What's the greatest WC Cinderella story? Surely, Croatia getting to the final has to be one, and if they win, I can't think of a better one. There's perhaps Netherlands 1974, who I believe came out of nowhere to become the most impressive team at the tournament. While the EURO has given us some surprises before in 1992 and of course 2004, is this the biggest Cinderella story in WC history?
I don't know. Weren't Croatia viewed as a potential dark horse, a team capable of winning the tournament even if they were not a betting favorite? Then again, how far must a team advance before their story can be considered a 'Cinderella story'? Iceland simply qualifying was quite a story. Likewise Trinidad and Tobago in 2006. If Netherlands 1974 can be considered then I feel Poland 1974 have as strong a case. Cameroon 1990... Senegal 2002... Bulgaria 1994... How about Uruguay 1950?
A dark-horse can still be a Cinderella imo. There's plenty of teams in front of them. Brazil, Germany, France, and Spain certainly favoured above them. I highly doubt many would pick Croatia over the likes of Argentina, England, and Belgium either. Maybe on the same level as someone like Uruguay? Arguably top 10. I think they would have to at least make it to the final for it to be a true candidate for Cinderella story on the same scale of this Croatian team. If it's just a dark-horse doing well, we've had plenty of those I think. Croatia have already had one of those in 1998. What made Uruguay 1950 a Cinderella story? I know very little of the world-cup, except for the basic information. Were they rated very low going into the tournament? Would love to hear more! Another possible candidate is maybe 1954 W. Germany? They weren't rated as one of the favourites going into the World Cup. They didn't even have an established professional league yet, did they? The Bundesliga only came around in the 60s. So was it a victory of amateurs over professionals?
Sweden/Bulgaria from 1994 can be in the mix (not exactly sure what their odds were but not among the favourites for sure and longer than Croatia this time I guess, but probably not South Korea from 2002). "You shall go to the 3rd Place Play-Off!" Roberto Baggio, and Romario (assisted literally by Jorginho): "But you shall not go to the Final".
Come on, they had a population 2.7 times as large.... And they had just won the Olympics. Very imbalanced trajectory.
True cinderella should be: Cameroon 90 - completely under the radar ... came very close to the SF South Korea 02 - although the calls they received puts a serious * in their run Bulgaria 94 - came very close to reaching the final ... took out Germany I can't really include Croatia because they weren't really under the radar. And then ended up having a favorable draw. They didn't beat any teams they weren't expected to beat.
No for Uruguay. Were considered one of the big teams back then generally speaking being Olympic champions in the 20s and first WC champion. They didn't play in 34 and 38. And upset in the final, yes, Cinderella, not IMO. As for Netherlands 74, I agree. The base of their team was the 3 time European champions Ajax right ? I guess it works only from a Netherlands not having NT tradition point of view back then.
As explained here, 'Cinderella story' is a problematic concept: http://www.dictionary.com/e/cinderella-story/ “Cinderella story” can have extremely broad applications: “Americans will call almost anything a Cinderella story that involves a good thing happening to someone nice.” Is there a downtrodden underdog who achieves riches, greatness, or glory? Yes? Then we have a “Cinderella story.” Let's see what the dictionaries tell us: In sports, the terms Cinderella, "Cinderella story", and Cinderella team are used to refer to situations in which competitors achieve far greater success than would reasonably have been expected. one resembling the fairy-tale Cinderella: such as a : one suffering undeserved neglect b : one suddenly lifted from obscurity to honor or significance How can people dismiss Netherlands then? Especially if seen over a longer period of time. As World Soccer pointed out in 1973, it was even against the wishes of the football association and without government help (in contrast to most European countries). Bulgaria is a good call. They beat France, Argentina and favorites Germany during their run to the semis. Before that they had a largely indifferent World Cup history.
I suppose the only way (and the definitions seem to vary a bit) would be to deem the team every bit as good as the eventual results would suggest (so could the success be reasonably expected, or predicted?) and Cruyff justly thought of as the best in the world. But the NT would still be lifted from previous World Cup obscurity so one definition at least would suggest their potential would be irrelevant to the Cinderella tag. Bulgaria arguably didn't over-achieve a huge amount compared to their capabilities I suppose either but I guess their wins would be more surprising at least (but losing games they weren't so much outsiders in too).
A shame about Croatia. I really wanted them to make history, but I'm also super happy for Olivier Giroud. So, would this mean Germany 1954 remains the biggest underdog WC winner of all-time still, given the state of their league and the opponent they had to play against?
From the color era it is Italy 1982, maybe Brazil 2002 (one of the few times they weren't fancied by the bookmakers). Difficult to call Germany a 'real' underdog though. They had made the semi finals previously (20 years before, the 2nd last they entered) and had of course one of the largest populations around in 1954, of the competing countries. They were inevitably also well-enmeshed and represented in FIFA (even a role in the organization of that 1954 event), unlike Croatia or so.
I don't know much about that team, but wasn't the Juventus core of Zoff, Scirea, Gentile, Cabrini, and Tardelli well-established stars by 1982? How was the team of Germany 1954 coming into the World Cup? I don't know much about it either, but just knowing that their league was semi-professional and it was against the Mighty Magyars must make it a pretty big upset at the time. Brazil 2002 is actually a good shout. If we forget the names for a second, there wasn't a lot of Brazilians star who went into that World-Cup at peak form, and a few, like the defensive midfielders of Kleberson and Gilberto Silva, were virtually unknown in Europe. HAving said that, it was a pretty weak World Cup though.
They had done well in 1978 but that was some time ago, and they were rated behind the four favorites. Rossi was just returning from a lengthy ban, that ended at the very end of april. Zoff was 40, Cabrini got BdO votes in 1978 and the others had never received a vote. Juventus became more prominent in Europe after 1982. Italy was not one of the favorites among the bookmakers. Compared to the other 'color television' winners they were an underdog.
Brazil 02 and Italy 82 can’t be Cinderella stories . No matter if they came in not playing very well.
None of them ever won a single match in the WC Finals. I will put Holland and Poland 1974, and West Germany 1954 for reasons people already mentioned to the list. I just wanted to add both Poland and Holland only played in a single Finals until 1974. Poland failed to make any impact after that generation was gone. As for Holland, they were somewhat a darkhorse in 1974, given that their club teams have done well in Europe. People forgot about Feyernood in 1970. Croatia 1998 was more of the Cinderella team than 2018. Although on paper, they were damn good. people have been talking about Yugoslavia's golden generation. Croatia did not go into the tournament Turkey in 2002 was not mentioned here yet. If Bulgaria 19994 and Croatia 1998 were mentioned, Turkey deserved a mention too. Bulgaria had the one of biggest stars in Europe heading to USA 1994. Croatia got a few star players. Turkey was relatively unknown.