France-Croatia 1998

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Croatia were the surprise team of France '98. Spectacular in their quarterfinal win over Germany, they probably came into the semifinal against France with a feeling of nothing to lose. They had already performed way beyond their, and their fans', expectations. Lose and it would have been a fantastic run, win and they would extend their unexpected adventure.

When the France '98 top scorer, and Croatian legend, Davor Suker scored with a sublimely cool finish early in the second half it looked like the fairy-tale run was set to continue. But within a minute Croatia were let down by some shaky defending under pressure from a French defender, Lilian Thuram, who went on to equalize. In the 70th minute, Thuram did it again, forcing a Croatian defender to lose possession and scoring with a finish Suker would have been proud of.

Croatia went on to win the 3rd/4th place match with Suker scoring again, while France had their greatest ever football win a few days later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G32IEc2EQg

Croatia-Germany 1998

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In 1994 it was Bulgaria and at France '98 it was Croatia's turn to do to Germany what few seemed possible: make them seem like a normal human football team.

That Croatia would win their quarterfinal seemed unlikely. That they would steamroll over the Germans 3-0 was a beautiful World Cup moment of the new kids on the block, with no expectations, playing carefree football with no respect for the Germans' reputation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DUDB-6eoQPI

Owen, Beckham and Bergkamp's gem

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We were in Cleveland today, watching baseball not football. I told my girls they are doing what I wish I did when I was their age: the travelling to different stadiums, not the baseball. But I am a convert now.

But I must carry on with France '98. One of the most memorable matches was England-Argentina in the second round. Young Michael Owen's solo-effort goal was spectacular, the back and forth over the 120 minutes was exhilarating, England's controversially disallowed goal was heartbreaking, David Beckham's red card was comical and sad, and in the end England's defeat on penalties was probably predictable.

That was one crazy night. But we have to move on. If Argentina hadn't won maybe we wouldn't have witnessed one of the great World Cup goals, Dennis Bergkamp's last minute beauty to win Holland's quarterfinal against Argentina. Cool, calm skill. Beckham who?

France-Paraguay 1998

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It was fun watching France '98 with a lot of French people. I believe it is researched human nature that we feel stronger about things like home and our country when we are away from them. So although being in France would have been a powerful experience, watching a World Cup held in France with French people who were stuck in the middle-of-nowhere Canada while this momentous occasion took place in their country was a unique experience.

France opened with comfortable 3-0 and 4-0 wins against South Africa and Saudi Arabia respectively. A 2-1 win over Denmark in their final group match meant they moved on to the second round with a perfect win record and confidence for the second round.

That's where they played Paraguay on a Sunday lunchtime, eastern Canada time. Waiters and chefs were seen to be disappearing into the hotel TV lounge while guests waited for their five star lunches.

Dessert was probably served with a lot more love after Laurent Blanc's extra time sudden death winner. There had been lots of French tension before that goal: waiters might have not set plates down perfectly with the food facing the right way, cocktails may have been missing an umbrella and tempers in the kitchen may have been boiling.

But when Blanc scored the first ever World Cup golden goal the world was instantly a better place. Springs were back in steps, smiles had returned and chefs were back in kitchens. There would be a lot more highs and lows to come but what if Blanc hadn't scored that goal and Paraguay had held out for penalties. The reputation of the fanciest French restaurant in Central Ontario might have taken a beating.

Spain-Nigeria 1998

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Romania and Bulgaria fit nicely into the "when they had a good football team" story with their World Cup performances in 1994, and in 1998 for Romania to a certain extent.

On the other hand Spain were not very good, for a very long time. Before the Euro win in 2008 and World Cup win in 2010 and their Euro win in 2012 they were the perennial underachievers. They had the talented players but could never get their act together.

France '98 was the perfect example. They were unbeaten in qualifying and had stars in their team who had just won the Champions League with Real Madrid.

