| Tourney name | FIFA World Cup |
|---|
| Year | 1990 |
|---|
| Other titles | Italia '90 |
|---|
| Size | 180px |
|---|
| Caption | 1990 FIFA World Cup official logo |
|---|
| Country | Italy |
|---|
| Dates | 8 June – 8 July 1990 |
|---|
| Confederations | 5 |
|---|
| Num teams | 24 |
|---|
| Venues | 12 |
|---|
| Cities | 12 |
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| Champion | West Germany |
|---|
| Count | 3 |
|---|
| Second | Argentina |
|---|
| Third | Italy |
|---|
| Fourth | England |
|---|
| Matches | 52 |
|---|
| Goals | 115 |
|---|
| Attendance | 2516348 |
|---|
| Top scorer | Salvatore Schillaci (6 goals) |
|---|
| Player | Salvatore Schillaci |
|---|
| Prevseason | 1986 |
|---|
| Nextseason | 1994 |
|---|
The
1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th
FIFA World Cup, the
quadrennial international
football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice.
Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated continents entered the competition, with its
qualification process beginning in April 1988. Twenty-two teams qualified from this process, along with host nation
Italy and defending champion
Argentina, for the finals tournament. The official match ball was the
Adidas Etrusco Unico.
The tournament was won by West Germany, who claimed their third World Cup title by defeating reigning champions Argentina 1–0 in the final, a rematch of the previous final four years earlier. Hosts Italy beat England 2–1 to finish third after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts.
The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups ever. It generated a record low goals-per-game average of just 2.21 and a then-record 16 red cards were handed out, including the first ever dismissal in a final.
Despite the low goalscoring, the 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.69 billion non-unique viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, but has subsequently been bettered by the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cups.
Following this World Cup, the back-pass rule was introduced in 1992 to discourage time-wasting and overly defensive play, and wins were awarded three points in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup to encourage more aggressive offensive tactics and discourage the strategy of playing for a draw.
Host selection
The vote to choose the hosts of the 1990 tournament was held on 19 May 1984 in
Zürich, Switzerland. Here, the FIFA Executive Committee chose Italy ahead of the only rival bid, the
USSR, by 11 votes to 5. This awarding made Italy only the second nation to host two World Cup tournaments, after Mexico had also achieved this with their
1986 staging. Italy had previously had the event in
1934, where they had won their first championship.
Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany and Yugoslavia also submitted initial applications for the 31 July 1983 deadline. A month later, only England and Greece remained in the hunt with Italy and the Soviet Union after the other contenders all withdrew. All four bids were assessed by FIFA in late 1983, with the final decision overrunning into 1984 due to the volume of paperwork involved. In early 1984, England and Greece also withdrew, leading to a two-horse race in the final vote. The Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games announced on the eve of the World Cup decision was speculated to have been a major factor behind Italy winning the vote so decisively, although this was dismissed by FIFA President João Havelange. The seeds were then allocated to the six groups in order of their seeding rank (1st seed to Group A, 2nd seed to Group B, etc.).
The seeds were decided by FIFA based on the nations' performance in, primarily, the 1986 World Cup with the 1982 World Cup also considered as a secondary influence. Six of the final eight in 1986 had qualified for the 1990 tournament. Italy – who were seeded first as hosts – had not reached the final eight in 1986, and this left FIFA needing to exclude one of the three (qualified) nations who were eliminated in the 1986 quarter finals: Brazil, England or Spain.
Owing to their performance in 1982 but also to their overall World Cup record, Brazil were seeded third and not considered to drop out of the seedings. FIFA opted to seed England ahead of Spain. Spain had only been eliminated in 1986 on penalties, while England had been defeated in 90 minutes; both countries had also reached the second stage in the 1982 event, but Spain had also appeared in the 1978 event, while England had failed to qualify. FIFA President João Havelange had reportedly earlier stated that Spain would be seeded.
Spain believed the seeding was contrived to ensure England would be placed in Group F, the group to be held off the Italian mainland, in a bid to contain England's hooliganism problems. Spanish coach Luis Suárez said, "We feel we've been cheated...they wanted to seed England and to send it to Cagliari at all costs. So they invented this formula".
The draw show was FIFA's most ambitious yet with Pelé, Bobby Moore and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, as well as a performance of the tournament's official song, "Un'estate italiana" being performed by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini.
