Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the men's football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900. Since the DFB was reinaugurated in 1949 the team has represented the Federal Republic of Germany. Under Allied occupation and division, two other separate national teams were recognised by FIFA: the Saarland team representing the Saarland and the East German team representing the German Democratic Republic. Both have been absorbed along with their records by the current national team; the official name and code "Germany FR" was shortened to "Germany" following the reunification in 1990. Germany is one of the most successful national teams in international competitions, having won four World Cups, three European Championships, one Confederations Cup, they have been runners-up three times in the European Championships, four times in the World Cup, a further four third-place finishes at World Cups. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976.
Germany is the only nation to have won both the FIFA Women's World Cup. At the end of the 2014 World Cup, Germany earned the highest Elo rating of any national football team in history, with a record 2205 points. Germany is the only European nation that has won a FIFA World Cup in the Americas; the manager of the national team is Joachim Löw. Between 1899 and 1901, prior to the formation of a national team, there were five unofficial international matches between German and English selection teams, which all ended as large defeats for the German teams. Eight years after the establishment of the German Football Association, the first official match of the Germany national football team was played on 5 April 1908, against Switzerland in Basel, with the Swiss winning 5–3. Gottfried Fuchs scored a world record 10 goals for Germany in a 16–0 win against Russia at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm on 1 July, becoming the top scorer of the tournament, he was Jewish, the German Football Association erased all references to him from their records between 1933 and 1945.
As of 2016, he was still the top German scorer for one match. The first match after World War I in 1920, the first match after World War II in 1950 when Germany was still banned from most international competitions, the first match in 1990 with former East German players were all against Switzerland as well. Germany's first championship title was won in Switzerland in 1954. At that time the players were selected by the DFB; the first manager of the Germany national team was Otto Nerz, a school teacher from Mannheim, who served in the role from 1926 to 1936. The German FA could not afford travel to Uruguay for the first World Cup staged in 1930 during the Great Depression, but finished third in the 1934 World Cup in their first appearance in the competition. After a poor showing at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Sepp Herberger became coach. In 1937 he put together a squad, soon nicknamed the Breslau Elf in recognition of their 8–0 win over Denmark in the German city of Breslau, Lower Silesia.
After Austria became part of Germany in the Anschluss of March 1938, that country's national team – one of Europe's best sides at the time due to professionalism – was disbanded despite having qualified for the 1938 World Cup. Nazi politicians ordered five or six ex-Austrian players, from the clubs Rapid Vienna, Austria Vienna, First Vienna FC, to join the all-German team on short notice in a staged show of unity for political reasons. In the 1938 World Cup that began on 4 June, this "united" German team managed only a 1–1 draw against Switzerland and lost the replay 2–4 in front of a hostile crowd in Paris, France; that early exit stands as Germany's worst World Cup result, one of just two occasions the team failed to progress the group stage. During World War II, the team played over 30 international games between September 1939 and November 1942. National team games were suspended, as most players had to join the armed forces. Many of the national team players were gathered together under coach Herberger as Rote Jäger through the efforts of a sympathetic air force officer trying to protect the footballers from the most dangerous wartime service.
After World War II, Germany was banned from competition in most sports until 1950. The DFB was not a full member of FIFA, none of the three new German states — West Germany, East Germany, Saarland — entered the 1950 World Cup qualifiers; the Federal Republic of Germany, referred to as West Germany, continued the DFB. With recognition by FIFA and UEFA, the DFB continued the record of the pre-war team. Switzerland was once again the first team that played West Germany in 1950. West Germany qualified for the 1954 World Cup; the Saarland, under French control between 1947 and 1956, did not join French organisations, was barred from participating in pan-German ones. It sent their own team to the 1954 World Cup qualifiers. In 1957, Saarland acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1949, the communist German Democratic Republic was founded. In 1952 the Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR was established and the East Germany national football team took to the field, they were the only team to beat the 1974 FIFA World Cup winning West Germans in the onl
Curva
Curva is an Italian term or name for curved stands of seating located at sports stadiums in Italy. The curva plays an integral part in the culture of European football; the majority of stands referred to as a "curva" are located behind the goals in their respective stadiums and contain the most vocal supporters within them known as Ultras. They are curved in shape, in some form whether minor or major due to the presence of a running track around the pitch; the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza provides an example of two prominent stands referred to as "curva", "Curva Nord" and "Curva Sud", which contain only minor curves at their corners, while the Stadio Olimpico provides an example of two curved stands. A curva may extend from one corner flag to another or be located centrally behind the goal, bordered by two separate corner sections for ticketing or organizational purposes. Being home to the most passionate supporters in a stadium, the curva is the focal point of a club's support, it is the scene of dramatic choreographed displays of support and disapproval for a team or club.
