KNOCKOUT STAGES – 23RD JUNE TO 8TH JULY 1990
ROUND OF 16
Saturday 23rd June
CAMEROON 2 COLOMBIA 1 AET – Naples
The last 16 opened with a poor game that finished 0-0 after 90 mins however Cameroon veteran striker Roger Milla came off the bench and put the Africans ahead in extra time before he robbed the Colombian goalkeeper three minutes later to score a second and book a Quarter Final place despite a late Colombian goal by Bernardo Redin. Cameroon became the first African nation to qualify for a World Cup Quarter Final.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 4 COSTA RICA 1 – Bari
Costa Rica’s remarkable World Cup campaign came shuddering to a halt when Thomas Skuhravy scored a hat trick for Czechoslovakia in a 4-1 win.
Sunday 24th June
ARGENTINA 1 BRAZIL 0 – Turin
A game dominated by Brazil but with 9mins remaining Diego Maradona burst from the halfway line to set the winning goal for Claudio Caniggia.
WEST GERMANY 2 HOLLAND 1 – Milan
The game between the two European powerhouses was over shadowed by an unsavoury incident after 22mins when Rudi Voller and Frank Rijkaard were sent off with the Dutchman spitting on Voller as they left the pitch.
Jurgen Klinsmann opened the scoring for the Germans early in the second half, with a clever near post flick, before Andreas Brehme curled a great right foot shot from the edge of the area into the far corner to seal the victory. The Dutch scored a late consolation when Ronald Koeman netted from the penalty spot.
Monday 25th June
REP IRELAND 0 (5) ROMANIA 0 (4) AET – Genoa
The Irish fans enjoyed a famous victory in Genoa after a poor game finished goalless and a penalty shootout was required to decide the winner.
David O’Leary completed the victory for the Irish as he netted their 5th penalty after goalkeeper Pat Bonnar had saved the Romanian’s fifth kick from Timofte.
ITALY 2 URUGUAY 0 – Rome
Italy progressed after a nervous first half when Toto Schillaci scored after 65mins and with 7mins remaining Aldo Serena completed the victory.
Tuesday 26th June
SPAIN 1 YUGOSLAVIA 2 AET – Verona
A late goal by Dragan Stojkovic seemed to have won the game for the Yugoslavs before Spain equalised through Julio Salinas with 6mins left to send the game to extra time. It was however a superb free kick from Stojkovic that sent Yugoslavia to the Quarter Finals.
ENGAND 1 BELGIUM 0 AET – Bolonga
Belgium were unfortunate with their star man Enzo Scifo and their striker Jan Ceulemans both hitting the post but unable to break down the English defence.
Extra Time produced no goals until the final seconds when a free kick into the penalty area was spectacularly volleyed home by substitute David Platt the first of his 27 goals for England.
I had a very lucrative few years betting Platt as First Goalscorer in England games which he went on to do a further 10 times until November 1994.
He was also England top scorer at Euro 92 with 1 goal !
QUARTER FINALS
Saturday 30th June
ARGENTINA 0 (3) YUGOSLAVIA 0 (2) AET – Florence
A goalless stalemate was followed by a penalty shootout where despite Diego Maradona missing , it was Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea who was the hero by saving two spot kicks. He had started the tournament as second choice but came to the fore when the number one Nery Pumpido broke his leg against Soviet Union.
REP IRELAND 0 ITALY 1 – Rome
Italy progressed to the semi finals with Toto Schillaci again scoring the vital goal after a mistake by Irish goalkeeper Pat Bonnar, in the 38th min..
Sunday 1st July
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 0 WEST GERMANY 1 – Milan
A Lothar Matthaus penalty after 25 minutes was enough to see the Germans into the semi finals.
ENGLAND 2 CAMEROON 2 AET – Naples
David Platt was brought into the England starting line up in place of Steve McMahon after scoring the winner against Belgium and opened the scoring 25mins. Cameroon’s Emmanuel Kunde equalised from the penalty spot after 61mins and took a surprise lead 4minutes later, when Ebelle Ekeke scored.
It wasn’t until Gary Lineker scored a penalty with 7 minutes remaining that England forced extra time.
The winning goal came halfway through extra time when Lineker again scored from the penalty spot.
SEMI FINALS
Tuesday 3rd July
ITALY 1 (3) ARGENTINA 1 (4) AET – Naples
The host nation faced the hero of Naples football Diego Maradona playing for his nation Argentina in his adopted city.
Italy started well with the pressure of being hosts and once again Toto Schillaci opened the scoring after 17 mins . Walter Zenga’s clean sheet record during the tournament was finally half way through the second half, when Claudio Caniggia equalised to take the game to extra time and eventually a penalty shoot out to decide the World Cup finalists. Argentina’s Ricardo Giusti was sent off during extra time.
The penalty shoot out saw Italy’s Baresi and Argentina’s Serrizuela scored with the first kicks before Baggio and Burruchaga, made it 2-2. The third kicks were also scored by De Agostini and Olarticoechea. The decisive moment came when Argentine goalkeeper Goycochea saved from Donadoni. Diego Maradona netted Argentina’s fourth penalty and it was down to Goycochea to complete the Italian misery and put Argentina into the final when he saved the final Italian penalty from Serena
Wednesday 4th July
ENGALND 1 (3) WEST GERMANY 1 (4) AET – Turin
There was even more drama in the second semi final with the game locked at 0-0 into the second half an Andreas Brehme free kick was deflected past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton by defender Paul Parker who tried to charge down the powerful free kick. There were ten minutes remaining when England hero Gary Lineker equalised to send the game into Extra Time. Paul Gascoigne was famously booked during extra time and his tears were seen clearly on TV as he knew he would miss the final through suspension , if England progressed.
The penalty shoot out began with Lineker, Beardsley and Platt netting for England while the Germans made it 3-3 through Brehme , Matthaus and Riedle.
The match turned in the Germans favour when Pearce missed the 4th English kick before Thon put the Germans 4-3 ahead. German goalkeeperIllgner then saved from Waddle to complete the victory.
THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF
Saturday 7th July
ITALY 2 ENGLAND 1 – Bari
Roberto Baggio put the hosts in front in 71mins after a mistake in his final International appearance by Peter Shilton before David Platt equalised, ten mins later.
Toto Schillaci won and scored a late penalty to give the host nation the final say in a rather meaningless match.
WORLD CUP FINAL 1990
Sunday 8th July
ARGENTINA 0 WEST GERMANY 1 – Rome
The 1990 World Cup final saw a repeat of the great final of 1986 between Argentina and West Germany but this was a very poor final with Argentina’s physical approach resulting in Argentina being reduced to 9 men through red cards to Monzon and Dezotti.
The game was decided in the 85min when Voller was fouled and Andreas Brehme netted from the penalty spot.
Football is Academical 