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1990 FIFA World Cup

Italia '90
1990 FIFA World Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Italy
Dates	8 June – 8 July
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	12 (in 12 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	West Germany (3rd title)
Runner-up	Argentina
Third place	Italy
Fourth place	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	115 (2.21 per match)
Attendance	2,516,348 (48,391 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Salvatore Schillaci (6 goals)
Best player	Salvatore Schillaci

The 1990 FIFA World Cup, the 14th staging of the World Cup, was held in Italy from 8 June to 8 July. Italy was chosen as the hosts by FIFA on 19 May 1984, making it the second country to host the event twice. The Soviet Union was the rival of Italy's candidacy to host the event. It was won by West Germany, who beat Argentina 1–0 in the final to win the World Cup for the third time.

Contents 1 Qualification 1.1 Disqualifications 2 Summary 2.1 First round 2.2 Second round and quarter-finals 2.3 Semi-finals, the third-place match, and the final 3 Mascot 4 Venues 5 Match officials 6 Squads 7 Seeding 8 Results 8.1 First round 8.1.1 Group A 8.1.2 Group B 8.1.3 Group C 8.1.4 Group D 8.1.5 Group E 8.1.6 Group F 8.1.7 Third place qualifiers for round of 16 8.2 Knockout stage 8.2.1 Round of 16 8.2.2 Quarter-finals 8.2.3 Semi-finals 8.2.4 Third place match 8.2.5 Final 9 Awards 9.1 All-star team 10 Goalscorers 11 Trivia 11.1 Firsts 11.2 Lasts 12 External links 13 References and footnotes

Qualification

Three teams qualified for the first time: Costa Rica, the Republic of Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. The United States also made it back to the World Cup after a 40-year absence. Egypt qualified to this tournament after a much longer absence (56 years).The draw for the finals took place on 9 December 1989 in Rome. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti performed at the event.

Disqualifications

• Mexico was disqualified after the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación fielded an overage player in a prior youth tournament.
• Chile was disqualified after their goalkeeper Roberto Rojas faked an injury due to a firework thrown from the stands in a match against Brazil, causing the match to be abandoned. Chile were also banned from qualifying in 1994.

Summary

First round

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.

The 1990 World Cup finals got off to a surprising start. In the first match, Cameroon soaked up pressure from Argentina for most of the first half. After a quarter of an hour's play in the second half, Cameroon's Andre Kana was sent off, and it seemed certain that the world champions would now take control. But six minutes later, the ten men took the lead. François Omam Biyik scored when he placed a perfect downward header past Argentine goalkeeper Nery Pumpido. Argentina pressed hard for an equaliser, and Cameroon were reduced to nine men when Benjamin Massing got the red card in the 89th minute – but the African team still held out for a shock 1–0 win. Then, when Cameroon faced Romania in their second game, Roger Milla took centre stage. His inclusion in Cameroon's squad had been controversial. He had been a favourite in the Cameroon team for years, but he was now 38 years old. He was only in Italy because of political intervention: Paul Biya, Cameroon's President, had insisted that Milla be included in the squad.

Against Argentina, Milla only appeared for the last ten minutes. But in the match with Romania, Cameroon coach Valeri Nepomniachi sent him on in the 58th minute, with the score still 0–0. It proved to be an inspired move. Milla scored with 15 minutes left, then added another with five minutes remaining, thus getting two opportunities to demonstrate his trademark hip-shaking goal celebration dance. Gavrila Balint scored for Romania, but it was too little too late. Cameroon held on to win 2–1. Surprisingly, they were beaten 4–0 in their last group game by a Soviet Union side desperately, and unsuccessfully, striving to stay in the tournament on goal difference. Despite the heavy defeat, Cameroon were through to the second round as group winners. Romania came second in Group B, and Argentina just scraped into the second round as one of the best third-placed teams.

Another surprise team emerged from Group C. Costa Rica beat Scotland 1–0 in their first match, held Brazil to another 1–0 scoreline in their second, then saw off Sweden 2–1 to claim a place in the second round. Brazil bore little resemblance to the free-flowing, free scoring Brazilian sides of earlier years, but they still 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.

In the six Group F games, featuring the Netherlands, England, the Republic of Ireland and Egypt, no team managed to score more than once in a match. England beat Egypt 1–0, thanks to a 64th minute goal from Mark Wright – and that was enough to win the group.

