11 most memorable World Cup moments (12 images)
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Simone Brunner
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Cafebabel ENG (NS)You can also call it the World Superstitious Rites cup, the World Victory Dance Cup or the World Insult Cup: these elements make up a football world cup just as much as the penalties, red cards and cold beers of the beautiful game. Images and videos of the best of the past, as we anticipate the adventures of this year's sporting event in South Africa. Catch it between 11 June and 11 July
The second world cup to take place in Europe. National hero Giuseppe Meazza lunges, ball on arms at a penalty shootout, when the elastic on his shorts gives way, much to the delight of the French supporters. Meazza, unfazed, grabs his shorts by one hand and scores a crucial 60th minute penalty. The Azzurri went through to the finals, beating Hungary to become world champions thanks to Meazza's hat-trick. A stadium in Milan, where he was born in 1910, is named after him. He died in 1979 (Image: ©Inter Club Sydney/ Wikimedia)
England vs Germany, 2-2. Achtung, achtung: Geoff Hurst's ball hits the post before hitting the floor and bouncing out. Goal!...according to Swiss referee Gottgried Dienst and his soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov, who use sign language to quickly assess the crucial moment. Years later the goal which made England then-two-time winners of the world cup is still debated – the ball didn't entirely cross the line (Image: ©karlequin/ Flickr)
'My god, football is good! It's frightful, completely terrifying. (Italian defender Tarcisio) Burgnich has just sold his soul. What a comeback!' That's how radio sports commentator Kurt Brumme hyped up the Italy vs Germany semi-final equaliser in Mexico, which he bravely termed as the 'game of the century', despite his usually quiet demeanour. The Azzuri had just scored 4-3 against Germany, but the Germans weren't on top form. Franz Beckenbauer, aka 'the emperor' (Der Kaiser), heroically played with a dislocated shoulder from the 65th minute (Image: ©NiceBastard/ Flickr)
The year we found out that commies could play a bit of footie as well as anyone else, in the only world cup that the GDR ever played (Image: from left to right, captain Bernd Bransch, Torwart Jürgen Croy, Jürgen Sparwasser, Harald Irmscher, Eberhard Vogel, Gerd Kische, Jürgen Pommerenke, Siegmar Wätzlich, Wolfram Löwe, Joachim Streich and Konrad Weise , uploaded onto Wikimedia by Rainer Mittelstädt)
Semi-final France-West Germany in Spain, though it has been renamed Schumacher vs Battiston. Goalkeeper Harald 'Toni' Schumacher hits French defender Patrick Battiston so hard whilst leaping to save a goal that the former slips into a temporary coma, as well as losing three teeth – the only problem is, that the Dutch referee missed the whole thing and game continued, with Schumacher continuing his warm-up exercises, seemingly oblivious (Image: ©sugarmelon.com/ Flickr)
Part one. The one classic moment of world cup history pretty much everyone knows. Diego Armando Maradona wasn't just a blimming good player, he was also sacred as a cow. That's how he managed to score a goal by punching the ball into the goal in 1986 at the Mexico world cup (after it was cancelled in Colombia when the state didn't comply fully to Fifa regulations). Argentina beat England to become world cup champions. Again, the referee missed it. 'The goal was scored 'a little bit by the Hand of God, another bit by the head of Maradona,' declared the divine missionary at a later press conference (Image: ©Balakov/ Flickr )
Part two. Over two decades later, the hands are still in the game – in 2010, French captain Thierry Henry quietened Ireland's 2010 world cup chances with a hand goal in the qualifiers, which he freely admitted after (Catch it at 0.39 in the video)
Italy. Cameroonian player Roger Milla, 38, does his victory lambada jig four times in the ninety minute he plays. Meanwhile, Dutchman Frank 'llama' Rijkaard detracts the attention on himself after spitting multiple times on German player Rudi Völler in the last sixteen: they both earnt a red card (Image: ©voetnoot.org/ Flickr)
United States. Former German manager Berti Vogts was on the receiving end of a middle-finger gesture from his appropriately-named player Stefan Effenberg, who was riled at his fans after having been substituted in a match against South Korea. In the same year, Colombian defender Andrés Escobar treated his fans to the same show after inciting their rage, having guiltily scored an own goal, which kicked them out of the championship (Image: ©Thomas Duchnicki :: Location Scout/ Flickr)
(Foto ©Thomas Duchnicki :: Location Scout/flickr)
Kissing French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's shiny shaved head (http://www.goal.com/fr/news/article-image?id=55366) was defender Laurent Blanc's ritual before the start of every game. It clearly paid off, as France took home the trophy that year. He also goes down in history for scoring the first golden goal (first goal scored in extra time) in a world cup (in a round of sixteen against Paraguay) (Image: ©bitzcelt/ Flickr)
Eleven is the footballing number: eleven players, penalty shotours (kicked from 12 yards or 11 metres away) and the eleven (well, 10.08) seconds in which the Galatasaray Turkish defender Hakan Sükür, nicknamed 'the ball of the Bosphorus', scored the fastest goal in world cup history against South Korea. Turkey came third after Germany and Brazil (Image: ©Vulkahn/ Wikimedia.de)
German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann stopped two Argentine penalty shots in the 2006 quarter-finals in Germany. The secret: manager Juergen Klinssman had handed him a little cheatnote which he consulted before every shootout to remind himself of how his opponents scored. Germany came third though. In a semi-Greek tragedy and semi-Hollywood finale at the 107th minute of the France-Italy final, French striker Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi – the pair had scored one each for their sides. A red card ensured before Italy scooped the trophy (Image: kiki follettosa/ Flickr)
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Translated from Rückblick: Und wer schreibt 2010 WM-Geschichte?