1990 FIFA World Cup

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Association football tournament in ItalyTemplate:SHORTDESC:Association football tournament in Italy

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International football competitionTemplate:SHORTDESC:International football competition
The **1990 FIFA World Cup** was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Mexico in 1986). Teams representing 116 national football associations entered and qualification began in April 1988. 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy and defending champions Argentina.

The tournament was won by West Germany, for the third time. They beat defending champions Argentina 1–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, a rematch of the previous final four years earlier. Italy finished third and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts. This was the last tournament to feature a team from West Germany, with the country being reunified with East Germany a few months later in October, as well as teams from the Eastern Bloc prior to the end of the Cold War in 1991, as the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia teams made last appearances. Costa Rica, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates made their first appearances in the finals. As of 2022, this was the last time the United Arab Emirates qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals. The official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico.

The standards for Cameroon were not high and many people thought they would lose in the group stage. Instead, they topped their group, shocking defending champions  Argentina with a 1-0 victory, and defeated  Romania 2-1 and qualified, although they lost 4-0 to the  Soviet Union in their last group stage match. They went on to defeat  Colombia 2-1 in the Round of 16, becoming the first African country to reach the World Cup Quarterfinals, before losing 3-2 to  England.

The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups in terms of the games. It generated an average 2.21 goals per game – a record low that still stands – and a then-record 16 red cards, including the first dismissal in a final. The tournament also had a significant lasting influence on the game as a whole. In England, the team's success in this tournament led to the resurgence of the domestic top-flight, which had suffered from violence on the pitch and hooliganism by spectators throughout the 1980s. It saw the introduction of the pre-match Fair Play Flag (then inscribed with "Fair Play Please") to encourage fair play. Overly defensive tactics of many teams led to the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992 and three points for a win instead of two, both of which have encouraged attacking play, increasing spectator interest in the sport. The tournament also produced some of the World Cup's best remembered moments and stories, including the emergence of African nations, in addition to what has become the World Cup soundtrack: "Nessun dorma".

The 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers over the course of the tournament. This was the first World Cup to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV by the Italian broadcaster RAI in association with Japan's NHK. The huge success of the broadcasting model has also had a lasting impact on the sport. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, but was bettered by the 1994 and 2002 World Cups.

## Host selection

Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts
The vote to choose the hosts of the 1990 tournament was held on 19 May 1984 in Zürich, Switzerland. Here, the FIFA Executive Committee chose Italy ahead of the only rival bid, the USSR, by 11 votes to 5. This awarding made Italy only the second nation to host two World Cup tournaments, after Mexico had also achieved this with their 1986 staging. Italy had previously had the event in 1934, where they had won their first championship.

Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany and Yugoslavia also submitted initial applications for 31 July 1983 deadline. A month later, only England, Greece, Italy and the Soviet Union remained in the hunt after the other contenders all withdrew. All four bids were assessed by FIFA in late 1983, with the final decision over-running into 1984 due to the volume of paperwork involved. In early 1984, England and Greece also withdrew, leading to a two-horse race in the final vote. The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games, announced on the eve of the World Cup decision, was speculated to have been a major factor behind Italy winning the vote so decisively, although this was denied by the FIFA President João Havelange.

## Qualification

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
 File:1990 world cup qualification.png
116 teams entered the 1990 World Cup, including Italy as host nation and Argentina as reigning World Cup champions, who were both granted automatic qualification. Thus, the remaining 22 finals places were divided among the continental confederations, with 114 initially entering the qualification competition. Due to rejected entries and withdrawals, 103 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages.

Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), three by CONMEBOL teams (South America), two by CAF teams (Africa), two by AFC teams (Asia), and two by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining place was decided by a play-off between a CONMEBOL team and a team from the OFC (Oceania).

Both Mexico and Chile were disqualified during the qualification process; the former for fielding an overage player in a prior youth tournament, the latter after goalkeeper Roberto Rojas faked injury from a firework thrown from the stands, which caused the match to be abandoned. Chile were also banned from the 1994 qualifiers for this offence.

Three teams qualified for the first time: Costa Rica, the Republic of Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

Returning after long absences were Egypt, who appeared for the first time since 1934; the United States, who competed for the first time since 1950; Colombia, who appeared for the first time since 1962; and Romania, who last appeared at the Finals in 1970.

Among the teams who failed to qualify were France, Denmark, Poland and Hungary. As of 2014, this was the last time that Egypt and United Arab Emirates qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals.

