Football World Cup 1994

The 1994 Football World Cup was held in the USA. It was won by Brazil, who beat Italy 3-2 on penalties, after the game and extra time ended 0-0.

The opening match saw the defending champions Germany beat Bolivia by the slightest margin, 1-0.

The World Cup early on saw very few upsets, while the Italians were the only favorites who were in serious trouble after the first round. They lost their first game to Ireland, 1-0, in New York. In their second game against Norway, their goalkeeper, Gianluca Pagliuca, was sent off for a handball in the first half. They were forced to substitute their ace striker, Roberto Baggio, for the sent-off goalkeeper, and spent the rest of the game with ten men. Early in the second half, their sweeper, Franco Baresi, severely injured his knee, and was carried off. With nothing going well for Italy, the tall midfielder Dino Baggio headed the ball in with less than 15 minutes left, and preserved their hopes of advancing to the next round.

Another team that was the center of attention in the first round was the host team, the USA. They drew their first game against a tough Switzerland team, and gave the Americans something to cheer about. Their next game was a game to remember. They miraculously beat the higher rated Colombians, 2-1, with a help of a crucial own goal by Andrés Escobar, clinching their first appearance in the 2nd round since the 1950 World Cup due to their victory. Escobar's own goal proved to be tragic: he was murdered 10 days after returning to Colombia.

In the second round, Brazil and the USA met on July 4, U.S. Independence Day. With much of the country behind them, the USA team survived the first 70 minutes without a Brazilian goal, when the undefeated Brazilians struck with a counter attack which was finished off by Bebeto.

In the quarter final, Bulgaria surprised the world. Before this World Cup, Bulgaria had not won a World Cup game. They won their first game in the first round, and defeated Mexico in the round of 16 to play the defending champions, Germany, in the quarter finals. The experienced Germans were expected to easily win this match. This belief became even stronger, when Lothar Matthäus' penalty kick gave the Germans the lead in the 50th minute. Bulgaria was not successful at getting many goal scoring opportunities, but a chance came, with 15 minutes left. A free kick, 20 yards out was awarded to Bulgaria and Hristo Stoichkov, their best player, struck it superbly into the lower corner, bringing the scores level. Five minutes after the free kick, Bulgaria's midfielder Yordan Lechkov slipped through the stunned German defense and headed in the winning goal.

A disappointing figure of this tournment was Roberto Baggio. He was goalless in the preliminary round, and he didn't come close to scoring in the round of 16 match against Nigeria until the last minute of the game. With Italy 0-1 down, Baggio scored with a soft shot into the corner, with only a minute left in the game. They went on to win that game in extra time, and the quarter finals were equally thrilling. Roberto Baggio scored the winner with 5 minutes left against Spain.

Baggio pulled his hamstring in the semifinals, and was said to be unavailable for the finals but to everyone's surprise, appeared. He was the fifth kicker of the penalty shootout in the finals, and missed, to see the Brazilians capture their 4th World Cup.

USA	1 - 1 (1-1)	Switzerland	17:35 EST - Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac Ref: Francisco Óscar Lamolina (Argentina) Attendance: 73,425
Wynalda 45'		Brégy 39'


Colombia	1 - 3 (1-2)	Romania	16:35 PST - Rose Bowl, Pasadena Ref: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria) Attendance: 91,586
Valencia 43'		Hagi 34'
		Raducioiu 89'

Romania	1 - 4 (1-1)	Switzerland	16:05 EST - Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac Ref: Neji Jouini (Tunisia) Attendance: 61,428
Hagi 35'		Knup 72'

USA	2 - 1 (1-0)	Colombia	16:35 PST - Rose Bowl, Pasadena Ref: Fabio Baldas (Italy) Attendance: 93,689
Escobar (og) 35'		Stewart 52'

Switzerland	0 - 2 (0-1)	Colombia	13:05 PST - Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto Ref: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark) Attendance: 83,401
		Lozano 90'

USA	0 - 1 (0-1)	Romania	13:05 PST - Rose Bowl, Pasadena Ref: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands) Attendance: 93,869
		Petrescu 18'

Cameroon	2 - 2 (1-1)	Sweden	16:35 PST - Rose Bowl, Pasadena Ref: Alberto Tejada Noriega (Peru) Attendance: 93,194
Embe 31'		Omam 47'			Dahlin 75'

Brazil	2 - 0 (1-0)	Russia	13:05 PST - Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto Ref: Lim Kee Chong (Mauritius) Attendance: 81,061
Romário 26'
Raí (p) 52'

Brazil	3 - 0 (1-0)	Cameroon	13:05 PST - Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto Ref: Arturo Brizio Carter (Mexico) Attendance: 83,401
Romário 39'
Bebeto 73'

Sweden	3 - 1 (1-1)	Russia	19:35 EST - Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac Ref: Joel Quiniou (France) Attendance: 71,528
Brolin (p) 37'		Salenko (p) 4'
Dahlin 59'
Dahlin 81'

Russia	6 - 1 (3-0)	Cameroon	13:05 PST - Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto Ref: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria) Attendance: 74,914
Salenko 15'		Milla 46'
Salenko 41'
Salenko 44'
Salenko 72'
Salenko 75'
Radchenko 81'

Brazil	1 - 1 (0-1)	Sweden	16:05 EST - Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary) Attendance: 77,217
Romário 46'		K. Andersson 23'

Germany	1 - 0 (0-0)	Bolivia	14:05 CST - Soldier Field, Chicago Ref: Arturo Brizio Carter (Mexico) Attendance: 63,117
Klinsmann 61'


