I've seen WC's since '82 and followed '78 in SI - tremendous coverage; it introduced me to the majesty and spectacle and significance of the World Cup. Since we're talking World Cups and not just finals, we have to be focused. Clearly, since '78, there have only been two good finals - interestingly, the two that Argentina won. As dor02 noted above, the '86 final was the best, and is probably the best final of all time - see The Games That Rate. It's the only final where a team came from down two goals to win, it involved a matchup of two of the Big Four (there has never been a Final without at least Brazil, Germany, Italy or Argentina, and from '66 on only the Big Four, host nations and Holland have made it to the finals), and the opponents gave a South America v. Europe flavor. Finally, the game established the legendary stature of Maradona. So much for finals. As to World Cups overall since '78 (clips I've seen of the '70 WC suggest it is easily the best, but it was before '78), my inclination is to rate as follows, struggling to limit bias in favor of WC's won by teams I like: 1 - '82 - so many highlights, including the great Brazilian team, the Italian upsets, the Polish play (including the drama of the Poland - USSR match in which Poland eliminated the USSR), the French play, Cameroon's near-make of the second round, Belgium's entry onto the world stage (upsetting Argentina in the opening round), Algeria's upset of W. Germany, England's return to the World Cup. The two great demerits against this WC are the Germany - Austria fix to eliminate the Algerian team that had beaten W. Germany and the Schumacher debacle in the semifinal that tarnished a W. German win that was enabled by his unjustified presence in goal for a penalty kick shootout in a game from which he should have been ejected. Remember the Spanish crowd making Italy in effect the home team, rooting against the Germans after the semifinal debacle? Though I rooted for the Germans (because of Soccer Made in Germany, by which I learned to play goalkeeper by watching, of all people, Schumacher) in the final, over time I have come to accept the justness of the Italians' win in the final. 2 - '86 - MARADONA! The greatest final. Argentina '86 is the most under-appreciated champion of all time, but they were the best team. Look at their games. They almost always had the ball. They attacked even with the lead. Remarkably, they won every single-elimination game in regulation -- and never trailed in any of those four games. Other highlights: the beauty of the play of the Danes, the electric play of Spain, the brilliance of the USSR, France's high quality play, Morocco being the first African team to make it to the second round, Mexico's vibrancy. Great games included the Argentina - W. Germany final, the Argentina - England quarterfinal (Maradona's legendary goals), the France - Brazil quarterfinal (though it hurts), Belgium - USSR quarterfinal, any of the Danes' first-round games, Brazil - N. Ireland and Brazil - Poland (just to watch the Socrates and Josimar magic) - and honorable mention to Argentina - Belgium semifinal (Maradona's second goal was even more spectacular than the second England goal). Disappointments - the conservative play from the quarterfinals on - other than the worthy Argentines, of course. 3 - '78 - Holland strikes cross-bar at the end of regulation; Argentina wins its first Cup. Highlights included Peru upsetting Scotland, Tunisia upsetting Mexico, Austria's surprising play, Holland's run through the second round (including recovery from an own-goal against Italy). Biggest black mark - continued suspicions of a fix in the Argentina - Peru game (won by Argentina 6-0 when it needed a four-goal margin to advance over Brazil). 4 - '02 - for the first time since '74, a World Cup produced two games in which there were at least six goals and two by each team (Senegal - Uruguay and Brazil - Costa Rica). The surprising advances of novel teams - Senegal, Turkey, South Korea, USA. Biggest black mark - only one team from the round of 16 on came back to win in regulation after the other team scored first - meaning the play was too conservative. 5 - '94 - most attended World Cup. Great games included Brazil - Holland, Argentina Romania, Romania - Sweden, Bulgaria - Germany (any time the Germans lose it's a great game). Nigeria bursts onto the scene. USA gets past first round for the first time in 64 years. Biggest disappointments - Escobar murder, the final, Maradona's expulsion (had he not been expelled, Argentina were on a roll and might have won). 6 - '98 - too much defense, and a defensive theme set by the winning team. The French style soured me on the tournament. Highlights included Brazil - Denmark (best game of the tournament), Germany - Mexico (so close for Mexico), Argentina - England, Croatia's run. 7 - '90 - the worst of the tournaments, the worst of the finals. The only real highlight was Cameroon's play, inspired by the awesome Roger Milla. Fire away!
