What was the most entertaining WC in history? I would put Mexico -70 on top. Anything that happened after 1986 is plain boring to compare to previous WC.

 

well cause of reason which will become understandable when you see my location as most entertaining world cup i would place france 98

maybe it wasn't as great as some before but first appearance and semi finals....
amazin summer

 

which was most ententaining can tell us also some member is one of the oldest here. I for example have seen only 94, 98, 02 and 06 World Cups. And I can say the last was most entertaining for me

 

This thread is also the perfect place for us to exchange curious World Cup stories. Brasil's leading football magazine, Placar, recently published in chapters a book called The Saga of the Jules Rimet, written by Max Gehringer, that detailed all World Cups from 1930 to 1970. This book, based on extensive research, not only offered short summaries of what happened in each and every game of all those WCs, but also explained each continent's WC Qualifiers (which is very helpful to understand strange absences of famous sides). Most of these stories were completely new and educational for me, and I hope you'll find them interesting too. :smileani:

For example, do you know what was the FIRST World Cup game to feature a serious refereeing error? Well, wonder no more! The first major refereeing fvckup happened in Matchday 3 of the very first WC, still on the group stage, in an Argentina vs France match. This is how it happened:

-------------------------------
Argentina 1 x 0 France
Date: July 15th 1930, Tuesday
Stadium: Parque Central, Uruguay
Estimated Audience: 14000
Goal: Monti (36th of the 2nd half)

Argentina - Bossio, Della Torre and Muttis; Suarez, Monti and Juan Evaristo; Perinetti, Varallo, Ferreira, Cherro and Mario Evaristo.
Coaches: Juan Jose Tramutola and Francisco Olazar

France - Thépot, Mattler and Capelle; Villaplane, Pinel and Chantrel; Liberati, Maschinot, Laurent and Langiller.
Coaches: Raoul Caudron and Gastón Barreau

Referee: Gilberto de Almeida Rego (Brazil)
Linesmen: Saucedo (Bolivia) and Radulescu (Romenia)

The Brasilian referee Gilberto de Almeida Rego mistakenly ended the match at the 39th of the second half, when France, losing by 1x0 (goal scored by Luis Monti through a freekick), pressured Argentina after the equalizer. Actually, the referee himself wasn't to blame for that mistake, because back then the matches' durations were controlled not by the ref but by an outside "official chronometrist". The French players realized the mistake, but the pitch was invaded by fans immediately after the ref's final whistle. Some players had even taken their baths already when, half an hour later, the French - supported by both the Romanian linesman and the embarassed chronometrist - convinced Almeida to re-start the match. But no goal was scored in the 6 remaining minutes.
-------------------------------

Later I'll post some more of these almost-forgotten WC stories.

 

Well my memories only date back to the 1990 world cup in Italy.

The Italian game against Austria was a good one whem Baggio scored that peach.

Englands entire run in that competition provided some good entertainment all round, especially the Germany game.

By far the worst World Cup was 1994 when a very lame Brazil team managed to beat everything that stood in their way thanks to Romario and Dunga.

My favourites been the 1998 World Cup though, not only because it was the last major competition Scotland have qualified for

Ronaldo introduced himself at the highest possible level, as did Zidane.

There were a number of top footballers at their peak, Suker, Shearer, Zidane & Ronaldo to name but a few.

France were absolutely thrilling to watch for the whole competition.

 

Here's an odd one about the Olympics.

Denmark 1908

The Danes walloped France 17-1 in London with Sophus Nielsen scoring 10 goals to set an international record for one game which still stands. One of Nielsen's teammates was Niels Bohr, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for physics in 1922.

 

Here's an odd one about the Olympics.

Denmark 1908

The Danes walloped France 17-1 in London with Sophus Nielsen scoring 10 goals to set an international record for one game which still stands. One of Nielsen's teammates was Niels Bohr, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for physics in 1922.

Wrong,it wasn't Niels Bohr,it was his brother,Harald Bohr.

 

Wrong,it wasn't Niels Bohr,it was his brother,Harald Bohr.

I'll write to the book's publishers!

 

And heres one for which even FIFA doesnt have proof.

