| 1. |
United
States vs England 1-0 in 1950
When the news
about this result arrived in England, people thought it was a misprint
in the newspaper. They thought the result was 1-10 instead of 1-0. England
with legends like Billy Wright and Tom Finney wasted lots of chances and
couldn't prevent the American part-timers from winning. [Matchreport] |
| 2. |
North Korea
vs Italy 1-0 in 1966
North Korea
in their first (and only so far) World Cup apperance shocked the world
by beating and sending home Italy after this win. The Italians arrived
at home with their bus attacked by rotten tomatoes. [Matchreport] |
| 3. |
Algeria
vs West Germany 2-1 in 1982
Algeria were
1000/1 favourites to win the cup, West Germany at 3/1. The Germans had
only lost 4 matches in 4 years before this game. Their coach Jupp Derwall
said after the match: "I still can't believe this. It's beyond my understanding."
[Matchreport] |
| 4. |
Cameroon
vs Argentina 1-0 in 1990
Cameroon ended
this match with nine men and managed to keep the defending champions at
bay, and secure a famous victory in the opening game of the 1990 World
Cup. [Matchreport] |
| 5. |
Senegal
vs France 1-0 in 2002
World and European champions
France were huge favourites to cash in three points against Senegal making their World Cup debut in
this opening match of Korea/Japan 2002. It was the first of several surprising results in the tournament. [Matchreport] |
| 6. |
East Germany
vs West Germany 1-0 in 1974
The day when
East beat West in their first ever meeting. A goal by Sparwasser ten minutes
from time settled the game. West went on to win the tournament though.
[Matchreport] |
| 7. |
Spain vs
Denmark 5-1 in 1986
Denmark had
won all their first round games including trashing the South American champions
Uruguay 6-1, and West Germany 2-0. They even took the lead in this game
against Spain, but then everything fell apart. Butragueño scored
four of Spain's five goals in this bizarre game. [Matchreport] |
| 8. |
Bulgaria
vs Germany 2-1 in 1994
Germany, who
had reached the previous three finals, looked on track to reach number
four in this quarterfinal when Matthäus gave them the lead on a penalty.
But then two quick goals by Bulgaria ruined everything. [Matchreport] |
| 9. |
Northern
Ireland vs Spain 1-0 in 1982
Not many fancied
the Irish to win this match against the host nation, especially not after
playing much of the game with only ten men. But they scored early in the
second half and kept the lead in a match they had to win to stay in the
tournament. The win meant the Irish qualified to phase two. [Matchreport] |
| 10. |
Cuba vs
Romania 2-1 in 1938
This was a
sensational result at the time. Cuba didn't manage to qualify in the first
place, but stepped in when Mexico withdrew. Romania took part in both 1930
and 1934 and were established as a quality team. Cuba themselves were trashed
8-0 by Sweden in the very next round! [Matchreport] |