There were more goals in Group D, but a lot of them were due to the defensive inadequacies of a United Arab Emirates team that lost 2–0 to Colombia, 5–1 to West Germany and 4–1 to Yugoslavia. All three of the UAE's first round opponents reached the last 16, with West Germany topping the group after an impressive 4–1 win over group runners-up Yugoslavia. The last match of the group between Colombia and West Germany was the most emotional. Germany's Pierre Littbarski managed to score a goal in the 89th minute, virtually knocking the South Americans out of the tournament, but at minute 92, Freddy Rincón scored the equaliser after a wonderful team work and a fantastic assistance from Carlos Valderrama.

Italy won Group A with a 100 per cent record achieved via cautious football. They beat Austria and the United States 1–0, and Czechoslovakia 2–0. Salvatore 'Toto' Schillaci, who had played only one international before the World Cup finals, came on as substitute in the 74th minute against Austria and scored Italy's winner four minutes later. Czechoslovakia defeated the USA 5–1 and claimed the runner-up spot in the group, while the USA's first appearance in a World Cup Finals since 1950 ended abruptly after three consecutive defeats. The winners of Group E were Spain, for who Michel hit a hat-trick as they beat South Korea 3–1. Belgium and Uruguay also reached the last 16 from the same group.

Second round and quarter-finals

The second round featured some intriguing fixtures. 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 turned out to be a tight, edgy affair, won for Argentina by a goal from Claudio Caniggia with ten minutes remaining from a magical run of Diego Maradona through the Brazilian defense and an outstanding performance from their goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea, who also rode his luck in several Brazilian goal misses. A strong second half showing from Italy saw them beat Uruguay 2–0, thanks to another goal from Schillaci and one from Aldo Serena. The West Germany-Netherlands clash produced a repeat of the Euro 88 semifinal. The match turned ugly after 22 minutes when Rudi Völler and Frank Rijkaard, in an infamous moment, were dismissed after a bizarre spitting incident. 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 that was close as the Dutch would come and West Germany went through.

Meanwhile, the heroics of Cameroon and Roger Milla continued. In Cameroon's game with Colombia, Milla was introduced in the 49th minute with the score still at 0–0. The scoreline stayed that way after 90 minutes, and after the first period of extra time. But then, as those around him tired, the veteran shone. Milla scored twice in four minutes in the second period of extra time. The second goal was a bit fortuitous as Colombian goalkeeper, Rene Higuita, well-known for his flamboyance and penchant to join his team's attack, was moving with his midfielders when he was dispossessed by Milla, who subsequently raced home to slot the ball into an empty net. Bernardo Redin reduced the deficit for Colombia with five minutes left, but the 'Indomitable Lions' held out to win 2–1. For the first time ever, an African team was in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

The other first-round giant-killers fared less well. Costa Rica were comfortably beaten 4–1 by Czechoslovakia, for whom Tomas Skuhravy scored a hat-trick. Yugoslavia beat Spain 2–1 after extra time, with Dragan Stojkovic scoring both the Yugoslavs' goals. The Republic of Ireland's match with Romania remained goalless after extra time, and the Irish side won through 5–4 on penalties. David O'Leary converted the penalty that clinched Ireland's place in the quarter-finals. The Republic of Ireland thus achieved the remarkable feat of reaching the last eight in a World Cup finals tournament without actually winning a match outright. England were the final qualifier against a largely dominating Belgium, but with midfielder David Platt scoring the only goal in the final minute of extra-time.

Despite Cameroon's heroics earlier in the tournament, David Platt put England ahead in the 25th minute of their quarter-final fixture. At half-time, Milla was brought on, and the game was turned on its head in the space of five second half minutes. First, Cameroon were awarded a penalty, from which Emmanuel Kunde scored the equaliser. Then, in the 65th minute, Eugene Ekeke put Cameroon ahead. The African team came within eight minutes of reaching the semi-finals, but conceded a penalty, which Gary Lineker gratefully converted. Midway through extra time, England were awarded another penalty, and Lineker again scored from the spot. England were through to the semi-finals.

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 Italy. Another dull match saw West Germany beat Czechoslovakia with a 25th minute Lothar Matthäus penalty. Argentina and Yugoslavia played out a stalemate that stayed at 0–0 after extra time, despite the fact that Yugoslavia were reduced to ten men after half an hour when Refik Sabanadzovic, assigned with the task of marking Maradona, was sent off. Argentina reached the semi-finals after winning the penalty shoot-out 3–2. Tomislav Ivković achieved national fame by saving Maradona's kick and restoring parity to the penalty scoreline. Pedro Troglio then hit the post, and the World champions looked to be on their way out of the tournament until Sergio Goycochea rescued his side by stopping the Yugoslavs' final two penalty kicks.

