Football World Cup 1994

1994 FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup 94
Number of nations	24  (of 143 applicants)
World Champion	Brazil (4th title)
venue	United States
Opening game	June 17, 1994 ( Chicago )
Endgame	July 17, 1994 ( Pasadena )
Games	52
Gates	141  (⌀: 2.71 per game)
spectator	3,587,538  (⌀: 68,991 per game)
Top scorer	Oleg Salenko and Christo Stoitschkow (6 goals each)
Best player	Romario
Best goalkeeper	Michel Preud'homme
yellow cards	228  (⌀: 4.38 per game)
Yellow-red cards	7  (⌀: 0.13 per game)
Red cards	7  (⌀: 0.13 per game)

The final round of the FIFA World Cup 1994 ( English FIFA World Cup ) was the 15th playout this important tournament for football - national teams and was held from 17 June to 17 July 1994 for the first time in the United States instead.

Brazil became world champions in the final against Italy, with a penalty shoot-out for the first time. Defending champion Germany failed in the quarterfinals and missed the final for the first time since 1978. Vice World Champion Argentina was eliminated in the round of 16, whose captain Diego Maradona tested positive for drugs before the last group game and was excluded from the tournament. With the USA, the hosts were eliminated for the first time in the round of 16. The top scorer was Oleg Salenko and Christo Stoitschkow with 6 goals each, with Salenko scoring 5 goals in the group game Russia against Cameroon , setting a record, but Russia was eliminated after the group stage. In the same game, Roger Milla scored the only goal for Cameroon at the age of 42, making him the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history.

Although soccer was only a niche sport in the USA at the time, the World Cup proved to be a crowd puller; it was the World Cup with both the highest number of spectators per game and the highest total number of spectators, although the number of participating nations was subsequently increased from 24 to 32.

The World Cup was accompanied by three tragedies. During the qualification, a plane crash on April 27, 1993 killed a total of 30 people, including the Zambian national soccer team on the way to the qualification game in Senegal . A good month before the start of the tournament, the successful Brazilian automobile racing driver Ayrton Senna died after his fatal accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix . Brazil dedicated the World Cup title to him: Immediately after the final whistle, all players held a poster in the cameras that read the dedication. During the World Cup, Colombian Andrés Escobar , who had knocked the team out of the competition with his own goal against the USA, was shot while leaving a Medellín night bar. However, a connection between the murder and the own goal could not be proven.

Award

The award took place on July 4, 1988 at the FIFA Congress in Zurich . The USA prevailed with ten votes against its competitors Morocco (seven votes) and Brazil (two votes).

Venues

The World Cup games were played in nine stadiums in nine different cities across the United States. The capacity of the stadiums relates to the time of the football World Cup in 1994. With the game USA - Switzerland , the Pontiac Silverdome was the first to be a World Cup game in a fully covered stadium. There were three more group matches played there.

Chicago	Dallas	Pasadena
Soldier Field	Cotton Bowl	Rose Bowl Stadium
Capacity: 67,000	Capacity: 67,000	Capacity: 91,000
Pontiac	Pasadena (Los Angeles) Pontiac (Detroit) Stanford (San Francisco) East Rutherford (New York) Orlando Chicago Dallas Foxborough (Boston) Washington, DC		East Rutherford
Silverdome			Giants Stadium
Capacity: 80,000			Capacity: 77,000
Foxborough	Palo Alto	Orlando	Washington, DC
Foxboro Stadium	Stanford Stadium	Florida Citrus Bowl	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Capacity: 61,000	Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 70,000	Capacity: 56,000

1. ↑ In many sources, Los Angeles is mentioned as the venue .
2. ↑ In many sources, the nearby Detroit is named as the venue .
3. ↑ In many sources, nearby New York is named as the venue .
4. ↑ In many sources, the nearby Boston is named as the venue .
5. ↑ In many sources, the nearby San Francisco is named as the venue .