## Venues

Twelve stadiums were selected to host the World Cup matches in twelve different cities. The Stadio San Nicola in Bari and Turin's Stadio delle Alpi were completely new venues opened for the World Cup.

The remaining ten venues all underwent extensive programmes of improvements in preparation for the tournament, forcing many of the club tenants of the stadia to move to temporary homes. Additional seating and roofs were added to most stadia, with further redevelopments seeing running tracks removed and new pitches laid. Due to structural constraints, several of the existing stadia had to be virtually rebuilt to implement the changes required.

Like Espana '82, the group stage of this tournament was organized in such a way where specific groups only played in two cities close in proximity to each other. Group A only played in Rome and Florence (Hosts Italy played all their competitive matches in Rome, except for their semi-final match), Group B played their matches in Naples and Bari (except for Argentina vs. Cameroon, which was the opening match of the tournament, played in Milan), Group C played their matches in Turin and Genoa, Group D played all their matches in Milan and Bologna, Group E played only in Udine and Verona, and Group F played on the island cities of Cagliari and Palermo. The cities that hosted the most World Cup matches were the 2 biggest cities in Italy: Rome and Milan, each hosting 6 matches, and Bari, Naples, and Turin each hosted 5 matches. Cagliari, Udine and Palermo were the only cities of the 12 selected that did not host any knockout round matches.

The England national team, at the British government's request, were forced to play all their matches in Cagliari. Hooliganism, rife in English football in the 1980s had followed the national team while they played friendlies on the European continent – the distrust of English fans was so high that the English FA's reputation and even diplomatic relations between the UK and Italy were seen to be at risk if England played any group stage matches on the Italian mainland. Thanks largely to British Sports Minister Peter Moniyhan's negative remarks about English fans weeks before the match, security around Cagliari during England's three matches there was extremely heavy – in addition to 7,000 local police and Carabineri, highly trained Italian military special forces were also there patrolling the premises.

Most of the construction cost in excess of their original estimates, and total costs ended up being over £550 million (approximately $935 million). Rome's Stadio Olimpico which would host the final was the most expensive project overall, while Udine's Stadio Friuli, the newest of the existing stadia (opened 14 years prior), cost the least to redevelop.

## Squads

Further information: 1990 FIFA World Cup squads
Squads for the 1990 World Cup consisted of 22 players, as for the previous tournament in 1986. Replacement of injured players was permitted during the tournament at FIFA's discretion. Two goalkeepers – Argentina's Ángel Comizzo and England's Dave Beasant – entered their respective squads during the tournament to replace injured players (Nery Pumpido and David Seaman).

## Match officials

41 match officials from 34 countries were assigned to the tournament to serve as referees and assistant referees. Officials in italics were only used as assistants during the tournament. Referees dressed only in traditional black jerseys for the final time at a World Cup (a red change shirt was used for two Group C games in which Scotland wore their navy blue shirts).

* File:Flag of Tunisia (1959–1999).svg Neji Jouini
* File:Flag of Gabon.svg Jean-Fidèle Diramba

Asia* Template:Country data SYR Jamal Al Sharif
* Template:Country data BHR *Jassim Mandi*
* File:Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg.png Shizuo Takada

Europe* Luigi Agnolin
* Emilio Soriano Aladrén
* George Courtney
* *Pietro D'Elia*
* Erik Fredriksson
* File:Flag of East Germany.svg Siegfried Kirschen
* File:Flag of Austria.svg.png Helmut Kohl
* Tullio Lanese
* File:Flag of Poland.svg.png Michał Listkiewicz
* *Rosario Lo Bello*
* *Carlo Longhi*
* *Pierluigi Magni*
* Peter Mikkelsen
* *Pierluigi Pairetto*
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Zoran Petrović
* Joël Quiniou
* File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg.png Kurt Röthlisberger
* Aron Schmidhuber
* File:Flag of Portugal.svg.png Carlos Silva Valente
* George Smith
* Alan Snoddy
* File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alexey Spirin
* Marcel Van Langenhove
* Michel Vautrot

* Vincent Mauro
* Berny Ulloa Morera

Oceania* Richard Lorenc

South America* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg.png Juan Daniel Cardellino
* File:Flag of Colombia.svg *Armando Pérez Hoyos*
* Elías Jácome
* Juan Carlos Loustau
* File:Flag of Paraguay (1988-1990).svg.png Carlos Maciel
* Hernán Silva
* File:Flag of Brazil (1968–1992).svg.png José Roberto Wright

## Groups

### Seedings

The six seeded teams for the 1990 tournament were announced on 7 December 1989. The seeds were then allocated to the six groups in order of their seeding rank (1st seed to Group A, 2nd seed to Group B, etc.).

