The World Cup is one of the most important and famous football competitions, it is supervised by the International Football Federation and has been held every 4 years since 1930. In this series, we trace the history of the tournament from the first edition.
Sharjah 24 – Asaad Khalil:
America hosted the 1994 World Cup, which saw several historical events, such as the qualification of Saudi Arabia to the second round, the end of the career of Argentine star Diego Armando Maradona and the crowning of the title by Brazil. .
The 24 teams participating in the tournament were divided into six groups, with 4 teams each, 13 seats for Europe, 4 seats for South America, two seats for Asia and the same for CONCACAF “North, Central America and the Caribbean. “, while the share of seats in Africa rises to 3, after the surprise presented by the Cameroonian national team in the 1990 edition.
The surprises were strong from the first round: in the first round, for example, the Romanian team, led by its champion Georgi Hagi, presented excellent levels and passed the group against the Swiss, while the big surprise was the victory of the United States team compared to its Colombian counterpart, which was a candidate to compete for the title in this tournament.
This victory granted the US team a visa to qualify for the second round, while the Colombian team was eliminated from the tournament from the first round.
In the second round, after two consecutive defeats against Brazil and Sweden, the Russian team achieved a 6-1 victory over Cameroon, necessary to be among the top third and qualify for the second round, while the Cameroon team went out early.
Although the Cameroonian team did not appear to the expected level, the Nigerian team was the African surprise in this edition, having defeated Bulgaria 3-0, Greece 2-0 and narrowly lost to Argentina 1-2, overcoming the group at the expense of Bulgaria and Argentina, who qualified with him from the fourth round to the round of 16.
In Group F, the Saudi team was the surprise after defeating their Belgian counterpart with a historic goal from their star Saeed Al-Owairan, who overtook 6 Belgian players on the way to score the goal to qualify the Saudi team, accompanied by the its Dutch and Belgian counterparts, of this group, while the Moroccan team has bid farewell to the tournament from the first round.
The first round saw the discovery of the doping of the Argentine legend Diego Maradona, to be excluded in advance from the tournament, and the tragic end of the career of the deceased champion with his country.
The Brazilian and Italian teams encountered great difficulties in overtaking the American and Nigerian teams respectively in the second round, but the difference in experience settled the two games with a goal from the Brazilian Bebeto and a brace from the Italian Roberto Baggio, and the Bulgarian team. overthrew his Mexican counterpart on penalties.
The European hue imposed itself in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, with 7 European teams facing the Brazilian team, which maintained its presence in the face of this European domination thanks to the attacking gold duo Romario and Bebeto until to reach the final against the Italians.
The final
Brazil and Italy reached the final of that tournament, which saw the largest audience participation in the history of the World Cup, as the number of fans reached 3.6 million and the final match ended in a draw at goalless, as the two teams went to penalties kicks.
And Roberto Baggio, Italy’s first star, was entrusted with the last kick, after Brazil advanced three to two, and Baggio missed it, crowning Brazil with his fourth title.
