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WALK DOWN FOOTBALL MEMORY LANE!
My earliest experience with this global football phenomenon was during the “Espana ’82” edition held in Spain. Like earlier stated in a previous post, this marked a sort of “rite of passage”.
To any young boy then the official FIFA World cup ball produced by sports kit manufacturer Adidas was the “Tango Espana”, making it every kid's most coveted item!
The defending champions then, Argentina went through a change of guard as talisman and ’78 World cup hero Mario Kempes passed the barton over to a wonder-kid Diego Maradona.
“Mexico ’86” was the last great World Cup where the game was played in an entertaining free flowing manner with carefree abundance where pure attacking instincts reigned supreme!
West Germany once more proved their resilience, reaching their second final in a row. An all round solid German machine was led by the never say die Rummenigge, and team captain
Lothar Mathaus.
The “Azteca Stadium” in Mexico City with a capacity of 120,000 was another endearing feature of this world cup. Its hallowed grounds had hosted the 1970 world cup.
The “Azteca” ball was the official ball at Mexico ’86.
Hosts Mexico, had a team built around gifted striker Hugo Sanchez who plied his trade at Real Madrid. One iconic image from Mexico ’86 was Sanchez scoring the famous overhead “bicycle kick”, a Uruguayan creation which he’d made his trademark.
Another Sanchez special was the acrobatic summersault goal celebration which has since become popular.
Denmark was one of the surprise team of the tournament with the smoking hot attacking duo of Brian Laudrup and Preben Elkajear proving lethal, while Belgium led by Enzo Scifo surprised everyone by making it to the semi-finals.
Brazilians were the pre-tournament favourites boasting arguably the best Brazilian team since the ’70 World cup.
Falcao, Alemao, Junior, Jorsimar, Careca, Zico and team captain Socrates were some of the players in a star-studded side that finally met their “waterloo” in a talented French team led by Michel Platini in a breathtaking the quarter final match.
For the millions of fans who watched Mexico '86, the one lasting memory deeply etched in their minds was the site of Maradona at the height of his powers, who two minutes after scoring the most controversial goal in football history where he cunningly fisted a high ball with blinding speed fooling the referee and everyone watching, later justifying his action as "the hand of God", scored arguably the best goal in World cup history!
On picking a loose ball a few paces from the center circle, he made a 360o spin and with one move wiggled through three England midfielders and left them heaving. He then made an audacious 40-50 meter dribble with the ball seemingly stuck to his boots, like a gazelle in full flight he hopped, skipped and jumped over three more advancing defenders evading heavy tackles and finally slotted the ball under the sliding Peter Shilton in goal for Argentina's winning goal!
“Italia ‘90” herald a paradigm shift as “defense first” became the new mantra. Creativity, spontaneity, ball artistry, technique were all sacrificed at the altar of tactics, “safety” and winning at any cost.
The Italians as usual excelled from the back and made it all the way to the semi finals with a series of low scoring wins, mostly relying on a then hitherto unknown striker, Sicilian Salvatore “Toto” Schilacci, whose daggerlike stare was one of the lasting images of the tournament. They lost to Argentina on post match penalties in an emotionally charged game.
Even the flamboyant Brazilians who had dazzled fans at the ’82 and ’86 editions, modified their “Samba” style to incorporate some European style defensive approach.
This new modification was epitomized by anchorman and team Captain Dunga, who went on to become the most hated figure in Brazilian football history.
Though tactically astute, by their own standards that ’90 squad and World cup winning Brazilian side at “U.S.A ‘94” were the most boring ever seen prior to that tournament.
The Argentines were a pale shadow of the side that graced the game four years earlier. With their main weapon Maradona ageing and seemingly ravaged by years of drug abuse, they sat back and relied solely on the counter attack where Maradona’s quick feet and creativity complimented Claudio Cannigia’s pace and finishing.
They also had the repeated penalty saving heroics of goalkeeper Claudio Goiccochea to thank for getting them to the final.