But in their opening match they were beaten in a thriller by Nigeria and ended up going home in the first round. The same old story, but that match against the Nigerians was a bit of a classic, finished off with a cracking winner.

England-Colombia 1998

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Fifty days. 950 days later, here we are. Fifty days to go.

I'll be back with more France '98 tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a happy England moment. When England needed a win and David Beckham shared the limelight with Darren Anderton.

Romania-England 1998

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Moving on today to France 1998.

I'll start with a reminder of one of those teams that used to be quite good: Romania. While the surprise team of USA '94, Bulgaria, were back to their old ways of finishing bottom of their first round group with no wins, Romania carried on where they left off in 1994 (quarterfinals) by winning their group. Their first round results included a late winner against England, by Dan Petrescu.

They lost in the round of 16 to Croatia and haven't qualified for a World Cup since. But they were fun to watch at those two tournaments.

Toronto

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Over the almost 1000 days of my countdown I've had to mark a few sad events of mass killings around the world, when football had to take a back seat. Every single one is one unnecessary act too many, one death to many. Today it was close to home in Toronto. It's too soon to know why it happened but it's incredibly sad how somebody's life can be be so suddenly cut short by a person with whom he or she has no relationship but has some sort of axe to grind, or possibly a psychological reason for doing what he did.

Here's to hoping that I don't have to do this again before, during or after Russia 2018.

USA '94: the final

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The days are counting down quickly so I need to get through these previous World Cup memories and move on to what's coming up in Russia.

So it's on to the final of USA '94. It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. As terrible as it may sound to have sat through 90 minutes of very little action of note and then an extra 30 minutes of football which hit heights of entertainment which were about as high as a worm's body over the ground, it was still better than the turgid final of 4 years previous.

I do believe though that the reason for a better personal memory is that it was the last World Cup final that I watched together with my family. It was a happy occasion.

It was not such a happy day for Roberto Baggio, the saviour for Italy on so many occasions on Italy's way to the final. When it came down to the penalty shoot-out the Italians lost their cool. They had missed two penalties already when Baggio stepped up, missed and Brazil were World Champions again.

Brazil-Holland 1994

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The quarterfinal between Brazil and Holland was probably the most memorable match of the 1994 World Cup, for Bebeto's goal celebration, for Holland coming back from 2-0 down, and for Branco's spectacular free-kick winner. All the goals happened in the second half. Was it the best match? Holland-Belgium, Romania-Argentina or Germany-Belgium might have been better quality for the whole 90 minutes but it's this quarterfinal which gets the most attention in the "Great World Cup moments" compilations.

Either way the highlights are fun to watch.

Aldridge loses it

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Jack Charlton was an angry manager at the World Cup in 1994. He didn't like that matches were being played in the middle of the day, in the hot American summer. He fought with the referees and Fifa officials about his Irish team not being allowed to stop for water breaks.

And then there was the John Aldridge incident. Aldrigde was waiting to come on as a substitute in the group match against Mexico. As Aldridge explains it in the video, Ireland had taken two players off but a Fifa official didn't allow Aldridge to go on. So for a few minutes Ireland were playing with 10 men. In that time Mexico scored a second goal. Aldridge let his feelings known to the overly officious official, as did Charlton.

Aldridge went on and scored, of course.

Bulgaria-Germany 1994

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This will be my second mention of Bulgaria at the 1994 World Cup. It is amazing what they achieved, not just that a team that had never won a World Cup match before reached the semifinals but how they turned it around after an awful start.

When Nigeria beat Bulgaria 3-0 in their opening match it wasn't much of a surprise and it seemed to reinforce the perception that Bulgaria's last gasp win in Paris in their final qualifying match would be the highlight of their World Cup achievements. Their dismal finals record would carry on and nobody would pay too much attention to them.

Then they beat Greece 4-0, and they weren't done there. In their final group match they beat Argentina 2-0. What was going on? Greece were equally poor and Argentina were in shock after Maradona's drug-induced banishment. Bulgaria got lucky. It will end soon.

