1990: Change Needed

The 1990 World Cup is turning point for the competition. The biggest tournament is a very poor spectacle. The beautiful game is becoming ugly. Something needs to change.

What went wrong? One problem is that many teams played very defensively. The average number of goals per game was the lowest ever.

Teams could defend for 120 minutes and then try and win on penalties. Argentina reached the final having only scored only five goals in seven games.

Some very ‘dirty’ play led to a then record number of red cards. After the competition FIFA began a campaign to encourage more open play.

Format

One of the problems of the 1990 World Cup was the format. 16 teams qualified for the knockout competition: six group winners, six second place finishers, and four best third place finishers. This complicated arrangement did not encourage attacking football.