Semi-finals, the third-place match, and the final

The first semi-final featured the host nation, Italy, and the world champion, Argentina. 'Toto' Schillaci scored yet again to put Italy ahead in the 17th minute, but Claudio Caniggia equalised midway through the second half. There were no more goals in the 90 minutes or in extra time, 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.

The semi-final between West Germany and England was goalless at half-time. Then, in the 60th minute, a free kick from Andreas Brehme was deflected by Paul Parker, resulting in a goal. But then, with 10 minutes left, Gary Lineker equalised for England, forcing extra-time. In the 99th minute, England's Paul Gascoigne received his second yellow card of the competition and the English player, in perhaps the most iconic moment of the tournament, openly wept at the realization that he would not be allowed to play in the final if England were to advance. David Platt scored for England in Extra-time, but the goal was ruled out for offside and the game went to penalty kicks, where West Germany won their third straight World Cup shoot-out, 4–3. This game was to be re-enacted almost 20 years later on 26 July 2009 as the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, in aid of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation^[1][2][3]

Italy and England played an open attacking game for third place, with Roberto Baggio and Schillaci scoring to give the hosts a 2–1 win and the bronze medal.

The final between West Germany and Argentina, described by veteran football writer Brian Glanville as "probably the worst, most tedious, bad-tempered Final in the history of the World Cup",^[4] produced several football firsts. In the 65th minute, Argentina's Pedro Monzon was sent off for a foul on Klinsmann, becoming the first player ever to be sent off in a World Cup final. It has been said that Klinsmann exaggerated his reaction to the foul, causing the referee to perhaps have been more severe with the punishment. Team-mate Gustavo Dezotti received the second red card of the game with four minutes left after he hauled Jürgen Kohler to the ground during a stoppage in play. Shortly before Dezotti's departure, referee Edgardo Codesal Mendez of Mexico awarded a penalty to West Germany, from which Andreas Brehme scored the only goal of the game. In addition, Diego Maradona was seen arguing with Mendez about the dismissal of Dezotti, and on being waved away, Maradona pushed a linesman to the ground, resulting in him being shown a yellow card. The 1–0 scoreline provided another first: Argentina were the first team ever to take part in a World Cup final without scoring.

With its third title (and three second place finishes) West Germany became the most successful World Cup nation for four years, until Brazil won their fourth title in 1994. West German team manager Franz Beckenbauer became the second footballer, after Mário Zagallo of Brazil, to win the World Cup 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. Italy's Salvatore Schillaci won both the Golden Boot as the tournament's top goalscorer, with six goals, and the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups ever.^[5] It generated a record low goals-per-game average and then-record of 16 red cards were handed out. Most teams relied heavily on defensive play and hard tackling, as well as aggressive intimidation of the referee. In the knockout stage, many teams would "play it safe" for 120 minutes and try their luck in the penalty shoot-out, rather than risk going forward. Ireland and Argentina were prime examples of this trend of cautious defensive play; the Irish made it to the quarter-finals after scoring just twice in five games and drawing all their matches until their defeat to Italy. Argentina, meanwhile, scored only five times en route to the final. Cameroon were one of the few teams to choose an attacking style. Eventual champions West Germany also concentrated on offense-oriented play, but they too became more defensive as the tournament progressed.

Mascot

The official mascot of this World Cup was Ciao, a stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolor body. Its name is an Italian greeting. This World Cup saw The Three Tenors begin their tradition of performing on the eve of the final.

Venues

Rome	Milan	Naples	Turin
Stadio Olimpico	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza	Stadio San Paolo	Stadio delle Alpi
Capacity: 86,000	Capacity: 85,700	Capacity: 74,000	Capacity: 68,000
Bari	Rome Milan Naples Turin Bari Verona Florence Cagliari Bologna Udine Palermo Genoa		Verona
Stadio San Nicola			Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi
Capacity: 56,000			Capacity: 42,000
Florence			Cagliari
Stadio Artemio Franchi			Stadio Sant'Elia
Capacity: 41,000			Capacity: 40,000
Bologna	Udine	Palermo	Genoa
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara	Stadio Friuli	Stadio La Favorita	Stadio Luigi Ferraris
Capacity: 39,000	Capacity: 38,000	Capacity: 36,000	Capacity: 36,000