Spain	2 - 2 (0-0)	CST - Cotton Bowl, Dallas Ref: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark) Attendance: 56,247
Julio Salinas 51'		Hong 85'
Goikoetxea 55'		Seo 90'

Bolivia	1 - 3 (0-1)	Spain	15:05 CST - Soldier Field, Chicago Ref: Rodrigo Badilla Sequeira (Costa Rica) Attendance: 63,089
Sanchez 67'		Caminero 70'

Germany	3 - 2 (3-0)	CST - Cotton Bowl, Dallas Ref: Joel Quiniou (France) Attendance: 63,998
Klinsmann 12'		Riedle 20'		Hong 63'
Klinsmann 37'

Argentina	4 - 0 (2-0)	Greece	12:05 EST - Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro Ref: Artur Angeles (USA) Attendance: 54,456
Batistuta 2'
Batistuta 44'
Maradona 60'
Batistuta (p) 89'

Nigeria	3 - 0 (2-0)	Bulgaria	18:35 CST - Cotton Bowl, Dallas Ref: Rodrigo Badilla Sequeira (Costa Rica) Attendance: 44,132
Amunike 55'

Argentina	2 - 1 (2-1)	Nigeria	16:05 EST - Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro Ref: Bo Jonas Hil Karlsson (Sweden) Attendance: 54,453
Caniggia 21'		Caniggia 28'

Bulgaria	4 - 0 (1-0)	Greece	11:35 CST - Soldier Field, Chicago Ref: Ali Bujsaim (UAE) Attendance: 63,160
Stoitchkov (p) 5'
Stoitchkov (p) 55'
Borimirov 90'

Argentina	0 - 2 (0-0)	Bulgaria	18:35 CST - Cotton Bowl, Dallas Ref: Neji Jouini (Tunisia) Attendance: 63,998
		Stoitchkov 61'
		Sirakov 90'

Greece	0 - 2 (0-1)	Nigeria	19:35 EST - Foxboro Stadium, Foxboro Ref: Leslie Mottram (Scotland) Attendance: 53,001
		Yekini 90'

Italy	0 - 1 (0-1)	Rep. of Ireland	16:05 EST - Giants Stadium, East Rutherford Ref: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands) Attendance: 75,338
		Houghton 11'

Norway	1 - 0 (0-0)	Mexico	16:05 EST - RFK Stadium, Washington Ref: Sandor Puhl (Hungary) Attendance: 52,395
Rekdal 84'

Italy	1 - 1 (0-0)	Mexico	12:35 EST - RFK Stadium, Washington Ref: Francisco Óscar Lamolina (Argentina) Attendance: 52,535
Massaro 48'		Bernal 57'


Rep. of Ireland	0 - 0 (0-0)	Norway	12:35 EST - Giants Stadium, East Rutherford Ref: Jose Torres Cadena (Colombia) Attendance: 72,404

Belgium	1 - 0 (1-0)	EST - Citrus Bowl, Orlando Ref: Jose Torres Cadena (Colombia) Attendance: 61,219
Degryse 11'

Netherlands	2 - 1 (0-1)	EST - RFK Stadium, Washington Ref: Manuel Diaz Vega (Spain) Attendance: 50,535
Jonk 50'		Taument 86'

Saudi Arabia	2 - 1 (2-1)	EST - Giants Stadium, East Rutherford Ref: Philip Don (England) Attendance: 76,322
Al Jaber (p) 7'		Amin 45'

Belgium	1 - 0 (0-0)	Netherlands	12:35 EST - Citrus Bowl, Orlando Ref: Renato Marsiglia (Brazil) Attendance: 62,387
Albert 65'

Belgium	0 - 1 (0-1)	EST - RFK Stadium, Washington Ref: Hellmut Krug (Germany) Attendance: 52,959
		Owairan 5'


Morocco	1 - 2 (0-1)	Netherlands	12:35 EST - Citrus Bowl, Orlando Ref: Alberto Tejada Noriega (Peru) Attendance: 60,578
Nader 47'		Bergkamp 43'
		Roy 77'

Football World Cup 1994

Venues

Squads

First round

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Round of sixteen

Semi-finals

Third place match

Final

Top scorers

Firsts

Germany	3 - 2 (3-1)	Belgium	12:00 CST - Soldier Field, Chicago Ref: Kurt Röthlisberger (Switzerland) Attendance: 60,246
Völler 6'		Klinsmann 11'		Völler 40'

Spain	3 - 0 (1-0)	Switzerland	16:35 EST - RFK Stadium, Washington Ref: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands) Attendance: 53,121
Hierro 15'
Luis Enrique 74'
Beguiristain (p) 86'

Saudi Arabia	1 - 3 (0-1)	Sweden	12:05 CST - Cotton Bowl, Dallas Ref: Renato Marsiglia (Brazil) Attendance: 60,277
Al Ghesheyan 85'		Dahlin 6'
		K. Andersson 88'

Romania	3 - 2 (2-1)	Argentina	13:35 PST - Rose Bowl, Pasadena Ref: Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy) Attendance: 90,469
Dumitrescu 11'		Batistuta (p) 16'
Dumitrescu 18'		Hagi 58'

Netherlands	2 - 0 (2-0)	Rep. of Ireland	12:05 EST - Citrus Bowl, Orlando Ref: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark) Attendance: 61,355
Bergkamp 11'
Jonk 41'

Brazil	1 - 0 (0-0)	USA	12:35 PST - Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto Ref: Joel Quiniou (France) Attendance: 84,147
Bebeto 72'