1990 FIFA World Cup Final

1990 FIFA World Cup Final

The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico
Event	1990 FIFA World Cup
West Germany Argentina 1 0
Date	8 July 1990
Venue	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee	Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)
Attendance	73,603

The 1990 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match played between West Germany and Argentina to determine the winner of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The game took place on 8 July 1990 at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, and was won 1–0 by West Germany, with a late penalty kick taken by Andreas Brehme being the game's only goal.

It was the first time a team from UEFA had won the World Cup final against a non-European team. Argentina were the defending champions, having beaten West Germany 3–2 in the 1986 FIFA World Cup Final in Mexico. Thus the 1990 final was the only 'repeat' final at consecutive World Cups.^[1] It was West Germany's last World Cup match; the team played three more games before a unified German team was formed.^[2]

Overview

The 1990 Final is often cited as one of the most cynical and ugliest World Cup Finals. It was an ill-tempered game, notable for the first two sendings off in a World Cup final. During the match, Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal refused to award a penalty kick to German player Klaus Augenthaler. Later, he incurred the wrath of the Argentinians by not awarding them a penalty kick after Lothar Matthäus allegedly tackled Gabriel Calderón. Pedro Monzón had the distinction of being the first player in the 14 final games of the FIFA World Cup to be sent off, after being shown a straight red card for a hard leg tackle on Jürgen Klinsmann; FIFA had warned its officials to enforce the rules and Monzón had raised his foot during the tackle, a foul that Klinsmann claims left a 15-centimetre (5.9 in) gash on his shin.^[3] Gustavo Dezotti, already booked earlier, received his second yellow card late in the match when he hauled down Jürgen Kohler with what The New York Times described as a "neck tackle right out of professional wrestling", after Kohler refused to give-up the ball in an alleged attempt to waste time. After dismissing Dezotti, Codesal was surrounded and jostled by the rest of the Argentinian team.^[4] Diego Maradona burst into tears at the final whistle and blamed the referee for the loss.^[5] Argentina entered the game with four players suspended and ended it with nine men on the field, overall losing over half their squad due to injury or bookings.^[6][7][8]

It was also the lowest-scoring final yet seen with Argentina becoming the first team not to score during a World Cup Final, having only 1 shot on goal, while Germany had 16 scoring chances out of 23 shots.^[9] Argentina's strategy had been to defend at all costs and reach the penalty shootout, having already advanced twice in the tournament by this means.^[6][7][8] The only goal of the contest arrived in the 85th minute when Codesal awarded a controversial penalty to West Germany, after Roberto Sensini fouled Rudi Völler, and Andreas Brehme (who took the place of regular penalty taker Matthäus) converted the spot kick with a low right footed shot to the goalkeeper's right.^[10]

This victory gave West Germany their third FIFA World Cup title, also making them the team to have played in the most FIFA World Cup finals at the time (three wins, three second places), as well as avenging their defeat at the hands of Argentina in the previous final.

Route to the final

West Germany		Round	Argentina
Opponent	Result	First round	Opponent	Result
Yugoslavia	4–1	Match 1	Cameroon	0–1
United Arab Emirates	5–1	Match 2	Soviet Union	2–0
Colombia	1–1	Match 3	Romania	1–1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  West Germany 3 2 1 0 10 3 +7 5  Yugoslavia 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 4  Colombia 3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 3  United Arab Emirates 3 0 0 3 2 11 −9 0		Final standing	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Cameroon 3 2 0 1 3 5 −2 4  Romania 3 1 1 1 4 3 +1 3  Argentina 3 1 1 1 3 2 +1 3  Soviet Union 3 1 0 2 4 4 0 2
Opponent	Result	Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Netherlands	2–1	Round of 16	Brazil	1–0
Czechoslovakia	1–0	Quarter-finals	Yugoslavia	0–0 (aet) (3–2 pen.)
England	1–1 (aet) (4–3 pen.)	Semifinals	Italy	1–1 (aet) (4–3 pen.)

Match details

West Germany  v  Argentina

8 July 1990 20:00 UTC+2

West Germany	1–0	Argentina
Brehme  85' (pen.)	Report

Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 73,603 Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)

West Germany

Argentina

GK 1 Bodo Illgner SW 5 Klaus Augenthaler CB 6 Guido Buchwald CB 4 Jürgen Kohler RWB 14 Thomas Berthold  73' LWB 3 Andreas Brehme DM 10 Lothar Matthäus (c) CM 8 Thomas Häßler CM 7 Pierre Littbarski CF 9 Rudi Völler  52' CF 18 Jürgen Klinsmann Substitutes: GK 12 Raimond Aumann DF 2 Stefan Reuter  73' MF 15 Uwe Bein MF 20 Olaf Thon FW 13 Karl-Heinz Riedle Manager: Franz Beckenbauer

GK 12 Sergio Goycochea SW 20 Juan Simón CB 18 José Serrizuela CB 19 Oscar Ruggeri  46' RWB 4 José Basualdo LWB 17 Roberto Sensini DM 13 Néstor Lorenzo CM 21 Pedro Troglio  84' AM 10 Diego Maradona (c)  87' SS 7 Jorge Burruchaga  53' CF 9 Gustavo Dezotti  5', 87' Substitutes: GK 22 Fabián Cancelarich DF 5 Edgardo Bauza DF 15 Pedro Monzón  65'  46' MF 6 Gabriel Calderón  53' FW 3 Abel Balbo Manager: Carlos Bilardo

References

FIFA World Cup Tournaments Uruguay 1930 Italy 1934 France 1938 Brazil 1950 Switzerland 1954 Sweden 1958 Chile 1962 England 1966 Mexico 1970 West Germany 1974 Argentina 1978 Spain 1982 Mexico 1986 Italy 1990 United States 1994 France 1998 South Korea/Japan 2002 Germany 2006 South Africa 2010 Brazil 2014 Russia 2018 Qatar 2022 2026 Finals 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Qualification 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 Squads 1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Seedings 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Broadcasters 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Bids 2014 2018 and 2022 2026 2030 Statistics All-time table Goalscorers top goalscorers finals goalscorers hat-tricks milestone goals own goals Penalty shoot-outs Player appearances Records Red cards Referees Team appearances Teams with no appearances Miscellaneous Awards Balls Broadcasters Economics History Hosts Mascots Official films Official songs Trophy Video games Notes: There was no qualification for the 1930 World Cup as places were given by invitation only. In 1950, there was no final; the article is about the decisive match of the final group stage.