The seeds were decided by FIFA based on the nations' performance in, primarily, the 1986 World Cup with the 1982 World Cup also considered as a secondary influence. Six of the final eight in 1986 had qualified for the 1990 tournament. Italy – who were seeded first as hosts – had not reached the final eight in 1986, and this left FIFA needing to exclude one of the three (qualified) nations who were eliminated in the 1986 quarter-finals: Brazil, England or Spain.

Owing to their performance in 1982 but also to their overall World Cup record, Brazil were seeded third and not considered to drop out of the seedings. FIFA opted to seed England ahead of Spain. Spain had only been eliminated in 1986 on penalties, while England had been defeated in 90 minutes; both countries had also reached the second stage in the 1982 event, playing in the same group in the second group stage with England ending up ahead of Spain, but Spain had also appeared in the 1978 event, while England had failed to qualify. FIFA President João Havelange had reportedly earlier stated that Spain would be seeded.

Spanish officials believed the seeding was contrived to ensure England would be placed in Group F, the group to be held off the Italian mainland, in a bid to contain England's hooliganism problems. Their coach Luis Suárez said, "We feel we've been cheated...they wanted to seed England and to send it to Cagliari at all costs. So they invented this formula". FIFA countered that "the formula was based on the teams' respective showings during the previous two World Cups. England merited the sixth position. This is in no way a concession to English hooliganism".

 Argentina (2nd)
File:Flag of Brazil (1968–1992).svg.png Brazil
 (3rd)
 West Germany (4th)
 Belgium (5th)
 England (6th)
 Costa Rica
File:Flag of Egypt.svg Egypt
File:Flag of South Korea (1949–1984).svg.png South Korea
File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg United Arab Emirates
 United States
 Czechoslovakia
 Republic of Ireland
 Romania
 Sweden
File:Flag of Uruguay.svg.png Uruguay

 Netherlands
 Scotland
 Spain
File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union
File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Yugoslavia

### Final draw

 File:Mascotte di italia 90.JPG
On 9 December 1989 the draw was conducted at the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome, where the teams were drawn out from the three pots to be placed with the seeded teams in their predetermined groups. The only stipulation of the draw was that no group could feature two South American teams. The ceremony was hosted by Italian television presenter Pippo Baudo, with Italian actress Sophia Loren and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti conducting the draw alongside FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter.

The draw show was FIFA's most ambitious yet with Pelé, Bobby Moore and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge appearing, as well as a performance of the Italian version of the tournament's official song "To Be Number One" by Giorgio Moroder, performed as "Un'estate italiana" by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini.

The event also featured the official mascot of this World Cup, *Ciao*, a stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolor body that formed the word "ITALIA" when deconstructed and reconstructed. Its name is an Italian greeting.

## Tournament review

The finals tournament began in Italy on 8 June and concluded on 8 July. The format of the 1990 competition remained the same as in 1986: 24 qualified teams were divided into six groups of four. The top two teams and four best third-place finishers from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage, which eliminated the teams until a winner emerged. In total, 52 games were played.

### Negative tactics

The tournament generated a record low goals-per-game average and a then-record of 16 red cards were handed out. In the knockout stage, many teams played defensively for 120 minutes, with the intention of trying their luck in the penalty shoot-out, rather than risk going forward. Two exceptions were the eventual champions West Germany and hosts Italy, the only teams to win three of their four knockout matches in normal time. There were four penalty shoot-outs, a record subsequently equalled in the 2006 and 2014 tournaments. Eight matches went to extra time, a record equalled in the 2014 tournament.

Ireland and Argentina were prime examples of this trend of cautious defensive play; the Irish scored just twice in five games in drawing all their matches until their defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals. Losing finalists Argentina, meanwhile, scored only five goals in the entire tournament (a record low for a finalist). Argentina also became the first (and so far only) team to advance twice on penalty shoot-outs and the first team to fail to score and have a player sent off in a World Cup final.

Largely as a result of this trend FIFA introduced the back-pass rule in time for the 1994 tournament to make it harder for teams to time-waste by repeatedly passing the ball back for their goalkeepers to pick up. Three, rather than two points would be awarded for victories at future tournaments to help further encourage attacking play.