Next they beat Mexico on penalties (in the collapsing goalpost match). Luck again. Surely their run would end against Germany in the quarterfinals.

But on that glorious Sunday afternoon we watched as the unthinkable happened: a good old fashioned World Cup upset. Germany scored first early in the second half. But Bulgaria, amazingly, scored twice in the 75th and 78th minutes, probably the two most famous goals in Bulgarian football history.
Iordan Letchkov and Hristo Stoitchkov became instant bigger stars than they already were to well versed football fans.

The fairy-tale run did end in the semifinals against Italy, but, boy, must Bulgarian football fans long for those days as their team struggles to get close to qualifying for any major tournament.
(The video quality is not great but the commentators losing their marbles is worth it)

Romania-Argentina 1994

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There are a couple of matches that stand out for me from USA '94. Begium-Holland is probably one of the most understated matches of recent(ish) times. It was clean, free flowing football, so pleasing on the eye. Belgium won 1-0 thanks to a Phillipe Albert goal. It was one of those first round matches you felt rewarded for having bothered to watch, rather than going off to the beach because "I'd rather watch Argentina later."

The other one was the last 16 clash between Romania and Argentina. Yes, the Argentinians were maybe in a bit of disarray after Maradona had been kicked out of the tournament, but that cannot take away from the Romanian show of wonderful attacking football, led by Gheorghe Hagi and Ilie Dumitrescu. It was like watching the European Brazilians, even better than the real Brazilians at the time. Romania won 3-2 but were outdone by Sweden in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter finals.

Belgium lost 3-2 to Germany in the round of 16 in a match they should have won. But there you go, that's football. The fun, (sexy?) football of Belgium and Romania was gone and replaced by the boring Brazilians and Italians in the final.

Look at the second and third Romanian goals. Shades of Brazil, 1970?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3dtpy8gDZ0

Andres Escobar

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USA '94, sadly, had a more serious consequence other than the light-hearted moments (see yesterday). Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender who scored an own goal in his country's surprise 2-1 defeat to the USA was shot dead on his return to Colombia. It has long been argued whether his death had anything to do with the goal, or if it was drug-war related. Regardless, it was a sad event of meaningless violence and death to happen during the World Cup.

Colombia's disappointing performance in the US pales into significance when compared to the murder of a player. But it really was a terrible couple of weeks for Colombians. The previous September Colombia had produced one of their most memorable wins of all time, a 5-0 win against Argentina in Buenos Aires to comfortably qualify for the World Cup. Colombians were excited about their team's prospects in the US. Neutrals were excited to see Rincon, Valderrama and Asprilla. But they opened the tournament with a 3-1 defeat to Romania and that was followed by the upset to the Americans. A 2-0 win against the Swiss in the final group match was too little, too late.

In a way it was the end of an era, another one of those "Golden Generations" that failed to deliver. Rincon, Asprilla and Valderrama were still there in 1998 but Colombia seemed to have lost their magic. Ironically, their opening match in 1998 was a 1-0 defeat to Romania, and again they were eliminated in the first round.

USA '94: the big one

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USA '94. The World Cup comes to America! The big World Cup. Huge stadiums, massive crowds. Big Jack Charlton. Hot matches, really hot. Played at noon in high humidity to keep the Europeans happy. Big Jack wasn't happy. Maradona's big eyes after his goal against Greece, but that was the last we saw of those drug filled eyes. Big surprise: Bulgaria, who went from never winning a World Cup match to beating the defending champions, Germany, on their way to the semifinals. The big anticlimactic final: Brazil vs Italy in the massive Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the first World Cup final to be won on a penalty shoot-out. But it still wasn't as bad as the final four years earlier.

