There's an excellent regular feature on the Guardian website here in the UK chronicling various "stunning" World Cup moments, which might be of interest to many of you here. They'll be publishing one every week or so from now until the big kick off to build things up nicely. They are great stuff to read and either a trip down memory lane or a reminder of World Cup history. The first was published last week and was about Cameroon's fabulous win over Argentina in 1990 - http://www.theguardian.com/football...ld-cup-25-stunning-moments-cameroon-argentina One great description in that from the book "All Played Out" which brought my teenage memories of this match flooding back: "a kind of full-pelt, waist-high, horizontal flying bodycheck. The general intention seemed to be not so much to break Caniggia's legs, as actually to separate them from the rest of his body." The second was published today about Uruguay's 1950 triumph in the Maracana. http://www.theguardian.com/football...-moments-no2-uruguay-brazil-1950-scott-murray As much as we know the story, there were plenty of new things to me in there. I liked the details of Obdulio Varela clipping Bigode, and celebrating his mini victories with a clench of his shirt. Great stuff. It doesn't mention the famous Alcides Ghiggia quote though: "Only three people have silenced the Maracana: the Pope, Frank Sinatra, and me." I'll post the new ones as they come along if this interests people.
The latest article in the series looks at the ever so slightly iffy match between West Germany and Austria in 1982 that resulted in Algeria missing out on the second round. http://www.theguardian.com/football...ng-moments-no3-germany-austria-1982-rob-smyth This suggests that the reality wasn't quite as bad as our collective memories may believe, but there clearly came a point in the match when any pretence at a contest were abandoned. Quite how anyone thought that the final group matches in a group should be played on different days is astonishing to us today, but it clearly took a lesson like this for FIFA to come around to that opinion. Similarly excellent article on the same match here: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/13/1982-world-cup-algeria
Number 4 in the series is the Battle of Santiago between Chile and Italy in 1962. Some of the violence in that match was quite astonishing, with other bit slightly comical...definitely one to look up on youtube if you've not seen it. I remember seeing a flying kick to the chest at one point that made Nigel de Jong on Xabi Alonso look rather tame. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/04/stunning-moments-no4-battle-of-santiago
Zidane's headbutt in 2006...oof! http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/11/world-cup-moments-zinedine-zidane-head-butt
And the next... http://www.theguardian.com/football...ents-scotland-1978-rollercoaster?CMP=ema_1385 Scotland on the march with Ally's Army to Argentina in 1978, and swiftly back again with heads in hands. The pre-tournament hubris had Scotland anticipating bringing the trophy back with them, but Peru, Iran, and a few pills popped by Willie Johnstone changed that. The win over Holland, Archie Gemmill's great goal and all, just made the story all the more farcical and compelling.
Compared to the "battle of Bordeaux", from the 1838 WC, between Brazil and Czechoslovakia, this one in Santiago, was like a game between toddlers. Back in 1938, 2 players ended with fractured bones and others suffered diverse injuries together with 3 players being sent off (2 from Brazil and 1 from Czechoslovakia), where due to injuries besides of the sent off players there were other players in both sides who could not finnish playing the game (back then, no replacements were allowed), which as the game ended after over time in a 1-1 draw, as it had to be replayed a couple of days later, both teams had to play this second game with lots of substitute players, as almost half of their entire teams, were subject to injuries from their former match.
Hahaha that's very interesting man thanks for sharing, our favorite sport's history is full of gems On a side note I still can't get over the rugby tackle and the flying kick from that Santiago game, it's too damn funny
The next in the series is the truly awful killing of Andres Escobar in 1994. Mainly it is remembered as a murder thanks to his own goal against the USA, but as this story shows there was so much more to the whole situation than that, as also explored in the great ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The Two Escobars" (well worth hunting down if you can find it). Colombia were very highly thought of in 1994, but some extremely shocking things happened to the team during the tournament making their disappointing performance both understandable and unimportant... http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/25/world-cup-moments-andres-escobar-death
I watched the "30 for 30" documentary "The Two Escobars" which is gripping and heartbreaking. Escobar had signed for AC Milan and perhaps should have gone early to Italy, it would have saved his life.
The next in the series is about Italy's triumph in retaining their title in 1938, with the influence of fascism lingering never far away. Black shirts, Mussolini's telegram myth, roman salutes etc. Their 1934 win had some rather questionable influences in the extreme, but in 1938 the best team at the tournament triumphed. Would they have done so had the Anschluss not happened a couple of months earlier and Austria's Wunderteam had been able to compete? We will never know... http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/01/world-cup-moments-1938-italy-benito-mussolini
Ah, my childhood hopes shattered by that cheating midget...the memories are flooding back, but what a great World Cup Mexico '86 was - the late night viewing of glorious sunshine covering the pitches, the superb teams of Denmark, Argentina, Brazil, France, West Germany, the great matches, the crackling commentary...it's not as good as that anymore! Anyway - in case you haven't worked it out by now, the next in the Guardian's series is El Diego and his hand of God (and some other goal he scored too...) in the 1986 quarter final with England. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/08/world-cup-moments-maradona-hand-god Peter Shilton's recollections are also a good read... http://www.theguardian.com/football...ly-sins-football-shilton-maradona-hand-of-god Now if only Shilton knew how to jump he might have stopped the hand of god goal and Brehme's deflected free kick in the 1990 semi-final - seriously, the man's feet must be attached to the earth by a powerful magnet, so incapable is he of escaping the pull of gravity for a second or two when it was really required...
Dennis Bergkamp's wonder goal against Argentina in 1998... http://www.theguardian.com/football...-stunning-moments-dennis-bergkamp-wonder-goal Those who enjoyed Maradona's goal(s) in the previous article may be less enamored by this one
I agree - how many goals are going to feature in this list of 25 stunning moments? Maybe ten at most, don't think this goal is top ten in WC history although it's a great goal. @Sandinista
I'm so so so underwhelmed myself. The only reason that goal is in the list is because of the sense of karmic balance that English fans felt after the 1998 game between Argentina and England. Otherwise it was a pretty goal in the quarterfinals by team that was later eliminated in the semifinals.
Of course it was a great moment Luckily the Guardian isn't run by Latin Americans. But be patient, if the majority wants it to be forgotten, it will be forgotten by the media needing to sell pageviews. Rarely recalled is that he became the NT all-time topscorer with the goal
To be honest I never thought of it as such an amazing goal either - I keep hearing it mentioned as being sublime, the commentators practically wet themselves at it, articles such as this one are written, and yet I always felt I must have missed something. I always thought it was a good goal but not a stunning one. I can appreciate the skill involved, but it just didn't seem as "wow" as many other goals in my opinion. Every time I've seen it since I'm looking at it thinking "try and spot what is so amazing about it this time", but I still can't. I think rather than the English feeling pleased at Argentina getting their comeuppance having knocked England out on penalties, it was the English love affair with Dennis Bergkamp and his time at Arsenal that caused any over playing of the goal. He was a touch of absolute class in the Premier League, arguably a level beyond anyone else int he league at the time, and of course way beyond the vast majority. You could call Bergkamp an "adopted son" in the minds of many English fans and media, so it was the next best thing to seeing an Englishman do something spectacular in the World Cup - as Owen had done against Argentina in the previous round of course.
Oh don't get me wrong. It was a great moment. Certainly a top 25 great Netherlands moment or a top 100 great WC moment but certainly not a top 25 WC moment.
I am reading and enjoying the piece. I haven't gotten to the Iran game, but the comments regarding the Peru match were hilarious. Incidentally, people don't realize now, but Scotland were indeed quite hyped back then in 1978.