Soccer World Cup 1990 / Argentina

This article covers the Argentina national football team at the 1990 World Cup .

qualification

The Argentine team was automatically qualified as world champions.

Argentine contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Nery Pumpido	Betis Seville	07/30/1957	2	0	0	0
12	Sergio Goycochea	Millonarios FC	10/17/1963	6th	0	1	0
22nd	Fabián Cancelarich	Ferro Carril Oeste	12/30/1965	0	0	0	0
Defender
5	Edgardo Bauza	CD Veracruz	01/26/1958	0	0	0	0
11	Néstor Fabbri	Racing Club	04/29/1968	1	0	0	0
13	Néstor Lorenzo	AS Bari	02/26/1966	3	0	0	0
15th	Pedro Monzón	CA Independiente	02/23/1962	4th	1	2	1
17th	Roberto Néstor Sensini	Udinese Calcio	October 12, 1966	2	0	1	0
18th	José Serrizuela	CA River Plate	06/10/1962	5	0	3	0
19th	Óscar Ruggeri	real Madrid	01/26/1962	5	0	1	0
20th	Juan Simón	CA Boca Juniors	03/02/1960	7th	0	1	0
midfield player
2	Sergio Batista	CA River Plate	11/09/1962	4th	0	2	0
4th	José Basualdo	VfB Stuttgart	06/20/1963	7th	0	0	0
7th	Jorge Burruchaga	FC Nantes	10/09/1962	7th	1	1	0
10	Diego Maradona	SSC Naples	10/30/1960	7th	0	2	0
14th	Ricardo Giusti	CA Independiente	December 11, 1956	4th	0	2	1
16	Julio Olarticoechea	Racing Club	10/18/1958	5	0	2	0
21st	Pedro Troglio	Lazio Rome	07/28/1965	6th	1	2	0
striker
3	Abel Balbo	Udinese Calcio	06/01/1966	1	0	0	0
6th	Gabriel Calderón	Paris Saint-Germain	02/07/1960	5	0	0	0
8th	Claudio Caniggia	Atalanta Bergamo	01/09/1967	6th	2	2	0
9	Gustavo Dezotti	US Cremonese	02/14/1964	3	0	1	1
Trainer
	Dr. Carlos Bilardo		March 16, 1939

Argentina team matches

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Cameroon	3: 5	4th
2	Romania	4: 3	3
3	Argentina	3: 2	3
4th	Soviet Union	4: 4	2

• Argentina - Cameroon 0: 1 (0: 0)

Stadium: Giuseppe Meazza Stadium ( Milan )

Spectators: 73,780

Referee: Michel Vautrot ( France )

Goals: 0: 1 Omam-Biyik (67.)

• Argentina - Soviet Union 2: 0 (1: 0)

Stadium: Stadio San Paolo ( Naples )

Spectators: 55,759

Referee: Erik Fredriksson ( Sweden )

Goals: 1-0 Troglio (27th), 2-0 Burruchaga (79th)

• Argentina - Romania 1: 1 (0: 0)

Stadium: Stadio San Paolo ( Naples )

Spectators: 52,733

Referee: Carlos Alberto Silva Valente ( Portugal )

Goals: 1-0 Monzón (63.), 1: 1 Balint (68.)

World champions Argentina met Cameroon in the opening game of the tournament in Group B and suffered a sensational 1-0 defeat. The victory of the black Africans was not their only trick in this group, because the Romanians also had to bow to this opponent with 1: 2. Cameroon could even afford to lose the last game against the Russians 4-0 without losing the group's leading position. This victory was no longer of any use to the Russians, as the two 2-0 defeats against group runners-up Romania and Argentina meant an early end. Argentina just reached the round of 16 in third place.

Round of 16

61,381

Stadio delle Alpi ( Turin )

Argentina

Brazil

Joël Quiniou ( France )

1: 0 (0: 0)

1-0 Caniggia (80th)

Many saw an anticipated final in the match between Brazil and Argentina. The Sugar Loaf kickers dominated the rivals from South America for long stretches of the season, but apart from a few aluminum hits, nothing jumped out of the attack efforts. An inimitable solo by Diego Maradona decided the argument ten minutes before the final whistle. Caniggia received his submission after the slalom race, and he did not miss the chance to win 1-0.

Quarter finals

38,971

Stadio Artemio Franchi ( Florence )

Argentina

Yugoslavia

Kurt Röthlisberger ( Switzerland )

0: 0 a.d., 3: 2 i. E.

Penalty: Serrizuela hit Stojković Latte Burruchaga hit Prosinečki hit Maradona kept Savićević hit Troglio post Brnović kept Dezotti hit Hadžibegić kept

The superior Yugoslavs ran in vain with ten men against the defensive bulwark of the Argentines, who could hardly cause danger in front of the goalkeeper Ivkovic's goal. So the penalty shoot-out had to decide, whereby Goycochea was able to excel in the gauchos' goal with two penalty kicks saved. Stojkovic, Brnovic and Hadzibegic failed at Yugoslavia, while Maradona and Troglio failed to convert their penalties.

Semifinals

59,978

Stadio San Paolo ( Naples )

Argentina

Italy

Michel Vautrot ( France )

1: 1 n.V., 4: 3 i. E.

0: 1 Schillaci (17th) 1: 1 Caniggia (67.) Penalty: Baresi hit Serrizuela hit Baggio hit Burruchaga hit De Agostini hit Olarticoechea hit Donadoni kept Maradona hit Serena kept

Italy and Argentina met in Naples, the home of the Argentine superstar Maradona at the time. In this explosive environment, the Italians took the lead again through Schillaci, who scored his fifth goal (17th). Again the defensive Italians withdrew and left the gauchos to overweight. But in this game they had chosen the wrong tactic, because under the direction of Maradona the South Americans repeatedly came dangerously in front of the goal of the goalkeeper Walter Zenga, who had been undefeated in this tournament until then. And in the 67th minute it happened. Caniggia extended an Olarticoechea cross into the Italian goal against Zenga, who was indisposed in this situation. Despite a dubious expulsion from Giusti, the weakened Argentines held the 1-1 draw until the inevitable penalty shoot-out. Again Goycochea was the hero of the South Americans. Donadoni and Serena failed because of the goalkeeper and their nerves. The reigning world champion made it back to the final.

final

72,698

Olympic Stadium ( Rome )

Argentina

Germany

Edgardo Codesal Méndez ( Mexico )

0: 1 (0: 0)

0: 1 Brehme (85th) penalty

The final between Germany and Argentina wasn't the highlight of the tournament. In the one-sided game - the Argentines played with an extremely destructive wall tactic - the Germans struggled for a long time to fill a gap in the South American defense. The sizzling tension of a low-level game reached its climax in the 85th minute when Rudi Völler fell in the Argentinian penalty area. Referee Mendez (Mexico) immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Before Andreas Brehme had to take the penalty, the referee had to fend off angry protests from the gauchos. But Brehme was not deterred and shot the leather flat into the left outer corner of the goal. Germany was soccer world champion for the third time after 1954 and 1974. In retrospect, the observers agreed that the team that achieved the highest level in all seven games deservedly won the title.