### Emergence of Cameroon

Cameroon reached the quarter-finals, where they were narrowly defeated by England. They opened the tournament with a shock victory over reigning champions Argentina, before topping the group ahead of both them and European Championship runners-up the Soviet Union. Their success was fired by the goals of Roger Milla, a 38-year-old forward who came out of international retirement to join the national squad at the last moment after a personal request from Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Milla's four goals and flamboyant goal celebrations made him one of the tournament's biggest stars as well as taking Cameroon to the last eight. Most of Cameroon's squad was made up of players who played in France's premier football league, Ligue 1- French is one of the officially spoken languages in Cameroon, it being a former French territory. In reaching this stage, they had gone further than any African nation had ever managed in a World Cup before; a feat only equalled twice since (by Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010). Their success was African football's biggest yet on the world stage, and FIFA subsequently decided to allocate the CAF qualifying zone an additional place for the next World Cup tournament.

### All-champion final four

Despite the performances of nations such as Cameroon, Colombia, Ireland and Costa Rica, the semi-finalists consisted of Argentina, England, Italy and West Germany, all previous World Cup winners, with a total of eight previous titles between them. After the 1970 tournament, this is only the second time in the history of the World Cup this has occurred. The teams which finished first, second and third had also contested both the two previous World Cup Finals between themselves.

## Results

### Group stage

*All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)*

 File:1990 world cup.png
In the following tables:

* **Pld** = total games played
* **W** = total games won
* **D** = total games drawn (tied)
* **L** = total games lost
* **GF** = total goals scored (goals for)
* **GA** = total goals conceded (goals against)
* **GD** = goal difference (GF−GA)
* **Pts** = total points accumulated

The Group stage saw the twenty-four teams divided into six groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded two points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams coming first and second in each group qualified for the Round of 16. The four best third-placed teams would also advance to the next stage.

If teams were level on points, they were ranked on the following criteria in order:

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>
> 1. Greatest total goal difference in the three group matches
> 2. Greatest number of goals scored in the three group matches
> 3. If teams remained level after those criteria, a mini-group would be formed from those teams, who would be ranked on:
> 	1. Most points earned in matches against other teams in the tie
> 	2. Greatest goal difference in matches against other teams in the tie
> 	3. Greatest number of goals scored in matches against other teams in the tie
> 4. If teams remained level after all these criteria, FIFA would hold a drawing of lots
>
>
>

#### Group A

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group A
Hosts Italy won Group A with a 100 percent record. They beat Austria 1–0 thanks to substitute Salvatore 'Totò' Schillaci, who had played only one international before but would become a star during the tournament. A second 1–0 victory followed against a United States team already thumped 5–1 by Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovaks ended runners-up in the group, while the USA's first appearance in a World Cup Finals since 1950 ended with three consecutive defeats.

#### Group B

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group B
Cameroon defeated reigning champions Argentina. Despite ending the match with only nine men, the African team held on for a shock 1–0 win, with contrasting fortunes for the brothers Biyik: François Omam scoring the winning goal, shortly after seeing Andre Kana sent off for a serious foul. In their second game the introduction of Roger Milla was the catalyst for a 2–1 win over Romania, Milla scoring twice from the bench (making him the oldest goalscorer in the tournament). With progression assured, Cameroon slumped to a 4–0 defeat in their final group game to a Soviet Union (in what would be their last World Cup due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union) side striving to stay in the tournament on goal difference after successive 2–0 defeats. A 1–1 draw between Romania and Argentina sent both through, the latter as one of the best third-placed teams.

#### Group C

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group C
Costa Rica beat Scotland 1–0 in their first match, lost 1–0 to Brazil in their second, then saw off Sweden 2–1 to claim a place in the second round. Brazil took maximum points from the group. They began with a 2–1 win over Sweden, then beat both Costa Rica and Scotland 1–0. Scotland's 2–1 win over Sweden was not enough to save them from an early return home as one of the two lowest-ranked third-placed teams.

#### Group D

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group D
Group D featured the most goals of all the groups, most due to two large wins of West Germany and defensive inadequacies of a United Arab Emirates team that lost 2–0 to Colombia, 5–1 to West Germany and 4–1 to Yugoslavia. The West Germans topped the group after a 4–1 opening victory over group runners-up Yugoslavia.

#### Group E

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group E
The winners of Group E were Spain, for whom Michel hit a hat-trick as they beat South Korea 3–1 in an unbeaten group campaign. Belgium won their first two games against South Korea and Uruguay to ensure their progress; Uruguay's advance to the second round came with an injury time winner against South Korea to edge them through as the weakest of the third-placed sides to remain in the tournament.