And there was the big funny moment, which us Euro snobs could all laugh at as only being able to happen in America. Ha! Mexico played Bulgaria in the last 16. I remember my amusement at the referee's decision to send off a player from each team. The Mexican sending off seemed to be a case of "I got it terribly wrong when I sent off the Bulgarian player so I'd better even it out as soon as I can." But that wasn't the real "moment". This is the match of the broken goalpost. A Mexican player ran into a pole holding up the goal and it collapsed, forcing the groundsmen to frantically do something they never thought they would have to do: look in the storage room for a replacement.

It was funny, and it seemed to fit in so well with our perception of soccer in the US. Now, many years later, I enthusiastically watch MLS. Circle of life, and all that.

Wolves are back

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Before carrying on with the journey through past World Cups(1994 is next) I'll take a break to celebrate Wolves' promtion to the Premier League. Yes, it happened yesterday but today was their celebration match, where they could play without the pressure of needing to win.

For anybody who missed this is the past I, the Aston Villa fan, mark Wolves' achievements on my Dad's behalf.

A mention of Wolves also gives me an excuse for an update on the situation at the top of the Championship for everybody who has a hard time looking down from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga. I know I said I wouldn't for a while but it's close to the end.
Wolves are promoted and one point away from being crowned champions. Cardiff are back in second place after a win on the weekend was preceeded by two defeats in a row (one to Villa). Fulham are third, a point behind Cardiff and Villa are fourth, three points behind Fulham. Cardiff have a game in hand so it's up to them to mess up the second automatic promotion spot. Villa are hoping for a minor collapse from the two teams above them, but the fans are having a hard time getting over the damaging recent defeats to QPR, Bolton and Norwich. Playoffs are guaranteed for Villa and the battle below for the remaining spots may go to the final day. Millwall are the surprise team in sixth place right now.

But today is about Wolves. In the late 80s and 90s Steve Bull was the main man, the player my Dad and I talked about. He wasn't quite Billy Wright leading Wolves as champions of England in the 1950s but he was their brightest light in some dark days for the team. Relegated to the old fourth division they fought their way through two consecutive promotions to make it into the second division. And Steve Bull could not stop scoring, breaking all sorts of Wolves' records. He played for England a few times, even scored four times, but never played in Division One or later, the Premier League. A true loyal player he changed his mind about an opportunity to play in the Premier League with Coventry to stay with Wolves.

These days Wolves have new heroes. One of them is Ruben Neves, scorer one of the goals of the season last Wednesday, a goal that almost guaranteed promotion. I admire the beauty of the goal, and I love the celebration of the commentators on Wolves TV. It is genuine, unbridled joy. This is what football does to us.

Italia '90: the final we should forget

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Last night I postponed ending the Italia '90 portion of my World Cup memories until today. But then bigger news happened today that was always going to get a special mention. Wolves were officially promoted to the Premier League today. They didn't play, but Fulham's draw means the Wolves can party tomorrow when they play Birmingham.

Today was the day I would have called my Dad, the biggest Wolves fan I knew, to tell him because he probably wouldn't have found out until he read it in the Sunday newspaper. A big fan he was, but more so in the old glory days. I was his proxy supporter in recent years. He would have been very happy to hear the news but probably would have said, "they'll probably get relegated right away!"
More Wolves tomorrow. Their good news today ties in nicely with my last story of the World Cup in Italy, seeing as it was the one I watched most solely with my Dad.

The final was preceeded by the "Maradona in Naples" semifinal and the equally heartbreaking English defeat to Germany in the other semi. I have shared this story many times before, the one about how I knew that England were going to lose because of the dream I had before the World Cup started. It sounds a little weird, I know, but it came true. And I watched the 120 minutes, completely convinced that England would lose.

When Germany scored the goal that had poor little Peter Shilton, the England goalkeeper back peddling to keep the deflected free kick out, I also knew that the England adventure was not going to end there. It couldn't be that cruel of a conclusion. No, it would be even worse. When England got their late equalizer, and extra time saw a Waddle shot hit the post and Platt have a goal disallowed for a very tight offside it came down to penalties. And that's where Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle became infamous for their painful misses that saw the Germans go through to the final.

