Football World Cup 1990

The 1990 Football World Cup was held in Italy. It was won by West Germany, who beat Argentina 1-0 in the final.

Firsts

• For the first time, both World Cup semifinals were decided by penalty shootouts.
• The tournament marks the first time a World Cup tournament has ever hit such a low goals-per-game average. There were 115 goals, and, taking account of extra time when applicable, 4920 minutes of play - which means 1 goal every 42.7 minutes, or only 2.1 goals for every 90-minute game.
• First appearance of Costa Rica, the Republic of Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, and reappearance of the United States after a 40-year absence. Both UAE and USA were dismissed in group play.
• This was the first and last World Cup in which 2 european teams were defeated by a Central American squad: Costa Rica 1:0 Scotland (goal by Juan Cayasso), and Costa Rica 2:1 Sweden (goals by Johnny Ekström; Róger Flores and Hernán Médford). Other Central American teams playing the World Cup had close-to-disastrous results (El Salvador 1970 & 1982, Honduras 1970.

The final alone had several firsts:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• For the first time a team reached three World Cup finals in a row: Germany had already lost the finals in 1982 and 1986. This feat was later repeated by Brazil in 1994, 1998 and 2002 with better results : two titles out of three finals.
• It was the first rematch of a preceding final: The World Cup 1986 already saw Argentina and Germany in the final, only with a different winner.
• Pedro Monzón of Argentina became the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final. Teammate Gustavo Abel Dezotti was also sent off.
• For the first time, the losing team did not score a goal: Germany won by a penalty, almost saved by Sergio Goycochea, scored in the 85th minute by Andreas Brehme after a heavily disputed foul on Rudi Völler. As such, Germany's Bodo Illgner became the first goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup final.