The beacon of Italia ’90 however was the talented “Indomitable Lions” of Cameroon. The Cameroonians changed the course of African football by becoming the first African team to make it to the quarter finals.
Cameroon won the hearts of soccer fans around the globe with their attacking brand of football while their talismanic striker Roger Milla warmed fans’ hearts with his famous celebrations and corner flag, hip gyrating dances.
The other revelation from this tournament was Colombia, who along with Cameroon provided the most entertainment. Coached by Fransico Maturana and Captained by Carlos Valderama, the Colombians played a carefree, one touch, attacking brand of South American football, laced with the suicidal antics of goal-keeper Rene Higuita who relished coming out of goal, and the precision finishing of Freddy Rincon.
The two sides were to meet in a second round match, where Roger Milla provided the heroics. Rene Higuita rued his unorthodox tactics, when he came out of goal and playing "sweeper" tried to dribble past Milla.
Milla made him pay for this costly mistake by snatching the ball from his feet and went on to lob into an empty net.
Cameroon were two minutes away from beating England for a semi-final slot but a lapse in concentration allowed England's deadly finisher Gary Lineaker to equalize and even snatch the game in extra-time, breaking the hearts of an entire continent.
The final, a repeat of Mexico ’86 saw familiar foes Argentina meet the uncompromising Germans, who had narrowly lost two consecutive finals in ’82 and ’86.
Coached by “The Kaizer” Franz Beckenbeur and Captained by a resolute Lothar Mathaus the Germans employed the “blitzrieg” and bombarded the Argentines from the first whistle, whose only respite, as they'd hoped, would have been a penalty shoot-out.
The marauding Germans boasting the best offense with Rudi Voeller, Jurgen Klinsmann, and Thomas Haesler provided the firepower that blazed their trail to the final.
The Argentines, who rarely left their half, were finally breached when Klinsmann was brought down in the box with minutes remaining. Defensive stalwart Andreas Brehme made sure of matters by slotting in the penalty for Germany’s third title.
U.S.A ’94 saw some slight improvement with the Dutch team in particular showing their class. The core of the Dutch team consisted of players from Ajax Amsterdam: Ronald and Frank De Boer, Clarence Seedorf, Aaron Winter, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Patrick Kluivert with Frank Riijkaard providing experience.
The surprise teams of the tournament were Romania, Sweden, and Bulgaria. Romania had a side built around the wizardry of Gheorghe Hagi, Petrescu, Papescu and Dumitrescu. Sweden and Romania were both losing semi finalists.
One of the tournament highlights was Russian Oleg Salenko’s feet of scoring five goals in one match when they beat a demoralized Cameroon 6-1. He equaled the highest tally scored by a single player in a match, a record previously held by Real Madrid cult-hero and Spain striker Emilio “El Buitre” Butragueno who scored five goals against Denmark at the Mexico ’86.
Another remarkable feature of this march was Roger Milla setting the record as the oldest player to score at a world cup final, scoring Cameroon’s solitary goal at the age of 42 years.
Defending champions Germany were disappointing; finally succumbing to a Hristo Stoichkov led Bulgarian team in the quarter finals.
African Champions Nigeria topped their group and was two minutes away from causing one of the biggest upsets in World cup history, until Roberto Baggio’s sublime skills saved Italy’s graces with a last gasp goal in the round of 16 matches.
Baggio went on to put Nigeria to the sword in extra time with a penalty kick to complete a comeback and seal a famous victory.
Brazil edged Holland 3-2 in a thrilling quarter final match which most keen observers stated should have been the final.
The final itself was quite a dull affair though, with the Italians playing all their ten outfield players behind the ball to stop tournament M.V.P Romario and company from scoring.
Their game plan came to naught as pony tailed star Roberto Baggio blazed the ball over the bar gifting the deserved Brazilians their fourth world cup in a penalty shootout.