Match officials

Africa Neji Jouini Asia Jamal Al Sharif Shizuo Takada Europe Luigi Agnolin Emilio Soriano Aladren George Courtney Erik Fredriksson Siegfried Kirschen Helmut Kohl Tullio Lanese Peter Mikkelsen Zoran Petrović Joël Quiniou Kurt Röthlisberger Aron Schmidhuber Carlos Silva Valente George Smith Alan Snoddy Alexey Spirin Marcel Van Langenhove Michel Vautrot

North and Central America Edgardo Codesal Vincent Mauro South America Juan Daniel Cardellino Elias Jácome Juan Carlos Loustau Carlos Maciel Hernán Silva José Roberto Wright

Squads

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1990 FIFA World Cup squads.

Seeding

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Italy (Hosts)  Argentina (Current Champions)  Belgium  Brazil  West Germany  England	Austria  Netherlands  Scotland  Spain  Soviet Union  Yugoslavia	Republic of Ireland  Romania  Sweden  Czechoslovakia  Colombia  Uruguay	Cameroon  Egypt  Korea Republic  United Arab Emirates  Costa Rica  United States

Results

First round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	3	0	0	4	0	+4	6
Czechoslovakia	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	4
Austria	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	2
United States	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

9 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Italy	1 – 0	Austria	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,303 Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)
	Schillaci  78'	(Report)

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10 June 1990 17:00 CEST	United States	1 – 5	Czechoslovakia	Stadio Comunale, Florence Attendance: 33,266 Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)
	Caligiuri  61'	(Report)	Skuhravý  25', 78' Bílek  39' (pen.) Hašek  50' Luhový  90'

---

14 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Italy	1 – 0	United States	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,423 Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
	Giannini  11'	(Report)

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15 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Austria	0 – 1	Czechoslovakia	Stadio Comunale, Florence Attendance: 38,962 Referee: George Smith (Scotland)
		(Report)	Bílek  30' (pen.)

---

19 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Austria	2 – 1	United States	Stadio Comunale, Florence Attendance: 34,857 Referee: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria)
	Ogris  52' Rodax  65'	(Report)	Murray  85'

---

19 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Italy	2 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,303 Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)
	Schillaci  9' Baggio  78'	(Report)

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cameroon	3	2	0	1	3	5	−2	4
Romania	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	3
Argentina	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	3
Soviet Union	3	1	0	2	4	4	0	2

8 June 1990 18:00 CEST	Argentina	0 – 1	Cameroon	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 73,780 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)
		(Report)	Omam-Biyik  67'

---

9 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Soviet Union	0 – 2	Romania	Stadio San Nicola, Bari Attendance: 42,907 Referee: Juan Daniel Cardellino (Uruguay)
		(Report)	Lăcătuş  42', 57' (pen.)

---

13 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Argentina	2 – 0	Soviet Union	Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 55,759 Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)
	Troglio  27' Burruchaga  79'	(Report)

---

14 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Cameroon	2 – 1	Romania	Stadio San Nicola, Bari Attendance: 38,687 Referee: Hernán Silva (Chile)
	Milla  76', 86'	(Report)	Balint  88'

---

18 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Argentina	1 – 1	Romania	Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 52,733 Referee: Carlos Silva Valente (Portugal)
	Monzón  63'	(Report)	Balint  68'

---

18 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Cameroon	0 – 4	Soviet Union	Stadio San Nicola, Bari Attendance: 37,307 Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)
		(Report)	Protasov  20' Zygmantovich  29' Zavarov  55' Dobrovolski  63'

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	4	1	+3	6
Costa Rica	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	4
Scotland	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	2
Sweden	3	0	0	3	3	6	−3	0

10 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Brazil	2 – 1	Sweden	Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin Attendance: 62,628 Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)
	Careca  40', 63'	(Report)	Brolin  79'

---

11 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Costa Rica	1 – 0	Scotland	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa Attendance: 30,867 Referee: Juan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)
	Cayasso  49'	(Report)

---

16 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Brazil	1 – 0	Costa Rica	Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin Attendance: 58,007 Referee: Naji Jouini (Tunisia)
	Müller  33'	(Report)

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16 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Scotland	2 – 1	Sweden	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa Attendance: 31,823 Referee: Carlos Maciel (Paraguay)
	McCall  10' Johnston  80' (pen.)	(Report)	Strömberg  86'