These displays take on an importance of their own in games involving rivals where both sets of supporters aim to outdo each other. In certain countries those where sports clubs and supporters are reflective of the local culture, the curva can become quite politicized in nature. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a curva to be split into individual factions or groups, either or based on politics, for one group to hold significant control of the curva and its inhabitants on match days. Ultras groups within a curva benefit from this degree of relative uniformity, when there are issues regarding supporters' rights and the commercialization of sports and football in particular. India Ultras Major football rivalries Specific GeneralTesta, A. and Armstrong, G.. "Words and actions: Italian ultras and neo-fascism" Social Identities, vol. 14, pp. 473 – 490 Testa, A. "UltraS: an Emerging Social Movement", Review of European Studies, vol. 1, 54–63 Testa, A.. Contested Meanings: the Italian Media and the UltraS.
Review of European Studies, vol 2, 15–24 Testa, A. and Armstrong, G.. Football and Fandom: The UltraS of Italian Football, A&C, Black Publishers. |}
Hungary national football team
The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. Hungary has a respectable football history, having won three Olympic titles, finishing runners-up in the 1938 and 1954 World Cups, third in the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. Hungary revolutionised the sport in the 1950s, laying the tactical fundamentals of Total Football and dominating international football with the remarkable Golden Team which included legend Ferenc Puskás, top goalscorer of the 20th century, to whom FIFA dedicated its newest award, the Puskás Award; the side of that era has the all-time highest Football Elo Ranking in the world, with 2230 in 1954, one of the longest undefeated runs in football history, remaining unbeaten in 31 games, spanning over four years and including matches such as the Match of the Century. Despite these achievements, the Hungarian team faced a severe drought starting from their elimination at the 1986 World Cup, failing to qualify to a major tournament for 30 years and reaching their lowest FIFA ranking in 1996 as well as finishing sixth in their group of Euro 2008 qualifiers before qualifying to Euro 2016, where they made their best European Championship performance in over 40 years after reaching the round of 16.
Although Austria and Hungary were constituent countries of the dual monarchy known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they formed separate football associations and teams around the start of the 20th century. The national side first appeared at the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 in Sweden; the team had to ask for donations in order to be able to go to the games. Hungary thus were eliminated. After the Olympic Games Hungary played two matches against Russia in Moscow; the first match was won 9–0 and the second 12–0, still a record for the national side. The top scorer of the two matches was Imre Schlosser; the beginning of World War I had a deep impact on the thriving Hungarian football. Both the country and the clubs were suffering financial problems. During World War I Hungary played Austria 16 times. In 1919 England claimed the exclusion of the Central Powers from FIFA; when FIFA refused England's plea, the British and Irish associations decided to resign from FIFA. Budapest was denied the opportunity to host the 1920 Summer Olympics.
The countries of the Central Powers were excluded from the Olympics. During this period the Fogl brothers played in the national team; the formation the Hungarians used was 2–3–5, unique at that time. The national team played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in France. In the first match Hungary beat Poland but in the second round they lost to Egypt; as a consequence, both the head coach and the head of the Hungarian Football Federation resigned. Between 1927 and 1930, Hungary participated in the Europa Cup, considered to be the first international tournament, with Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. In the final, Hungary lost to Russia. On 12 June 1927, Hungary beat France by 13–1, still a record. József Takács scored six goals; the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, but Hungary were not invited and did not take part in the tournament. Hungary first appeared in the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Hungary's first World Cup match was against Egypt on 27 May 1934, a 4–2 win; the goals were scored by Géza Toldi and Jenő Vincze.