statistics

city	Stadion	Games	capacity	Total number of viewers	cut	Play with the most viewers	Play with the fewest spectators
Chicago	Soldier Field	5	67,000	312.725	62,545	Bulgaria - Greece (preliminary round) 63,160	Germany - Belgium (round of 16) 60,246
Dallas	Cotton Bowl	6th	67,000	352.152	58,692	Germany - South Korea and Argentina - Bulgaria (preliminary round) 63,998	Nigeria - Bulgaria (preliminary round) 44,132
Pasadena	Rose Bowl Stadium	8th	91,000	740.807	92,601	Brazil - Italy (final) 94,194	Romania v Argentina (round of 16) 90,469
Pontiac	Silverdome	4th	80,000	283,598	70,900	Brazil - Sweden (preliminary round) 77,217	Romania - Switzerland (preliminary round) 61,428
East Rutherford	Giants Stadium	7th	77,000	515,828	73,690	Saudi Arabia - Morocco (preliminary round) 76,322	Mexico v Bulgaria (round of 16) 71,030
Foxborough	Foxboro Stadium	6th	61,000	324.130	54.022	Argentina - Greece (preliminary round) 54,456	Greece - Nigeria (preliminary round) 53,001
Stanford	Stanford Stadium	6th	80,000	490.424	81,737	Brazil v USA (round of 16) 84,147	Russia - Cameroon (preliminary round) 74,914
Orlando	Florida Citrus Bowl	5	70,000	306.329	61,266	Belgium - Netherlands (preliminary round) 62,387	Morocco - Netherlands (preliminary round) 60,578
Washington, DC	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	5	56,000	261,545	52,309	Spain - Switzerland (round of 16) 53,121	Netherlands - Saudi Arabia (preliminary round) 50,535

qualification

→ Main article : Qualifying for the 1994 World Cup

143 nations registered their participation in the qualification for the 1994 World Cup. The USA as hosts and Germany as defending champions were already automatically qualified, whereby 129 nations played for a total of 22 free places. With Greece, Nigeria, Russia and Saudi Arabia, four national teams qualified for a World Cup finals for the first time.

13 from Europe	Belgium	Bulgaria	Germany	Greece	Ireland
	Italy	Netherlands	Norway	Romania	Russia
	Sweden	Switzerland	Spain
4 from South America	Argentina	Bolivia	Brazil	Colombia
2 from North, Central America and the Caribbean	Mexico	United States
3 from Africa	Cameroon	Morocco	Nigeria
2 from Asia	Saudi Arabia	South Korea

World map of the participants with their placements

draw

The draw took place on December 19, 1993 at the Convention Center in Las Vegas . The TV broadcast by ESPN achieved an audience rating of just 0.5% in the USA (313,000 of 62.7 million households were interested).

mode

Pot 1 contained the most successful teams plus hosts USA. These six teams formed the six group heads, all of whom were placed in the first position in the six groups. What was unusual was the fact that the assignment of the final group numbers for commercial reasons (AF) was only carried out after a complete draw in a secret meeting by a FIFA committee. However, the teams were drawn in the order listed above, i.e. Germany first and the USA at the end. Pot 2 contained the American and African teams. Bolivia and Colombia could not be drawn to the South American group heads Argentina and Brazil, Mexico not to the USA. Pot 3 contained six European teams that were freely drawn. Argentina, Brazil and the USA were drawn from pot 4 to select a European team so that at least two European teams played in each group. The two Asian teams Saudi Arabia and South Korea thus inevitably came into a group with a European group head.

Pots

• Pot 1: Germany (C), Brazil (B), Argentina (D), Belgium (F), Italy (E), USA (A)
• Pot 2: Cameroon, Colombia, Bolivia, Nigeria, Morocco, Mexico
• Pot 3: Spain, Russia, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Ireland, Romania
• Pot 4: South Korea, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Norway, Switzerland