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20 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Brazil	1 – 0	Scotland	Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin Attendance: 62,502 Referee: Helmut Kohl (Austria)
	Müller  82'	(Report)

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20 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Sweden	1 – 2	Costa Rica	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa Attendance: 30,223 Referee: Zoran Petrović (Yugoslavia)
	Ekström  32'	(Report)	Flores  75' Medford  88'

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
West Germany	3	2	1	0	10	3	+7	5
Yugoslavia	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	4
Colombia	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	3
United Arab Emirates	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

9 June 1990 17:00 CEST	United Arab Emirates	0 – 2	Colombia	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna Attendance: 30,791 Referee: George Courtney (England)
		(Report)	Redín  50' Valderrama  85'

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10 June 1990 21:00 CEST	West Germany	4 – 1	Yugoslavia	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 74,765 Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)
	Matthäus  28', 65' Klinsmann  39' Völler  71'	(Report)	Jozić  55'

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14 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Yugoslavia	1 – 0	Colombia	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna Attendance: 32,257 Referee: Luigi Agnolin (Italy)
	Jozić  75'	(Report)

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15 June 1990 21:00 CEST	West Germany	5 – 1	United Arab Emirates	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 71,169 Referee: Alexey Spirin (Soviet Union)
	Völler  35', 75' Klinsmann  36' Matthäus  47' Bein  59'	(Report)	Ismaïl  46'

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19 June 1990 17:00 CEST	West Germany	1 – 1	Colombia	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 72,510 Referee: Alan Snoddy (Northern Ireland)
	Littbarski  89'	(Report)	Rincón  90'

---

19 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Yugoslavia	4 – 1	United Arab Emirates	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna Attendance: 27,833 Referee: Shizuo Takada (Japan)
	Sušić  5' Pančev  9', 46' Prosinečki  90'	(Report)	Thani  22'

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	5
Belgium	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	4
Uruguay	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	3
Korea Republic	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

12 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Belgium	2 – 0	Korea Republic	Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona Attendance: 32,790 Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)
	Degryse  53' De Wolf  64'	(Report)

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13 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Uruguay	0 – 0	Spain	Stadio Friuli, Udine Attendance: 35,713 Referee: Helmut Kohl (Austria)
		(Report)

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17 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Belgium	3 – 1	Uruguay	Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona Attendance: 33,759 Referee: Siegfried Kirschen (East Germany)
	Clijsters  16' Scifo  22' Ceulemans  48'	(Report)	Bengoechea  74'

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17 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Spain	3 – 1	Korea Republic	Stadio Friuli, Udine Attendance: 32,733 Referee: Elias Jácome (Ecuador)
	Míchel  22', 61', 81'	(Report)	Hwangbo Kwan  42'

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21 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Belgium	1 – 2	Spain	Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona Attendance: 35,950 Referee: Juan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)
	Vervoort  28'	(Report)	Míchel  20' (pen.) Górriz  38'

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21 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Korea Republic	0 – 1	Uruguay	Stadio Friuli, Udine Attendance: 29,039 Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)
		(Report)	Fonseca  90'

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4
Republic of Ireland	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Netherlands	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Egypt	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2

Note: Republic of Ireland awarded second place by drawing of lots

11 June 1990 21:00 CEST	England	1 – 1	Republic of Ireland	Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari Attendance: 35,238 Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (West Germany)
	Lineker  8'	(Report)	Sheedy  73'

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12 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Netherlands	1 – 1	Egypt	Stadio La Favorita, Palermo Attendance: 33,421 Referee: Emilio Soriano Aladren (Spain)
	Kieft  58'	(Report)	Abdelghani  83' (pen.)

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16 June 1990 21:00 CEST	England	0 – 0	Netherlands	Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari Attendance: 35,267 Referee: Zoran Petrović (Yugoslavia)
		(Report)

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17 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Republic of Ireland	0 – 0	Egypt	Stadio La Favorita, Palermo Attendance: 33,288 Referee: Marcel Van Langenhove (Belgium)
		(Report)

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21 June 1990 21:00 CEST	England	1 – 0	Egypt	Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari Attendance: 34,959 Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)
	Wright  64'	(Report)

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21 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Netherlands	1 – 1	Republic of Ireland	Stadio La Favorita, Palermo Attendance: 33,288 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)
	Gullit  10'	(Report)	Quinn  71'

Third place qualifiers for round of 16

Group	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
B	Argentina	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	3
D	Colombia	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	3
F	Netherlands	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
E	Uruguay	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	3
A	Austria	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	2
C	Scotland	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	2

Knockout stage

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

25 June – Rome

Italy

2

30 June – Rome

Uruguay

0

Italy

1

25 June – Genoa

Republic of Ireland

0

Romania

0 (4)

3 July – Naples

Republic of Ireland (pens.)