Argentina 0 x 0 Yugoslavia (3:2 on penalties)
Date: June 30th 1990
Stadium: Comunale, Italy
Attendance: 38 971
Goal: none

After being sent of in World Cup 2002 Korea/Japan game vs South Africa (53rd minute, Slovenia - South Africa 0:1 FT) the slovenian coach Srecko Katanec in an interview for BBC confirmed that he was also sent off as a sub player 12 years before in Italy. In the story, becides Katanecs words, the BBC author wrote that Katanec was sent off in the World Cup 1990 Italy quarterfinal game Argentina - Yugoslavia whille sitting on the bench. However, in the FIFA rerord, there is no such a thing (from fifa.com):

Cautions
SERRIZUELA Jose (ARG) 21', OLARTICOECHEA Julio (ARG) 41', BURRUCHAGA Jorge (ARG) 54', TROGLIO Pedro (ARG) 61', SIMON Juan (ARG) 111'

Expulsions
SABANADZOVIC Refik (YUG) 31'

I even emailed FIFA and I received a reply in which they denied that Katanec was sent off. On other football forum, I found a lad from Saudi Arabia who had the game on tape. He watched it and told me that there was no card for Katanec. Probably the incident happened during the half time and wasnt recorded by the cameras. It is very strange that Srecko Katanec (today coach of Macedonia NT) and BBC claim something opposite of FIFA.

 

Well my memories only date back to the 1990 world cup in Italy.

The Italian game against Austria was a good one whem Baggio scored that peach.

Englands entire run in that competition provided some good entertainment all round, especially the Germany game.

By far the worst World Cup was 1994 when a very lame Brazil team managed to beat everything that stood in their way thanks to Romario and Dunga.

My favourites been the 1998 World Cup though, not only because it was the last major competition Scotland have qualified for

Ronaldo introduced himself at the highest possible level, as did Zidane.

There were a number of top footballers at their peak, Suker, Shearer, Zidane & Ronaldo to name but a few.

France were absolutely thrilling to watch for the whole competition.

WC 90 was average. WC 94 was great. WC 98 was good. WC 02 was the worst in history. WC 06 was average.

 

Such a shame I was so young in -94 p Can only remember watching football with family and relatives. It was a good year for Sweden, though roud:

 

The WC that really mattered in terms of tactics is 1974, Oranje introduced their Totall Football :star:

 

first WC i followed was 98

"Kevin, David Batty up next you know him well, you've been his manager in the past. Will he score? yes or no?"

"Yes"

F.UCK!

great titles tho for once by both the BBC and ITV (Pavane and Jean-Michel Jarre)

BBC WC 98 Intro

ITV WC 98 Intro

 

Yeah, 94 was unbelievable. Sooo many class matches.

Holland - Argentina, Holland - Brazil, Bulgaria - Germany, sweeden vs nearly everyone. Plus Romania were involved in some gems aswell.


Easily the Best world cup I can remember.

 

The 90 WC, had teh shittiest argie team ever, and many bad matches, but one of the last with REAL class players.

In fact for me had the best English, Italian and German players since the 90's, just Gazza, Baggio and Mathauss still are unmatched, in their respective countries.

 

98 for me was a great world cup, the drama of englands exit, a young david beckham, ronaldo, owen, kluivert. Players such as Rivaldo, ortega and zidane gracing the world cup, and of course, that controversial final...

 

Wrong,it wasn't Niels Bohr,it was his brother,Harald Bohr.

exactly, that was once a question in the german millionaire#s show, and they put it wrong, so the guy researched and got another chance for the 500,000 € question

 

World Cups I have seen are, 90, 94, 98, 02 & 06. I was young and didn't really care much abt football back in Mexico 86.

WC 1990, don't remember much, the only match I could remember well is the final, Germany - Argentina.

WC 1994 is the first WC I watch from begining to end. So it is my favorite.

WC 1998, I also enjoyed it much because, by that time I already knew more avout other football contries that in 94 I didn't know much about.

WC 2002, I really disliked not only was there poor football, but also the schedule was bad I had to watch it around 3am.

WC 2006, it was average some good football, but nothing special, the final also wasn't any thing special.

So 94 would be my favorited even tho I didn't know much about how good a country was football wise. I remember thinking USA was a football power house.

 

1994 is my favourite. Players such as Baggio, Romario, Stoichkov, Hagi and Brolin were incredible. The only thing that disappointed me was the final. Poor game and I cried when Baggio missed the penalty. Holland - Brazil is one of the best matches in history. Amazing goal from Branco and the gesture by Bebeto after he scored makes this match rememberable.