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Glorious goals, unimaginable upsets and the occasional bit of angst and controversy – over 19 editions of the FIFA World Cup, we’ve seen it all. Ahead of this month’s event in Brazil, GlenN Cullen looks at 20 defining moments of the most widely viewed sporting event in the world.

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Socceroos celebrate after scoring against Uruguay and qualifying for the 2006 World Cup

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01The game beginsThere were 93,000 people packed into Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario to see home side Uruguay get the ball rolling in the first World Cup final of 1930. Much to the delight of the home nation, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 to clinch the title.

02National prideAfter being thrashed 8-3 by Hungary in their pool game, few people gave West Germany a chance when the teams matched up again for the 1954 decider. It was one of the greatest upsets of the tournament, the amateur West Germans holding on for a 3-2 win against their professional opposition. The “Miracle of Bern” allegedly inspired a new-found optimism in postwar Germany.

03A legend is bornHe was the youngest player at the tournament and missed the first two games through injury, but 17-year-old Pelé still stamped himself as a potential superstar at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. His first goal in Brazil’s 5-2 final win

between Brazil and Italy, but one must be “true classic”. The ultimate contrast in styles featured Brazil’s “beautiful football” and Italy’s watertight defence. Azzurri striker Paolo Rossi would prove the difference in a 3-2 victory for the Italians.

07Talk to the handWith the score locked at 0-0 against bitter rivals England (the 1982 Falklands War had resulted in British defeat of Argentina) at the 1986 World Cup, Diego Maradona put his hand up for Argentina – quite literally. Even the La Albiceleste legend conceded his icebreaking quarterfinal goal

against Sweden was sublime: chesting the ball, flicking over and volleying home on the same foot. 04Korean surpriseTrumping West Germany’s upset in ’58 was North Korea’s stunning dispatch of Italy from the 1966 group stages 1-0. The losers had rotten tomatoes thrown at them at Genoa airport when they

returned to Italy, while the North Koreans were treated as heroes after making the quarterfinals.

05Banks for the memoriesGordon Banks’ diving save from a tracer-like Pelé header in Mexico in 1970 will go down as one of the best moments for a goalkeeper at a World Cup. Even the Brazilian

couldn’t fathom how he blocked the ball at the right post. Despite Banks’ heroics, England still lost the match 1-0.

06The irresistible gameAttack vs defence. Passion vs pragmatism. Artists vs artisans. Attach what labels you wish to the 1982 second-round match

wasn’t exactly by the book. “A little with the head of Maradona, a little with the hand of God,” was his recollection. The most controversial goal in World Cup history. 08Divine doubleOnly Maradona. In the very same match, just four minutes later, Argentina’s little general scored a spellbinding individual goal. Starting in England’s half, he weaved his way upfield, ditching four opposition outfield players before blasting diagonally past goalkeeper Peter Shilton to give his side a 2-0 lead. Voted FIFA’s World Cup goal of the century.

09Out of AfricaMinnows Cameroon, comprised largely of amateurs and French lower league players, caused the biggest upset in modern football when they downed defending champions Argentina 1-0 in a 1990 pool match – with only nine men in a clash that ushered African football onto the world stage.

10Baggio’s brillianceAfter a subdued first half, Italian maestro Roberto Baggio stepped up in style in a group game against Czechoslovakia in Rome at the 1990 World Cup. Following a

cheeky one-two with Giuseppe Giannini, Baggio slalomed through the Czech defence, finally piercing two players and the keeper to score a silky goal.

11Baggio’s botched kickFour years later came football’s cruel riposte. In the penalty shootout of the 1994 final, Baggio scythed his shot over the crossbar, Brazil claiming the Cup off the back of his miss. That two of his teammates also failed to net their spot kick attempts seemed to matter little as the ponytailed playmaker carried the burden of the Azzurri’s dashed hopes.

12Saudi sensationSaeed Al-Owairan earned the moniker of the Middle East’s Maradona after his extraordinary one-man goal in 1994 against Belgium. The Saudi dynamo controlled the ball from his own half, stood up five players and then shot past the keeper to help his side defeat Belgium and progress to the second round.

THE YOUNGEST PLAYER AT THE TOURNAMENT, 17-YEAR-OLD PELÉ STAMPED HIMSELF AS A POTENTIAL SUPERSTAR AT THE 1958 CUP

The Lions of Cameroon, down to nine players, beat

defending champions Argentina in 1990

Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal in 1986; Uruguay vs Argentina at the first World Cup (left)

Roberto Baggio (left) misses a penalty and hands Brazil the 1994 World Cup

Diego Maradona celebrates his second

goal against England in 1986 – this one scored

with his boot

Pelé comes of age in Stockholm in

1958 (both images)

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13Tragic repercussionsAndrés Escobar had never scored an own goal in his senior career until Colombia’s must-win World Cup match against hosts USA in 1994. It was his first and last. The fancied South Americans were bounced out of the tournament by the subsequent defeat; Escobar was shot and killed in a nightclub carpark on his return to Colombia.

