Denmark maybe my favorite no investment game in a WC and Argentina vs England and Argentina vs Holland and France vs Brazil and...)
2014 good games Italy vs England Brazil vs Croatia Holland vs Spain Chile vs Australia Japan vs Ivory Coast Colombia vs Ivory Coast Uruguay vs England Germany vs Ghana Algeria vs South Korea Argentina vs Nigeria Uruguay vs Costa Rica Switzerland vs France USA vs Portugal Brazil vs Chile Germany vs Brazil Brazil vs Holland Looking back some decent games. I think the knockout stage was shit though and ruined what was an excellent world cup up until that point.
Yep i watched hungary brazil 66 the other day.. thought the hungarians played some nice football..Bene had a great game..
2006: Germany 4-2 Costa Rica, Croatia 2-2 Australia, Italy 2-0 Germany (AET), Italy 1-1 France (5-3 PK) 2010: Uruguay 1-1 Ghana (4-2 PK), Netherlands 3-2 Uruguay, Germany 3-2 Uruguay 2014: Netherlands 5-1 Spain, United States 2-2 Portugal, Argentina 3-2 Nigeria, Germany 7-1 Brazil
Some missed games: 1994 3rd place game Sweden (Thomas Brolin goal) vs Bulgaria. Brazil Holland (was it 94 or 98 with Bronco's amazing goal shot between Romario and the defender? Well if Romario was there it was 94 lol) Brazil Italy the Final... pks were a good payoff. Any game with Romania 1998 Dennis Bergkamp lol vs Argentina, England Argentina (Ariel Ortega was awesome the whole tournament until his red) Brazil France the final... =×€÷£%ing Zidane! Ruined my day. 2002 Korea vs Spain/ Italy 2006 sorry was not within reach of electricity this year 2010 USA vs Algeria (only if you are American). Lol at everyone putting Suarez's hand vs Ghana... at least it's not his teeth right? 2014 Spain Holland, Brazil Chile, USA Belgium, Brazil Germany
For this year's World Cup (2018), my top three would be: Portugal vs Spain 3-3 France vs Argentina 4-3 Belgium vs Japan 3-2
Same for me but different order... 1- Belgium 3-2 Japan 2- Portugal 3-3 Spain 3- France 4-3 Argentina So updating my list from earlier in this thread... Since 1982 was the first World Cup I followed I'll start there. 1982: West Germany 3-3 a.e.t. France, FRG on penalties. 1986: Belgium 4-3 a.e.t. USSR 1990: Cameroon 2-3 a.e.t. England 1994: Romania 3-2 Argentina 1998: Argentina 2-2 a.e.t. England, ARG on penalties 2002: Senegal 3-3 Uruguay 2006: Croatia 2-2 Australia 2010: Uruguay 1-1 a.e.t. Ghana, URU on penalties 2014: Ghana 1-2 USA 2018: Belgium 3-2 Japan
I have watched bits and pieces of the World Cup since 1974, but the first tournament that I was totally focused on from the first game to the final was Wc98. And my list will focus on the most memorable match (sometimes the most exciting, sometimes for other reasons) in this World Cup and for each tournament going back to World Cup 1998. Both World Cups, incidentally, the tournaments won by France and the only tournaments which Iran also recorded a win. 1- Wc2018: Belgium v Japan 3:2 (most exciting) 2- Wc2014: Germany v Brazil 7:1 (most shocking) 3- Wc2010: Uruguay v Ghana 1:1 (aet) (Uruguay on pen) (most exciting and maybe most depressing) 4- Wc2006: Argentina v Serbia 6:0 (most convincing) 5- Wc2002: South Korea v Spain 0:0 aet (South Korea on pen) (most controversial) 6- Wc1998: Iran v USA 2:1 (most memorable)
For WC18, I would go with Belgium vs Brazil as the best match of the tournament, closely followed by France vs Argentina, Croatia vs Russia, Mexico vs Germany and Belgium vs Japan.