We're back with the last 16 of USA 94.  Klinsmann and Voller come up with the old magic as Germany find their touch.  Spain produce a performance that suggests they might finally be ready to end their decades of underachievement (yeah right).  Sweden’s Three Amigos – Brolin, Dahlin, Andersson – end Saudi Arabia’s dream run.  Romania and Argentina produce a match for the ages.  Packie Bonner’s butter fingers end Ireland’s hopes of a second successive quarter-final.  Independence Day is memorable in more ways than one as Team USA face the might of Brazil. Roberto Baggio’s divine intervention finally kickstarts Italy’s campaign.  Bulgaria break new ground as Mexico break the goal frame.  Hanging over the last 16 is the brutal murder of Andres Escobar and arguments over refereeing standards, as some games are plagued by controversial decisions, with FIFA giving several referees their marching orders.  

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This month, the group stage of USA 94 reaches a conclusion with many teams jockeying for position.  Stefan Effenberg efffectively ends his international career as the Germans have a narrow escape against South Korea, the Group of Death reaches gridlock, Saudi Arabia come up with arguably the goal of the tournament, Oleg Salenko and Roger Milla produce a day of records in San Francisco.  However, the real scandal and drama is saved for Group D, where Diego Maradona fails a drug test (a shocking moment yet, with hindsight, almost inevitable) and a pair of injury-time goals completely change the complexion of the final standings.

Thanks for listening.  World Cup Rambling will return in September.

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This month we’ve got the second set of group games, which produced some notable matches and moments.  Team USA triggering a soccer boom with a victory that will have fatal consequences elsewhere, Roy Hodgson’s swaggering Swiss putting the skids under Romania, a touchline explosion involving Jack Charlton and John Aldridge, Bulgaria ending one of the most embarrassing streaks in World Cup history, Arrigo Sacchi gambling his

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This month we’ll look at the opening pair of matches in each group at USA 94.  There was a raft of new laws on tackling, offside and the back pass, which FIFA hoped would liven up the show, after the stodginess of Italia 90.  The gaudy opening ceremony, and Diana Ross’s penalty miss (which foreshadowed the climax of the tournament), fuelled the scepticism about taking the World Cup to a country that knew nothing of soccer but everything of crass hype and empty razzmatazz.  Yet once the actual football got under way, all the fears fell away.  A memorable first set of games saw dark horses Romania stun the much-hyped Colombians, Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland enjoy their finest hour, the rise of new forces from Asia, Nigeria’s Super Eagles swooping down in style, Diego Maradona returning in typically exuberant fashion, and much more.

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Series 4 of World Cup Rambling and it's time to get in the DeLorean and go back thirty years for a mammoth odyssey through USA 94 - a very underrated tournament. We start the series by looking at why football (or "soccer") failed to take a hold in the United States, then having a look at the rise and fall of the North American Soccer League, America's failed bid to host the 1986 World Cup and, ultimately, the successful bid to host the 1994 World Cup, with the pitfalls on the path as the American organisers tried to deliver on the promises they made to FIFA. There will also be the customary whistle-stop tour through the 24 finalists.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info for the national anthems.

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A snippet of what you have to look forward to in Series 4 of World Cup Rambling, which starts on 2nd March 2024.

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It's time for something very special.  We have World Cup Rambling’s first-ever guest.  In this episode, I talk to Gary Thacker.  Gary is an author and journalist, who has contributed most prominently to These Football Times, but also to other publications. Gary has written numerous books, including “Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje: The Unfulfilled Glory of Dutch Football”, “Out of the Blue: Chelsea’s Unlikely Champions League Triumph” and “Dutch Masters: When Ajax’s

Here we discuss his upcoming book “O Jogo Bonito – Brazil’s 1970 World Cup Samba Party”, which will be released on 12th February 2024.  The book looks at Brazil’s iconic World Cup triumph in 1970, as they rebuilt from the ashes of 1966 to become the most famous World Cup winners of all-time, with a beautiful style of play that Brazil have never been able to recapture, despite further World Cup wins in 1994 and 2002.

You can find some of Gary’s excellent work at:

https://allbluedaze.com/

https://thesefootballtimes.co/author/allbluedaze/

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In the final episode of series three, we look at one of the strangest tales in World Cup history – the theft of the Jules Rimet Cup from a stamp exhibition in London in 1966. The holy grail of football has a storied history, carried on an ocean liner to the first World Cup in Uruguay, stashed in a shoebox under a bed during World War Two, before being stolen in London and found by a dog in 1966, then stolen again in Rio de Janeiro in 1983.  The story of the London theft resembles an Ealing comedy, a barely believable plot of institutional incompetence, gangland activity, alleged deals, fake names, ransom demands, sting operations, replica trophies, and a heroic dog, all against the backdrop of the UK General Election. 

Thank you for all your listening support in 2023. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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It’s time to dip back into the 1986 World Cup, by looking at the match of the tournament, a mighty, midday clash in the Mexican heat between France and Brazil, two of the most iconic teams of that era.  France, the reigning European Champions, had started their campaign slowly but looked to be steadily finding their form.  Brazil, underrated in comparison to their 1982 predecessors, were still capable of scoring stylish goals.  They had the deadly striker and solid defence that they had been missing four years previously.  When the two teams collided, it was a spectacular match, an epic rollercoaster ride of skill, high drama, tension and controversy, where old heroes were shown to have feet of clay and new heroes stepped forward.

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Graham Taylor took over the England job amidst much optimism, following England’s strong Italia 90 campaign.  The expectation was that England would continue to be a force at major tournaments.

However, the optimism evaporated as Taylor struggled to get to grips with the unique challenge of international football.  He failed to develop a playing identity for the Three Lions (beyond a stale version of his beloved direct football) and struggled to manage the erratic talents of Paul Gascoigne. 

Taylor’s relationship with the media and the fans became increasingly fractious and after a poor European Championship in Sweden, the pressure mounted as England set off to qualify for USA 94.  The qualifying campaign was littered with tactical errors, bizarre selections, key injuries, humbling defeats, strange officiating, not to mention ambiguous syntax (“Can we not knock it?”, “Do I not like that?”). 

Taylor’s composure unravelled, with the whole grisly spectacle being recorded for an unintentionally hilarious fly-on-the-wall documentary. 

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