With opera music and a brilliant organization in elegant stadiums, Italy hosted the 1990 World Cup, but witnessed an unprecedented artistic boredom, so West Germany won their third world title and got their revenge on Argentina Maradona, after losing two finals in a row.
On the eve of choosing the host country, the Soviet Union announced the boycott of the 84th Los Angeles Olympics for political reasons, losing the vote 5-11 in favor of Italy, to have the honor of hosting them a second time after 1934 .
Its stadiums were the pinnacle of splendor and modernity: ten were renovated, notably the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, which hosted the final, and the San Siro in Milan, where the opening match was held.
Italy at that time had the most powerful league in the world, enjoyed a distinct infrastructure, and was broadcast in high definition for the first time, while tenor Luciano Pavarotti’s “Nessun Dorma” became the soundtrack to the tournament.
However, the scoring rate was weak and amounted to 2.21 per game. In the realm of defensive play, 16 players were sent off and penalties decided four games, including the two semi-finals.
Boredom led to the International Federation subsequently preventing goalkeepers from catching a ball cleared by the defense and awarding the winning team three points instead of two. In the Egypt-Ireland match, Egypt goalkeeper Ahmed Schubert scored a high percentage of ball possession and Ireland manager Jack Charlton said, “They didn’t come to play a game.”
The final between West Germany and Argentina (1-0), the first in which neither team failed to score, was decided by a late penalty kick and two players sent off for the losing team.
Italy has tried to bring the rich north closer to the poor south. Ironically, in the semifinals, he faced Argentina and its star Diego Maradona in the southern city of Naples, who put the golden boy on the world map.
Maradona invited the Neapolitans to side with him against Italy, “for 364 days they treat you like garbage, then they ask you to encourage them”. Despite his hold over the city, the masses stood by their people.
After breaking a record with 517 minutes of clean sheets, Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga made an error to allow Claudio Caniggia to make it 1-1 before going through on penalties.
But Caniggia, master of long blond hair and elimination champion of Brazil (1-0) in the round of 16, missed the final through disqualification with three of his colleagues.
Italy presented the top scorer of the tournament, Salvatore Schillaci (6), despite playing only one international match before the World Cup.
“Toto” came on from the bench and slowly established himself, before losing his place after the World Cup: just calling me was fantastic. I would have been satisfied if I had sat on the bench all the time. But after the elimination on penalties against Argentina he recounted his feelings about him: I stayed more than two hours in the locker room smoking and crying.
In the final in Rome, the only one so far between the same teams in two consecutive editions, Maradona failed to repeat the epic of ’86, under the intense control of Guido Buchwald.
“I promised my daughter, Dalma, that I would take the cup with me,” said the player, who sat weeping in the center circle. As for Buchwald, he said: minute after minute, I felt that he was resigned, as if he were saying what? You again?
Argentines Pedro Monson and Gustavo Desutti were sent off and West Germany were the better team.
“What did he score? He awarded a penalty! He awarded a penalty!” Astounding words from German commentator Gerd Rubenbauer after Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal Mendes conceded a controversial penalty to Rudi Fuller in the 85th minute, despite the Argentines’ objections.
Top scorer Andreas Brehme says: Before each game, three shooters were selected. Rudi Völler made a mistake, Lothar Matthaus was there, but he wasn’t feeling well. Fuller came to me and said if I score we will be world champions. Thank you very much, I replied, I will remember.
Brehme held up goalkeeper Sergio Goicoechea, winner of the round of 16 against Brazil and penalties in the quarter-finals and semi-finals against Yugoslavia and Italy respectively.
Despite being thrown into his right corner, the left-handed player’s ball, with his right foot, hit the net.
After losing the finals 82 and 86, West Germany won a third title after 54 and 74, matching the number of Brazil, led by Franz Beckenbauer, who became the first captain and manager to win the title. German commentator Rubenbauer concluded: “The Kaiser has the crown.”
It was an important moment months before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Argentina suffered a big upset in the opener, falling to Cameroon 0-1.
The ‘Untamed Lions’ adventure did not end at this point, as they were the first African team to reach the quarter-finals, where they narrowly lost to England 2-3 after an extension when they were the team improve.
At the age of 38, Roger Milla scored 4 goals for her. Against Colombia in the second leg (2-1), you snatched the ball between the feet of goalkeeper Rene Iguita, who scored into an empty net, celebrating a famous dance.
His teammate at France’s Montpellier, the Colombian playmaker Carlos Valderrama, had shown him Iguita’s hoaxes with the ball: I knew that if I was quick enough I would have taken advantage of his mistake. And that’s what happened.
Milla played as an amateur on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean: six months before the World Cup, I visited Cameroon and the president insisted that I return to the national team.
The government has pressured the Russian coach, Valery Nepomniachy, to call him up. At first he didn’t feel very fit: but football is not a physical game. I’ve always been a smart player, so I knew if I was ready I’d have a chance.
In the game against England, Cameroon took a 2-1 lead and continued the show relentlessly, but the 86th goal scorer Gary Lineker scored twice from the penalty spot: on the eve of the game, the media witnessed a lot to our training. I deliberately took a kick that I would not have taken during the match if I had the chance. The Cameroonian goalkeeper, in fact, threw himself into that corner.
After overcoming Cameroon’s blocks, England fell to Germany on penalties, alongside their star Paul Gascoigne, who collapsed in tears after receiving a booking that would have ruled him out of the final if the ‘Three Lions’ hold were qualified.
The Netherlands were European champions in 1988, with the fantastic AC Milan trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. However, internal disputes, due to the union’s failure to bow to players’ wishes to appoint Johan Cruyff as manager, led to poor results under manager Leo Beenhacker.
The Orange lost to Germany 1-2 in the second round in Milan, and Rijkaard’s spit on Germany’s Fuller was the Netherlands’ most notable exploit at this World Cup.