The event also featured the official mascot of this World Cup, Ciao, a stick figure player with a football head and an Italian tricolor body. Its name is an Italian greeting.
Tournament review
The finals tournament of the 1990 World Cup began on 8 June and concluded on 8 July. 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, which eliminated the teams until a winner emerged. In total, 52 games were played.
Negative tactics
The tournament generated a record low goals-per-game average and a then-record of 16 red cards were handed out. 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. There were four penalty shootouts, a record subsequently equalled in the
2006 tournament.
Ireland and Argentina were prime examples of this trend of cautious defensive play; the Irish scored just twice in five games in drawing all their matches until their defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals. Losing finalists Argentina, meanwhile, scored only five goals in the entire tournament (a record low for a finalist that, as of 2010, still stands). Argentina also became the first (and so far only) team to advance twice on penalty shootouts, the first team to fail to score in a World Cup final, and the first to have a player sent off in a World Cup final.
Largely as a result of this trend FIFA introduced the back-pass rule in time for the 1994 tournament in order to make it harder for teams to time-waste by repeatedly passing the ball back for their goalkeepers to pick up. Three, rather than two, points would be awarded for victories at future tournaments to help further encourage attacking play.
Emergence of Cameroon
Cameroon reached the quarter-finals, where they were narrowly defeated by England. They opened the tournament with a shock victory over reigning champions Argentina, before topping the group ahead of both them and
European Championship runners-up the
Soviet Union. Their success was fired by the goals of
Roger Milla, a 38 year old forward who came out of international retirement to join the national squad at the last moment after a personal request from Cameroonian President
Paul Biya. Milla's four goals and flamboyant goal celebrations made him one of the tournament's biggest stars as well as taking Cameroon to the last eight. In reaching this stage, they had gone further than any African nation had ever managed in a World Cup before; a feat only equalled twice since (by
Senegal in
2002 and
Ghana in
2010). Their success was African football's biggest yet on the world stage, and FIFA subsequently decided to offer the
CAF qualifying zone an additional place for the next World Cup tournament.
All-champion final four
Despite the performances of nations such as Cameroon, Colombia and Costa Rica, the final four consisted of reigning champions Argentina, England, Italy and West Germany. All nations were previous World Cup winners, with a total of eight previous titles between them. After the
1970 tournament, this is only the second time in the history of the World Cup this has occurred. The teams which finished first, second and third had also contested both the two previous World Cup Finals between themselves.
Results
All kick-off times local (CEST/UTC+2)
First round
The first round, or group stage, saw the twenty-four teams divided into six groups of four teams. Each group was a
round-robin of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded two points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams coming first and second in each group qualified for the Round of 16. The four best third-placed teams would also advance to the next stage.
If teams were level on points, they were ranked on the following criteria in order:
Group A
Hosts
Italy won Group A with a 100 per cent record. They beat
Austria 1–0 thanks to substitute
Salvatore 'Toto' Schillaci, who had played only one international before but would become a star during the tournament. A second 1–0 victory followed against a
United States team already thumped 5–1 by
Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovaks ended runners-up in the group, while the USA's first appearance in a World Cup Finals since
1950 ended with three consecutive defeats.
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|9 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
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|10 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 5|||| Stadio Comunale, Florence
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|14 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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|15 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 1|||| Stadio Comunale, Florence
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|19 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 1|||| Stadio Comunale, Florence
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 0|||| Stadio Olimpico, Rome
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Group B
Cameroon defeated reigning champions
Argentina. Despite ending the match with only nine men, the African team held on for a shock 1–0 win, with contrasting fortunes for the brothers Biyik: François Omam scoring the winning goal, shortly after seeing Andre Kana sent off for a serious foul. In their second game the introduction of
Roger Milla was the catalyst for a 2–1 win over
Romania, Milla scoring twice from the bench (making him the oldest goalscorer in the tournament). With progression assured, Cameroon slumped to a 4–0 defeat in their final group game to a
Soviet Union side striving to stay in the tournament on goal difference after successive 2-0 defeats. A 1–1 draw between Romania and Argentina sent both through, the latter as one of the best third-placed teams.
