FRANCE 98 – USA 1994

It came as a great surprise to many people when in July 1998 the USA was granted the honour of hosting the 15th World Cup. Soccer in America had never had as widespread appeal as other sports.

In Morocco, America’s biggest rival to host the tournament, the disappointment was enormous. An African nation had still never organised a finals tournament since the World Cup was founded in 1930, and the Europe-America hegemony was expected to come to an end. It wasn’t to be, however, Africa would have to be patient a little longer. In choosing the USA, Joao Havelange, the FIFA president, was opening the door to a new frontier.

144 countries—a new record—took part in the World Cup 94 qualifiers. Among them was South Africa, back after a lengthy exclusion. Many big guns, however, weren’t to make it to the finals: England, Denmark, the 1992 European champions, Portugal, Poland, and once again France, knocked out by a Bulgarian goal in the last second of their last qualifying game. Also excluded was Yugoslavia, where civil war raged with Bosnia.

Over a month of scorching heat, the World Cup was played in front of a record number of spectators (3,587,538). The first round, where a win was now worth 3 points, threw up a few surprises, with the USA and Saudi Arabia—whose striker Saed Owairan almost certainly scored the best goal of the tournament—sneaking into the last sixteen. The Russians, on the other hand, despite Oleg Salenko scoring 5 goals against Cameroon (a record), didn’t make it. And neither did Roger Milla and his indomitable Lions, though Milla confirmed his “title” as the tournament’s oldest goalscorer, at 42 years 1 month and 8 days.

In the quarter-finals Brazil found itself up against 7 teams from Europe, one of which was Italy, a team that had refused to lie down. The Italians had already diced with death in the first round before creeping into the last sixteen. There, 1-0 down to Nigeria with 90 seconds left and only ten men on the field, they did their best Houdini trick yet. Their saviour was the fabulously talented Roberto Baggio, who then went on to help his side beat Spain (2-1) in the quarter-finals and Bulgaria (2-1) in the semis—after the Bulgarians had astonished everybody by putting out the holder, Germany.

The quarter-final between Brazil and Netherlands proved to be the match of the tournament, Raï and his team-mates eventually winning the game 3-2 after leading 2-0. It was in this game that Babeto, Mazinho and Romario pretended to rock Bebeto’s newborn son Mattheus, who had been born a few days earlier. This irresistible picture winged its way all over the world.

The Final pitted Brazil against Italy, two nations that had already won the world Cup three times. But what in theory was the ideal match, proved to be a dour, physical and ultimately disappointing game. And for the first time in World Cup history, it all came down to penalties. As he stepped up, Italy’s saviour Roberto Baggio knew he had to score. But his penalty flew high into the blue California sky and the Brazilians were champions again, twenty four years after their last success. Brazil had also become the first nation to win the World Cup four times.