This resulted in the following groups after the draw:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F.
USA (23)	Brazil (3)	Germany (1)	Argentina (8)	Italy (4)	Belgium (27)
Switzerland (12)	Russia (19)	Bolivia (43)	Greece (31)	Ireland (14)	Morocco (28)
Colombia (17)	Cameroon (24)	Spain (5)	Nigeria (11)	Norway (6)	Netherlands (2)
Romania (7)	Sweden (10)	South Korea (37)	Bulgaria (29)	Mexico (16)	Saudi Arabia (34)

Numbers in brackets = position in the FIFA World Ranking on June 14, 1994

mode

The 24 participants were divided into six preliminary groups with four teams each. The first two in each group as well as the four best third placed qualified for the round of 16. From the round of 16, the tournament was played in a knockout system . For the first time at a World Cup, three points were awarded for a win (previously two), and one point for a tie. However, this did not affect the rankings. With the old two-point rating, which still applied to the World Cup qualification for this World Cup, all the round of 16 pairings would have been the same.

Preliminary round

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Romania	3	2	0	1	005: 500	± 0	06th
2.	Switzerland	3	1	1	1	005: 400	+1	04th
3.	United States	3	1	1	1	003: 300	± 0	04th
4th	Colombia	3	1	0	2	004: 500	−1	03

June 18, 1994 at 11:30 a.m. EDT in Pontiac
United States	-	Switzerland	1: 1 (1: 1)
June 18, 1994, 4:30 p.m. PDT (June 19, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Pasadena
Colombia	-	Romania	1: 3 (1: 2)
June 22, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in Pontiac
Romania	-	Switzerland	1: 4 (1: 1)
June 22, 1994, 4:30 p.m. PDT (June 23, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Pasadena
United States	-	Colombia	2: 1 (1: 0)
June 26, 1994 at 1:00 p.m. PDT in Pasadena
United States	-	Romania	0: 1 (0: 1)
June 26, 1994, 1:00 p.m. PDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Switzerland	-	Colombia	0: 2 (0: 1)

In Group A, Colombia, classified as a secret favorite by Pelé, came last and was eliminated in the preliminary round despite well-known players such as Valderrama , Asprilla , Rincón and the then Bayern striker Adolfo Valencia . The Switzerland , half of whose starting eleven from Bundesliga was -Spielern, recorded a significant victory against Romania , which with Gheorghe Hagi hit the hosts and moved as a group winner in the next round. The United States were, despite their home advantage by many as outsiders , which was not confirmed. They beat Colombia, favored by many, thanks to an Andrés Escobar own goal . It was speculated that Escobar was probably shot a few days later in front of a bar in Medellín because of this own goal , but a connection could not be proven.

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Brazil	3	2	1	0	006: 100	+5	07th
2.	Sweden	3	1	2	0	006: 400	+2	05
3.	Russia	3	1	0	2	007: 600	+1	03
4th	Cameroon	3	0	1	2	003:110	−8	01

June 19, 1994, 4:30 p.m. PDT (June 20, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Pasadena
Cameroon	-	Sweden	2: 2 (1: 1)
June 20, 1994, 1:00 p.m. PDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Brazil	-	Russia	2: 0 (1: 0)
June 24, 1994, 1:00 p.m. PDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Brazil	-	Cameroon	3: 0 (1: 0)
June 24, 1994 7:30 p.m. EDT (June 25, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Pontiac
Sweden	-	Russia	3: 1 (1: 1)
June 28, 1994, 1:00 p.m. PDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Russia	-	Cameroon	6: 1 (3: 0)
June 28, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in Pontiac
Brazil	-	Sweden	1: 1 (0: 1)

In group B, the three-time world champion Brazil dominated with the storm duo Romário and Bebeto . Nevertheless, coach Parreira was often criticized at home for his sober style of playing football. Against Russia and Cameroon had the team of Carlos Alberto Parreira little trouble in their final group game, the tactically disciplined and defensively oriented Sweden should prepare something more difficulties to the Brazilians. Sweden got off to a mixed start into the tournament, but thanks to a strong line-up on the offensive alongside the traditionally strong defense, they were able to win the round of 16 ticket. Russia only showed what it had to offer in the last group game. Here met Oleg Salenko the first and so far only player in World Cup history in a game five times into the goal. Nevertheless, the first World Cup for the Russians after the collapse of the Soviet Union ended after the preliminary round. Cameroon was unable to match the performance of the 1990 World Cup . Old star Roger Milla should at least ensure the second record within the game between Cameroon and Russia, which is ultimately insignificant for the rest of the tournament. At 42 years old, he is the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history (as of 2014 World Cup).