Good job Awe-Inspiring. Good to see you back contributing. No complaints; though I would not have ranked them in the same order, you stated your reasons well. I do agree with '82 as the best of those you ranked, and '90 as the least enjoyable. Only nitpick is here... It was actually the eventual losing team which came back from down two goals.
Thanks for the welcome back! It's nice to be missed in a positive way. Your comment is a perfectly valid nitpick. In fact, my error is inexcusable. A correct first part of the sentence would read: "It's the only final where a team came from down two goals in the second half to force a tie, only to see the other team just as dramatically regain the lead..."
Great post, awe. Here's my nitpick: This game was not fixed in the sense of the two teams having agreed upon the result before the start of the game. There is no love between Germany and Austria, especially not in football. It is similar to England and Scotland. Anybody that watches the game will agree that Germany tried to score the 2-0 to eliminate the Austrians in all of the first half. It is interesting to see that the neutral spectators in the stadium - with Germany failing to score a second goal in the first half despite trying - already show impatience with the two teams already during the last part of the first half. My try at an explanation is that the majority of the Spanish (and Algerian) spectators in fact expected this game to be a fixed one before the kick-off and the longer it went on with the "expected" score of 1-0, the booing got louder and louder, paradoxically despite Germany honestly trying to score the second goal which would have send the Austrians home (remember the 3-2 defeat Austria inflicted on Germany in Argentina '78). My amateur try at psychology results in the following theory: the Austrians were more than happy with the result as it was nearing half-time, the German players however were disappointed with the stadium crowd that insinuated with their growing booing that they weren't trying hard enough (= fix), when in fact they did (in the first half - considering that Germany was the team in the lead, it should have been Austria trying to attack after all). Could be that in an act of defying the crowd, they started to slow down their game in the second half in the spirit of "you can kiss our asses, we play whatever we want to play like - you think this game is a fix? THIS is what a fix looks like!". Just my theory I am not claiming this is what it was like.
Sempre, you actually believe that collusion occurred before the game? Phonecalls were made? I'm with Gregoriak on this one; much more likely that as the game unfolded the most convenient result for the two teams shaped the encounter.
Here is an index of memorable WC moments starting with the 1958 tournament through 1998. channel4.com - one hundred greatest world cup moments It is not an absolute ranking, so no need for anyone to get into a tizzy-fit. I'm also not endorsing it as complete (its far from complete). Though its quite woefully lacking for the '58 and '62 editions, it may help with remembering some key moments from the more recent tournaments we are discussing.
The game was not credible. After the expected 1-0 had been achieved, soccer was disgraced for 80 minutes. Phone calls? Faxes? Can't say. But both teams knew exactly what they were doing; it was not honest competition.
The 1974 World Cup which took place in West Germany is something very magical for history of polish football, and not having seen it, born five years after this tournament, I read and I heard so much about it that it can't compare with anything what was real, and what I was watching later. It is just like with Pele, the King of Football. Everyone calls him King of Football despite not having seen him playing in 98% I suppose. It is the same with 1974 World Cup in Poland. King of Tournaments, with Poland finishing 3rd, and our striker winning shooting classification. It is so hard to rate these tournaments with calmness... Italia 90 is said to be one of worst World Cups in modern era, but it was first I was watching and it was really very emotional for me, with part of magic, the magic you get doing something for the first time, which never comes back, even if second or third time is better.
My list (the ones I have seen live): (1) and (2) are 1994 and 1986, respectively (both were great...however, I enjoyed 1994 more because of all the drama on and off the field rendering it more captivating). (3) 1998 - some quality attacking play from Holland, Brazil, Argentina etc. However, it never quite reached the standard of 1994 or 1986. (4) 2002 -most of the matches were of poor quality. Very few were exceptional such as Brazil vs. Turkey S/F encounter. The German side that reached the final was probably the poorest to play in a final since Argentina in 1990 (however, they performed better in the final than Brazil did in 1998). (5) 1990 - terrible! Worst in terms of quality of play...a forgettable WC except for Milla's performance. It's beyond comprehension how that horrible Argentina side reached the final. It was probably the worst side ever to play in a WC final. If I include the recorded WC matches that I have seen, the best ever WC was 1970...amazing quality. The WC should be held in Mexico frequently, if not always .
