The Greatest World Cup Matches Ever Played

Seven goals, and five of them came in extra time, a World Cup record for that half-hour. Both sides kept scoring and kept conceding until Italy came out the other side 4–3. The Azteca later put a plaque on the front of the ground calling the 17 June 1970 semi-final the Partido del Siglo, which is not a thing stadiums do lightly.

Two-nil up with ten minutes left, and then Mbappé scored twice inside two minutes and the match started over. Messi edged his side back in front in the second period of extra time, Mbappé equalised from the spot in the 117th, and Argentina won the 2022 shoot-out 4–2. A final still moving in its last three minutes.

Seville, 8 July 1982, and the ugliest moment of the tournament came early: Schumacher flattened Patrick Battiston, who left with two missing teeth, three cracked ribs and damaged vertebrae. The referee gave nothing. France went 3–1 up in extra time and could not hold it, then West Germany leveled and won 5–4 on penalties, the first World Cup match settled that way.

Wembley had it won at 2–1 with a minute left, and Wolfgang Weber poked in an equalizer to force extra time. Geoff Hurst's second, in the 101st minute, is argued about to this day, since film analysis and computer simulation put half the ball over the line at most. He completed the hat-trick in the last minute in front of 96,924.

Twice behind, twice level. Alex Morgan struck in the 69th minute, Aya Miyama answered in the 81st, Abby Wambach headed the Americans back ahead in extra time, and Homare Sawa flicked in an equaliser in the 117th. Japan saw out the closing minutes a player down after Azusa Iwashimizu was sent off, then took the 2011 shoot-out 3–1 in Frankfurt.

Eight minutes in, the best team anyone had seen was two goals up and it looked finished. Hungary had gone 31 games unbeaten across the previous five years. Morlock pulled one back in the 10th, Rahn levelled in the 18th, and Rahn got the winner with six minutes left, in the Bern rain the Germans cheerfully called Fritz Walter weather.

Paolo Rossi scored three times in ninety minutes at the Sarrià and knocked out the Brazil side most people still think was the best never to win it. A draw would have sent Brazil through on goal difference, and twice they got back level, Sócrates in the 12th and Falcão in the 68th, before Rossi turned in a scrambled corner on 74.

Four minutes of the second half decided it, and neither goal was ordinary. In the 51st, Maradona beat Shilton to a high ball with the outside of his left hand while giving away eight inches of height; in the 55th he ran sixty yards in ten seconds, past four England players, and rolled it in. Lineker's goal on 81, his sixth of the tournament, left nine minutes of real pressure.

Five goals inside the first 29 minutes, four of them between the 23rd and the 29th, and a stadium in Belo Horizonte that stopped making noise. Oscar pulled one back in the last minute, by which point it read 7–1. As a contest it was finished before the half-hour. As a thing to sit and watch, nothing in the tournament's history is quite like it.

A draw was enough for Brazil and the Maracanã knew it, which meant all three goals landed while the title was still moving. Friaça scored two minutes into the second half, Schiaffino levelled on 66, and Ghiggia came down the right to put Uruguay in front with eleven minutes to go. Officially 173,850 people were in the ground, possibly more than 200,000.

Level at 1–1 for nearly half an hour, with Italy defending well enough to keep it a real question, and then three goals in twenty minutes. Gérson on 66, Jairzinho on 71, and Carlos Alberto on 86 after Pelé drew the Italian defense into the center and fed him on the right. Lovely to watch, and settled with twenty minutes still on the clock.

Nobody scored in 120 minutes, including two periods of golden goal, which is not normally a recommendation. More than 90,000 people were there for it, Briana Scurry saved Liu Ying's kick in the third round, and Brandi Chastain put the last one past Gao. The 1999 shoot-out finished 5–4 and the tension never once let up.

Joe Gaetjens dived at a Walter Bahr shot from 25 yards in the 37th minute and glanced it past Bert Williams, and that was the whole of the scoring. England had six clear attempts inside twelve minutes and hit the post twice. Somewhere between 10,151 and 13,000 people were in Belo Horizonte to see it, depending on which count you take.

Pasadena, 100°F, and 120 minutes in which hardly anything happened. Then the shoot-out, the first ever to settle a World Cup final, and Silver Ball winner Roberto Baggio missing the decisive kick to hand Brazil the title 3–2 on penalties. Two hours of nothing, and then one minute you could not look away from.