WORLD CUP HISTORY
Top Matches

Brazil took the lead shortly after half-time on a goal by Friaça, but Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised midway through the second half, and Alcides Ghiggia completed the comeback with eleven minutes remaining. A victory of an underdog over a heavily favoured side, the result is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of football. The term Maracanaço (in Portuguese) or Maracanazo (in Spanish), roughly translated as "The Blow of Maracanã", became synonymous with the match.

The match is known by its German name, Hitzeschlacht von Lausanne, due to the high temperature that it was played under, 40 °C (104 °F).

Switzerland, the tournament hosts, took a notable lead early on. In four minutes, the Swiss scored three goals. Austria then became the first team in World Cup history to recover from a 3–0 deficit, scoring 5 goals in the remainder of the first half. Ballaman scored again for Switzerland at the 39th minute. The first half thus ended 5–4 in favour of Austria, being the highest scoring half in World Cup history, even after inside left Körner had missed a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.

Nine minutes into the second half, Wagner put Austria up 6–4 with his third goal, recording the seventh hat-trick of the 1954 World Cup. Hügi would then emulate the feat, scoring his third at the 58th minute. Switzerland was not able to equalize, and Erich Probst made it 7–5 to end the scoring at the 76th minute.

According to FIFA, the extreme heat adversely affected Switzerland after they led the match 3–0 at one point. Other sources add that at first, Switzerland had been able to take advantage of the temperature, when Austrian goalkeeper Kurt Schmied suffered from hyperthermia early in the match, quickly allowing the first three Swiss goals, before being assisted by the Austrian masseur while in play.

The 12 goals scored in the match set a World Cup record, unequalled to date.

This match was a reply of the second match in the group stage which Hungary won 8-3.  Hungary's legendary Golden Team – also known as the Mighty Magyars – was the favorite to win the 1954 World Cup. In the five years prior to the final, it had remained unbeaten in 31 games (32 if counting a match against East Germany in 1952 that is not considered an official international). Hungary was also the reigning Olympic Champion and winner of the Central European International Cup in 1953. Puskás put his team ahead after only six minutes. Czibor added a second goal for Hungary a mere two minutes later. West Germany came back quickly. In the 10th minute after Max Morlock converted a deflected ball from short range. Eight minutes later Helmut Rahn leveled the score.  With six minutes left, Schäfer dispossessed Bozsik and played a high cross into the penalty box. Rahn picked up Lantos' short clearance, feinted a pass to center forward Ottmar Walter that wrong-footed the Hungarian defenders, moved into the penalty box, and drove the ball hard and low past Grosics for the third German goal.

This is the match that awarded England their one and only title. However, for many years, there was a debate whether Geoff Hurst’s crucial goal at the 101st minute of the final that gave his team the lead with 3-2, crossed the line or not.

The Germans always maintained that it did not and considered themselves as robbed of a title. İt took the implementation of modern technology to finally set the dispute to rest and determine that the ball did indeed cross the line.

For the record, Helmut Haller and Wolfgang Weber scored the 2 goals for Germany, while Geoff Hurst’s hat trick and Martin Peters sent the ball to the back of the net for England.

Italy led 1–0 for the majority of the match, after Roberto Boninsegna scored in the 8th minute. West German defender Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his shoulder after being fouled, but stayed on the field carrying his dislocated arm in a sling, as his side had already used their two permitted substitutions.

Defender Karl-Heinz Schnellinger equalised for West Germany in the 90th minute. German television commentator Ernst Huberty famously exclaimed "Schnellinger, of all people!", since Schnellinger played in Italy's professional football league, Serie A, at A.C. Milan. At the end of regulation time, the score was level at 1–1, forcing the match into extra time.

Gerd Müller put West Germany ahead in the 94th minute following a defensive error by Fabrizio Poletti who had just come into the game as a substitute, but Tarcisio Burgnich tied it back up only four minutes later, and then striker Gigi Riva put the Italians in front again with a superb goal. Müller scored yet again, this time with a header, for West Germany to tie the score at 3–3. Yet, as the live television coverage was still replaying Müller's goal, Italian midfielder Gianni Rivera scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 111th minute.

