1990 FIFA World Cup – Italy
In 1990 Italy became the second country to host the FIFA World Cup twice, after winning a bid from the Soviet Union.
This was the last time that a victory would award 2 points, as FIFA would soon change it to 3 points, in a way of encouraging teams to attack more, seeking victory rather than settling for a draw. This also helped to make it almost impossible to advance to the next stage without victories, something Italy achieved in 1982 in the group stage with 3 draws.
116 teams entered the tournament qualification. The 24 places would be allocated as follow: 2 for the hosts and defending champions, 13 to UEFA, 2 to CONMEBOL, 2 to AFC, 2 to CONCACAF and 2 to CAF. The last place was contested by the 3rd from CONMEBOL vs. the winner of the OFC (including Israel and Chinese Taipei).
This was the last time that some teams from the Eastern Bloc participated after the changes with the end of the cold war in 1991. West and East Germany were being reunified and many countries were being divided or changed, like the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
This tournament was market by a high defensive style of play of most teams and generated a record low goals per game average. At the knock out stage, 8 matches went to extra time and, from this 8, half went to penalty shoot-outs. Argentina, one of the finalists, got to the final afters scoring only 5 goals in the previous games. They were also the first team to advance twice after penalty shoot-outs.
Cameroon became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals, after opening the tournament with a victory over the defending champions Argentina.
The semi-finals were the first to have 4 previous champions, something that didn’t happen since 1970: Argentina, England, Italy and West Germany.
The final was played again, consecutively, by Argentina and West Germany. West Germany was playing their third consecutive final after loosing the previous ones to Italy and Argentina. This final is considered one of two lowest quality matches, along with 2010. In the end, the Germans were able to beat Argentina and got their third title.
List of qualified teams: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, England, Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Scotland, South Korea, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, West Germany, Yugoslavia.
Champions: West Germany
2nd place: Argentina
3rd place: Italy
Top scorer player: Salvatore Schillaci, Italy – 6 goals
Top scorer team: West Germany – 15 goals
Total of goals: 115 goals
Average per match: 2.21
List of all the tournaments
- 1930 FIFA World Cup – Uruguay
- 1934 FIFA World Cup – Italy
- 1938 FIFA World Cup – France
- 1950 FIFA World Cup – Brazil
- 1954 FIFA World Cup – Switzerland
- 1958 FIFA World Cup – Sweden
- 1962 FIFA World Cup – Chile
- 1966 FIFA World Cup – England
- 1970 FIFA World Cup – Mexico
- 1974 FIFA World Cup – West Germany