0 (5)

Italy

1 (3)

26 June – Verona

Argentina (pens.)

1 (4)

Spain

1

30 June – Florence

Yugoslavia (a.e.t.)

2

Yugoslavia

0 (2)

24 June – Turin

Argentina (pens.)

0 (3)

Brazil

0

8 July – Rome

Argentina

1

Argentina

0

24 June – Milan

West Germany

1

West Germany

2

1 July – Milan

Netherlands

1

West Germany

1

23 June – Bari

Czechoslovakia

0

Czechoslovakia

4

4 July – Turin

Costa Rica

1

West Germany (pens.)

1 (4)

26 June – Bologna

England

1 (3)

Third place

England (a.e.t.)

1

1 July – Naples

7 July – Bari

Belgium

0

England (a.e.t.)

3

Italy

2

23 June – Naples

Cameroon

2

England

1

Cameroon (a.e.t.)

2

Colombia

1

Round of 16

23 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Cameroon	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Colombia	Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 50,026 Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)
	Milla  106', 109'	(Report)	Redín  115'

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23 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Czechoslovakia	4 – 1	Costa Rica	Stadio San Nicola, Bari Attendance: 47,673 Referee: Siegfried Kirschen (East Germany)
	Skuhravý  12', 63', 82' Kubík  75'	(Report)	González  54'

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24 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Argentina	1 – 0	Brazil	Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin Attendance: 61,381 Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)
	Caniggia  80'	(Report)

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24 June 1990 21:00 CEST	West Germany	2 – 1	Netherlands	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 74,559 Referee: Juan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)
	Klinsmann  51' Brehme  82'	(Report)	R. Koeman  89' (pen.)

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25 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Republic of Ireland	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Romania	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa Attendance: 31,818 Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)
		(Report)
		Penalties
	Sheedy Houghton Townsend Cascarino O'Leary	5 – 4	Hagi Lupu Rotariu Lupescu Timofte

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25 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Italy	2 – 0	Uruguay	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,303 Referee: George Courtney (England)
	Schillaci  65' Serena  85'	(Report)

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26 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Spain	1 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia	Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona Attendance: 35,500 Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (West Germany)
	Salinas  83'	(Report)	Stojković  78', 92'

---

26 June 1990 21:00 CEST	England	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Belgium	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna Attendance: 34,520 Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)
	Platt  119'	(Report)

Quarter-finals

30 June 1990 17:00 CEST	Argentina	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Yugoslavia	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence Attendance: 38,971 Referee: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland)
		(Report)
		Penalties
	Serrizuela Burruchaga Maradona Troglio Dezotti	3 – 2	Stojković Prosinečki Savićević Brnović Hadžibegić

---

30 June 1990 21:00 CEST	Italy	1 – 0	Republic of Ireland	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,303 Referee: Carlos Silva Valente (Portugal)
	Schillaci  38'	(Report)

---

1 July 1990 17:00 CEST	West Germany	1 – 0	Czechoslovakia	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Attendance: 73,347 Referee: Helmut Kohl (Austria)
	Matthäus  25' (pen.)	(Report)

---

1 July 1990 21:00 CEST	England	3 – 2 (a.e.t.)	Cameroon	Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 55,205 Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
	Platt  25' Lineker  83' (pen.), 105' (pen.)	(Report)	Kundé  61' (pen.) Ekéké  65'

Semi-finals

3 July 1990 20:00 CEST	Argentina	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Italy	Stadio San Paolo, Naples Attendance: 59,978 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)
	Caniggia  67'	(Report)	Schillaci  17'
		Penalties
	Serrizuela Burruchaga Olarticoechea Maradona	4 – 3	Baresi Baggio De Agostini Donadoni Serena

---

4 July 1990 20:00 CEST	West Germany	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	England	Stadio delle Alpi, Turin Attendance: 62,628 Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)
	Brehme  60'	(Report)	Lineker  80'
		Penalties
	Brehme Matthäus Riedle Thon	4 – 3	Lineker Beardsley Platt Pearce Waddle

Third place match

7 July 1990 20:00 CEST	Italy	2 – 1	England	Stadio San Nicola, Bari Attendance: 51,426 Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)
	Baggio  70' Schillaci  86' (pen.)	(Report)	Platt  81'

Final

8 July 1990 20:00 CEST	Argentina	0 – 1	West Germany	Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,603 Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
		(Report)	Brehme  85' (pen.)