Brazil struck first, with Pelé heading in a cross by Rivellino at the 18th minute. Roberto Boninsegna equalized for Italy after a blunder in the Brazilian defence. In the second half, Brazil's firepower and creativity was too much for an Italian side that clung to their cautious defensive system. Gérson fired in a powerful shot for the second goal, and then helped provide the third, with a long free kick to Pelé who headed down into the path of the onrushing Jairzinho. Pelé capped his superb performance by drawing the Italian defence in the centre and feeding captain Carlos Alberto on the right flank for the final score. Carlos Alberto's goal, after a series of moves by the Brazilian team from the left to the centre, is considered one of the greatest goals ever scored in the history of the tournament. Brazil's 1970 team is considered by many as the greatest in the history of the World Cup.

The two sides met just once on senior national team level, on 22 June 1974, in a group game of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, held in West Germany. The game in Hamburg, in front of 62,000, was won 1–0 by East Germany courtesy of a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. East Germany was eliminated in second group stage while West Germany won the World Cup.

This match is considered as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Gemany were the reigning European champions and one of the favorites to win the World Cup. They were confident that they would win this game with at least eight goals. Their manager Jupp Derwall confessed after the match that he had been provided with a video of Algeria in action but did not order the players to watch it because they would have laughed at him. This was Algeria's debut, but although they were unknown for the mass crowd, the players were good.
Algeria opened the score in the 54th minute with a goal from their biggest star Madjer. Rummenigge equalised in the 67th minute, but Algeria had the last laugh when Belloumi scored the winner just a minute later. This was a historical win for Algeria as they became the first ever African and Arab country to defeat an European team and to win twice at a World Cup. 

The Brazilian team of the era is still considered as the best national team that ever existed. However, on this specific case, they run into 2 players in inspiring form. The Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff and the striker Paolo Rossi. The latter scored a hat trick to lead Squadra Azurra to victory. However, it was the guardian of the nets that secured it. His save at the dying minutes of the match to a point blanc header by Eder is still considered as one of the best ever made.

Germany were nonetheless the first to score in the 17th minute.

After 27 minutes France were awarded a penalty, which was converted by Platini. The score remained at 1–1 at full time. In the second minute of the first period, Marius Tresor struck an 11-yard volley to put France ahead, 2–1. It was France who struck once again at the 98 minute mark, with Alain Giresse firing a first-time shot from 18 yards off Harald Schumacher's right post and into the goal to give France a 3–1 advantage.

Four minutes later, Germany began their comeback, with Rummenigge flicking home volley cut France's lead to 3–2. Three minutes into the second extra time period, Fischer scored with a bicycle kick from six yards for 3–3, where the score remained until the end of extra time.

After five rounds in the penalty shootout the result was 4-4 so it moved to sudden-death. In the sixth round, Maxime Bossis's shot was blocked, and Horst Hrubesch converted to give West Germany the win.

The quarter-final between Argentina and England at the Azteca featured two very different goals in the second half by Diego Maradona: the first was scored illegally, as he punched the ball into the goal past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The referee did not see the handball and the goal was given as valid. After the game, Maradona claimed the goal was scored "A bit with the head of Maradona and another bit with the hand of God"; it became known as the "Hand of God" goal.

For his second goal, voted "Goal of the Century" in 2002 on the FIFA website, Maradona dribbled half the length of the field past five English players before scoring.

With 20 minutes to go, the introduction of John Barnes as a substitute changed the tide of play in England's favour, as he pinged cross after cross into the Argentine penalty area: with 9 minutes to go, Lineker got on the end of one and scored, then almost repeated the dose six minutes later but was just unable to reach the ball thanks to a timely block by Olarticoechea: 2–1 to Argentina was the final score.

In Argentina, the game was seen as revenge for the Falklands War.

The semi-final between Germany and England at Juventus's home stadium in Turin was goalless at half-time. Then, in the 60th minute, a free-kick tapped to Andreas Brehme resulted in a shot which was deflected off Paul Parker into his own net. England equalised with ten minutes left; Gary Lineker was the scorer. The game ended 1–1. Extra time yielded more chances. Klinsmann was guilty of two glaring misses and both sides struck a post. England had another Platt goal disallowed for offside.

In the 100th min. England's Golden Boy Paul Gascoigne burst into tears after he received a yellow card that would've ruled him out of the eventual final.

The match went to penalties, and  Germany went on to win the shoot-out 4–3.

