Football is not called the game of millions for nothing. During the existence of this game, it has fans all over the world. Today, many of them are trying to predict the correct score in the match. But it is very difficult to do this and most of them just enjoy football.
This game allows you to enjoy the beauty of tactics, goals, and opportunities. Let’s look at some of the most incredible moments that have happened in matches at different times.
The most exciting moments in matches
Every year many dangerous, exciting matches with beautiful goals and scandalous decisions are recorded. But the world community most discusses such events as:
- “The Hand of God” from Maradonna;
- the Zidane-Materazzi situation;
- France stole the World Cup from Ireland in 2010;
- Pele’s magic in 1970;
- Brazil’s defeat of Germany in 2014;
- Spain winning 3 major tournaments in a row without a striker.
Each of these events became a true historical miracle. Let’s look at them in more detail.
Maradonna and the Hand of God
If today it is very difficult to predict the correct score, then imagine how difficult it was to do it during the active career of Don Diego. Maradonna was a symbol of greatness and Argentina with and without him were completely different teams. At the 1986 World Cup, England and Argentina played in the quarter-finals.
At one point there was a cross into the penalty area, Diego jumped in front of the goalkeeper and it was not immediately clear how he managed to beat the taller goalkeeper in the air. As it became clear only from the replays, Maradonna played with his hand but pressed it quite close to his head. This made it look as if he had played with his head. The referee did not notice the offense, and this goal became one of the main reasons for the defeat of the national team from Foggy Albion.
After the match, Maradonna tried to hide that he played with his hand but later stated that if the ball hit him in the hand, it was more like the “Hand of God”, which directed the projectile into the gate. This goal has been so nicknamed ever since, and referees have started to monitor such moments more closely (though not always successfully).
Zidane vs Materazzi at the 2006 World Cup
In the final of this tournament, one of the favorites met in Germany. France, with Zinedine Zidane as their main player, faced Italy, led by Buffon in goal and Totti in attack. However, the main man on the Italian side was defender Marco Materazzi.
In the second half, with the score at 1-1, Zidane passed near the Italian and they started talking about something. After moving a little further away Zidane stopped abruptly and hit Materazzi in the chest with his head. Zinedine received a red card for this and tearfully walked away near the standing Champions Cup.
Without Zidane, France lost in a penalty shootout. Eventually, it became known that Materazzi provoked Zidane by speaking unflatteringly about his relatives. So Marco received quite a lot of heat for the rest of his career from fans in various countries (except Italy).
Henri steals the World Cup from Ireland
France and Ireland played for the right to play at the World Cup in South Africa. The first match in Dublin ended with a 1-0 victory for the Gallic Roosters (Anelka scored the only goal). However, the return match in Paris turned out to be one of the most scandalous.
Roy Keane scored a goal on 33 minutes and in regular time the teams did not score again. It would seem that a series of penalty shootouts awaits. But on 103 minutes there is a feed toward Ireland’s goal, Henri inexplicably leaves the ball in play and passes to the confused Gallas.
The Irish immediately began to appeal to the fact that Henri played with his hand, but the referee was adamant. As soon as the first replays of the moment appeared, it became clear that Henri had indeed stopped the ball within the field in a volleyball-like manner. This footage went around the world, especially memorable was the moment when Gallas looked at Henri’s actions greatly surprised at his audacity.
As a result, France showed nothing at the World Cup, finishing in last place in their group with only 1 point. The referee of the match Martin Hansson also did not referee a single match at the World Cup because of this mistake. According to the referee in many interviews later, when he saw the mistake, he just started crying with frustration. He realized that he had let down not only the Irish fans but also his team of referees with his decision.
Pele’s Magic in 1970
During the 1970 World Cup, the whole world watched Pele’s actions. Brazil was impressing everyone on the planet with their attacking footballers. It was Pele who shone the brightest. In the final, the Brazilians played with Italy. This match showed total dominance in world football on the part of the Brazilians. They controlled the entire game.
The decisive goal was on the account of Pele. Thanks to this goal Pele became the first player to score in the final 3 World Cups. The match itself ended with a score of 4:1 in favor of the South American team. Thanks to this, Brazil became the most confident team in the World for a long time.
Brazil’s defeat by Germany in 2014
At their home World Cup in 2014, Brazil was deservedly regarded as one of the most confident teams in the world. Brazil was deservedly considered one of the main favorites. They reached the semi-final stage without much competition from their opponents. At that time, the whole world talked about the miracle Brazilian national team, capable of defeating any opponent, and even predicted a purely South American final Brazil-Argentina.
However, against such an event were the players of the German national team. The German machine demolished the opponents and inflicted the most crushing defeat on the football wizards. It was a complete domination, which ended with the victory of Ozil, Klose, Muller, and other players. They shipped 7 goals to their opponents and only conceded in 90 minutes.
Spain’s triumph at Euro 2012 without a striker
Spain at the Polish-Ukrainian Euro showed incredible football, which Jose Mourinho called boring for some reason. They played short passing, moved the ball quickly around the pitch, and won all the matches. The only ones who could offer them any resistance were Portugal in the semi-final match (a nil draw and a win on penalties).
The future finalists (Spain and Italy) met in the group. But if at the group stage, they played with a draw, in the final there was a complete rout 4:0. To call their game boring is quite difficult. However, their main feature was the lack of a pure striker. Even Fernando Torres, who is nominally a striker, played more from a number ten position and scored only 3 goals. But the team cumulatively scored 12 goals, meaning Vicente Del Bosque’s tactics were fully justified for this tournament.
Of course, these are not the only memorable events in football history. But they are the ones that are discussed many years later and remembered for both colorful events and scandalous decisions. Some of the unmentioned ones even led to innovations in the rules of football.
