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World
Cup 1990 Final Tournament
8 June - 8 July in Italy

The Republic of Ireland were awarded second place over
Netherlands by lot; both teams
advanced.
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First Phase Group D Matches
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|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
11-Jun-1990 |
England
1 Republic of Ireland 1 |
[1-0] |
Stadio
Sant'Elia,
Cagliari |
35,238 |
|
12-Jun-1990 |
Netherlands 1 Egypt 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Della Favorita, Palermo |
33,421 |
|
16-Jun-1990 |
England
0 Netherlands 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Sant'Elia,
Cagliari |
35,267 |
|
17-Jun-1990 |
Republic
of Ireland 0 Egypt 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Della Favorita, Palermo |
33,288 |
|
21-Jun-1990 |
England
1 Egypt 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Sant'Elia,
Cagliari |
34,959 |
|
21-Jun-1990 |
Republic
of Ireland 1 Netherlands 1 |
[0-1] |
Stadio
Della Favorita, Palermo |
33,288 |
Notes
The 24 qualifying teams were divided into six first round
groups of four at the final draw in Rome on December 9, 1989. Before the draw,
FIFA seeded six teams to head the preliminary phase groups at the final
tournament. The seeded teams were Italy as hosts, Argentina as 1986
winners, West Germany as beaten finalists, Belgium as beaten semi-finalists,
Brazil as losing quarter-finalist and England as losing
quarter-finalist.
Spain had a stronger claim to seeding than England because
although both had reached the same stage of the competition in World Cups 1986
and 1982, Spain, unlike England, had qualified for the final tournament in
1978 and had finished top of its qualifying group for the 1990 finals.
But FIFA was determined that the hooligan element that followed the England
team would be isolated and contained. The only way to ensure that was to
make England one of the seeds and assign it to Group F, the group whose
matches would be played on two islands, Sardinia and Sicily.
Joining England in Group F were
Netherlands from the teams
seeded second, Ireland from those seeded third and Egypt from those seeded
fourth. England would play all their group matches in Cagliari on
Sardinia, the other three teams in the group would play matches between
themselves in Palermo on the neighbouring island of Sicily.
England deserved to win first place
in their preliminary phase group, which produced seven goals and several stupefying
matches, but only barely. They played a listless draw with Ireland,
switched to a sweeper system and generally outplayed Netherlands in a goalless
draw, and then managed to crack, just once, the massed Egyptian defence in the
final group match. Certainly they gave no hint of what was to come.
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Second Phase Matches
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Round of 16 Matches
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|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
23-Jun-1990 |
Cameroon
2 Colombia 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
San Paolo Naples |
50,026 |
|
0-0 full-time, 0-0 after first period of extra-time,
2-1 after extra time. |
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23-Jun-1990 |
Czechoslovakia
4 Costa Rica 1 |
[1-0] |
Stadio
San Nicola,
Bari |
47,673 |
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24-Jun-1990 |
Brazil
0 Argentina 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Delle Alpi, Turin |
61,381 |
|
24-Jun-1990 |
West
Germany 2 Netherlands 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Giuseppe Meazza, Milan |
74,559 |
|
25-Jun-1990 |
Republic
of Ireland 0
Romania 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Luigi Ferraris, Genoa |
31,818 |
|
0-0 after extra time,
5-4 penalty kicks |
|
25-Jun-1990 |
Italy
2 Uruguay 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Olimpico, Rome |
73,303 |
|
26-Jun-1990 |
Spain
1 Yugoslavia 2 |
[0-0] |
Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona |
35,500 |
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26-Jun-1990 |
England
1 Belgium 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna |
34,520 |
|
0-0 full-time, 0-0 after first period of extra
time, 1-0 after extra time |
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Quarterfinal
Matches |
|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
30-Jun-1990 |
Argentina
0 Yugoslavia 0 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Communale, Florence |
38,971 |
|
0-0 after extra time,
3-2 penalty kicks |
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30-Jun-1990 |
Republic
of Ireland 0 Italy 1 |
[0-1] |
Stadio
Olimpico, Rome |
73,303 |
|
01-Jul-1990 |
Czechoslovakia
0
West Germany 1 |
[0-1] |
Stadio
Giuseppe Meazza, Milan |
73,347 |
|
01-Jul-1990 |
Cameroon
2 England 3 |
[0-1] |
Stadio
San Paolo, Naples |
55,205 |
|
2-2 full-time, 2-3 after first period
of extra time, 2-3 after extra time |
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Semifinal
Matches |
|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
03-Jul-1990 |
Argentina
1 Italy 1 |
[0-1] |
Stadio
San Paolo, Naples |
59,978 |
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1-1 full-time, 1-1
after extra time, 4-3 penalty kicks |
|
04-Jul-1990 |
West
Germany 1 England 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Delle Alpi, Turin |
62,628 |
|
1-1 full-time, 1-1 after extra time,
4-3 penalty kicks |
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Third Place
Match |
|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
07-Jul-1990 |
Italy
2 England 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
San Nicola, Bari |
51,426 |
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Final
Match |
|
Date |
Match Score |
H.T. |
Venue |
Attendance |
|
08-Jul-1990 |
Argentina
0
West Germany 1 |
[0-0] |
Stadio
Olimpico, Rome |
73,603 |
Notes
Surprising even their most
enthusiastic supporters, England reached the semi-finals for only the second time
in their best World Cup showing outside their triumph at friendly Wembley
Stadium in 1966. Indeed, England's performance after the group stage was
one of the few highlights as the standard of World Cup finals football sank to
new depths with most of the teams bent on negative and defensive play
calculated to avoid a loss rather than to win.
While England played much better than expected, they
had a great deal of good fortune along the way, and it is fair to say determination and
opportunism, more than anything else, took them to the brink of the final
match. Only last-gasp efforts got them by Belgium and
Cameroon in round-of-16 and
quarterfinal matches which saw them largely outplayed. Belgium hit
the woodwork twice and made many more chances, although a John Barnes goal was
disallowed on a plainly mistaken offside call. David Platt's
extraordinary swivelled volley from a Paul Gascoigne free kick in the last
minute of extra time sent England through to the quarterfinals. Cameroon
shocked England and had them on the run, and only the African team's clumsy
and naive defending prevented an upset. Gary Lineker's penalty kick
only seven minutes from the end of regulation time saved England from
elimination,
and his second penalty kick during extra-time put them in the
semifinals.
England saved their best for
their old rivals, West Germany, and did well to take the semifinal to penalty
kicks in their third successive extra-time match. West Germany's regulation-time goal--a crazy looping
hop over stranded goalkeeper Peter Shilton after Andreas Brehme's shot from a free kick
tap-on struck advancing defender Paul Parker--was lucky, while Linkeker's equalizer
10 minutes from the end of regulation time was well-taken. Both teams
hit the woodwork in extra time. Yet on the
whole, the Germans enjoyed the greater part of the play, and the stronger team
advanced to the final.
Still suffering from their
cruel semi-final exits on penalty kicks, both England and Italy treated the
third-place match rather casually, perhaps because it could furnish no
consolation at all. Although Italy deserved their 2-1 victory, England
deserved the warm welcome they got on reaching home, their stock considerably
higher than on their departure a month earlier.
Further Information
The results, tables and match
summaries for the entire 1990 final tournament are available both on the
FIFA
website and in the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistical
Foundation Archive.
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