#### Group F

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Group F
Group F, featured the Netherlands, England, the Republic of Ireland and Egypt. In the six group games, no team managed to score more than once in a match. England beat Egypt 1–0, thanks to a 58th-minute goal from Mark Wright – and that was enough to win the group.

The Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands finished with identical records. With both teams assured of progressing, they were split by the drawing of lots to determine second and third place.

### Knockout stage

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage
The knockout stage involved the 16 teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. There was also a play-off to decide third/fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by 30 minutes of extra time; if scores were still level there would be a penalty shoot-out (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round. Scores after extra time are indicated by (aet), and penalty shoot outs are indicated by (p).

Template:Round16

*All times listed are local (UTC+2)*

#### Round of 16

Two of the ties – Argentina vs Brazil and Italy vs Uruguay – pitted former champion countries against each other, and West Germany met the Netherlands in a rematch of the 1974 World Cup Final.

The all-South American game was won for Argentina by a goal from Claudio Caniggia with 10 minutes remaining after a run through the Brazilian defence by Diego Maradona and an outstanding performance from their goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea. It would later come to light that Branco had been offered water spiked with tranquillisers by Maradona and Ricardo Giusti during half time, to slow him down in the second half. Initially discredited by the press, Branco would be publicly proven right years later, when Maradona confessed the episode in a TV show in Argentina. As for Italy, a strong second half showing saw the hosts beat Uruguay 2–0, thanks to another goal from Schillaci and one from Aldo Serena.

The match between West Germany and the Netherlands was held in Milan, and both sides featured several notable players from the two Milanese clubs (Germans Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann for Internazionale, and Dutchmen Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard for Milan). After 22 minutes Rudi Völler and Rijkaard were both dismissed after a number of incidents (including Rijkaard spitting on Völler) between the two players left the Argentine referee with no option but to send them both off. As the players walked off the pitch together, Rijkaard spat on Völler a second time. Early in the second half, Jürgen Klinsmann put the West Germans ahead and Andreas Brehme added a second with eight minutes left. A Ronald Koeman penalty for the Netherlands in the 89th minute narrowed the score to 2–1 but the Germans saw the game out to gain some revenge for their exit to the Dutch in the previous European Championship.

Meanwhile, the heroics of Cameroon and Roger Milla continued in their game with Colombia. Milla was introduced as a second-half substitute with the game goalless, eventually breaking the deadlock midway in extra time. Three minutes later he netted a second after Colombian goalkeeper, René Higuita was dispossessed by Milla while well out of his goal, leaving the striker free to slot the ball into the empty net. Though the deficit was soon reduced to 2–1, Cameroon held on to become the first African team ever to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. Costa Rica were comfortably beaten 4–1 by Czechoslovakia, for whom Tomáš Skuhravý scored the tournament's second and final hat-trick.

The Republic of Ireland's match with Romania remained goalless after extra time, and the Irish side won 5–4 on penalties. David O'Leary converted the penalty that clinched Ireland's place in the quarter-finals. Ireland thus became the first team since Sweden in 1938 to reach the last eight in a World Cup finals tournament without winning a match outright. Yugoslavia beat Spain 2–1 after extra time, with Dragan Stojković scoring both the Yugoslavs' goals. England were the final qualifier against Belgium, as midfielder David Platt's swivelling volley broke the stalemate with the game moments away from a penalty shoot-out.

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23 June 199017:00

Stadio San Paolo, NaplesAttendance: 50,026Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)

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23 June 199021:00

Stadio San Nicola, BariAttendance: 47,673Referee: Siegfried Kirschen (East Germany)

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24 June 199017:00

Stadio delle Alpi, TurinAttendance: 61,381Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)

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24 June 199021:00

San Siro, MilanAttendance: 74,559Referee: Juan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)

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25 June 199017:00

Stadio Luigi Ferraris, GenoaAttendance: 31,818Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

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25 June 199021:00

Stadio Olimpico, RomeAttendance: 73,303Referee: George Courtney (England)

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26 June 199017:00

Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, VeronaAttendance: 35,500Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (West Germany)

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26 June 199021:00

Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, BolognaAttendance: 34,520Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)
#### Quarter-finals

The first game of the last 8 saw Argentina and a Yugoslav side, reduced to 10 men after only half an hour, play out a goalless stalemate. The holders reached the semi-finals after winning the penalty shoot-out 3–2, despite Maradona having his penalty saved. A second Argentine miss (by Pedro Troglio) looked to have eliminated them until goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea – playing because first choice Nery Pumpido broke his leg during the group stage – rescued his side by stopping the Yugoslavs' final two spotkicks.

