Polaroid
I need a tittle
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Irrelevant of whether the fix is on in the Mexico/Uruguay match, the fact is that any draw between the two teams will see of them both progress to the next round. And in the big scheme of things a draw between two relatively equally matched teams in the World Cup Finals is nothing at all out of the ordinary and so, if there is some collusion going on, it won't be the most ridiculous 90 minutes in the history of world soccer. Oh no, the most ridiculous 90 minutes in the history of world soccer has got a clear winner although there are a couple of notable runners up.
The first one is the Sweden/Denmark game at the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship Finals which was the final match in the group stage and where there were slightly different rules in place for tiebreaker situations unlike FIFA, UEFA took results in head to head play as primary consideration when teams were level on points before taking goal difference into account. In Group C, Sweden and Denmark would both progress to the next round (thus eliminating Italy) with a high scoring draw of 2-2 or better since Italy's draws against those two teams had been low scoring. So although a draw is relatively common, a 2-2 draw is not - a 2-2 draw for all games over the next couple of days have odds greater than 20-1 (aside from Mexico/Uruguay, naturally). And what was the final score in the Sweden/Denmark game? 2-2 of course. Naturally the Italians protested that the game was rigged and it wasn't fair and some pesto was probably knocked over but by Italy only beating the already eliminated Bulgaria by a single goal in their final game, any number of results would have seen them still fail to progress.
Next up is a game played as part of the qualification stages for the 1984 European Football Championship. It was the final group game and Spain entered their match with Malta knowing that they needed to not only win but win by 11 clear goals to progress to the Finals which were held in France. Malta aren't much of a footballing nation and they are generally the whipping boys of any European or World Cup qualifying group they are in but 11 goals is a lot of goals. If you scored a goal every 10 minutes and kept a clean sheet, you still wouldn't win by 11 goals. At half time, the score was 3-1 to Spain so obviously before the match someone forgot to send Malta the script on how the match was meant to play out. Luckily for Spain, it must have been Fedexed in time for the second half where they proceeded to score nine straight goals and to win by exactly 11 goals. Unbelievable.
But the winner of the most ridiculous 90 minutes in the history of world soccer is a clear winner and if you ever had to misfortune to watch it, it is something you will never forget or never be able to forget. The game took place during the 1982 World Cup Finals which was the final Group B match starring Germany and Austria where both teams knew that a 1-0 victory to Germany would ensure that both teams qualified for the next round since the final group matches back then were not played simultaneously. Germany took care of business after 10 minutes as a Horst Hrubesch goal gave them a 1-0 lead but then something really odd started to happen both teams stopped playing. For the next 80 minutes, both teams proceeded to tap the ball between themselves to hammer out a draw despite the boos and whistles from the crowd and despite one fan burning his German flag during the game. And yes, the game finished 1-0 and despite the post match protests from the other teams in the group, the result still stood. However, from 1986 onwards, the final group matches have always been played simultaneously as a result of this game.
For anyone not unlucky enough to see the game, here is a YouTube recap. Unfortunately it in German but sound is not really necessary for the spectacle which was that game. The goal, and not a bad one at all, comes at the 30 second mark and from the 55 second mark onwards there is a minute or so of "action" from the rest of the game. Trust me, that was the most exciting minute or so of action from the rest of the game, count your blessings that you were not subjected to the other 79 minutes.
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The first one is the Sweden/Denmark game at the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship Finals which was the final match in the group stage and where there were slightly different rules in place for tiebreaker situations unlike FIFA, UEFA took results in head to head play as primary consideration when teams were level on points before taking goal difference into account. In Group C, Sweden and Denmark would both progress to the next round (thus eliminating Italy) with a high scoring draw of 2-2 or better since Italy's draws against those two teams had been low scoring. So although a draw is relatively common, a 2-2 draw is not - a 2-2 draw for all games over the next couple of days have odds greater than 20-1 (aside from Mexico/Uruguay, naturally). And what was the final score in the Sweden/Denmark game? 2-2 of course. Naturally the Italians protested that the game was rigged and it wasn't fair and some pesto was probably knocked over but by Italy only beating the already eliminated Bulgaria by a single goal in their final game, any number of results would have seen them still fail to progress.
Next up is a game played as part of the qualification stages for the 1984 European Football Championship. It was the final group game and Spain entered their match with Malta knowing that they needed to not only win but win by 11 clear goals to progress to the Finals which were held in France. Malta aren't much of a footballing nation and they are generally the whipping boys of any European or World Cup qualifying group they are in but 11 goals is a lot of goals. If you scored a goal every 10 minutes and kept a clean sheet, you still wouldn't win by 11 goals. At half time, the score was 3-1 to Spain so obviously before the match someone forgot to send Malta the script on how the match was meant to play out. Luckily for Spain, it must have been Fedexed in time for the second half where they proceeded to score nine straight goals and to win by exactly 11 goals. Unbelievable.
But the winner of the most ridiculous 90 minutes in the history of world soccer is a clear winner and if you ever had to misfortune to watch it, it is something you will never forget or never be able to forget. The game took place during the 1982 World Cup Finals which was the final Group B match starring Germany and Austria where both teams knew that a 1-0 victory to Germany would ensure that both teams qualified for the next round since the final group matches back then were not played simultaneously. Germany took care of business after 10 minutes as a Horst Hrubesch goal gave them a 1-0 lead but then something really odd started to happen both teams stopped playing. For the next 80 minutes, both teams proceeded to tap the ball between themselves to hammer out a draw despite the boos and whistles from the crowd and despite one fan burning his German flag during the game. And yes, the game finished 1-0 and despite the post match protests from the other teams in the group, the result still stood. However, from 1986 onwards, the final group matches have always been played simultaneously as a result of this game.
For anyone not unlucky enough to see the game, here is a YouTube recap. Unfortunately it in German but sound is not really necessary for the spectacle which was that game. The goal, and not a bad one at all, comes at the 30 second mark and from the 55 second mark onwards there is a minute or so of "action" from the rest of the game. Trust me, that was the most exciting minute or so of action from the rest of the game, count your blessings that you were not subjected to the other 79 minutes.
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