In the quarter-finals, Hungary faced neighbouring arch-rivals Austria but lost 2–1, the only Hungarian goal coming from György Sárosi. Hungary entered the 1936 Olympics, where in the first round they were eliminated by Poland, 0–3; the 1938 World Cup was held in France. The first match was played against Dutch East Indies and Hungary won 6–0. Sárosi and Gyula Zsengellér each scored twice while Vilmos Toldi scored one goal each. In the quarter-finals, Hungary beat Switzerland 2 -- 0 with goals by Zsengellér. In the semi-final at the Parc des Princes, Hungary beat Sweden 5–1 with goals by Ferenc Sas and Sárosi and a hat-trick by Zsengellér. In the final, Hungary faced Italy at the Stade Olympique de Colombes, but lost 4–2; the Hungarian goals were scored by Pál Sárosi. This Hungarian team was best known as one of the most formidable and influential sides in football history, which revolutionised the play of the game. Centred around the dynamic and potent quartet of strikers Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, attacking half-back József Bozsik and withdrawn striker Nándor Hidegkuti, the Aranycsapat of the "Magnificent Magyars" captivated the football world with an exciting brand of play with innovative tactical nuances.
Excluding the 1954 World Cup Final, they achieved a remarkable record of 43 victories, 6 draws, 0 defeats from 14 May 1950 until they lost 3–1 to Turkey on 19 February 1956. In the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Hungary beat Romania 2–1 with a goal each from Czibor and Kocsis in the preliminary round. In the first round Hungary beat Italy 3–0. In the final, Hungary beat Yugoslavia 2–0 with a goal each from Puskás and Czibor and thus won the Olympic title for the first time. On 25 November 1953, England played Hungary at Wembley Stadium, London in a match dubbed as "the match of the century"; the English team were unbeaten for 90 years at home. In front of 105,000 spectators Nándor Hidegkuti scored the first Hungarian goal in the first minute. A
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event, held from August 25 to September 11, 1960, in Rome, Italy. The city of Rome had been awarded the administration of the 1908 Summer Olympics, but following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, Rome had no choice but to decline and pass the honour to London. On June 15, 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, Rome won the rights to host the 1960 Games, having beaten Brussels, Mexico City, Detroit and Lausanne. Tokyo and Mexico City would subsequently host the proceeding 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics respectively. Toronto was interested in the bidding, but appears to have dropped out during the final phase of the bid process; this was the first of five unsuccessful attempts by Toronto to secure the Summer Olympics from until the 2008 games. Swedish sprint canoeist Gert Fredriksson won his sixth Olympic title. Fencer Aladár Gerevich of Hungary won his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event.
The Japanese men's gymnastics team won the first of five successive golds. The United States men's national basketball team—led by promising college players Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West—captured its fifth straight Olympic gold medal. Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won his fourth straight gold medal in the Finn class. Others to emulate his performance in an individual event are Al Oerter, Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Kaori Icho and, if the Intercalated Games of 1906 are included, Ray Ewry. German Armin Hary won the 100 metres in an Olympic record time of 10.2 seconds. Wilma Rudolph, a former polio patient, won three gold medals in sprint events on the track, she was acclaimed as "the fastest woman in the world". Jeff Farrell won two gold medals in swimming, he underwent an emergency appendectomy six days before the Olympic Trials. Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon barefooted to become the first black African Olympic champion. Cassius Clay known as Muhammad Ali, won boxing's light-heavyweight gold medal.
