[Football] World Cup 1994... where the hell were you?

[Swansman]

1994... the biggest World Cup of all times; an average of over 69 000 spectators per game, a total of 3,6 million attending the games - a record yet to be broken. Played in the only superpower at the time, showing them what football is. One of the warmest summers. The first World Cup of the modern era; the ultra-defensive football of WC 1990 - a tournament only Cameroonians and English care about today - was dead in the water through the removal of the backpass rule and the implemention of the "3 points per win" system.

Obviously the tournament is in Swedish folklore forever. The world might have forgotten it, but we still remember our bronze medal, and scoring the most goals out of any team. I'm guessing very few in here know what a World Cup medal feels like: it feels great. Try it, you'll like it .

The tournament had no Pelé, Cruijff or Maradona (well, he was there for one game before testing positive for cocaine), but about 20 teams playing very attacking football and a huge set of "well he may not have been Pelé but..." players at their peak, like these strikers: Roberto Baggio, Romario, Hristo Stoichkov, Dennis Bergkamp, Jürgen Klinsmann, Gabriel Batistuta.

The tournament was won by Brazil, oddly enough one of the most defensive teams of the tournament relying a lot on their defensive midfielders Dunga & Mauro Silva and Romario/Bebeto grabbing any chance up front, after a boring final against another of the very few defensive minded teams - Italy, with Maldini and Baresi in central defense.

Enough rambling:

1. What happened to you?
2. How do you think you would have fared if you qualified?
3. Did you watch the tournament despite the absence of England? What were your thought and feelings?

 

[sparkie]

Swedes 2 - Turnips 1

in a nutshell.


( Actually that was a different tournament, but we were pretty dire around that time under Turnip Taylor ).

 

[Sorrel]

I was travelling round Scandinavia that summer - Norway for the group stages, Sweden for the knock-out stages onward - lots of fun.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

What is this 'World Cup 1994' of which you speak?

 

[Chicken Run]

I was based at HMS Nelson during this tournament.


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[pasty]

I always lose interest when England go out of any tournament, therefore I watched practically none of the '94 World Cup.

 

[Grombleton]

I was at school. I was 8/9 when the tournament was on.

 

[stewart12]

I was just a bit too young for this tournament- Euro 96 was the first one that really got my attention

question for [MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] , having been so good in '94 and indeed '92, why did Sweden then fail to qualify for '96 and '98?

 

[Bodian]

I was living / studying in Holland that summer. It was brilliant - we were living in a multi-national house (50 of us, about 20 different nationalities), so it was a real atmosphere most of the time. I enjoyed it more than many World Cups, possibly because England weren't there.

I came home between the semis and final, and went off to North Wales straight away. We were camping in Llangollen and went to the pub for the final. Just started tucking into chicken and chips and the game was 10 minutes old, when the landlord came over and turned the telly off for their 'karaoke night' - there were only about three other customers there! Went to another pub when we'd finished our food, but hardly worth the effort - one of the most boring finals in memory.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Six years before, it was announced that the tournament would be held in the ‘good old US of A. It was at that point I lost all interest.

Sweden........ppfffffffffff!

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

There were some cracking games in that tournament. Seem to remember staying up very late to watch Romania beat Argentina 3-2 in a thriller

 

[Swansman]

I was just a bit too young for this tournament- Euro 96 was the first one that really got my attention

question for [MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] , having been so good in '94 and indeed '92, why did Sweden then fail to qualify for '96 and '98?

I was also way too young, Euro 2000 was my first real tournament, but I spent a summer watching almost every (available) game World cup/Euro game since 1958, and as for the 94 WC there's been a shit load of documentaries etc on Swedish tv.

Sweden failed to qualifiy to 96 and 98, from what I've heard, because of several factors: a bit of a hangover from 1994, goalkeeper issues, Martin Dahlin battling with rheumatism.

But the main reason was that our only true world class player at the time, Tomas Brolin, broke his leg in a Euro 96 qualifier in November 1994 and never got anywhere near the same level again.

He was only 24 when it happened so he should have been able to get back, but was treated completely inhumanely by Leeds & Howard Wilkinson and got tired of football. Too bad for him and too bad for Sweden, who had about zero creative midfielders besides him and didnt get one until 2001.

 

[Gwylan]

There were some cracking games in that tournament. Seem to remember staying up very late to watch Romania beat Argentina 3-2 in a thriller

Although the final itself was one of the most boring - it was a shocker.

 

[Igzilla]

I was made redundant that Spring, and I'd applied to go to college in the Autumn to finally do my A levels, so I had the whole summer off. I'd just moved into a new place in the centre of town, next door to a pub. I think I watched every single game I could, except for when there were clashes, so in all I watched about 55 games. Halcyon days! It was so hot, I sat out on the flat roof most evenings drinking (or nabbing a cheeky takeaway beer from next door), then moved inside when the night's games kicked off.

 

[jamie (not that one)]

I was 13 and watched it at home. I don't really remember much of Italia 90 except some snippets of watching it at friends' houses (my dad didn't care about football) so 94 was the first WC I really paid attention to.

Euro 96 and WC 98 I managed to watch in grotty pubs that would serve kids. William the Forth, a pub I can't remember by the fire station and one by Churchill Square (The Lamb maybe?) were the main haunts.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I was mostly down the park. When I wasn't I enjoyed watching Bulgaria and Romania. Particularly when Bulgaria knocked out the Germans. We played some German exchange students in the park straight after that game. It ended in a punch up.

The final was awful. Memorable only for Baggio who was magnificent ballooning his penalty to the moon. I have no recollection of how Sweden did, sorry. But lets be honest, the thing that that world cup will be most remembered for (apart from the horror show penalties bookending it) is that goal by Bergkamp. Probably my all time favourite (non Albion/England) goal.

 

[ManOfSussex]

Although the final itself was one of the most boring - it was a shocker.

Plus in the group stages Norway v Republic of Ireland was possibly the worst game I can ever remember seeing.

Great memories though, it was the summer I left secondary school and we were chasing after foreign language students. As well as that Romania v Argentina game, highlights were:

Diana Ross's penalty miss.
Alan Hansen's verdict on Andreas Escobar's defending.
Spain drawing with South Korea.
Saudi Arabia beating Belgium with a wonder goal.
Italy somehow beating Nigeria in the 2nd round.
Holland v Brazil in the quarters.

But best of all, Letchkov's winner against Germany.

 

[Butch Willykins]

I blame Ronald Koeman. If he wasn't such as cheating **** Carlton Palmer would have graced the World Cup finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUPbB0n8Y4U

 

[Birdie Boy]

I got married on July 2nd 1994. For months, I was trying to persuade the future wife that we should holiday in the USA, then we failed to qualify. So, the future wife got her way and we booked Antigua.
Turned up at the resort and I saw a load of men coming out of a room and said to the now wife, "I think I've found where the footy is on"! I watched a couple of games but I can't really remember them, maybe an ireland one, and watched the final. I think I was busy the rest of the time! [emoji3]

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[Badger]

This is all you need to know about World Cup 1994