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	2	1	0	005: 300	+2	07th
2.	Spain	3	1	2	0	006: 400	+2	05
3.	South Korea	3	0	2	1	004: 500	−1	02
4th	Bolivia	3	0	1	2	001: 400	−3	01

June 17, 1994 at 2:00 p.m. CDT in Chicago
Germany	-	Bolivia	1: 0 (0: 0)
June 17, 1994 at 6:30 p.m. CDT (June 18, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Dallas
Spain	-	South Korea	2: 2 (0: 0)
June 21, 1994 at 3:00 p.m. CDT in Chicago
Germany	-	Spain	1: 1 (0: 1)
June 23, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. EDT at Foxborough
South Korea	-	Bolivia	0-0
June 27, 1994, 3:00 p.m. CDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Chicago
Bolivia	-	Spain	1: 3 (0: 1)
June 27, 1994, 3:00 p.m. CDT (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Dallas
Germany	-	South Korea	3: 2 (3: 0)

Germany was the first defending champion to win the opening game. Two wins were enough to advance, with the half-time lead against South Korea shrinking from three goals difference to one goal difference. Spain started with a draw against South Korea, qualified with another draw against the world champions and a win over Bolivia . With ultimately unsuccessful recovery phases in the games against Spain and Germany, South Korea also remained without a win in their fourth World Cup participation. In the game between Bolivia and South Korea, the Scottish referee had Mottram replay for 13 minutes.

Stefan Effenberg was sent home by Berti Vogts after showing the German fans the middle finger when he was substituted in the game against South Korea .

Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	006: 200	+4	06th
2.	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
3.	Argentina	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
4th	Greece	3	0	0	3	000:100	−10	00
Bulgaria runners up in the group by direct comparison ahead of Argentina

Foxborough June 21, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT (6:30 p.m. EDT )
Argentina	-	Greece	4: 0 (2: 0)
June 21, 1994 at 6:30 p.m. CDT (June 22, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Dallas
Nigeria	-	Bulgaria	3: 0 (2: 0)
June 25, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in Foxborough
Argentina	-	Nigeria	2: 1 (2: 1)
June 26, 1994 at 11:30 a.m. CDT (6:30 p.m. CEST) in Chicago
Bulgaria	-	Greece	4: 0 (1: 0)
June 30, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. EDT (July 1 at 1:30 a.m. EDT ) at Foxborough
Greece	-	Nigeria	0: 2 (0: 1)
June 30, 1994 at 6:30 p.m. CDT (July 1, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Dallas
Argentina	-	Bulgaria	0: 2 (0: 0)

Argentina got off to a good start in the tournament, thanks largely to its superstars Maradona and Caniggia . On the day of the last group match against Bulgaria, Maradona's exclusion from the tournament due to a positive doping test was announced. The uncertainty and the lack of playful element could already be clearly seen in the Argentines. Bulgaria had left France behind in qualifying and probably had the strongest squad in Bulgarian football history. After the unsuccessful start against Nigeria, they let their opponents know. The technically strong offensive department of the team was particularly impressive. Nigeria already had a team with many, mostly still young, hopefuls. Many of these players should not be able to assert themselves later in the European top leagues, but this World Cup was the beginning of the success story of Nigerian football, after which they were long considered to be the strongest team in Africa. Greece , one of three newcomers to the World Cup (alongside Nigeria and Saudi Arabia ), had no chance in this group. They showed their best game at the end of the group stage against Nigeria, but their individual class should prevail. With no experience and no great individual talent, Greece left the preliminary round without a singing or sounding.