“France ‘98” marked another improvement with the resurgent French national team "Le Bleu” giving fans something to relish.
The French were conspicuously absent at the ’90 and ’94 tournaments as France went into limbo after the Platini led generation retired.
After an eight year hiatus the French were back with a new generation of gifted players led the talented Zinedine Zidane, better known as “Zizou”.
They had a solid defensive unit that consisted of Lilian Thuram, Marcel Dessaily, Laurent Blanc, Frank LeBeuf and team Captain Didier Deschamps as anchorman.
The French had a dynamic midfield that revolved around Zidane, Vierra, Dougarry and Emmanuel Pettite and the speedy Thierry Henry.
Their moment of reckoning came when “Zizou” led the French to a famous 3-0 demolition job over the much fancied Brazilians to clinch their first ever world title.
Japan and South Korea showed the world some oriental hospitality when they co-hosted the 2002 World cup.
A soccer revolution seemed in the offing as Turkey, Senegal, South Korea and the U.S.A gave the traditional power houses of Europe and South America plenty of uncomfortable moments.
Senegal set the tone for the tournament with one of the biggest upsets in tournament history when they humbled their former colonial “masters” France in the tournament opener.
They were to follow this with a win over Sweden to make it to the quarters, matching the Cameroon ’90 side, finally succumbing to an inspired Turkish side.
Turkey led by Hakan Sukur, Hassan Sas, Ilhan Mansiz and the goalkeeping heroics of Rustu Rekber made it all the way to semis courageously losing to eventual winners Brazil by a solitary goal.
South Korea had a star-studded Portuguese side and Italy in their bag of upsets and almost took out Germany at the semi final.
Germany without their suspended inspirational Captain Michael Ballack was no match for an inspired Brazilian side and actually had the heroics of the goalkeeper Oliver Kahn to thank for keeping the score line decent.
Ronaldo, donning the most outrageous hairstyle at the tournament exhibited a show on precision finishing, won the “golden boot” with a tournament haul of 6 goals, bringing his total to 15 goals, matching the all time highest goal tally previously held by Germany’s Gerd Muller.
The 2006 World cup held in Germany was quite unremarkable to say the least.
Italy once more navigated their way to the final with their shrewd defending and cunning finishing.
Their best player was Fabio Cannavaro who kept alive the Italian tradition of producing legendary defenders. Cannavaro also won the “golden boot”, a first by a defender.
The final was a one way affair with the French dominating the Italians until Zidane’s moment of madness went on to produce one of the most disgraceful act in football history when he blatantly head butted Italian defender Marco Matterazzi, in retaliation for a verbal insult thereby earning a straight red card.
Italy went on to win the post match penalty shootout for their fourth title.
South Africa ’10, the first ever on the African continent had been marred by fears of poor preparation prior to tournament.
This fears were quashed as South Africa proudly hosted what turned to be the best World Cup finals ever, with the F.I.F.A organization bagging record profits.
It also marked a resurgence of Spanish football. Shedding their perennial underachievers tag, Vicente Del Bosque crafted a side built on a core of players from Barcelona and even replicated their possession based “tiki taka” brand of “total football”.
Led by Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta, the “La Rojas” were simply unstoppable, winning Spain’s first ever world cup.
Ghana carried the torch for the African tournament until Uruguay’s Luiz Suarez, like the “Grinch who stole Christmas” made an audacious save with his fist parrying out a goal bound header from a corner to deny Ghana an outright win.
This cunning act was to pay dividends as Ghana's Asamoah Gyan went on to sky the resulting penalty and Uruguay proceeded to win the post-match penalty shootout.
The South Americans had one of their worst showing with both Brazil and Argentina exiting at the quarter final stage. Dunga led Brazil were eliminated at the quarters at the hands of the Dutch while Argentina coached by the legendary Maradona was crushed 4-0 by the German juggernaut.
Well Brazil is beckoning, with anticipation reaching fever pitch, what shall be the lasting image from Brazil 2014?
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