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Football World Cup 1990

The 1990 Football World Cup was designated by FIFA in 1984 to be held in Italy, making it the second country to host the event two times . It was won by West Germany, who beat Argentina 1-0 in the final, repeating the final match of the 1986 Football World Cup .

With its third title (and three second place finishes) Germany became the most successful World Cup nation for 4 years, until Brazil won their 4th Championship in 1994. German team manager Franz Beckenbauer became the second footballer, after Mario Zagallo of Brazil, to become World Champion as a player (in 1974) and as team manager. In doing so, Beckenbauer also became the first captain of a winning team to later manage a winning squad.

The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1986: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. 16 teams would qualify for the knockout competition: six group winners, six second place finishers, and four best third place finishers. Three nations qualified for the first time in their history: Costa Rica, the Republic of Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

The World Cup began with an upset. Defending champion Argentina fell 0-1 to Cameroon in the opening match. The goal was headed in by François Omam-Biyik. Cameroon went on to become the surprise team of the Championship, becoming the first African nation to go to the quarter finals and bowing there only in extra time with 2-3 to England after leading 2-1. Cameroon's Roger Milla, who came out of retirement specifically for the World Cup, became an international superstar at age 38, long after most top-level footballers typically retire.

But Argentina recovered from their defeat and went all the way to the final. On their way they defeated Brazil in the round of the last 16 and, in the semi final, were the first team in this tournament to score a goal against the hosts Italy, winning through a penalty shootout after a 1-1 score after extra time. Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea saved two penalty kicks.

Italian Salvatore Schillaci won the Golden Boot with six goals, scoring a goal in every game that he apeared in. Amazingly, 'Toto' had played for Italy only once prior to the tournament.

The World Cup 1990 is widely regarded (along with the 1962 edition in Chile) as one of the least spectacular and most cynical World Cups ever. It generated a record-low goals-per-game average and (at the time) record 16 red cards. Most teams relied heavily on defensive play and hard tackling, as well as aggressive intimidation of the referee. In the knock-out stage of the cup, many teams would play it safe; for 120 minutes and try their luck in the penalty shootout, rather than risk going forward. Runners-up Argentina was the prime example of this trend, taking the silver medal despite scoring only 5 goals in 7 games. World Champions West Germany was one of the few teams to choose an attacking style of play.

Venues

City	Stadium	Capacity
Stadio Olimpico	Rome	81,000
Stadio San Paolo	Naples	74,000
Stadio Delle Alpi	Turin	68,000
Stadio San Nicola	Bari	56,000
Stadio Artemio Franchi	Florence	41,000
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza	Milan	85,700
Stadio Luigi Ferraris	Genoa	35,000
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara	Bologna	39,000
Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi	Verona	42,000
Stadio Friuli	Udine	38,000
Stadio Sant'Elia	Cagliari	40,000
Stadio Della Favorita	Palermo	36,000

Top Scorers

6 goals
Salvatore Schillaci (ITA)