The 1990 final. If you didn't watch it, if it was before your time do not bother watching it. It was what reporters would call a tight affair with lots of niggly fouls. Sometimes these tense matches can create an atmosphere that can be exciting for all the aggression. This didn’t even have that. It was just terrible. Argentina had two players sent off, the first time a red card had been shown at a World Cup final. The only goal came from a very, questionable penalty and Maradona spent more time whining and moping than playing.

It was so bad that I cannot even share any memories of the night, except that by the time the penalty was awarded about six minutes from the end I didn't even care that it was an awful decision. I actually wanted it to be over. But even stranger was that I cannot remember who I watched it with. It was at home, my parents were probably both there, maybe a brother. But I cannot picture the night at all.

I can describe the 1982 final in a lot more detail, or every one after 1990: who I was with. In my head I can put myself in the night of every final, but not 1990.

I'm often amazed by the memories that are so strong, that stick with us for no easily explainable reason. I remember being at University and walking in the rain on a Saturday morning to the opticians, where I had picked up my new glasses the day before, to have them adjusted. I can picture the road with the tall trees on either side leading into Loughborough town centre, and how annoyed I was getting by all the raindrops on my glasses.

I can remember the exact feeling when I jumped into the sea in Malta off a height which I had been very scared to jump off. I can picture myself standing there, and the relief and excitement I felt when I realized I was in the air.

But ask me to recall any details, anything, about the night of that World Cup final. And there's nothing.

I can guarantee that if I polled all my football fan friends and asked what their favourite World Cup was and Italia '90 would be the number one choice for many. There was something special about it. We were 16, 17, 18 year olds. It took place in our time zone. We could enjoy it in a very different way to Spain '82, when we were too young, and Mexico '86 which took place at odd times at night. In 1990 we were independent, we could go out and celebrate our teams winning, and we understood for ourselves what was really going on. We didn’t need fathers or older brothers what was going on.

But the one thing we would all want to forget, even though the football wasn't that great all through the tournament, is the final. There were however many Notti Magiche over the month.

Tomorrow, the final

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Last planned mention of Italia '90 postponed until tomorrow. The final that we don't really want to remember.

Italy-Argentina 1990

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One of the most significant, shocking, hard-to-believe, poignat even, moments at the 1990 World Cup in Italy happened in Naples, in the 67th minute of the semifinal between Italy and Argentina.

There was an element of surrealness as Claudio Caniggia rose to head the ball over Italy's goalkeeper Walter Zenga to make the score 1-1. This wasn't supposed to happen. Toto Schillaci had scored early on for Italy, again, Zenga had not yet conceded a goal in the tournament and this was supposed to be nothing more than another step on the way to the host nation becoming World Champions.

But this was Diego Maradona's Argentina and Maradona was playing where he was loved. He was and maybe still is, Naples' favourite adopted son. Before the match he played to the passion of the locals' support for him and their views of the importance of Naples as an unloved part of Italy by anybody from north of Rome.

Maradona (at a news conference): "I don't like the fact that now everyone is asking the Neopolitans to be Italian and to support their national team. Naples has always been marginalised by the rest of Italy. It is a city that suffers the most unfair racism."

"For 364 days out of the year, you [Neopolitans] are considered to be foreigners in your own country: today you must do what they want by supporting the national team. Instead, I am a Neopolitan for 365 days out of the year."

And later, in his autobiography, "El Diego" Maradona recalled the the moment the teams came out on to the pitch:

"When I stepped out onto the pitch, on July 3, the first thing I heard was applause. I read all the banners: 'Diego in our hearts, Italy in our songs'; 'Maradona, Naples loves you but Italy is our homeland'. The Argentinian national anthem, for the first time in the whole World Cup, was applauded from beginning to end. For me that was already a victory. I was moved: these were my people."