The Bulgarians had never won a game in five previous World Cup finals but, led by Hristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group games (against Greece and Argentina) to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico.

Bulgaria faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals. The Germans were leading after the first half, but a free-kick goal from Stoichkov and a header from Yordan Letchkov (also known as the "Golden Goal") gave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semi-finals and third-place game, respectively.

The rivalry between England and Argentina is unusual in that it is an intercontinental one and often marked by notable and sometimes controversial incidents. From the El robo del siglo ("the theft of the century") in 1966, to "The Hand of God" and of course the 1998 battle. England finished second in their group and met Argentina in the Round of 16. The first half was very intense with 4 goals scored. After just 5 minutes Batistuta converted a penalty to open the score but only 4 minutes later Shearer leveled also from penalty. In the 16th minute Owen gave England the lead with one of the greatest goals in World Cup history. But in the added time of the first half Javier Zanetti managed to equal the score once again. With the score tied at 2–2, David Beckham retaliated after being fouled by Diego Simeone and was sent off. In the subsequent penalty shoot-out, Argentina went first. David Seaman saved Argentina's second penalty from Hernán Crespo to give England the advantage, but that was immediately cancelled when Carlos Roa saved from Paul Ince. The tie ended with another Roa save, from David Batty. Batty said it was the first penalty he had ever taken.

These had been 119 of the most intense World Cup minutes: a relentless back-and-forth between two of the sport’s foremost nations. The game remained deadlocked only because Lukas Podolski couldn’t beat Gianluigi Buffon at the end of a five-on-five, while Alberto Gilardino and Gianluca Zambrotta hit the woodwork of a goal they concluded to be cursed.

By the time Italy scored, they had four centre-forwards on the pitch, but in 118 minute the left-back Fabio Grosso broke the stalement. His celebration emulated Marco Tardelli's in 1982. In the added time Alessandro Del Piero scored second goal. Italy went on to win fourth World Cup.

Germany took the lead in the 20th minute after English defenders Matthew Upson and John Terry were at fault in allowing Miroslav Klose to latch on to a long goal kick from Manuel Neuer and score. Lukas Podolski doubled Germany's lead 12 minutes later, although England pulled one goal back through Upson in the 37th minute, heading in a cross from Steven Gerrard. A controversial moment then occurred in the 39th minute: a shot by Frank Lampard was not awarded as a goal despite the ball bouncing off the crossbar and clearly crossing the line by at least a foot. Had the goal been awarded, England would have equalised at 2–2. Thomas Müller subsequently scored two goals in the second half, extending Germany's lead to 4–1. His first came at the end of a swift German counter-attack in the 67th minute, the goal being assisted by Bastian Schweinsteiger. His second came from an error by Gareth Barry and was set up by Mesut Özil. Germany won the match, 4–1. Germany eventually finished third.

For many, this should be the goal of the century. No one could ever have foreseen that the long shot towards Spain's goal could have ever ended up anywhere than the hands of St. Iker Cassillas. The Dutch striker leveled his body horizontally and managed to strike a header that went over the goalkeeper into the back of the net. If nothing else, this is probably the hardest and most intelligent goal ever scored. No wonder he received the Puskas Award for it.

In 2014, Brazil was hosting the competition. An entire nation demanded that the win the trophy. It was a good team, led by Neymar. However, it was evident throughout their matches that the pressure was probably more than they could handle. The Germans took advantage of their crumbling and did not show any mercy. Thomas Muller opened the score, while Miroslav Klose, Tony Kroos (twice), Samy Khedira and Schuerrle completed the devastating bombardment. The only reaction from the home team was the consolation goal by Oscar at the 90th minute.

Kylian Mbappè was the star of this match, dubbed by the press as "The classic of Kazan". Griezmann gave France the lead early in the game with a penalty, after Marcos Rojo had fouled Mbappé as he ran with the ball into the penalty area. Argentina then scored on either side of half-time through Ángel Di María and Gabriel Mercado to take the lead, but Benjamin Pavard brought France level again. Mbappé then scored twice in five minutes to put them 4–2 up before Sergio Agüero scored a late third for Argentina. Mbappè became the first teenager since Michael Owen to score at least twice in a World Cup and the first teenage since Pelè to score twice in a World Cup game.