Group E

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Mexico	3	1	1	1	003: 300	± 0	04th
2.	Ireland	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
3.	Italy	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
4th	Norway	3	1	1	1	001: 100	± 0	04th
Ireland by direct comparison ahead of Italy runners-up

June 18, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Italy	-	Ireland	0: 1 (0: 1)
June 19, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in Washington, DC
Norway	-	Mexico	1: 0 (0: 0)
June 23, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Italy	-	Norway	1: 0 (0: 0)
June 24, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Orlando
Mexico	-	Ireland	2: 1 (1: 0)
June 28, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Ireland	-	Norway	0-0
June 28, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Washington, DC
Italy	-	Mexico	1: 1 (0: 0)

Italy got off to a false start in the World Cup when Ireland was able to retaliate for their quarter-final defeat four years earlier. The Squadra Azzura was able to pull the head out of the noose again. Norway was defeated with a great effort. After goalkeeper Pagliuca saw the red card , coach Sacchi took superstar Roberto Baggio off the field to replace a new goalkeeper. Italy won the game with ten of them, before a slight disillusionment followed against Mexico. Ireland played another strong World Cup. Although the strong Irishmen, with a solid team, failed to score in the last group game against Norway despite their clear superiority, it was enough to advance. Mexico managed to survive the preliminary round for the first time at a soccer World Cup outside of their own country. After the surprisingly strong qualification, Norway believed they could progress, although it was their first participation in the World Cup in 56 years. The goal of the defensive midfielder Rekdal in the game against Mexico was her only one at this World Cup. With practically no storm, they could no longer reach the round of 16. In this most evenly balanced World Cup group in history, only the goals scored and the direct comparison between Ireland and Italy decided on the placements in favor of the Mexicans and Irish.

Group F.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Netherlands	3	2	0	1	004: 300	+1	06th
2.	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	004: 300	+1	06th
3.	Belgium	3	2	0	1	002: 100	+1	06th
4th	Morocco	3	0	0	3	002: 500	−3	00
Netherlands by direct comparison ahead of Saudi Arabia group winners

June 19, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Orlando
Belgium	-	Morocco	1: 0 (1: 0)
June 20, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. EDT in Washington, DC
Netherlands	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 1 (0: 1)
June 25, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Orlando
Belgium	-	Netherlands	1: 0 (0: 0)
June 25, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Saudi Arabia	-	Morocco	2: 1 (2: 1)
June 29, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Orlando
Morocco	-	Netherlands	1: 2 (0: 1)
June 29, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. EDT in Washington, DC
Belgium	-	Saudi Arabia	0: 1 (0: 1)

Newcomer Saudi Arabia should surprise positively in all three preliminary round matches. Only one goalkeeping mistake three minutes before the end allowed them to miss a draw against title co-favorites Netherlands . Then they managed to win against Morocco, which was a little stronger, and a win against Belgium , thanks to a remarkable solo goal by Said al-Uwairan . Morocco were eliminated without a point, although they could always keep all three games open. In the end, the international experience and cleverness that the Dutch possessed was missing. The selection of Dick Advocaat was able to achieve the important winning goal against both Saudi Arabia and Morocco shortly before the end. Belgium had already qualified for the round of 16 after their success in the prestigious duel against the Netherlands, and the defeat against Saudi Arabia was no longer particularly painful.

Ranking of third party groups

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Argentina	3	2	0	1	006: 300	+3	06th
2.	Belgium	3	2	0	1	002: 100	+1	06th
3.	United States	3	1	1	1	003: 300	± 0	04th
4th	Italy	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
5.	Russia	3	1	0	2	007: 600	+1	03
6th	South Korea	3	0	2	1	004: 500	−1	02