When Caniggia scored that goal, Italy hadn't lost yet. There was still a long way to go. But all of a sudden it seemed possible that Italy may not win.

I could not find a video of legendary Italian commentator Bruno Pizzul's stunned voice as Caniggia scored. So here is the happy Argentinian version.

But here is Pizzul's sad moment at the end.
"Aiiiii..." when Donadoni misses
"L'Argentina e finalista...." in his matter of fact, flat voice.

Caniggia, and spiked water bottles?

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What? Again? How? What do I do now? After Roma's incredible win yesterday I thought I'd be safe to go back to Italy and World Cups and 1990. Then Juventus come along and score, and again, and again, and then the unthinkable is about to happen and Juve are going to eliminate Real Madrid after losing the first leg 3-0 at home. And I'm thinking this was not supposed to happen. I was going back to Italia '90 tonight. Now I have to talk about Ronaldo's wonder goal last week meaning nothing. And I'll have to put the question out there: is Juve's win more incredible than Roma's?

Then it's the 90-something minute and Real get a penalty and Gigi Buffon is sent off and Ronaldo scores and Juve are out. And I am sitting in my car, pulled over to see if I should still be rushing home to catch the extra time. No. Instead I go and do something I haven't done for many, many years. I go and buy a Panini World Cup album. And a few packets of stickers.

So back to Nessun Dorma and Notte Magiche. One magical night, or day, was Argentina's "stolen" win against Brazil. The Brazilians had dominated the match and, in boxing terms, were way ahead on point when out of nowhere Claudio Caniggia scored what would be the winner for Argentina. There was added spice to the result years later when Diego Maradona and coach Carlos Bilardo didn't deny that Brazilian defender Branco drank water spiked with a tranquilizer just before the goal, something Branco had suspected at the time when he said he felt dizzy and ill.

The argument rumbled on between players, coaches and administrators for a while. But the Brazilian FA president,Ricardo Teixeira, said that he would never want the result overturned if Fifa found proof of wrongdoing.

"They were better than us on the pitch," he said. "Maradona had a great game and Caniggia scored a beautiful goal."

Roma! TFC!

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I have to take a break today from looking back at Italia '90 to mark one of the most incredible results in recent football history.

Roma's 3-0 win against Barcelona was not just outstanding because they had lost the first leg 4-1 but because it was so unexpected. Who would have even thought that Barcelona winning the tie was anything but a formality. They haven't lost once in the Spanish league this season and have been at their imperious, dominant best while doing it. Roma were supposed to just lay down and accept their defeat. But instead they outplayed and out ran Barcelona just like Barcelona normally would.

The greater interest today was in whether Manchester City could overcome their 3-0 first leg deficit against Liverpool but once Liverpool made it 1-1 early in the second half all the attention switched to Roma who had just scored their second. Well done Roma for proving the heavy favourites don't always have to win. Now what are the odds of a repeat of the 1984 Roma-Liverpool final?

In late breaking news Toronto FC have just produced an upset of their own. They came through the second leg of their Champions League semifinal against Mexico's Club America at the Azteca with a 1-1 draw to win 4-2 on aggregate. The Mexican teams dominate the Champions League but this is the second Mexican team in a row that TFC have beaten. And who do they play in the Final? Chivas Guadalajara. Can they make it three in a row?

Amongst all the Roma, Liverpool excitement was the ongoing drama of the promotion race in the Championship in England. The little team from Birmingham that I cannot mention beat Cardiff but Fulham also won again. Tomorrow Wolves could move within two points of promotion if they win.
An exciting day of football comes to an end. A World Cup day could hardly be better than today.