The Republic of Ireland's World Cup run was brought to an end by a single goal from Schillaci in the first half of their quarter-final with hosts Italy. West Germany beat Czechoslovakia with a 25th minute Lothar Matthäus penalty.

The quarter-final between England and Cameroon was the only quarter-final to produce more than one goal. Despite Cameroon's heroics earlier in the tournament, David Platt put England ahead in the 25th minute. At half-time, Milla was brought on. In the second half, the game was turned on its head during a five-minute stretch: first Cameroon were awarded a penalty from which Emmanuel Kunde scored the equaliser; then in the 65th minute Eugene Ekeke put Cameroon ahead. Cameroon came within eight minutes of reaching the semi-finals before then they conceded a penalty, which Gary Lineker converted. Midway through extra time, England were awarded another penalty, and Lineker again scored from the spot. England were through to the semi-finals for the first time in 24 years.

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30 June 199017:00

Stadio Comunale, FlorenceAttendance: 38,971Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)

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30 June 199021:00

Stadio Olimpico, RomeAttendance: 73,303Referee: Carlos Silva Valente (Portugal)

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1 July 199017:00

San Siro, MilanAttendance: 73,347Referee: Helmut Kohl (Austria)

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1 July 199021:00

Stadio San Paolo, NaplesAttendance: 55,205Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
#### Semi-finals

The first semi-final featured the host nation, Italy, and the world champion, Argentina in Naples. 'Toto' Schillaci scored yet again to put Italy ahead in the 17th minute, but Claudio Caniggia equalised midway through the second half, breaking Walter Zenga's clean sheet streak throughout the tournament. There were no more goals in the 90 minutes or in extra time despite Maradona (who played for Naples in Serie A at the time) showing glimpses of magic, but there was a sending-off: Ricardo Giusti of Argentina was shown the red card in the 13th minute of extra time. Argentina went through on penalties, winning the shoot-out 4–3 after more heroics from Goycochea.

The semi-final between West Germany and England at Juventus's home stadium in Turin was goalless at half-time. Then, in the 60th minute, a shot from Andreas Brehme was deflected by 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. The match went to penalties, and West Germany went on to win the shoot-out 4–3.

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3 July 199020:00

Stadio San Paolo, NaplesAttendance: 59,978Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

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4 July 199020:00

Stadio delle Alpi, TurinAttendance: 62,628Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)
#### Third-place match

The game saw three goals in a 15-minute spell. Roberto Baggio opened the scoring after a rare mistake by England's goalkeeper Peter Shilton, in his final game before international retirement, presented a simple opportunity. A header by David Platt levelled the game 10 minutes later but Schillaci was fouled in the penalty area five minutes later, leading to a penalty. Schillaci himself got up to convert the kick to win him the tournament's Golden Boot for his six-goal tally. Nicola Berti had a goal ruled out minutes later, but the hosts claimed third place. England had the consolation prize of the Fair Play award, having received no red cards and the lowest average number of yellows per match.

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7 July 199020:00

Stadio San Nicola, BariAttendance: 51,426Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)
#### Final

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup Final
The final between West Germany and Argentina has been cited as the most cynical and lowest-quality of all World Cup Finals. In the 65th minute, Argentina's Pedro Monzon was sent off for a foul on Jürgen Klinsmann, the first player ever to be sent off in a World Cup Final.

Argentina, weakened by suspension and injury, offered little attacking threat throughout a contest dominated by the West Germans, who struggled to create many clear goalscoring opportunities. The only goal of the contest arrived in the 85th minute when Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal awarded a penalty to West Germany, after a foul on Rudi Völler by Roberto Sensini. Andreas Brehme, who later said there was no foul, converted the spot kick to settle the contest. In the closing moments, Argentina were reduced to nine after Gustavo Dezotti received a red card when he hauled Jürgen Kohler to the ground during a stoppage in play. The 1–0 scoreline provided another first: Argentina were the first team to fail to score in a World Cup Final.

With its third title (and three second-place finishes) West Germany – in its final tournament before national reunification – became the most successful World Cup nation at the time. West German manager Franz Beckenbauer became the only man to both captain (in 1974) and manage a World Cup winning team, and only the second man (after Mário Zagallo of Brazil) to win the World Cup as a player and as team manager. It was also the first time a team from UEFA won the final against a non-European team.

