The new FIFA World Cup is here, around the corner.
It doesn’t happen very often, but the fans at the World Cups sometimes witnessed a kind of fairy tale where the weaker ones won the stronger ones.
Like those written by the greatest masters of the genre, such as Hans Christian Andersen or the brothers Joachim and Wilhelm Grimm, these football fairy tales also contained dramatic plots and various emotions – from euphoria to sadness and back.
The question is who could beat or eliminate one of the favorites this summer.
For the first time in history, as many as 48 teams will play at the World Cup, of which as many as 32 will advance to the knockout stage.
Among these teams are four debutants: Uzbekistan, Curaçao, Cape Verde and Jordan.
The tournament is played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and the first match is scheduled for June 11.
In anticipation of the world premiere, it is the right moment to recall the previous fabulous performances.
Croatia in 1998.
The Croatian national team came to the World Cup in France as a debutant and few gave them a chance for success, and they left with the aura of probably the biggest surprise in the history of the World Cup.
Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinečki and Alen Bokšić were the main pillars of the team led by Miroslav Ćiro Blažević from the bench.
After this tournament, Blažević was nicknamed “coach of all coaches” in Croatia.
Victories over two more debutants, Jamaica and Japan, were enough for the Croatian team to go to the knockout stage, and a loss to Argentina meant that they would go there from second place in the group.
“In our first World Cup game against Jamaica, we felt the weight of history on our backs,” Suker recalled 20 years later to the FIFA website.
And then, in the round of 16, there was a clash with Romania, led by the legendary Giorgi Haji, whose players all had their hair dyed blue.
The Croatian fairy tale got a new chapter when it was Šuker who took Croatia further, to the quarter-finals, with a goal from the penalty spot.
The Germans were waiting for them there and few gave Croatia a chance. But that evening in Lyon brought a football earthquake and a 3:0 victory for Croatia, which put “Vatreni” among the big teams.
“When you beat Germany 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, you feel history being made under your feet.”
July 8th came at the packed Stadium France and the semi-final against the hosts. When in the 46th minute Suker beat Fabian Bartez, it seemed that the Croats were at the door of football paradise.
But for them, the villain in this fairy tale was Lilian Tiram. The defensive footballer equalized only a minute later, and in the 70th minute brought about a turning point.
Those were his only two goals in the national team.
Bulgaria and Romania in 1994.
Although the Brazilian team became champions at the first World Cup in America, the fairy tale went to the Balkan teams Bulgaria and Romania.
That summer, many fans from the Balkans cheered for these national teams – because the former Yugoslavia fell apart and no one played at the World Cup, and at the same time – who could resist the football skills of the best Bulgarian football player of all time, Hristo Stoichkov and Georgi Hadzi, “Maradona from the Carpathians”.
The Bulgarians created a sensation in the group stage by defeating Argentina 2:0, and then Mexico after a penalty in the round of 16 match.
But the real fairy tale was written by Stoichkov and his friends in the quarter-finals against the mighty Germany, the defending champions.
The Germans took the lead through Lothar Mateus, but Stoičkov equalized with a goal from a free kick, and three minutes later Jordan Lečkov shook the net with a header, falling, for a sensational victory.
“I’m overjoyed, it’s an incredible feeling to beat the world champions. This is the greatest day in the history of Bulgarian football,” Stoichkov said after the match.
He finished the tournament with six goals.
But the end of the Bulgarian fairy tale came in the semi-finals, and the main villain for them in this story was Roberto Baggio, who led Italy to a 2:1 triumph with two goals.
Unlike Bulgaria, Romania ended the competition one step earlier – in the quarterfinals, where they lost to Sweden after penalties.
But the fans remember the victory in the group against Colombia and the goal of Hadji who lobbed the goalkeeper from more than 30 meters.
However, the Romanians made a real sensation in the round of 16, defeating the favored Argentina – and in that match Hadji really played like Maradona in his best days.
“It was the best performance of a Romanian national team in history. But I don’t mean only the result, but the way we played, it was a fantasy,” said Hadji.
Cameroon in 1990.
African teams had some notable results in the second half of the 20th century, such as Algeria in 1982 who beat West Germany but controversially missed out on the knockout stage.
But only Cameroon became the first national team from Africa to reach the quarterfinals.
The “Indomitable Lions”, as they are nicknamed, shocked the world at the opening of the 1990 World Cup by defeating defending champions Argentina.
The leader of the Cameroonian team was Roze Mila, then 38 years old, a player with masterful technique, recognizable for celebrating goals by dancing around the corner flag.
“It was instinctive, the first time I went to that part of the field because of the sun, and it’s a nice place to dance.”
“The fans come to the stadium to have fun, to dance,” said Mila in 2022.
In the next match in the group, in a 2:1 victory over Romania, Mila scored both goals.
History was written on the next step – Cameroon beat Colombia in the round of 16 after extra time, Mila scored two goals again.
The second one was special – he took the ball away from the careless goalkeeper René Igita in the middle of the field and rushed towards the Colombian net like lightning.
The Cameroonians won the hearts of neutral football fans, but the end of the fairy tale came in the quarterfinals.
The roles of the ‘villain’ went to England and Gary Lineker. The Cameroonians were leading 2:1 until seven minutes before the end, and then Lineker scored from the penalty for extra time.
In the 105th minute, a penalty was again awarded to the English, which was taken by Lineker. Cameroon packed his bags and went home.
Morocco 2022
What did not work out for Cameroon in 1990, was the selection of Morocco 32 years later in Qatar.
Few people gave the Atlas Lions a chance to make it past the group that included Croatia and Belgium, but in the end they became the first African team to play in the semi-finals.
Led by one of the best right backs in the world, Ashraf Hakimi, the Moroccans first surprised Belgium and then defeated Canada for a place in the knockout phase.
The pages of the deadliest African fairy tale were written, however, in the eighth and quarterfinals.
Morocco eliminated the former world champion Spain in the round of 16 after a great fight and penalties, and goalkeeper Buna saved as many as three penalty kicks.
That was not enough for the Moroccans, so in the quarter-finals they also shocked another giant from the Iberian Peninsula – Portugal.
Youssef en Nesiri scored the only goal against Cristiano Ronaldo and his friends in Doha, and Morocco withstood all the attacks until the end.
The end of the Moroccan fairy tale was played by the too strong French who won 2:0 in the semi-final. In the match for third place, the Moroccans were defeated by Croatia.
South Korea and Turkey in 2002.
At the first World Cup in Asia in history, Brazil won the title, but the biggest surprise came from the teams of Turkey and South Korea.
It was only the second participation in the world championships for the Turks, and after the opening defeat against Brazil, they drew with Costa Rica and beat China, which was enough for them to reach the knockout stage.
The team was led by the experienced striker Hakan Sukur, who a decade later had to flee to the USA due to his opposition to the policies of long-time president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
And in 2002, in the knockout stage, the Turks played bravely and decisively – first they knocked out the hosts Japan, and then Senegal in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, a new clash with Brazil, which was an insurmountable obstacle. Ronaldo sent the Turks into the fight for third place where they defeated South Korea.
It was the second co-organizer of the World Cup who was responsible for the second fairytale of the tournament.
South Korea was ‘death’ for European teams. In the group, it also defeated Poland and Portugal.
In the round of 16, they knocked out Italy after extra time, and the Azzurri opened fire on the referee after the match.
In the quarter-finals, after a penalty, Spain had to lay down their arms against South Korea, which was led from the bench by the Dutchman Guus Hiddink.
Because of the success at the World Cup, Hiddink received South Korean citizenship and free tickets for the rest of his life with the national airline.
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