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|8 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 1|||| San Siro, Milan
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|9 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 2|||| Stadio San Nicola, Bari
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|13 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 0|||| Stadio San Paolo, Naples
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|14 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 1|||| Stadio San Nicola, Bari
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|18 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 1|||| Stadio San Paolo, Naples
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 4|||| Stadio San Nicola, Bari
|}
Group C
Costa Rica beat
Scotland 1–0 in their first match, lost 1-0 to
Brazil in their second, then saw off
Sweden 2–1 to claim a place in the second round. Brazil 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.
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|10 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 1|||| Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin
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|11 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
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|16 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 2|||| Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
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|20 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 2|||| Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
|}
Group D
Group D featured the most goals of all the groups, due in part 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 a 4–1 opening victory over group runners-up Yugoslavia.
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|9 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 2|||| Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna
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|10 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|4 – 1|||| San Siro, Milan
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|14 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna
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|15 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|5 – 1|||| San Siro, Milan
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|19 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 1|||| San Siro, Milan
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|4 – 1|||| Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna
|}
Group E
The winners of Group E were
Spain, for whom
Michel hit a
hat-trick as they beat
South Korea 3–1 in an unbeaten group campaign.
Belgium won their first two games against South Korea and
Uruguay to ensure their progress; Uruguay's advance to the second round came with an injury time winner against South Korea to edge them through as the weakest of the third-placed sides to remain in the tournament.
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|12 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|2 – 0|||| Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
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|13 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 0|||| Stadio Friuli, Udine
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|17 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|3 – 1|||| Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 3|||| Stadio Friuli, Udine
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|21 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 2|||| Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 1|||| Stadio Friuli, Udine
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Group F
Group F was one of the tightest groups in World Cup history. In its six games, featuring
European champions the Netherlands,
England, the
Republic of Ireland and
Egypt, no team managed to score more than once in a match, and only one match failed to end a draw. England's bright start against Ireland - including an early goal from Lineker - faded rapidly, and their lead was cancelled out 20 minutes from time by Kevin Sheedy's strike. The Netherlands, highly rated following their European Championship victory in 1988, conceded a late penalty to allow an Egyptian equalizer. England largely dominated their match against the Netherlands - despite, for the second World Cup in succession, losing their captain
Bryan Robson to an injury which would keep him out of the rest of the tournament - but the closest they came was a
Stuart Pearce free-kick which went directly into the net, but was disallowed because the referee had in fact awarded an
indirect free kick. (Goalkeeper Van Breukelen was also apparently unaware the freekick was supposed to be indirect, and came very close to touching the ball in attempting to save it, which would have made it a goal if he had touched it but failed to keep it out.) Ireland and Egypt failed to have a single shot on target between them in the 90 minutes of their 0-0 draw. The decisive result was England's 1–0 victory over Egypt, thanks to a headed goal by
Mark Wright, which won them the group and eliminated the Africans: meanwhile the Netherlands, for the second time, conceded a late equalizer, this time to Niall Quinn. For the first time in World Cup Finals history, the drawing of lots was required to divide two teams, as Ireland and the Netherlands ended with identical results.
The Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands finished with identical records. With both teams assured of progressing, they were split by the drawing of lots to determine second and third place.
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|11 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
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|12 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 1|||| Stadio La Favorita, Palermo
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|16 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 0|||| Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari
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|17 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|0 – 0|||| Stadio La Favorita, Palermo
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|21 June 1990
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 0|||| Stadio Sant'Elia, Cagliari
|- style=font-size:90%
|align=right|||align=center|1 – 1|||| Stadio La Favorita, Palermo
|}
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
The
knockout stage involved the sixteen teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. There was also a play-off to decide third/fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by thirty minutes of
extra time; if scores were still level there would be a
penalty shootout (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round. Scores after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t.), and penalty shoot outs are indicated by (pen.).
Round of 16
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 was won for Argentina by a goal from Claudio Caniggia with ten minutes remaining after a run through the Brazilian defence by Diego Maradona - who later claimed that water offered to Brazilian midfielder Branco by a member of the Argentinian staff during this game contained a tranquilizer - and an outstanding performance from their goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea. 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 was held in Milan, and both sides featured several notable players from the two Milanese clubs. After 22 minutes Rudi Völler and Frank Rijkaard were dismissed after a 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 the Germans saw the game out to gain some revenge for their exit to the Dutch in the previous European Championship.