Final round

game schedule

	Round of 16				Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	A1: Romania	3
	D3: Argentina	2
					Romania	2 (4)
					Sweden	22 (5) 2
	Q2: Saudi Arabia	1
	B2: Sweden	3
									Sweden	0
									Brazil	1
	B1: Brazil	1
	A3: USA	0
					Brazil	3
					Netherlands	2
	F1: Netherlands	2
	E2: Ireland	0
													Brazil	20 (3) 2
													Italy	0 (2)
	C1: Germany	3
	Q3: Belgium	2
					Germany	1
					Bulgaria	2
	E1: Mexico	1 (1)
	D2: Bulgaria	21 (3) 2
									Bulgaria	1
									Italy	2			3rd place match
	D1: Nigeria	1
	E3: Italy	22 1
					Italy	2							Sweden	4th
					Spain	1							Bulgaria	0
	A2: Switzerland	0
	C2: Spain	3

¹ win after extra time
² win on penalties

Round of 16

Netherlands versus Ireland at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida on July 4, 1994

July 2, 1994 at 12:00 PM CDT (7:00 PM CEST) in Chicago
Germany	-	Belgium	3: 2 (3: 1)
July 2, 1994 at 4:30 p.m. EDT in Washington, DC
Switzerland	-	Spain	0: 3 (0: 1)
July 3, 1994 at 12:00 p.m. CDT in Dallas
Saudi Arabia	-	Sweden	1: 3 (0: 1)
July 3, 1994, 1:30 p.m. PDT (10:30 p.m. CEST) in Pasadena
Romania	-	Argentina	3: 2 (2: 1)
July 4, 1994 at 12:00 PM EDT in Orlando
Netherlands	-	Ireland	2: 0 (2: 0)
July 4, 1994, 12:30 p.m. PDT (9:30 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Brazil	-	United States	1: 0 (0: 0)
Foxborough July 5, 1994 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 p.m. EDT )
Nigeria	-	Italy	1: 2 n.v. (1: 1, 1: 0)
July 5, 1994 at 4:30 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Mexico	-	Bulgaria	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 1: 3 i. E.

The defending champion showed his best tournament performance in the match between Germany and Belgium, but the Germans were still lucky because the Belgians were denied a clear penalty. The main guarantee for the German victory was the storm duo Völler / Klinsmann .

The Swiss were given a chance of reaching the quarter-finals in the game against Spain. An early goal by the Spaniards ensured the preliminary decision, which became a certainty with two goals in the second half.

The surprise team from Saudi Arabia showed a committed performance against Sweden, but they lacked the means to bring the experienced Swedes into trouble. After Saudi Arabia's connection goal in the 85th minute to make it 2-1, the final result was created just three minutes later by a goal from Swede Kennet Andersson.

The Netherlands won their round of 16 easily 2-0 against the Irish. The two goals for Elftal fell in the early stages and the Irish had no chance afterwards.

Argentina had to compete without the suspended Diego Maradona and the injured Claudio Caniggia and could not prevent the defeat against Romania. Romania was in a World Cup quarter-finals for the first time, and Argentina was the worst since 1970 .

Brazil were under pressure as favorites against the US home team and had to play with ten men for more than one half after being sent off by Leonardo . Spain legionnaire Bebeto scored the goal of the day 15 minutes before the final whistle.

Nigeria took the lead in the game against co-favorites Italy. The young, inexperienced team had to accept the equalization shortly before the end of regular time. Ironically, the much scolded Roberto Baggio shot his team into extra time, in which he also scored the winning goal.

Bulgaria completed the quarter-finals. The two goals in the game against Mexico to make it 1-1 after regular time fell in the first 18 minutes. The remaining 100 minutes passed, with the exception of two dismissals, one on each side, without any significant highlights. The following penalty shoot-out was won by the Bulgarians.

Quarter finals

Lothar Matthäus converts a penalty against Bulgaria

July 9, 1994 at 12:00 PM EDT at Foxborough
Italy	-	Spain	2: 1 (1: 0)
July 9, 1994 at 2:30 p.m. CDT (9:30 p.m. CEST) in Dallas
Brazil	-	Netherlands	3: 2 (0: 0)
July 10, 1994 at 12:00 PM EDT in East Rutherford
Bulgaria	-	Germany	2: 1 (0: 0)
July 10, 1994, 12:30 p.m. PDT (9:30 p.m. CEST) in Palo Alto
Romania	-	Sweden	2: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 0), 4: 5 i. E.