Toto Schillaci

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It's been said before but it's worth repeating. No talk of Italia '90 is complete without a mention of one of the most unlikely stars: Toto Schillaci. The man who came from nowhere to score goal after goal for Italy, the little guy with enough passion in his body to fill the frame of somebody many times his size, the footballer who scrapped his way to the top, to almost become italy's ultimate hero. He was a joy to watch just for how much every goal seemed to mean to him.

The biggest disappointment was not seeing him lift the World Cup. Toto, at least we have the memories.

Milla vs Higuita

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Italia '90 was a memorable World Cup for all the reasons mentioned yesterday. But it was also remembered for some awfully boring matches. Cameroon vs Colombia in the second round had the potential to be a great entertaining match. It wasn't. It slept walked into extra time where two of the great characters of the time, Roger Milla and Rene Higuita, came face to face and Milla came out on top. Milla the ageless, eternally happy goalscorer outshone the eccentric Higuita.

Italia '90

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Mexico '86 had Brazil-France and Maradona but Italia '90 is overflowing with memories. There was no more parent imposed bedtimes, more freedom to decide if I had actually studied enough for my end of year exams and the World Cup was in our time zone. Early evenings of football watching eased into night matches. It was a perfect summer night, night after night.

It was hot. The windows were open to let in the never ending hot humid air and the sounds of neighbours watching TV while they also thought that opening the windows would cool them down. The football was terrible. It really was, and this is a universal opinion. But it was special. It was Italy, I was a teenager and the four weeks were extremely memorable.

We had Toto Schillaci scoring goals to the sound of Nessun Dorma and Pavarotti, and Roger Milla and Carlos Valderrama, over exuberant Cameroonis beating Argentina, Gary Lineker's penalties beating Cameroon, England banished to Sardinia to keep their fans away from the mainland, Paul Gascoigne's recklessness and tears, Voeller and Rijkaard and the spitting, Peter Shilton's desperate back peddling, Argentina's theft of a victory from Brazil, the guilt of all the people of Naples at supporting the city's son, Maradona, against Italy in the semifinal and more Maradona and more tears in the terrible final won by the Germans, forgotten by most.

My journey through Italia '90 starts here.

Burruchaga!

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And in the end....there was a final to bring an end to my trip down the Mexico '86 portion of my World Cup memory lane.

Diego Maradona had been spectacular and getting better with each round. When West Germany came back from 2--0 down with two goals in the 74th and 81st minute, the stage was set for Maradona to have the final say. It's easy to say this in hindsight, you may think, but it seemed almost logical, fated that the great Maradona would win this World Cup. His supporting cast, the rest of the Argentinian team, would help him but this was his World Cup. He set Jorge Burruchaga on his way to score the winner with a delightful pass and even though Burruchaga still had a lot to do would it be too far fetched to say that his exquisite finish, the calmness, the skill, was inspired by the magical Maradona? Or is just too much admiration for the greatest footballer I have ever seen, the most influential player I have seen in all the World Cups I have watched?

Mexico '86: the World Cup of Maradona.

Maradona vs Belgium, 1986

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More from Mexico 1986. Belgium were the surprise team, not just for how far they got but for how unexpected it was after a very slow start. They lost their opening match against Mexico, scraped past Iraq 2-1 and drew with Paraguay. They qualified as one of the best third place teams and went on to beat Russia in the last sixteen and Spain in the quarterfinals, both on penalties.

But Belgium are probably best remembered for being on the receiving end of another couple of moments of Maradona genius in the semifinal. After his mesmerizing goal against England he put on another show against the Belgians.

Ray Wilkins

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Ray Wilkins passed away today. I don't mark the death of every footballer but Wilkins was a player from my early days of watching football who struck me for his gentleman-ness more than his football ability. My memory of him was that he was too nice to be a footballer.

He must have been a pretty good footballer because he played 84 matches for England. And he scored a memorable goal for Manchester United in the 1983 Fa Cup Final.