Meanwhile, the heroics of Cameroon and Roger Milla continued in their game with Colombia. Milla was introduced as a second half substitute with the game goalless, eventually breaking the deadlock midway in extra time. Three minutes later he netted a second after Colombian goalkeeper, René Higuita was dispossessed by Milla while well out of his goal, leaving the striker free to slot the ball into the empty net. Though the deficit was soon reduced to 2-1, Cameroon held on to become the first African team ever to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. Costa Rica were comfortably beaten 4–1 by Czechoslovakia, for whom Tomáš Skuhravý scored the tournament's second and final hat-trick.
The Republic of Ireland's match with Romania remained goalless after extra time, and the Irish side won 5–4 on penalties. David O'Leary converted the penalty that clinched Ireland's place in the quarter-finals. Ireland thus became the only team in history to reach the last eight in a World Cup finals tournament without winning a match outright. Yugoslavia beat Spain 2–1 after extra time, with Dragan Stojković scoring both the Yugoslavs' goals. England were the final qualifier against a largely dominating Belgium, but with midfielder David Platt's swivelling volley breaking the stalemate with the game moments away from a shootout.
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Quarter-finals
The first game of the last 8 saw Argentina and a Yugoslav side, reduced to 10 men after only half an hour, play out a goalless stalemate. The holders reached the semi-finals after winning the penalty shoot-out 3–2, despite Maradona having his penalty saved. A second Argentine miss (by
Pedro Troglio) looked to have eliminated them until goalkeeper
Sergio Goycochea – playing because first choice
Nery Pumpido broke his leg during the group stage – rescued his side by stopping the Yugoslavs' final two spotkicks.
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 hosts Italy. West Germany beat Czechoslovakia with a 25th minute Lothar Matthäus penalty.
In the last quarter-final Cameroon came to within seven minutes of reaching the semi-finals. After Platt headed England ahead in the 25th minute of their quarter-final fixture, the half time introduction of Roger Milla turned the game in the space of five second half minutes. First, Cameroon were awarded a penalty, from which Emmanuel Kundé equalised, before Eugène Ekéké put them ahead, then they conceded a penalty, which Gary Lineker converted to equalise. Midway through extra time, England were awarded another penalty that Lineker again converted to send them through to the semi-finals.
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Semi-finals
The first semi-final pitted the host nation, Italy, against the world champion, Argentina.
'Toto' Schillaci scored to put Italy ahead in the 17th minute, but
Claudio Caniggia equalised midway through the second half, the first player to breach the Italian defence in a
World Cup record 517 minutes' play. There were no further goals, but a series of serious fouls saw five yellow cards and a red issued, largely to Argentina: the game went to a shootout which Argentina won 4–3, after
Roberto Donadoni and
Aldo Serena both had their kicks saved by
Sergio Goycochea. Argentina's decisive penalty had been converted by
Diego Maradona, who playing in his club "home city" of Naples had urged locals to support him rather than their homeland, creating a more muted atmosphere than Italy's previous games in Rome. Argentina reached the final having scored only five goals in the tournament, an all-time record low.
The second semi-final was between West Germany and England. Neither side was able to fashion a clear-cut chance in the first half. The deadlock was broken on the hour mark when a free kick from Andreas Brehme was heavily deflected by the on-rushing Paul Parker, sending the ball into the net. 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 openly wept at the realisation that he would not be allowed to play in the final were England to advance. Extra-time ended without any further scoring, although both sides hit the post, and England had another Platt goal ruled out for off-side, the game went to penalty kicks, where West Germany won their third straight World Cup shoot-out, 4–3, to take them to a third consecutive final.
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Third place match
The game saw three goals in a fifteen minute spell.
Roberto Baggio opened the scoring after a rare mistake by England's goalkeeper Peter Shilton, in his final game before international retirement, presented a simple opportunity. A header by
David Platt levelled the game 10 minutes later but
Schillaci was fouled in the penalty area five minutes later, leading to a penalty. Schillaci himself got up to convert the kick to win him the tournament's
Golden Shoe for his six goal tally and give the hosts third place. England had the consolation prize of the Fair Play award, having received no red cards and the lowest average number of yellows per match.
