#10 Italia 1990
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This one was perhaps the hardest for me to rank as it still holds a cult status in England due to Bobby Robson’s side reaching the semi-finals in their best performance since 1966. It can definitely be argued that it wasn’t a vintage edition of the World Cup – the negative tactics on display – including a then-record 16 red cards – meant that FIFA introduced two changes afterwards – three points rather than two for a group stage win, and the rule preventing the game-killing back pass.
Finalists Argentina incredibly only scored five goals in the entire tournament!
Despite that though, like South Africa 2010 in a lot of ways, there were still plenty of memorable moments. From an England perspective, the emergence of Paul Gascoigne – and his semi-final tears – remain iconic as does David Platt’s last-second goal to beat Belgium in the second round.
Then there was the first really successful African side, Cameroon – inspired by the 38-year-old Roger Milla, they made the quarters; and the emergence of bug-eyed Italian goal machine ‘Toto’ Schillaci, who scored six goals to take the Golden Boot.
The final – won by West Germany 1-0 over Argentina with a penalty – was one of the worst in World Cup history, but due to so many unforgettable moments, Italia 1990 remains hugely memorable almost 30 years later.
#9 South Korea & Japan 2002
Early on it looked like World Cup 2002 might be the most memorable one yet, thanks to a series of upsets in the group stage – Senegal defeated reigning champions France in the opening game, contributing to a shock early exit; the USA and South Korea advanced over the favoured Portugal and Poland; Argentina crashed out after a loss to England; Italy were beaten by Croatia although they did escape the group stage.
Eventually, though, all the upsets caused more of a problem than anything as it meant weaker sides such as Turkey and Germany advanced, and it could be argued that the “real” final – between the two best sides – came in the quarters as Brazil overcame England 2-1. Brazil ended up winning their fifth tournament by beating Germany 2-0 in the final, with Ronaldo scoring twice to erase the memory of his bad showing in the 1998 final.
Elsewhere, hosts South Korea made the semis, but their run was questionable as strange refereeing allowed them to beat Italy in the second round and Spain in the quarters. It was the type of thing not really seen since the 1970s at least. A memorable tournament but it petered out in the later rounds.
