World Cup Memories: Italia '90

I'm so looking forward to this new World Cup coming up, I was remembering how much I enjoyed discussing the games I saw at the last World Cup, and decided to re-ignite a World Cup-specific blog. The ensuing pages will be my opinion on the football, comments welcome.

First off, say hi to Sockie, my personal mascot, courtesy of my kids. I had to go with Soccer and Duckie merged, for the name, because I couldn't well merge Football and Duckie. Come to think of it, I could teach my kids that but I don't think Erika would approve at all.

The first few posts, leading up to the event, are going to be about memories of my own, from the past World Cups, just to wet our tastebuds. I'll be reading some of the tournament summaries to refresh my memory, and trying to find various videos on youtube (though my memory of some big misses can't seem to be retrieved), but it'll be my perspective, and so these posts will be dominated by England's lack of progress, of course.

And, no, I don't remember "poco con la mano de dios", or that goal. I was too young then, I only know about Maradona's rampage through the inevitable folklore that followed, and watching youtube videos.

Italia '90
This is the earliest World Cup I remember, I was 11 years old then, and the first thing that comes to mind is Gazza's tears:



You'll see the agony on his face at the 1:50 mark. I remember Lineker's goal celebration, and I remember that we lost the shoot-out, but I don't really remember how it all ended, because my memories are dominated by this guy crying his heart out before the game was over. It came to resemble the heart of a nation, given we went on to lose to our old enemy. For the uninitiated, Gazza had just gotten his first yellow card of the game, but the one card that would mean he'd miss the Final.

I do also remember the most atrocious tackling laid down by the Argentinians in the final, as West Germany laid waste to them. Looking back, it was like a bad soap opera of a game. The attached video doesn't even give the event any justice, the tackle (at the 1:05 mark) being "off-the-ball", but it is amusing to see Maradona hustling the ref.



A big "hit" from this tournament was the advancement of Cameroon, on the back of an old forward: Roger Miller. His corner-flag dance is now World Cup Lore. There's a good example of it after this goal at the 1:05 mark of this game against Columbia: