100 Days to Russia: Five iconic World Cup moments
Tuesday marks the 100-day countdown to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
In celebration of the tournament being 100 days away, Sportsnet looks at five iconic World Cup moments.
The greatest team of all timeBrazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning side is regarded by the majority of historians and critics as the greatest soccer team of all-time. The Brazilian squad that competed in Mexico boasted a slew of world-class players — Pele, Jairzinho, Tostao, Rivelino and Carlos Alberto — and won all six of its games en route to capturing its third World Cup, the first country to do so.
The sheer beauty and grace of the Brazilian team was perfectly encapsulated in the last goal of its 4-1 win against Italy in the final. Clodoaldo breezed past a couple of Italian players before passing to Pele. The Brazilian wizard moved down the left side and drifted towards the middle. Pele found some open space and sensing Carlos Alberto was coming down the right side, he played a perfect square pass 25 yards from goal that Alberto lashed onto without breaking stride and hammered past static Italian goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi. It was an emphatic goal in an emphatic victory that saw the Brazilians, purveyors of the “beautiful game,” put the dour, defensive-mind Italians in their rightful place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5HbmeNKino
The goal of the centuryMere minutes after the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 tournament in Mexico, Argentina’s Diego Maradona scored what is generally considered the greatest goal in World Cup history. Starting in his half, Maradona embarked on a 60-yard run, dribbling past no less than five English players with the ball glued to his foot, bursting into the penalty area with a quick turn of pace and sublimely slipping the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. England was out, Argentina was through to the semifinals, and Maradona’s goal became known as the “Goal of the century.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_2arqQLwo
The greatest game of all timeItaly’s 3-2 victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals of the 1982 tournament in Spain. Legendary BBC play-by-play announcer John Motson called this the greatest match he’s ever commented on. It had drama, fantastic goals, great saves and one hero: the indomitable Paolo Rossi, who led the Italians to victory over a Brazil side that some critics hailed as even better than the 1970 World Cup-winning team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=zTfPOzUc1JI
’They think it’s all over. It is now.’BBC television commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme’s description of the final moments of the 1966 final between England and West Germany at Wembley Stadium is the British equivalent of Foster Hewitt’s famous “Henderson has scored for Canada!” call at the 1972 Summit Series. Down 3-2, the Germans threw players forward in numbers, desperately searching for an equalizer, but were left exposed at the back. Bobby Moore played a long pass for Geoff Hurst who completed his hat trick in the final minute of extra time as fans began to pour onto the field.
Here’s how Wolstenholme described Hurst’s final goal: “Some people are on the pitch (the crowd starts to spill onto the field)… they think it’s all over (Geoff Hurst scores to put England two goals ahead)… IT IS NOW!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wyLvagyApY
The miracle on grassThe greatest upset in World Cup history took place on June 29, 1950 in Belo Horizonte Brazil when England, who previously mocked the idea of the World Cup and never doubted that it was the best soccer nation in the world, fell 1-0 to the United States in the first round. The result was so improbable — the Americans were 500-1 underdogs to win the World Cup — that when word reached back to England, people thought it was a misprint in the newspapers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZoo_oPxaso
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