Ramon "Buddy" Carr was one of the coaches. Herb Elliott, AUS, won the men's 1500 meters in one of the most dominating performances in Olympic history. Rafer Johnson defeated his rival and friend C. K. Yang in one of the greatest Decathlon events in Olympic history. Lance Larson, US, was controversially denied a 100 metres freestyle swimming gold, despite showing the best time; the future Constantine II, last King of Greece won his country a gold in sailing: dragon class. The Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team broke a run of Indian team victories since 1928, defeating India in the final and winning Pakistan's first Olympic gold medal. Wrestlers Shelby Wilson, Doug Blubaugh, who wrestled together growing up, won gold medals in their respective weight classes. Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during his race under the influence of Roniacol and died in the hospital, it was the second time an athlete died in competition at the Olympics, after the death of Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
South Africa appeared in the Olympic arena for the last time under its apartheid regime. It would not be allowed to return until 1992, by. Singapore competed for the first time under its own flag, to become its national flag after independence, as the British had granted it self-government a year earlier. Tan Howe Liang won silver in the Weightlifting lightweight category, the first time that an athlete from Singapore won an Olympic medal. Finnish Vilho Ylönen, a field shooter, shot a bullseye to a wrong target, in so doing he dropped from second place to fourth. Peter Camejo, a 2004 American vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, competed in yachting for Venezuela; the future Queen Sofía of Spain represented her native Greece in sailing events. CBS paid US$394,000 in today's dollars for the exclusive right to broadcast the Games in the United States; this was the first Summer Olympic games to be telecast in North America. In addition to CBS in the United States, the Olympics were telecast for the first time in Canada and in Mexico.
Since television broadcast satellites were still two years into the future, CBS, CBC, TSM shot and edited videotapes in Rome, fed the tapes to Paris where they were re-recorded onto other tapes which were loaded onto jet planes to North America. Planes carrying the tapes landed at Idlewild Airport in New York City, where mobile units fed the tapes to CBS, to Toronto for the CBC, to Mexico City for TSM. Despite this arrangement, many daytime events were broadcast in North America on CBS and CBC, the same day they took place. Olympic Stadium² - opening/closing ceremonies, equestrian events Flaminio Stadium¹ - football finals Swimming Stadium¹ - swimming, water polo, modern pentathlon Sports Palace¹ - basketball, boxing Olympic Velodrome¹ - cycling, field hockey Small Sports Palace¹ - basketball, weightlifting Marble Stadium² - field hockey preliminaries Baths of Caracalla - gymnastics Basilica of Maxentius - wrestling Palazzo dei Congressi - fencing Umberto I Shooting Range¹ - modern pentathlon, shooting Roses Swimming Pool¹ - water polo Lake Albano, Castelgandolfo - rowing, canoeing Piazza di
San Siro
The Giuseppe Meazza Stadium known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, the home of the AC Milan and Internazionale. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in Europe, the largest in Italy. On 3 March 1980, the stadium was named in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the two-time World Cup winner who played for Inter and for Milan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s; the San Siro is a UEFA category four stadium. It hosted six games at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and four European Cup finals, in 1965, 1970, 2001 and 2016. Construction of the stadium commenced in 1925 in the district of Milan named San Siro, with the new stadium named Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro; the idea to build a stadium in the same district as the horse racing track belonged to the president of A. C. Milan at the time, Piero Pirelli; the architects designed a private stadium only for football, without athletics tracks which characterized Italian stadiums built with public funds.
The inauguration was on 19 September 1926, when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Milan 6–3. The ground was home and property of A. C. Milan. In 1947, who used to play in the Arena Civica downtown, became tenants and the two have shared the ground since. From 1948 to 1955, engineers Armando Ronca and Ferruccio Calzolari developed the project for the second extension of the stadium, meant to increase the capacity from 50,000 to 150,000 visitors. Calzolari and Ronca proposed three additional, vertically arranged, rings of spectator rows. Nineteen spiralling ramps – each 200 metres long – gave access to the upper tiers. During construction, the realisation of the highest of the three rings was abandoned and the number of visitors limited to 100,000. On 2 March 1980 the stadium was named for Giuseppe Meazza, one of the most famous Milanese footballers. Two Milan derby Champions League knockout ties have taken place at San Siro, in 2003 and 2005, with A. C. Milan winning both matches; the reaction of Inter's fans to impending defeat in the latter match earned the club a large fine and a four-game ban on spectators attending European fixtures there the following season.
