1: USA 1 England 0 World Cup 1950
England were undone by a combination of a part-time dishwasher and student accountant when a cross from Walter Bahr was glanced in to the net by Joe Gaetjens in the Estadio Independencia in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for what still stands as the greatest upset in international football history.
2: Senegal 1 France 0 World Cup 2002
Papa Bouba Diop’s first half goal handed Senegal their first ever World Cup finals victory and bloodied the nose of the World Cup holders, widely tipped to be poised for a successful defence. France may have been missing Zinedine Zidane but the impact of the African victory was profound.
3: Greece European Championships 2004
Not a single game but a sequence of results that swept the 100-1 outsiders to victory in Portugal. It may not have been pretty – and the efforts of Otto Rehagel’s well drilled side that was greater than the sun of its parts to this day have not been recognised for the monumental achievement it was as a result – but it was effective.
4: Cameroon 1 Argentina 0 World Cup 1990
Few gave Cameroon a hope against the reigning world champions, with Diego Maradona still at his peak, but an effective double-team marking job on the Argentine talisman and Francois Oman Biyik’s headed goal kick-started a campaign for the West Africans that took them to within a kick of a quarter-final victory over England. Andrea Kana Biyik’s crushing foul on Claudio Cannigia also helps this one stick in the mind.
5: Egypt 0 Senegal 1 African Nations Cup 1986
Egypt, the most successful country on the continent, hosted the competition for the third time without a trophy in a quarter of a century but expected to remedy that against weak looking opposition. Not a bit of it in the opening match. Thierno Youm scored the only goal of the game to stun the whole crowd. Egypt recovered, however, to win the rest of their games and claim the trophy.
6: North Korea 1 Italy 0 World Cup 1966
The 18,000 who crammed in to Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, for this group match will never forget what they witnessed. The Korea’s were rank outsiders and complete unknowns before Park Doo-Ik wrote his name in to the record books with a stunning strike to win the match. Italy, who started strongly, did have the handicap of seeing Bulgarelli hobble off (there were no substitutes in those days) but after the goal the Koreans could have scored more and deserved their win.
7: Northern Ireland 1 Spain 0 World Cup 1982
In Spain’s own back yard – the Luis Casanova Stadium, Valencia, to be exact – Northern Ireland enjoyed one of their most celebrated footballing nights ever thanks to a goal from Gerry Armstrong. That the Irish had to play most of the game with ten men after Mal Donaghy was sent off made the achievement all the more impressive.
8: Hungary 2 West Germany 3 World Cup 1954
The Mighty Magyars of Puskas, Boszik, Kocsis and Hidegkuti rival the Dutch side of Cruyff for the title of greatest side never to win the World Cup thanks to an amazing turnaround in fortune for the West Germans that they refer to more in a more upbeat way as the Miracle of Berne. Hungary beat the Germans 8-3 in a group game in Basle and another pasting was envisaged when Hungary ran to a 2-0 lead but an incredible performance from Toni Turek in the German goal and some dirty weather than hampered the Hungarians passing game saw an incredible turn around and saw the underdogs have their day.
9: South Korea 2 Italy 1 World Cup 2002
Ahn Jung-Hwan’s golden goal provided one of the World Cup’s biggest shocks as South Korea, as their ‘friends’ from the north had done in 1966, overcame 10-man Italy – this time due to Francesco Totti’s sending off for diving. Ahn was not welcomed back as a hero by his employers. Italian club Perugia’s president branding him a ‘traitor’ to Italian football. Some injudicious decisions from the linesman and referee gave the Korean’s another big scalp, Spain, in the next round but the Italian job lives longest in the memory for the right reasons.
10: Brazil 1 Uruguay 2 World Cup 1950
Brazil remain the only world champions to have ever lost a World Cup final at home in what the residents of Rio de Janeiro term the ‘Fateful Final’. Goals from Schiaffino and Gigghia overturned a 1-0 deficit for Uruguay, who had been expected to play little more than a supporting role in the first ever World Cup final but ended up crashing the biggest football party there had been to that date in front of over 200,000 in the famous Maracanã Stadium.