Roberto Baggio and Dino Baggio ensured the Italians were successful in the game against Spain and made it to the semi-finals.

In the quarter-finals between Brazil and the Netherlands, the Dutch were able to equalize a 2-0 lead for the Brazilians. A free-kick goal by Branco in the 83rd minute made the decision in favor of the South Americans.

The superiority of the German team in the game against Bulgaria paid off after 47 minutes with a converted penalty from Lothar Matthäus . After a rightly unrecognized goal by Rudi Völler , the Bulgarians won the game with a free kick from Christo Stoitschkow and a header from the then HSV player Jordan Letschkow . In one last dangerous situation in front of the Bulgarian goal, Thomas Strunz was unlucky. The reigning world champion, who acted statically in the last 30 minutes, was eliminated from the tournament.

The match between Romania and Sweden turned dramatic towards the end of regular time and in extra time. After just under 80 minutes, the Swedes took the lead before the Romanians were able to equalize. Romania took the lead in extra time before the Swedes equalized. Swedish goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli was the winner of the game with two saves on penalties .

Semifinals

July 13, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. EDT in East Rutherford
Bulgaria	-	Italy	1: 2 (1: 2)
July 13, 1994, 4:30 p.m. PDT (July 14, 1:30 a.m. CEST) in Pasadena
Sweden	-	Brazil	0: 1 (0: 0)

After Bulgaria defeated the defending champions with Germany, a tough game was expected for the Italians. The Italians, and especially Roberto Baggio, got better and better into the tournament, so it was enough to reach the finals. Roberto Baggio scored both goals for an Italian team that had many chances in this game.

Brazil dominated the Swedes clearly, but missed many scoring opportunities. A late goal from Romário ultimately decided the game.

3rd place match

July 16, 1994 at 12:30 p.m. PDT (9:30 p.m. CEST) in Pasadena
Sweden	-	Bulgaria	4: 0 (4: 0)

After the clear defeat against Sweden, the Bulgarians admitted that they had already celebrated their good performance at this World Cup too extensively and were therefore not in top shape for the game for third place. It was rumored that Christo Stoitschkow would be the top scorer and that he should definitely score another goal, thus missing out on scoring opportunities for other players, which could have contributed to the Bulgarians not scoring a goal at all despite some chances. For Sweden it was the best result since the Vice World Cup in 1958 in their own country.

final

Brazil		Italy		Lineup
	final July 17, 1994, 12:30 p.m. PDT (9:30 p.m. CEST) in Pasadena ( Rose Bowl ) Result: 0: 0 n.v., 3: 2 i. E. Spectators: 94,194 Referee: Sándor Puhl ( Hungary )   Match report
	Cláudio Taffarel - Aldair , Márcio Santos , Mauro Silva - Jorginho (21st Cafu ), Carlos Dunga , Branco - Mazinho , Zinho (106th viola ) - Bebeto , Romário Trainer: Carlos Alberto Parreira	Gianluca Pagliuca - Franco Baresi - Antonio Benarrivo , Roberto Mussi (35th Luigi Apolloni ), Paolo Maldini - Nicola Berti , Demetrio Albertini , Dino Baggio (95th Alberigo Evani ), Roberto Donadoni - Roberto Baggio , Daniele Massaro Trainer: Arrigo Sacchi
	penalties shoot
	Pagliuca holds 1: 1 against Márcio Santos Romário 2: 2 Branco 3: 2 Dunga	Baresi shoots over the goal 0: 1 Albertini 1: 2 Evani Taffarel saves against Massaro R. Baggio shoots over the goal
	Mazinho, Cafu	Apolloni, Albertini

The Brazilians won a tactical final on penalties. With Roberto Baggio and Franco Baresi, two Italian football legends missed. Brazil won its first World Cup final in 24 years.

Honors of the placed

Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year and Cafu was named South America's Footballer of the Year . Daniele Massaro was named Italy's Footballer of the Year . Roberto Baggio and Paolo Maldini took second and third place behind Christo Stoitschkow in the European Footballer of the Year election .