Apart from being used by Milan and Inter, the Italian national team plays games there. It has been used for the European Cup finals of 1965, 1970, the UEFA Champions League finals of 2001 and 2016; the stadium was used for the home leg of three UEFA Cup finals in which Inter was competing when these were played over two legs. It was used by Juventus for their'home' leg in 1995 as they decided against playing their biggest matches at their own Stadio delle Alpi at the time. On each occasion, apart from 1991, the second leg was played at San Siro and the winners lifted the trophy there. However, the stadium has not yet been selected as the host stadium since the competition changed to a single-match final format in 1997–98. San Siro did not host any final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but was the host stadium for the 1951 Latin Cup, a four-team event won by A. C. Milan; the city was the venue for the 1956 edition of the Latin Cup, but those matches were played at Arena Civica. The stadium underwent further renovations for the 1990 World Cup with $60 million being spent, bringing the stadium up to UEFA category four standard.
As part of the renovations, the stadium became all seated, with an extra tier being added to three sides of the stadium. This entailed the building of 11 concrete towers around the outside of the stadium. Four of these concrete towers were located at the corners to support a new roof, which has distinctive protruding red girders. In 1996 a museum was opened inside the stadium charting A. C. Milan and Inter's story, with historical shirts and trophies, art objects and souvenirs of all kinds on display to visitors; the stadium held three matches. The stadium was one of the four selected to host the matches during the UEFA Euro 1980; the stadium held six matches. San Siro was the venue for the boxing match between Duilio Loi vs. Carlos Ortiz for the Junior Welterweight title in 1960; the first and only top level rugby union match to be played at San Siro was a test match between Italy and New Zealand in November 2009. A crowd of 80,000 watched a record for Italian rugby. Besides football, San Siro can be configured to hold many other events major concerts.
The stadium is located in the northwestern part of Milan and can be reached by underground via the dedicated San Siro metro station, located just in front of the stadium, or by tram, with line 16 ending right in front. The Lotto metro station is about 15 minutes walk away from San Siro. Stations near by: Official website AC Milan website FC Internazionale Milano website San Siro on Facebook Stadium Guide Article
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician and journalist, the leader of the National Fascist Party. He ruled Italy as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. Known as Il Duce, Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism. In 1912, Mussolini had been a leading member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party, but was expelled from the PSI for advocating military intervention in World War I, in opposition to the party's stance on neutrality. Mussolini served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917. Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism and founded the fascist movement which came to oppose egalitarianism and class conflict, instead advocating "revolutionary nationalism" transcending class lines. Following the March on Rome in October 1922, Mussolini became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014. After removing all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes and his followers consolidated their power through a series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship.
Within five years, Mussolini had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means and aspired to create a totalitarian state. In 1929, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, ending decades of struggle between the Italian state and the Papacy, recognized the independence of Vatican City. After the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in the Second Italo–Ethiopian War; the invasion was condemned by the Western powers and was answered with economic sanctions against Italy. Relations between Germany and Italy improved due to Hitler's support of the invasion. In 1936, Mussolini surrendered Austria to the German sphere of influence, signed the treaty of cooperation with Germany and proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin Axis. From 1936 through 1939, Mussolini provided huge amounts of military support to Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War; this active intervention further distanced Italy from Britain. Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe, but Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France and the UK and the start of World War II.