1990 FIFA World Cup Winners
West Germany Third title

Awards

Golden Shoe winner:	Golden Ball winner:	FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Salvatore Schillaci	Salvatore Schillaci	England

All-star team

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Sergio Goycochea	Andreas Brehme Jules Onana Franco Baresi	Diego Maradona Lothar Matthäus Roberto Donadoni Paul Gascoigne	Salvatore Schillaci Roger Milla Tomáš Skuhravý

Goalscorers

6 goals Salvatore Schillaci 5 goals Tomáš Skuhravý 4 goals Roger Milla Gary Lineker Lothar Matthäus Míchel 3 goals David Platt Andreas Brehme Jürgen Klinsmann Rudi Völler 2 goals Claudio Caniggia Careca Müller Bernardo Redín Michal Bílek Roberto Baggio Gavril Balint Marius Lăcătuş Davor Jozić Darko Pančev Dragan Stojković

1 goal Andreas Ogris Gerhard Rodax Jorge Burruchaga Pedro Monzón Pedro Troglio Jan Ceulemans Lei Clijsters Michel De Wolf Marc Degryse Enzo Scifo Patrick Vervoort Eugène Ekéké Emmanuel Kundé François Omam-Biyik Freddy Rincón Carlos Valderrama Juan Cayasso Róger Flores Rónald González Hernán Medford Ivan Hašek Luboš Kubík Milan Luhový Magdi Abdelghani Mark Wright Uwe Bein Pierre Littbarski

Niall Quinn Kevin Sheedy Giuseppe Giannini Aldo Serena Ruud Gullit Wim Kieft Ronald Koeman Mo Johnston Stuart McCall Hwangbo Kwan Igor Dobrovolski Oleg Protasov Aleksandr Zavarov Andrei Zygmantovich Alberto Górriz Julio Salinas Tomas Brolin Johnny Ekström Glenn Strömberg Khalid Ismaïl Ali Thani Paul Caligiuri Bruce Murray Pablo Bengoechea Daniel Fonseca Robert Prosinečki Safet Sušić

• There were no own goals scored in the tournament.

Trivia

• The 1990 tournament had the lowest goals-per-match average of all World Cups. There were 115 goals, an average of 2.21 goals per match, and, taking account of extra time matches, 4920 minutes of play – which means 1 goal every 42.7 minutes, or only 2.1 goals for every 90 minutes.
• The 1990 tournament was the second to feature an all-world champion final four.
• The Republic of Ireland reached the quarter-finals despite scoring only 2 goals. They also did not win a single match outright – they drew their three group matches, then advanced over Romania on penalty kicks after a goalless draw in the round of 16, and then lost to Italy in the quarter-finals.
• For the second World Cup in succession Uruguay squeezed through to the knockout stage as fourth-best third-placed team, thanks to an injury-time goal in their final group game against South Korea.
• World Cup Italia '90 was the official licensed videogame product.
• Diego Maradona reportedly confirmed in 2005 a rumour that the water a member of the Argentinian staff offered to Brazilian midfielder Branco in the round of 16 Brazil vs Argentina match contained a tranquilizer.^[6]
• The official theme song, "Un'estate italiana" ("Notti magiche"), was produced by Giorgio Moroder and performed by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini.
• The World Cup is featured in the films Good Bye Lenin! and Heimat 3
• After Sergio Goycochea had saved 4 penalties earlier in the tournament, Franz Beckenbauer decided to use Andreas Brehme instead of Lothar Matthäus as a penalty shooter in the final. Brehme scored the decisive goal by using his "wrong" (right) foot.