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8 July 199020:00

Stadio Olimpico, RomeAttendance: 73,603Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
## Goalscorers

Salvatore Schillaci received the Golden Boot award for scoring six goals in the World Cup. This made him the second Italian footballer to have this honour, after Paolo Rossi won the award in 1982. In total, 115 goals were scored by 75 different players (none credited as own goals).

6 goals
* Salvatore Schillaci

* Gary Lineker
* Míchel
* Lothar Matthäus

* Andreas Brehme
* Jürgen Klinsmann
* Rudi Völler

2 goals

* File:Flag of Brazil (1968–1992).svg.png Careca
* File:Flag of Brazil (1968–1992).svg.png Müller
* File:Flag of Colombia.svg Bernardo Redín

* Roberto Baggio
* Gabi Balint
* Marius Lăcătuș

* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Darko Pančev
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Dragan Stojković

1 goal

* File:Flag of Austria.svg.png Gerhard Rodax
* Jorge Burruchaga
* Pedro Monzón
* Pedro Troglio
* Jan Ceulemans
* Lei Clijsters
* Michel De Wolf
* Marc Degryse
* Enzo Scifo
* Patrick Vervoort
* File:Flag of Cameroon.svg.png Eugène Ekéké
* File:Flag of Cameroon.svg.png Emmanuel Kundé
* File:Flag of Cameroon.svg.png François Omam-Biyik
* File:Flag of Colombia.svg Freddy Rincón
* File:Flag of Colombia.svg Carlos Valderrama
* Juan Cayasso
* Róger Flores

* Hernán Medford
* Ivan Hašek
* Luboš Kubík
* Milan Luhový
* File:Flag of Egypt.svg Magdi Abdelghani
* Mark Wright
* Giuseppe Giannini
* Aldo Serena
* Ruud Gullit
* Wim Kieft
* Ronald Koeman
* Niall Quinn
* Kevin Sheedy
* Mo Johnston
* Stuart McCall
* File:Flag of South Korea (1949–1984).svg.png Hwangbo Kwan
* File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Igor Dobrovolski

* File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Oleksandr Zavarov
* File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Andrei Zygmantovich
* Alberto Górriz
* Julio Salinas
* Tomas Brolin
* Johnny Ekström
* Glenn Strömberg
* File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Khalid Ismaïl
* File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Ali Thani Jumaa
* Paul Caligiuri
* Bruce Murray
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg.png Pablo Bengoechea
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg.png Daniel Fonseca
* Uwe Bein
* Pierre Littbarski
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Robert Prosinečki
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Safet Sušić

## Awards

### All-star team

* Luis Gabelo Conejo
* Paolo Maldini
* Franco Baresi
* Lothar Matthäus
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Dragan Stojković
* Paul Gascoigne
* File:Flag of Cameroon.svg.png Roger Milla
* Jürgen Klinsmann

## Final standings

After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 1990 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.

## Statistics

* Most wins: **Italy** (6)
* Most defeats: **South Korea, Sweden, UAE, United States** (3)
* First goal: **François Omam Biyik** (for Cameroon vs Argentina; Group B, 8 June)
* Fastest goal in a match: **3 minutes 59 seconds** – Safet Sušić (for Yugoslavia vs UAE; Group D, 19 June)
* Latest goal scored in a match (apart from penalty shoot-outs): **119 minutes** – David Platt (for England vs Belgium; Round of 16, 16 June)
* Biggest win: **5–1** – by Czechoslovakia vs United States, and by West Germany vs UAE
* Most goals in the tournament (team): **West Germany** (15)
* Most goals in the tournament (player): **Salvatore Schillaci** (Italy) (6)
* Least goals in the tournament (team): **Egypt** and **South Korea** (1)
* Most goals in a game: **6** (United States 1 Czechoslovakia 5; West Germany 5 UAE 1)
* Most goals in a game (player): **3**, by **Míchel** (for Spain vs South Korea) and **Tomáš Skuhravý** (for Czechoslovakia vs Costa Rica)
* Fewest goals conceded: **Brazil**, **Egypt** and **Italy** (2)
* Total goals scored: **115** (average 2.21 goals per game, a record low in World Cup history)
* Most clean sheets: **Italy** (5)
* Number of penalties awarded: **18** (13 scored, 5 missed)
* Most yellow cards in a game: **9** – **Austria vs United States** (Group A, 19 June)
* Most yellow cards in the tournament: **Argentina** (22)
* Total yellow cards: **162**
* Most red cards in the tournament: **Argentina** (3)
* Total red cards: **16** (a record high for a 24 team World Cup)
* Highest attendance: **74,765** – **West Germany vs Yugoslavia** (Group D, 10 June)
* Lowest attendance: **27,833** – **Yugoslavia vs UAE** (Group D, 19 June)
* Average attendance: **48,391** (5th highest in World Cup history)
* Oldest player: **Peter Shilton** (England) (40 years 292 days)
* Youngest player: **Rónald González Brenes** (Costa Rica) (19 years 307 days)
* Italy's performance of 6 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses is the highest ever winning percentage for a team that did not win the World Cup.
* The Republic of Ireland became the second team in World Cup history to reach the last eight without winning a match (Sweden progressed to the last eight by default in 1938 when Austria withdrew).