On 10 June 1940—with the Fall of France imminent—Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, though Mussolini was aware that Italy did not have the military capacity and resources to carry out a long war with the British Empire. He believed that after the imminent French armistice, Italy could gain territorial concessions from France, he could concentrate his forces on a major offensive in North Africa, where British and Commonwealth forces were outnumbered by Italian forces. However, the British government refused to accept proposals for a peace that would involve accepting Axis victories in Eastern and Western Europe. In October 1940, Mussolini sent Italian forces into Greece; the invasion failed and the following Greek counter-offensive pushed the Italians back to occupied Albania. The Greek debacle and simultaneous defeats against the British in North Africa reduced Italy to dependence on Germany. Beginning in June 1941, Mussolini sent Italian forces to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, Italy declared war on the United States in December.
In 1943, Italy suffered one disaster after another: by February the Red Army had destroyed the Italian Army in Russia. As a consequence, early on 25 July, the Grand Council of Fascism passed a motion of no confidence for Mussolini. After the king agreed the armistice with the allies, on 12 September 1943 Mussolini was rescued from captivity in the Gran Sasso raid by German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos led by Major Otto-Harald Mors. Adolf Hitler, after meeting with the rescued former dictator put Mussolini in charge of a puppet regime in northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic, informally known as the Salò Republic. In late April 1945, in the wake of near total defeat and his mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but both were captured by Italian communist partisans and summarily executed by firing squad on 28 April 1945 near Lake Como, his body was taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station to publicly confirm his demise. Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Romagna.
During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town" and Forlì was called "Duce's city", with pilgrims going to Predappio and Forlì to see the birthplace of Mussolini. Benito Mussolini's father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a socialist, while his mother, was a devout Catholic schoolteacher. Owing to his father's political leanings, Mussolini was named Benito after liberal Mexican president Benito Juárez, while his middle names Andrea and Amilcare were from Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani. Benito was the eldest of his parents' three children, his siblings Arnaldo and Edvige fol
1990 FIFA World Cup Final
The 1990 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match played between West Germany and Argentina to determine the winner of the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The game took place on 8 July 1990 at the Stadio Olimpico in Italy's capital and largest city and was won 1–0 by West Germany, with a late penalty kick taken by Andreas Brehme being the game's only goal; the match marked several firsts in World Cup history. This was the first-ever rematch of a final and, to date, the only back-to-back rematch, as Argentina defeated West Germany in the previous final. Argentina became both the first team to fail to score in a World Cup final, the first defending champion to reach the final and lose. West Germany's victory over Argentina marked the first time a UEFA side defeated a CONMEBOL side in a final West Germany became the first team to play in three consecutive finals, a feat only repeated by Brazil in 1994, 1998, 2002, it was West Germany's last World Cup match. The 1990 final is cited as one of the most cynical and ugliest World Cup finals.
It was an ill-tempered game, notable for the first two sendings off in a World Cup final. During the match, Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal refused to award a penalty kick to German player Klaus Augenthaler, he incurred the wrath of the Argentinians by not awarding them a penalty kick after the German team captain Lothar Matthäus fouled Gabriel Calderón. Pedro Monzón had the distinction of being the first player in the 14 final games of the FIFA World Cup to be sent off, after being shown a straight red card for a reckless studs up challenge on Jürgen Klinsmann. Gustavo Dezotti cautioned earlier, received a straight red card late in the match when he hauled down Jürgen Kohler with what The 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 jostled by the rest of the Argentinian team. Maradona blamed the referee for the loss. 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.
It was the lowest-scoring final yet seen with Argentina becoming the first team not to score during a World Cup Final, having only one shot on goal, while Germany had 16 scoring chances out of 23 shots. Argentina's strategy had been to defend at all costs and reach the penalty shootout, having advanced twice in the tournament by this means; the only goal of the contest arrived in the 85th minute when Codesal awarded a penalty to West Germany, after Roberto Sensini fouled Rudi Völler which led to Argentinian protests. Andreas Brehme converted; this victory gave West Germany their third FIFA World Cup title making them the team to have played in the most FIFA World Cup finals at the time, as well as avenging their defeat at the hands of Argentina in the previous final. It meant that Germany coach Franz Beckenbauer became the only person to have won both silver and gold medals at the World Cup as a player and as a coach
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= Serie A champions 
= Coppa Italia winners