Best goal scorers

The top scorer of the tournament and awarded the golden shoe together were the Russian Oleg Salenko and the Bulgarian Christo Stoitschkow . A silver shoe was not awarded. The bronze shoe was jointly awarded to the Swede Kennet Andersson and the Brazilian Romário .

rank player Gates 1  Oleg Salenko 6th  Christo Stoitschkow 6th 3  Know Andersson 5  Roberto Baggio 5  Jürgen Klinsmann 5  Romario 5 7th  Gabriel Batistuta 4th  Martin Dahlin 4th  Florin Răducioiu 4th 10  Bebeto 3  Dennis Bergkamp 3  José Luis Caminero 3  Tomas Brolin 3  Gheorghe Hagi 3

rank player Gates 15th  Philippe Albert 2  Fuad Amin 2  Daniel Amokachi 2  Emmanuel Amuneke 2  Dino Baggio 2  Claudio Caniggia 2  Ilie Dumitrescu 2  Luis García Postigo 2  Jon Andoni Goikoetxea 2  Wim Jonk 2  Adrian Knup 2  Jordan Letschkow 2  Hong Myung-bo 2  Adolfo Valencia 2  Rudi Völler 2

In addition, there were 51 players with a hit. There was also an own goal.

Marketing, pawn

The German postage stamp from 1994 for the World Cup

• The official match ball of the 1994 World Cup is the Questra from adidas and was also used as Questra Europa at the 1996 European Football Championship in England and as Questra Olympia at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta .
• On July 17, 1994, the world's first gold Numiscover for football was published . This first edition from the host country USA was strictly limited with an official special postage stamp and an official gold coin of the USA for the soccer World Cup '94 with only 500 copies worldwide.
• There was an official pinball machine .

Web links

Commons : Football World Cup 1994  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Official FIFA website for the 1994 World Cup
• All details on Fussballdaten.de

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{A b} Peter Burghardt: Football World Cup: Diego Maradona doping case. In: sueddeutsche.de . June 26, 2014, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Top scorer 1994: Salenko & Stoitchkov - sportschau.de. In: www1.sportschau.de. Retrieved September 7, 2015 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Goal.com: The heroes of the World Cup participants - Cameroon's Roger Milla: The oldest World Cup player and goalscorer - Goal.com. In: goal.com. April 2, 2010, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Rp Online: WM 2014: Only in 1994 in the USA came more viewers. In: rp-online.de. July 14, 2014, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
5. ↑ 'Faulty plane' killed Zambia team. In: news.bbc.co.uk. November 28, 2003, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Markus Stier: Football game and church service for Senna. In: auto-motor-und-sport.de. April 22, 2004, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
7. ^ ^{A b} Sonja Peteranderl: Murdered football star: death penalty for an own goal. In: Spiegel Online . July 1, 2013, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Abendzeitung, Germany: Columbia and the 1994 World Cup: One own goal and six shots: The murder of Andrés Escobar - Abendzeitung Munich. In: Abendzeitung-muenchen.de. Retrieved September 7, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Host announcement decision .
10. ^ Sven Flohr: In Detroit, an 80,000-seat stadium is falling into disrepair. In: welt.de . May 20, 2014, accessed September 27, 2015 . 
11. ↑ "World Cup draw not a TV hit" in "Kleine Zeitung" of December 23, 1993, page 36; POS .: box 1, below
12. ↑ Men's world rankings June 14, 1994
13. ↑ Trainer - Simply absurd . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 1994 ( online ).
14. ↑ When stoppage time lasts forever. In: mainpost.de. September 7, 2015, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Christoph Heymann: My World Cup experience: 1994: Andreas Möller: It was always about the players' women. In: zeit.de . June 7, 2010, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
16. ↑ The Magic of Balls. In: tagesspiegel.de . June 2, 2010, accessed September 7, 2015 . 
17. ^ Find the World Cup pinball machine. In: rund-magazin.de. May 24, 2010, accessed September 7, 2015 .