But my other memory was of him playing for an abysmal England team against Morocco in the 1986 World Cup. My Dad had let me stay up until midnight (or woke me up at midnight?) but my excitement at being able to be up late like my older brothers quickly turned to boredom. It was turgid. Terrible. And at one point Ray Wilkins got sent off. I couldn't remember what it was for so I had to look it up. It looks like he was guilty of lazily throwing the ball in the direction of the referee who took offence to Wilkins' petulance. On a day of sadness a bit of humour can be helpful. Today it is provided by Paul Mariner. The England number 9 went over to console Wilkins and who else is thinking: was Mariner so hot and bored at half-time that he forgot to put his shorts back on again?

RIP Ray.

Cristiano Ronaldo: take a bow

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But can he do it on a hot summer's night in Russia, with the weight of expectation of Portuguese people all over the world on his shoulders? Today was Cristiano Ronaldo's day, a day on which he scored what has been described as not only the best goal in Champions League history but one of the best in football ever.

Juventus' defender Andrea Barzagli called Ronaldo's bicycle kick goal against his team a "playstation goal". It really was the kind of thing you only normally see in a Harlem Globetrotters' football equivalent show. But it was even better than that. Even the greatest exhibitionist, relaxed with no competitive pressure, could not match the level of athleticism.

Love or hate him, or really have no time for him you've got to respect that he is one of the greatest footballers ever.

England, Mexico '86

Day -73 WorldCup2018

Yesterday I mentioned how I have surprisingly limited memories of the 1986 World Cup. Today I went through all the results and there are many, many matches in the first round that I never remember happening. You may think this is surprising as it was a long time ago and there are a lot of matches at a World Cup. But then you forget that I remember details about a particular save or a shot cleared off the line from specific matches over the years.

This blip must be because of the time difference. The 1982 and 1990 editions were both in Europe so there was no reason not to watch it all. Still, one of my favourite matches of all time happened in 1986: Brazil-France. And then there was the Gary Lineker match. I had stayed up very late one night to watch England play Morocco. It was a terrible 0-0 draw, with the most significant event being Bryan Robson dislocating his shoulder again. England had lost their first match to Portugal which left them needing a win by three goals against Poland in their last group match. The irony is that I have a good memory of the 3-0 England win but I didn't watch it. I remember hearing car horns as I fell asleep, which in Malta means that either England or Italy won. And the next day I heard about the Lineker hat-trick. Gary Lineker had made it at the World Cup and all of a sudden England looked good.

In the last sixteen they brushed Paraguay aside, 3-0. And now I was really dreaming. Next was Maradona and the hand of God goal, followed by the goal of the football god.

Josimar!

Day -74 WorldCup2018

After the euphoria of my first World Cup in1982 and the realization that from that point on I may be living my life in 4 year cycles, there are lots of gaps in my memories when it comes to Mexico 1986.

The simple explanation, and the only one I have, is that I was four years older and end of year school exams were that much more important. Whereas in 1982 I had to fight for the right to stay up late, in 1986 I had to prove that I was all ready for my exam the next day. I was probably not very good at convincing my parents of something that I knew not to be true. There was also the time difference issue.

Like with many moments in life there are odd, random events we remember, or people. In 1986 Josimar stuck with me. Brazil weren't quite as enthralling as the 1982 version but they were still fascinating to watch. And they had Josimar who scored two outstanding goals. He also sounded like the name of a Maltese house owned by Joseph and Mary (Maltese readers will get it).

Josimar's first match for Brazil was against Northern Ireland in Brazil's last group match when the regular right back was injured. He scored a memorable goal and in the next match, in the last 16 against Poland, he scored another beauty. Those were his only two goals in his career for Brazil.

It's hard to pick which one to share. But, as a marketing line would go, if you like what you see here why don't you check out another great Josimar goal. I picked the Northern Ireland goal because I remember how wow-ed I was by watching the speed and flight of his shot. I don't think I watched the Poland match live.

Josimar: he doesn't score tap-ins.