14Owen goalMichael Owen came of age in 1998 with his blistering second-round strike against Argentina. The 18-year-old still had plenty to do after a lovely ball from David Beckham put him in space, but that he did; shrugging off one pursuer, rounding another and finishing in style. Alas, the match ended in heartbreak for England, who had Beckham sent off before it lost on penalties. 15Dramatic licenceRivaldo won few friends in the semifinal against Turkey in 2002, with one of the more ludicrous acts of simulated injury seen on a football pitch. When a ball was kicked innocuously at his leg while waiting to take a corner, Rivaldo collapsed clutching at his face. While fined for his theatrics, Brazil won both match and tournament.

16Hosts with the mostIn five previous World Cups South Korea hadn’t won a game; co-hosting the tournament in 2002 they won over a nation. Surprise pool winners, the Taeguk

Warriors put the world on notice with an epic golden-goal 2-1 win over Italy in the round of 16. Physical and controversial it may have been, yet the South Koreans showed it was no fluke when they scraped past another heavyweight, Spain, on penalties to make the final four (losing 1-0 to Germany).

17Don’t call it a comebackA sub-par Ronaldo was off his game in the 1998 World Cup final, Brazil losing 3-0 to France the day after he reportedly suffered an epileptic fit. But one of the most devastating strikers the game has seen would not be denied four years later, destroying Germany with both goals in the Yokohama decider in 2002.

18Johnny on the spotYes, this wasn’t part of the main event, but after three decades in the World Cup wilderness, every Australian sports fan would forgive us for squeezing this in. With the Socceroos and Uruguay locked at 1-1 after extra time in the two-legged 2005 play-off series, the final 2006 qualifying spot went down to penalties at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. Ahead 4-3, John Aloisi stepped up to the mark. The former La Liga striker snapped his left-foot shot over goalkeeper Fabian Carini, sending 82,698 spectators into delirium and the Socceroos to the Cup for the first time since 1974. 19One butt, no ifsWith a goal in the 2006 final, the scene was set for silky-skilled three-time world player of the

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ALOISI: SENDING THE SOCCEROOS TO THE WORLD

CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1974

Saeed Al-Owairan scores for Saudi

Arabia against Belgium, 1994

David Beckham (above); Ronaldo (right); John Aloisi sends the Socceroos to the 2006 Cup (below)

WORLD CUP

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nge Postecoglou wants to go platinum. And with so much talk still about Australian football’s “Golden Generation” – a side that peaked in the mid-2000s with such international stars as Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill – who

could blame the Socceroos coach for aiming higher?

“We did have a fantastic group of players who served us well at the highest level, but now there’s an opportu-nity for another group of players to take us to an even

CoaCh Classhigher level,” Postecoglou says. “If we are going to become a force in football, the hardest sport in the world, we can’t be looking back. We need to be creating better teams, every time.”

So far, he’s walked the talk. Postecoglou has shown a penchant for fresh faces; a band of footballers in their early 20s, including Mat Ryan, Tom Rogic, Tommy Oar, Curtis Good and Jason Davidson have already featured in his side. With players of their ilk, the coach hopes to form the next great generation of Socceroos.

Australia could have scarcely managed a tougher pool in Brazil for their first serious examination: South American heavyweight Chile (June 13), 2010 runner-up the Netherlands (June 18) and defending champion Spain (June 23). Wry judges have suggested it’s a draw that actually works in the new coach’s favour – the lack of expectations giving him a

blank canvas on which to work. But the two-time A-League-winning mentor with Brisbane Roar knows the results-thirsty Australian public a little better than that.

“People understand what kind of phase we are in, but I won’t take liberties with that.” Instead, he wants to use the Brazil experience to build for next year’s AFC Asian Cup, to be held in Australia for the first time (January 9-31). The expectations will be substantial. “I’m driven for us to perform well at the World Cup and the Asian Cup off the back of that. If people see a team building, the promise of a new era, I’m sure they will get behind it.”

year Zinedine Zidane to bow out with a fairytale World Cup for France. But after 110 minutes of absorbing football, things turned sour. Riled by Italian player Marco Materazzi, Zidane unleashed one of the least effective headbutts seen in sport. He was sent off and France lost in a penalty shootout.

20Pitch battleFour send-offs, 16 yellow cards and a booking every five and a half minutes. Portugal was victorious in the second-round clash with the Netherlands in 2006, however, “The Battle of Nuremberg” will be remembered as one of the most brutal ever witnessed.

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ZINEDINE ZIDANE UNLEASHED ONE OF THE

LEAST EFFECTIVE HEADBUTTS SEEN IN SPORT

Ange Postecoglou

2006 Battle of Nuremberg: Portugal vs the

Netherlands (and above); Zidane headbutt (left)

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