West Germany turned the third nation – after Brazil and Italy – to win the World Cup for the third time.
Host: Italy
Groups: 24
Format: Group stage, knockouts
Matches: 52
Objectives: 115
Winner: West Germany
Runners-up: Argentina
Golden boot: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
Background
The 1990 World Cup was a primary for a lot of, in addition to the final.
On the political and geographical aspect, it will be the final World Cup for West Germany because the nation would unify with East Germany just a few months later and play all subsequent tournaments as Germany. The USSR additionally performed its final World Cup as a union earlier than its dissolution the next 12 months.
Italy had been one of many favourites to win the match, together with Argentina, England and West Germany.
Costa Rica, the Republic of Eire and the United Arab Emirates made their debut, whereas Egypt and the US made their return after an extended absence. Earlier finalists France did not qualify.
The match kicked off with one of many greatest upsets in its historical past: Cameroon, taking part in solely their second World Cup, beat defending champions Argentina 1-0. They then went on to beat Romania and certified for the knockouts.
Argentina superior as nicely however as one of many third-placed groups.
Cameroon and the Republic of Eire had been the shock qualifiers for the quarterfinals, as Brazil, the Netherlands and Uruguay had been knocked out.
Each semifinals had been selected penalty shootouts, leading to heartbreak and tears for Italy (4-3 loss to Argentina) and England (4-3 loss to West Germany).
The ultimate did not stay as much as the event as each groups deployed defensive techniques. The primary pink card of a World Cup remaining was proven to Argentina’s Pedro Monzon within the sixty fifth minute.
Regardless of dealing with a weakened aspect for the remainder of the match, West Germany did not threaten the Argentinian purpose. They ultimately scored the sport’s solely purpose from the penalty spot after 85 minutes.
West Germany turned the third nation (after Brazil and Italy) to win the World Cup for the third time.
Highs
Franz Beckenbauer turned the primary individual to win a World Cup as captain and supervisor.
Cameroon turned the primary African nation to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Lows
Defensive techniques noticed a number of back-passing and goalkeepers holding up the ball to waste time.
One of many lowest-scoring World Cups, with 2.21 objectives per match.
A then-record 16 pink playing cards had been handed out within the match.
