WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SOCCER / GRAHAME L. JONES : In Shock Value, This One Ranks No. 1
Disbelief, astonishment and incredulity.
Those are the reactions the United States’ remarkable victory over Colombia will generate around the world.
It’s always that way with World Cup upsets, and this one has to rank as the most significant.
What happened at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday in front of 93,194 fans is without question the most important upset in the 64-year history of the tournament.
Some will argue that another U.S. victory, the 1950 defeat of England in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was bigger. Not so. It was a fine achievement but it did nothing to further the sport in the United States and no one outside the soccer community knew about it.
In the next morning’s Times, for example, the match report consisted of one 37-word paragraph. Consider that and then look at the coverage in this morning’s newspaper. Case closed.
Then there are those who will insist North Korea’s 1-0 victory over Italy in the 1966 tournament in England deserves top billing. Pak Doo Ik’s memorable goal made his name a popular soccer trivia question answer, but North Korea has hardly become an international soccer fixture, so that upset can only rank second.
In its early years, the World Cup was far less popular. Travel was difficult and expensive and only the teams that could afford to enter or that considered themselves likely to win took part.
That limited the chance of major upsets, but some did occur.
In 1938, for instance, Cuba came to the World Cup in France as a substitute for Mexico, which had withdrawn, and tied Romania, 3-3, in Toulouse and then went one better by winning the replay, 2-1. It lost its next game, 8-0, to Sweden and has never qualified since.
Most of the tournament upsets, however, have occurred in the past dozen years since the field was expanded from 16 teams to 24 in 1982 to allow the emerging soccer nations of Africa and Asia berths.
Before that, there was a memorable upset in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Because of political changes, the game is impossible to repeat, but East Germany’s 1-0 victory over West Germany, the eventual champion, goes into the record books as an upset.
The opening game of the 1982 World Cup in Spain provided an early shock when Belgium scored a 1-0 victory over defending champion Argentina, which featured Mario Kempes, the top goal-scorer of the 1978 tournament, and Diego Maradona.
That was not the biggest surprise of the tournament, however. That occurred in Gijon, where Algeria stunned West Germany, the reigning European champion, 2-1. The Germans were the 3-to-1 favorites to win the tournament while the Algerians, playing in their first World Cup game, were 1,000-to-1 outsiders. The upset ranks fourth in terms of magnitude.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Jupp Derwall, West Germany’s coach. “It’s beyond my understanding.”
Four years later, the 1986 tournament brought a surprise result when Morocco defeated Portugal, 3-1, in Guadalajara, although the game had little meaning.
In Italy in 1990, Argentina again had the dubious pleasure of coming in as defending champion only to be upset in the opening game. This time, Cameroon did the honors, scoring a 1-0 victory in Milan on a goal by Francois Omam-Biyick.
The Africans scored two more upsets, beating Romania, 2-1, and Colombia, 2-1, before falling to England in the quarterfinals.
There were two more upsets in Italia ’90 that tie directly to Wednesday’s game at the Rose Bowl. Costa Rica beat Scotland, 1-0, and Sweden, 2-1, both in Genoa. Costa Rica’s coach was Bora Milutinovic, the “miracle worker” who has proved once again that his nickname is deserved.
One footnote: After the United States’ 1-0 triumph over England in 1950, the team’s coach, Bill Jeffrey, had this to say:
“It’s all we wanted to do. This is all that is needed to make the game go in the States.”
He was wrong, then. But today the same statement might be true.
Greatest Upsets
A look at the top 10 upsets in the history of the World Cup, as selected by staff writer Grahame L. Jones.
Game Site (Date) 1. U.S. 2, Colombia 1 Pasadena (June 22, 1994) 2. North Korea 1, Italy 0 Middlesbrough, England (July 19, 1966) 3. U.S. 1, England 0 Belo Horizonte, Brazil (June 29, 1950) 4. Algeria 2, West Germany 1 Gijon, Spain (June 16, 1982) 5. Cameroon 1, Argentina 0 Milan, Italy (June 8, 1990) 6. Belgium 1, Argentina 0 Barcelona, Spain (June 13, 1982) 7. Costa Rica 1, Scotland 0 Genoa, Italy (June 11, 1990) 8. Costa Rica 2, Sweden 1 Genoa, Italy (June 20, 1990) 9. E. Germany 1, W. Germany 0 Hamburg, W. Germany (June 22, 1974) 10. Cuba 2, Romania 1 Toulouse, France (June 9, 1938)