Final
The final between West Germany and Argentina has been cited as the most cynical and lowest quality of all World Cup Finals. In the 65th minute, Argentina's
Pedro Monzon was sent off for a foul on
Jürgen Klinsmann, the first player ever to be sent off in a World Cup Final.
Argentina, weakened by suspension and injury, offered little attacking threat throughout a contest dominated by the West Germans, who struggled to create many clear goalscoring opportunities. The only goal of the contest arrived in the 85th minute when Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal awarded a penalty to West Germany, after a foul on Rudi Völler by Roberto Sensini. Andreas Brehme, who later said there was no foul, converted the spot kick to settle the contest. In the closing moments, Argentina were reduced to nine after Gustavo Dezotti received the second red card of the game when he hauled Jürgen Kohler to the ground during a stoppage in play. The 1–0 scoreline provided another first: Argentina were the first team to fail to score in a World Cup Final.
With its third title (and three second place finishes) West Germany – in its final tournament before national reunification – became the most successful World Cup nation, until Brazil won their fourth title in 1994. West German manager Franz Beckenbauer became the only man to both captain (in 1974) and manage a World Cup winning team, and only the second man (after Mário Zagallo of Brazil) to win the World Cup as a player and as team manager. It was also the first time a team from UEFA won the final against a non-European team.
Awards
All-star team
Goalscorers
Salvatore Schillaci received the
Golden Shoe award for scoring six goals in the World Cup. This made him the second Italian footballer to have this honour, after
Paolo Rossi won the award in
1982. In total, 115 goals were scored by 75 different players (none credited as
own goals).
;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
Oleh Protasov
Oleksandr 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.
FIFA Final Ranking
After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 1990 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.
Final
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Eliminated in the quarter-finals
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Eliminated in the round of 16
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Eliminated at the group stage
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Statistics
Most wins: Italy (6)
Most defeats: Korea Republic, Sweden, UAE, United States (3)
First goal: François Omam Biyik (for Cameroon vs Argentina; Group B, 8 June)
Fastest goal in a match: 3 minutes 59 seconds – Safet Sušić (for Yugoslavia vs UAE; Group D, 19 June)
Latest goal scored in a match (apart from penalty shoot-outs): 119 minutes – David Platt (for England vs Belgium; Round of 16, 16 June)
Biggest win: 5–1 – by Czechoslovakia vs United States, and by West Germany vs UAE
Most goals in the tournament (team): West Germany (15)
Most goals in the tournament (player): Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) (6)
Least goals in the tournament (team): Egypt and Korea Republic (1)
Most goals in a game: 6 (United States 1 Czechoslovakia 5; West Germany 5 UAE 1)
Most goals in a game (player): 3, by Míchel (for Spain vs Korea Republic) and Tomáš Skuhravý (for Czechoslovakia vs Costa Rica)
Least goals conceded: Brazil, Egypt and Italy (2)
Total goals scored: 115 (average 2.21 goals per game, a record low in World Cup history)
Most clean sheets: Italy (5)
Number of penalties awarded:
18 (13 scored, 5 missed)
Most yellow cards in a game: 9 – Austria vs United States (Group A, 19 June)
Most yellow cards in the tournament: Argentina (22)
Total yellow cards:
162
Most red cards in the tournament: Argentina (3)
Total red cards: 16 (a record high for a 24 team World Cup)
Highest attendance: 74,765 – West Germany vs Yugoslavia (Group D, 10 June)
Lowest attendance: 27,833 – Yugoslavia vs UAE (Group D, 19 June)
Average attendance: 48,391 (5th highest in World Cup history)
Oldest player: Peter Shilton (England) (40 years 292 days)
Youngest player: Rónald González Brenes (Costa Rica) (19 years 307 days)
Italy's performance of 6 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses is the highest ever winning percentage for a team that did not win the World Cup.
The Republic of Ireland became the second team in World Cup history to reach the last eight without winning a match (Sweden progressed to the last eight by default in 1938 when Austria withdrew).
See also
Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, a 2009 replay of the 1990 England Germany semi-final in honour of the England manager Bobby Robson
References and footnotes
External links
Italia 90 on the FIFA website
Details at RSSSF
History of the World Cup-1990
Planet World Cup - Italy 1990
World Cup
Category:FIFA World Cup tournaments
Category:International football (soccer) competitions hosted by Italy
