 The final was played at theStadio Olimpico | |||||||
| Event | 1990 FIFA World Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 8 July 1990 | ||||||
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico, Rome | ||||||
| Referee | Edgardo Codesal (Mexico) | ||||||
| Attendance | 73,603 | ||||||
| Weather | 26 °C (79 °F) 65%humidity | ||||||
←1986 1994 → | |||||||
The1990 FIFA World Cup final was afootball match played betweenWest Germany andArgentina to determine the winner of the1990 FIFA World Cup. The game took place on 8 July 1990 at theStadio Olimpico in Italy's capital and largest city,Rome, and was won 1–0 by West Germany, with a latepenalty kick taken byAndreas Brehme being the game's only goal.
The match marked several firsts in World Cup history. This was the first rematch of a final and, to date, the only back-to-back rematch, asArgentina defeated West Germany in the previous final. Argentina became both the first team to fail to score in a World Cup final and the first defending champion to reach the final and lose. West Germany's victory over Argentina marked the first time a UEFA side had defeated a CONMEBOL side in a final, in six attempts (South Americans had won all five previous finals between the two continents).
West Germany became the first team to play in three consecutive finals (they played in the1982 and 1986 finals), a feat only repeated byBrazil in 1994, 1998, and 2002. It was West Germany's last World Cup match; the team played three more games before a unified German team was formed later in 1990, as a result of thereunification of the country after more than 40 years.
| West Germany | Round | Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final standing |
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| Opponent | Result | Knockout stage | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Netherlands | 2–1 | Round of 16 |  Brazil | 1–0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Czechoslovakia | 1–0 | Quarter-finals | Yugoslavia | 0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–2pen.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 England | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3pen.) | Semi-finals |  Italy | 1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3pen.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian presidentFrancesco Cossiga,FIFA presidentJoão Havelange,FIFA secretary generalSepp Blatter,[1]West German presidentRichard von Weizsäcker[2] andchancellorHelmut Kohl, as well as theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) presidentJuan Antonio Samaranch, IOC memberFahad Al-Sabah,[3] andUEFA honorary presidentJacques Georges,[4] were among those attended the final. President Cossiga later handed theFIFA World Cup Trophy to West German captainLothar Matthäus.
The 1990 final is often cited as one of the most cynical and ugliest World Cup finals.[5] It was an ill-tempered game, notable for the first two sendings off in a World Cup final. Ian Morrison wrote "the game did little for football but there was one consolation: Had the Argentines lifted the World Cup – with two wins and five goals in their seven matches – it would have been a catastrophe for the game. At least their awful approach to Italia '90 had gone unrewarded."[6]
The West Germany team attacked relentlessly from the beginning of the match. In the 3rd minute,Rudi Völler, who had been forced off with a leg injury in the semi-final against England,[7] had the first clear-cut opportunity to score from close range following afree-kick cross byAndreas Brehme, but his off-balancetoe punt went off target. West Germany won another free kick in a more dangerous position two minutes later whenPierre Littbarski was fouled in thepenalty arc. Brehme's shot hit the wall andKlaus Augenthaler's follow-up long-range strike was saved by Argentine goalkeeperSergio Goycochea. In the 8th and 12th minutes, Völler's header and Littbarski'scurl shot went high and wide of the goal, respectively. In the 13th minute, Völler failed to receive Brehme'soutswinging cross, and the ball supposedly struck the arm of the Argentina defenderOscar Ruggeri. The Mexican refereeEdgardo Codesal refused to award apenalty kick despiteJürgen Klinsmann's appealing for handball.[8] Five minutes later, Völler appeared to be taken down in the Argentine penalty area, but Codesal indicated to play on.[9] In the 23rd minute, West German captainLothar Matthäus's cross found Völler and his header was again wide of the target. In the 38th minute, Argentina gained a dangerous free kick whenJosé Basualdo was fouled byGuido Buchwald. Argentina's captainDiego Maradona's kick went up and over the wall but couldn't dip back to be on target. At half-time, the score was still level at 0-0.