Firsts

• For the first time, a drawing of lots was used to decide group positions, as the Republic of Ireland and Netherlands finished with identical records in Group F. Ireland won the draw and finished second, while the Netherlands finished third. Both teams made it to the next round as the Netherlands were one of the four best third-placed teams.
• This was the first World Cup in which two European teams were defeated by a Central American squad: Costa Rica, who beat Scotland 1–0, and Sweden 2–1.
• The final alone had several firsts:
  • For the first time a team reached three World Cup finals in a row: West Germany had already lost the finals in 1982 and 1986. This feat was later repeated by Brazil in 1994, 1998 and 2002 with better results (winning 2 out of 3).
  • It was the first rematch of a preceding final: The two countries had met in the 1986 FIFA World Cup final with Argentina the victors.
  • Pedro Monzón of Argentina became the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final. Teammate Gustavo Dezotti was also sent off.
  • For the first time, the losing team did not score a goal: Germany won by a penalty, almost saved by Sergio Goycochea, scored in the 85th minute by Andreas Brehme after a disputed foul on Rudi Völler. As such, West Germany's Bodo Illgner became the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup final. The subsequent three World Cup finals (1994, 1998, 2002) would also see the losers not score.

Lasts

• This would be the last World Cup in which goalkeepers were allowed to pick up direct backpasses from teammates. The backpass rule was in use from the 1994 tournament in order to make it harder for teams to time-waste, having been introduced on 1 July 1992.
• This was the last World Cup in which the countries of three teams existed as political entities: Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993 (although they continued to play as one country when failing to qualify for the 1994 tournament), Yugoslavia dissolved into the nations Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro (the latter two were Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until 2002, and Serbia and Montenegro 2003–2006), and the USSR, which split into Russia and fourteen smaller states with the fall of the Communist regime, although eleven of the former Soviet states fielded a CIS team in the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship.
• This was also the last time World Cup finals matches awarded two points for a win during the group stage. The poor attacking play of sides prompted FIFA to introduce three points for a win for the 1994 tournament, to encourage attacking play.
• In disciplinary matters, for the last time players were suspended for one match if accumulating two yellow cards throughout the tournament. Starting from 1994, yellow cards accumulated in the group stage were wiped clean after its completion, and players start with a clean slate at the start of the knockout stage. For example, had the new system been in place, Argentina's Claudio Caniggia would not have been suspended for the final.
• This was the last World Cup in which referees primarily wore the traditional black jerseys: starting from 1994, referees can choose other colours to avoid a clash with the two competing teams. This has been followed since 1994, although black has been provided as an option since 1998 (in practice however, a second-choice red jersey already existed for the 1990 finals: this was worn in the two matches where Scotland wore their traditional navy blue).
• This was also the last World Cup in which players only had their number printed in the back of their jersey. Players would have their names above the numbers on their jerseys, and smaller numbers duplicated on the front of their jerseys, from 1994.

External links

• Italia 90 on the FIFA website
• Details at RSSSF
• History of the World Cup-1990
• Planet World Cup - Italy 1990

References and footnotes

1990 FIFA World Cup Group A · Group B · Group C · Group D · Group E · Group F · Knockout stage · Final

1990 FIFA World Cup finalists Champions West Germany Runners-up Argentina Third place Italy Fourth place England Eliminated in quarter-finals Cameroon · Czechoslovakia · Republic of Ireland · Yugoslavia Eliminated in round of 16 Belgium · Brazil · Colombia · Costa Rica · Netherlands · Romania · Spain · Uruguay Eliminated in group stage Austria · Egypt · Korea Republic · Scotland · Sweden · United Arab Emirates · United States · Soviet Union

FIFA World Cup Tournaments Uruguay 1930 · Italy 1934 · France 1938 · Brazil 1950 · Switzerland 1954 · Sweden 1958 · Chile 1962 · England 1966 · Mexico 1970 · West Germany 1974 · Argentina 1978 · Spain 1982 · Mexico 1986 · Italy 1990 · United States 1994 · France 1998 · Korea/Japan 2002 · Germany 2006 · South Africa 2010 · Brazil 2014 · 2018 · 2022 Finals 1930 · 1934 · 1938 · 1950 · 1954 · 1958 · 1962 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 · 1978 · 1982 · 1986 · 1990 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 · 2006 Squads 1930 · 1934 · 1938 · 1950 · 1954 · 1958 · 1962 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 · 1978 · 1982 · 1986 · 1990 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 · 2006 Qualification 1934 · 1938 · 1950 · 1954 · 1958 · 1962 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 · 1978 · 1982 · 1986 · 1990 · 1994 · 1998 · 2002 · 2006 · 2010 · 2014 Awards · Balls · Broadcasters · Goalscorers · Hat-tricks · History · Hosts · Mascots · Milestone goals · Qualification · Records · Team appearances · Trophy

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