The 10 best matches in the history of the World Cup.
Leaders, miracles, goals, titles, qualifiers, and match records that have made history over the years. Football has been bringing fans close for decades now. People have been gathering to watch the games together, celebrate the victories, support their teams, and betting.
The spectacle of the World Cup is always rich.
But there are some games that no-one is going to forget.
# 10 North Korea - Portugal 3-5 (1966 - Quarter-finals)
At that time, Benfica was at the top of Europe and its own backbone was also that of Portugal in the World Cup. In the group, they had beaten Brazil 3-1, before facing North Korea in the "8", which had already made the big surprise. To be precise, they were simply happy with the historic qualification to the finals. However, they beat Italy 1-0 in the last match of the group. In the 25th minute, in fact, they were already ahead with 3-0 against Portugal! The North Koreans had achieved the complete surprise. The Portuguese, however, reacted and with four goals by Eusebio turned the tables only to be eliminated in the next phase by England (2-1).
# 9 Argentina - England 2-2 (1998 - "16" phase)
From the last World Cup, there are not many matches that have been strongly remembered. Before the game, the prevailing debate was the 1986 match and the "hand of God" by Maradona, with the English looking for revenge. In the first 16 minutes they already had three goals! Batistuta and Shearer had scored from the penalty spot, while 18-year-old Owen made history with his goal with an amazing individual effort. Zanetti, however, had the answer for 2-2. Beckham's strike on Simeone and his dismissal went down in history and despite playing with 10 players the English sent the match into extra time and penalties, where Roa repulsed the penalties of Ins and Bati, sending Argentina to the quarter-finals.
# 8 England - West Germany 4-2 (1966 - Finals)
The World Cup had returned to the country that had inspired football. Led by the legendary Bobby Moore, England had reached the finals, where they faced West Germany. Only in the 18th minute the score was 1-1, while in the 89th minute Weber led the match into extra time, making it 2-2 for the guests. There, Hurst completed his hattrick, leading England to the top, but what remained in history was his goal for 3-2, as no-one so far can be sure if the ball crossed the line... Hurst, in fact, remains the only player to pull a hat-trick in the final.
# 7 Argentina - England 2-1 (1986 - Quarter-finals)
The game had one and only protagonist: Diego Maradona. Argentina had dominated in the first half, but the 0-0 remained until half time, with Maradona already "terrorizing" the English defence. In the 51st minute came the first legendary phase, when the Argentine jumped in front of Shilton for a header, sending the ball into the net with the "hand of God" for 1-0. And four minutes later came the most characteristic phase in the history of the World Cup, with Maradona literally passing the whole English team for 2-0! His solo lasted for 60 meters! The Lions only managed to reduce with Lineker for the final 2-1 at 81 '.
# 6 1954 Hungary - West Germany 2-3 (1954 - Finals)
Sebes's "magic Magyars" seemed unstoppable. Before the final in Bern, they had an unbeaten run of 31 games. That Hungary was the top team in the world and had brought a regular revolution in football. Earlier in the tournament thye had beaten West Germany 8-3 and South Korea 9-0 in the groups, before beating Brazil 4-2 in the quarterfinals and Uruguay with the same score in overtime in the semi-finals. Only in the 8th minute the Hungarians were already in front of the score with 2-0, but the Germans with leader Fritz Walter made the big surprise, won 3-2 with a goal by Ran in 84 'and won the trophy in the battle that in the history of Germany it remained as "the miracle of Bern".
# 5 Brazil - Uruguay 1-2 (1950 - Finals)
Brazil was the organizer and the emotions had driven the whole nation crazy. The Brazilians had reached the final with great comfort and the atmosphere was triumphant. All the headlines, in fact, had been printed earlier and, of course, had predicted the winner. The legendary leader of Uruguay, Obdulio Varela, had a different opinion. He decided to disregard the instructions of his coach, who had asked for a defensive game, urged his teammates to attack and the miracle happened. In front of 173,000 fans, Uruguay made a comeback, beating Brazil and the silence was frightening. Moakir Barbosa had been held responsible for the defeat and later claimed that while in Brazil the maximum penalty is 30 years, he was sentenced to life in prison for that game.
# 4 Brazil - Italy 2-3 (1982 - Second group stage)
In this game the battle was different from the final of 1970 (it is at number two), as on the one hand we had the creative football of the Brazilians and on the other the amazing football in the counterattack of the Italians. No-one expected that a few minutes after the cross the score would already be 2-1 in favour of Italy, with Rossi scoring in the fifth and 25th minute and Socrates having temporarily equalized in the 12th. Then the choice of the two tactics was obvious. Brazil played full attack, while Italy was paid to the defence, looking for space in the counter. In the 68th minute, Falcao equalized again, but the amazing Rossi completed the hat trick for the final 3-2 in the 74th minute. These, in fact, were the first goals of the Italian striker in that tournament. The match became known as the "regular triumph" of the Italians, with Zico emphasizing that "football died" that day.
# 3 2014 Brazil - Germany 1-7 (2014 - Semi-finals)
"It's the worst day of my life," said Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who resigned six days later. It was the day that will always haunt Brazilian football. Brazil hosted the tournament for the first time since 1950 but would face Germany in the semi-finals without the punished leader Thiago Silva and the injured Neymar. What happened in the first 29 minutes will go down in history, as the Germans scored one goal after another. Miller (11 '), Klose (23'), Kroos (24', 26') and Kentira (29') had already made it 0-5! The shock was such that no-one on the pitch could believe it. The final 1-7 was the biggest victory in the semi-finals, the heaviest defeat in the history of Brazil, while the records they broke in total were close to 10.
# 2 Brazil - Italy 4-1 (1970 - Finals)
Brazil had Pelé, Zairezino, Tostao, Carlos Alberto in their squad and at its peak is probably the best national team of all time. And their presence in that World Cup fully reflects their quality. The match was labelled "attack against defence". Only in the 18th minute Pelé opened the scoring, but in the 37th minute Boninsenia brought the match to a draw. In the second half we had one of the best appearances in the history of the finals, with the Brazilians doing incredible things to reach the final 4-1. In fact, eight of the 10 players (except the goalkeeper) participated in their last goal before the ball ended up in the net!
# 1 1970 Italy - West Germany 4-3 (1970 - Semi-finals)
This legendary match became known as "the game of the century". It was so epic that outside the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, the inscription reads: "Azteca Stadium honours the national teams of Italy and West Germany, who gave the game of the century to the 1970 World Cup." The development was dramatic. The Italians were ahead in the eighth minute with Boninsenia and then closed in defence. The Germans really pushed and in the 90th minute equalized with Snelinger sending the match into extra time. There, mythical things happened, the goals rained down, the qualification changed hands three times and in the end Italy reached the victory with a goal by Rivera at the 111th minute, at the moment when Germany had equalized in the 110th!
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