The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time. Teams representing 116 national football associations entered and qualification began in April 1988. 22 teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation Italy and defending champions Argentina.
Miroslav Josef Klose is a German professional football manager and former player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A striker, Klose is the all-time top scorer for Germany and holds the record for the most goals scored in the FIFA World Cup with 16 goals scored over 4 editions of the tournament between 2002 and 2014.
The Sweden men's national football team represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Strawberry Arena in Solna and the team is coached by Jon Dahl Tomasson. From 1945 to the late 1950s, they were considered one of the greatest teams in Europe.
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents the Republic of Ireland in men's international football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
The Greece national football team represents Greece in men's international football matches, and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece is one of only ten national teams to have been crowned UEFA European Champions.
The Poland national football team represents Poland in men's international football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football in Poland. They are known by the nicknames "The White-Reds" and "The Eagles", symbolized by their coat of arms featuring a white eagle on a red background. The team reached their peak World Ranking of 5th in 2017. Poland's home ground is the Kazimierz Górski National Stadium in Warsaw. The current head coach is Michał Probierz.
The Costa Rica national football team represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body for football in Costa Rica. It has been a member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 1927, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) since 1961, and a member of the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) since 1990.
Carsten Jancker is a German football coach and former player. He played as a striker for various teams between 1993 and 2009, including FC Köln, Rapid Wien, FC Bayern Munich, Udinese Calcio, FC Kaiserslautern, Shanghai Shenhua F.C., and SV Mattersburg, as well as the Germany national team.
On 1 September 2001, Germany met England during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup, at the Olympiastadion in Munich. England won the game 5–1, helped by a hat-trick from Michael Owen. This was also the last match Germany played at the Olympiastadion.
Group A of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was one of eight groups in the opening round of the tournament. The group featured four teams, competition hosts Germany, Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador. Play began on 9 June with the first game of the tournament between Germany and Costa Rica, with the former attaining a 4–2 victory in the highest scoring opening game in World Cup history since the competition introduced a single game opener. Later the same day, Poland and Ecuador faced each other, with Ecuador winning 2–0. On 14 June, Germany secured their second victory of the competition, defeating Poland 1–0 following Oliver Neuville's injury time goal. The following day, Ecuador defeated Costa Rica 3–0 to guarantee both they and Germany would advance to the round of 16.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2002 World Cup, the 17th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the International Stadium in Yokohama, Japan, on 30 June 2002, and was contested by Germany and Brazil. The tournament comprised hosts Japan and South Korea, holders France, and 29 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Germany finished first in Group E, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Paraguay in the round of 16, the United States in the quarter-finals and South Korea in the semi-finals. Brazil finished top of Group C with three wins, before defeating Belgium in the round of 16, England in the quarter-final, and Turkey in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 69,029 supporters, with an estimated 1.1 billion watching on television, and was refereed by Pierluigi Collina from Italy.
The term "last-minute goal" is used in sport, primarily association football, to describe a goal scored very late in a game, usually one that affects the outcome of the game. The definition of a "last-minute goal" commonly used is one scored either in the final or penultimate minute of regulation time or extra time, or during stoppage time or injury time.
The England national football team did not enter the first three FIFA World Cup tournaments but have entered all 19 subsequent ones, beginning with that of 1950. They have failed to qualify for the finals on three occasions – 1974, 1978 (Argentina) and 1994 – and have failed to advance from the group stage on three occasions: in 1950, 1958 and 2014. Their best performance is winning the cup as the host nation in 1966; they also finished in fourth place in 1990 in Italy, and in 2018 in Russia. Other than these, the team have also reached the quarter-finals on seven other occasions, the latest of which was in 2022 in Qatar.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Albania, England, Finland, Germany and Greece.
The Russia national football team represents Russia in men's international football. It is controlled by the Russian Football Union, the governing body for football in Russia. Russia's home ground is the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and their head coach is Valery Karpin.
Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every African country, and thirteen members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the FIFA World Cup.
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been contested every four years since 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to the Second World War.
The UEFA European Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA. Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations' Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form “Euro XXXX”. Prior to entering the tournament all teams other than the host nations compete in a qualifying process.
The following article concerns the performance of Brazil at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They played their first home-soil World Cup after 64 years, since the 1950 World Cup, and thus were automatically qualified for the group stage.