The West Germans had a few chances at the start of the second half. Littbarski cut inside, dribbling past three South American defenders, but his shot from outside the box went just wide. Later,Thomas Berthold and Rudi Völler, respectively, failed to capitalize from dangerous free kicks taken by Andreas Brehme. In the 58th minute, Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea appeared to take down Klaus Augenthaler inside the penalty area, but the referee Edgardo Codesal again refused to award a penalty kick.Pedro Monzón had the distinction of being the first player to be sent off at a FIFA World Cup final, after being shown a straight red card for a reckless studs up challenge 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 (6 in) gash on his shin.[10] In the 78th minute, after an incorrectly givencorner kick, West German captain Matthäus lost the ball inside his own penalty area and then appeared to tripGabriel Calderón. Codesal once again said to play on, amid penalty shouts from the Argentinian midfielder.[11]
Six minutes from full time, Codesal incurred the wrath of the Argentinians after awarding West Germany a questionable[12][13][6] penalty kick forRoberto Sensini'ssliding tackle on Völler. Regular penalty taker Matthäus had been forced to replace hisboots during the match and did not feel comfortable in the new ones,[14] so Andreas Brehme took his place and converted the spot kick with a low, right-footed shot to the goalkeeper's right.[15]
Gustavo Dezotti, already cautioned in the first half, received a straight red card late in the match when he hauled downJürgen Kohler with whatThe 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, with Maradona receiving a yellow card for dissent.[16] At the final whistle, Maradona, who was man marked byGuido Buchwald for almost the entire match,[17] burst into tears and blamed the referee for the loss.[15] 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 suspension.[18][19][20]
In total, West Germany had 16 scoring chances out of 23 shots. German head coach Franz Beckenbauer said "There were no doubts whatsoever who was going to win. For 90 minutes we attacked Argentina and there was no feeling of any danger that a goal would be scored against us. As I saw it, we outplayed them from beginning to end." Beckenbauer said that the penalty "was not the key to the game because in any case we would have scored, even if it had taken overtime... 1–0 by a penalty doesn't give a fair idea of this game. We could have won, 3–0. I don't remember a single chance Argentina had to score a goal."[6]
Argentina became the competition's first finalist not to score, with only one shot on goal.[15] The South Americans failed to put together a coherent attacking strategy and lost the ball frequently. Instead, they focused on defending at all costs, knowing they would have the advantage if they managed to reach thepenalty shoot-out, as they had already advanced twice in the tournament by this means.[18][19][20] At the time, the 1990 final was the lowest-scoring final in the history of the competition—although this record was brokenfour years later, whenBrazil beatItaly on penalties after 120 goalless minutes.
The 1990 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 defeats), as well as avenging their defeat at the hands of Argentina in theprevious final. It also meant that Germany coachFranz Beckenbauer became the only person to have won both silver and gold medals at the World Cup as a player (1966,1974) and as a coach (1986, 1990), and he also won a bronze medal as a player (1970). Having won on penalties against England in the semi-finals, West Germany became the first team to have won by that method en route to the title. This was repeated by Brazil (1994),France (1998), Italy (2006), and Argentina (twice in2022, including thefinal).
West Germany  | 1–0 |  Argentina |
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Brehme 85' (pen.) | Report |
          West Germany |      Argentina |
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Linesmen: | Match rules:
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After half-time, the game grew harsher, when Klaus Augenthaler was blantanly tripped in the box by Goycoecha, Germany had far stronger claims for a penalty than that which won the match. Sensini bought down Völler in the area Codesal gave a penalty, Argentina protested furiously, and seemed to have a pretty good case.
In the first half, I was having some problems with my boots. The sole cracked and I had to play the second half with completely new boots, which I'd never worn before. They were a completely new model. I always preferred well worn-in boots, but I didn't have a second pair with me. You don't think about things like that. Then the man from adidas came up to me and said, "This is the only pair we've got," so I said 'ok' because all I wanted to do was get back out there and play. So he gave me the boots, but I just didn't feel right in them.
1990 FIFA World Cup finalists | |
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| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| Round of 16 | |
| Group stage | |
Fédération internationale de football association (FIFA) | |
| Tournaments |
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| Qualification | |
| Finals | |
| Squads | |
| Final draw | |
| Broadcasters | |
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| Team appearances | |
| Other records |
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| Miscellaneous | |