My favorite was WC 74', it featured the greatest German side, one which still inspires me today, it also featured the greatest Dutch side of all time and the concept of total football was introduced to the world, after WC 70's brilliant Brazil side, the world was aching for that type of brilliance and I believe West Germany and Holland showed that. I also enjoyed WC 94 because my country of origin; Romania did so well, that side also affected the way I perceive the game, and every year I could only wish there could be a Romanian side half as good as that of 94. While WC 90 wasn't really exciting, it remains one of my favorites simply because of what Germany's win meant to the post-berlin wall country.
Lato was actually a right-winger. They were undoubtedly the worst. Most of the players in that team were hopeless but they cynically managed to reached they final.
I would have to say the top two World Cups I have had the chance to see was the World Cup in 2002(Which Brazil ended up wining), and the World Cup in 1994(Held in the U.S., which oddly enough, Brazil also won). It was also a great World Cup for the U.S. National team, because they had played some great soccer in both(but had a better WC in 2002). The U.S. National team pretty much came into their own in 1994, even with no Division I Pro Soccer League in this country. never got to see any of the World Cup tournaments before 1994, so unfortunately I cannot comment on them. In 1994 and 2002, the U.S. had some amazing upsets(Beating the Colombians in 1994, and not only upsetting Portugal in the first round in 2002, but also knocking out their arch rival Mexico in the knockout portion of the tournament.) I think next years tournament could rival 2002, especially if the U.S. can come up with big wins in next years tournament.
I loved 1954 World Cup. Hungary, which was the clear favourite lost to Germany. And that title meant so much to the Germans. It still has a huge meaning for us Germans. I still cry when I see the videos of Helmut Rahn scoring. 2002 was ok. 1970 and 1974 were good world cups. Looking forward to 2006.
You can say so, but in modern football right winger means midfielder more than forward. Lato was definitely an attacker in 3-men attack.
Does it bother you at all that Germany beat a Hungarian team that was playing with a less-than-fully healthy Puskas -- whom the Germans themselves injured during an 8-3 thwacking that the Hungarians administered to the Germans earlier in the tournament? It does disturb many historians of the game.
My all time favorite is 1982. The slow start of the Italians, then they just got better and better after each game. Italia-Brazil 3-2 was one of the best games ever played.
for me 94 was a great one. till this day when someone misses the net bad, people sometimes scream BAGGIO! ya and well... brazil beat italy
Hi all, I love the World Cup and always take most of the month off work to watch as many games as possible (usually 2 a day during the groups). I also have many videos and DVDs of the World Cups..in fact a 3 hour DVD of Arg78 has arrived today!! I have chosen USA 94 as my favourite. I enjoyed it partly because my beloved England did not qualify, which meant I was so relaxed and just enjoyed the football. No stress. No tears. No anger. Simply good football brilliantly staged by the Yanks. I think all of the World Cups have imrpoved since it became 3 Points for a win in the groups and they eliminated that daft system thy had in Spain. I did enjoy some of the upsets in 2002, but cannot ever claim a World Cup in 2 countries will ever work. It is a terrible idea and having 2 totally different sections is absolutely absurd. For example - if England had beaten Brazil we may have had to play Argentina for the second time on the way to the final (if Arg got there too). Absolute farce. Every World Cup had it's charm, though 74 looked a poor tourny. And if a small country gets to the final one year (which will be on merit) - that will not detract from the competition, it will add to it. The more competitive it becomes the better. The more countries in with a shout - the better. Germany 06 has all the ingredients to be an all time classic..... Staged in one single, soccer loving country with great stadia In the heart of europe - so accessible to so many fans at reasonable price A stunning looking Brazil Team will be there England have a chance !!
That's easy - 82 It was the first world cup I watched most of the games for. France played such brillant football with Platini, Tigana, Giresse, Tresor an co. Brazil also played brillinatly with Socrates, Zico, Falcao and co. I will never forget that semi final between France and Germany. I still can't think about it withour feeling pain. And of course that brilliant final between Italy and Germany. 98 and 2002 were pretty good too but I'll take 82.
wgermany 74 was the best... superb football, great result and the defending champs, brazil got thrashed!