The 3rd Best World Cup…Ever!
In my lifetime, anyway. I was too young to appreciate Spain 82 and Mexico 86. My first experience of World Cups was Italia 90, where I watched in open mouthed amazement as all of these wonderful, exotic players lit up the screen; Scillachi, Gascoigne, Careca, Skuhravy, Higuita, Milla, Baggio, Maradona, Klinsmann amongst many others.
It was a glimpse into the sheer wonder of football, the memorable moments branded on my subconcious forever and a day. It’s my favourite World Cup because it was the best. Wasn’t it?
Apparently not. Italia 90 was considered the most deathly dull world cup in memory. The lowest goals to games ratio ever, and indeed since. An awful, unmemorable final. Universally hated by those ‘in-the-know’. They are spectacularly wrong. For me, it was the last step into the great unknown of football. In the days before Sky Sports, Football Italia and live Spanish football, nobody knew who the Brazilians had playng for them, they were just names and possibilities.
It wasn’t yet possible to see who played for who, how good they were, what they did and when they were coming to sign for Chelsea. You formed your own opinion on the sides, who was a decent player and who you might look out for in the future of the competition. There was no constant bombardment of how brilliant a side was as there has been with Spain recently. Nobody really knew.
I loved every minute of it. I’m not sure if it was because it was my first, or because England actually did well in it, but I loved it. Those aforementioned memorable moments are now the stuff of legend - Voller v Rijkaard, Milla’s dance, Gascoigne selling the Cryuff turn back to the Dutch, Higuita being diposessed literally miles from his goal - unforgettable, and stacked up they surely make it one of the best World Cups ever?