## See also

* Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, a 2009 replay of the 1990 England Germany semi-final in honour of the England manager Bobby Robson

## References and footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Italy 1990". *BBC Sport*. 17 April 2002. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "World Cup 1990". *ESPN Soccernet*. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
3. ↑ Glanville, Brian (2005). *The Story of the World Cup*. Faber. ISBN 0-571-22944-1.
4. ↑ Freddi, Cris (2006). *Complete Book of the World Cup*. HarperSport. ISBN 978-0-00-722916-1.
5. ↑ "FIFA World Cup Record – Organisation". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "A riot of colour, emotion and memories: the World Cup stands alone in the field of sport". *The Independent*. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
7. ↑ "World Cup and Television" (PDF). FIFA. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
8. ↑ "L'Alta Definizione a Torino 1986 – 2006 di Marzio Barbero e Natasha Shpuza". Crit.rai.it. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
9. ↑ "The FIFA World Cup TV viewing figures" (PDF). FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 November 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Italy gain vote over Soviet rival". *The Times*. London. 21 May 1984. p. 21.
11. ↑ "Sports in brief". *The Times*. London. 3 August 1983. p. 17.
12. ↑ "Sports in brief". *The Times*. London. 2 September 1983. p. 20.
13. ↑ "World Cup formats". *The Times*. London. 12 November 1983. p. 18.
14. ↑ "Romania could join the boycott". *The Times*. London. 22 May 1984. p. 30.
15. ↑ "Mexico given ban in soccer". *The New York Times*. Associated Press. 1 July 1988. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
16. ↑ 16.00 16.01 16.02 16.03 16.04 16.05 16.06 16.07 16.08 16.09 16.10 16.11 "WM 1990 Sonderheft". *Kicker* (in German). May–June 1990. p. 185.
17. ↑ 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 "World Cup '90: The Complete Collection". Orbis.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "England Is Seeded Sixth in 1990 World Cup in Italy". New York Times. 8 December 1989. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
19. ↑ "Cup seedings revealed". *New York Times*. 30 November 1989. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 "The Times guide to the draw for the World Cup finals". *The Times*. London. 9 December 1989. p. 51.
21. ↑ Gardner, Paul (10 December 1989). "U.S. must face Italy in cup". *New York Times*. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
22. ↑ "The FIFA World Cup Final Draw history" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
23. ↑ "Mascots". FIFA. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
24. ↑ "Como Maradona "envenenou" Branco na Copa de 90". UOL. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
25. ↑ "England v West Germany at Italia '90 – as it happened". *Guardian*. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
26. ↑ Glanville, Brian (2005). *The Story of the World Cup*. Faber. p. 303. ISBN 0-571-22944-1.
27. ↑ Vecsey, George (9 July 1990). "Winning Ugly, Losing Ugly, Just Plain Ugly". New York Times. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
28. ↑ "A poor display bare of class". *The Times*. London. 9 July 1990.
29. ↑ FIFA World Cup History, 1990, worldcupbrazil.net website
30. ↑ "All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2010" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
31. ↑ "FIFA World Cup: Milestones, facts & figures. Statistical Kit 7" (PDF). FIFA. 26 March 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2013.
32. ↑ Figure does not include shoot-outs; penalties were missed during games by: Michal Bílek (Czechoslovakia v USA), Rubén Sosa (Uruguay v Spain), Faruk Hadžibegić (Yugoslavia v Colombia), Gianluca Vialli (Italy v USA) and Enzo Scifo (Belgium v Spain)
33. ↑ Figure does not include second yellow cards that led to a red card
34. ↑ Argentina defeated Italy in the semi-finals by a penalty shoot-out which, by FIFA regulations counts as a draw for statistical reasons.

## External links

* 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy ™, FIFA.com
* Details at RSSSF
* FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5) and (Part 6)
* Planet World Cup – Italy 1990

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