What is the most memorable/iconic World Cup to you?

[onemanarmy]

1994. Epic tournament.
Belgium beat the Dutch by a Philippe Albert goal.
The quarter final against Germany might be one of the biggest football trauma's in Belgium. Cold stone penalty not give by a Swiss referee, Rothlisberger.

The final was amazing too.

 

[Lay]

1994. Epic tournament.
Belgium beat the Dutch by a Philippe Albert goal.
The quarter final against Germany might be one of the biggest football trauma's in Belgium. Cold stone penalty not give by a Swiss referee, Rothlisberger.

The final was amazing too.

First ever game I watched. I remember being captivated by it but I always was under the impression it was a boring final

 

[La Vecchia Signora]

1994. Epic tournament.
Belgium beat the Dutch by a Philippe Albert goal.
The quarter final against Germany might be one of the biggest football trauma's in Belgium. Cold stone penalty not give by a Swiss referee, Rothlisberger.

The final was amazing too.

Germany v Belgium was the round of 16.
In the quarter final Germany were beaten by Bulgaria.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

The World Cups that I have followed:

1998 - Amazing
2002 - Poor
2006 - Pretty good
2010 - Poor
2014 - Pretty good - the group stages were excellent although things gradually petered out with 3 out of 4 semi-finalists looking quite underwhelming on their road there
2018 - Amazing

The 2 Mexican World Cups were before my time but they sounded amazing. I was lucky enough to go on a tour of Estadio Azteca recently, and it is a true temple of the sport. I was thinking that it hosted the finals of 2 of the best and iconic World Cups in history, both Pele and Maradona have scored World Cup goals and won the tournament there, arguably the 3 most iconic / famous World Cup goals were scored there (Carlos Alberto's against Italy in the 1970 final and Maradona's 2 drastically different goals against England in 1986), plus the legendary Italy-West Germany 'game of the century' was also held there.

 

[sullydnl]

1998 is the first one I remember but 2002 was the first one I devoured, so I suppose that's the most memorable to me.

2018 was my favourite though. It's a lot harder for a WC to win me over now than when I was a kid but that tournament was joy.

 

[RalphMilneSuperstar]

The answer is clearly 1982.

Two of the best World Cup games ever, West Germany vs. France SF and Brazil vs. Italy RR (unforgettable).

Controversy with West Germany and Austria (disgrace of Gijon), Schumacher assaulting Battiston on the pitch and getting no foul. The false whistle in France vs. Kuwait.

Upsets, Algeria beating West Germany (wow, West Germany had a World Cup and a half), Honduras drawing with Spain. Northern Ireland beating Spain with 10 men.

Even England were pretty good, if Keegan was so out of form they could've won it (didn't lose a single game, defence was miserly). Beating France 3-1 was a highlight. Robson's goal after 30 seconds.

That Brazil side. Eder, Falcao, Zico, Socrates, Junior it's pure poetry. Most talented side to play at a World Cup.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Favourite WC was 2018. It had everything. 2014 was good too with a lot of exciting games but 2018 was just an absolutely fantastic tournament from start to finish.

2010 was fecking boring from start to finish. Particularly those damn vuvuzelas. Only 1-2 games were bad but overall it was an awful, boring tournament to watch.

Other ones that I remember/followed:

France 1998 - First World Cup final I ever watched. Sporadically watched some of the other games but didn’t really follow it.

Korea/Japan 2002 - Tried to follow it as much as I could but couldn’t watch majority of the games due to the very early kick-offs and having to go to school. Games I did manage to get up early to watch were good and some were gash.

Germany 2006 - First proper World Cup I followed from the get-go. Some good enjoyable games along with a few boring ones but overall a decent tournament.

 

[Righteous Steps]

98 easily. The most iconic player of our time played in that tournament, shame how it all ended but it gave birth to another icon.

 

[SATA]

The one which Japan and South Korea co-hosted. Which year was it? Lots of controversies regarding referees and the Italians/Koreans in particular

 

[Hanks]

I've watched everyworld cup since 1998, almost all games...and here are my rankings:

2018 Russia - First world cup I went to. I just watched all goals again, so many bangers, so much late drama, everyone expected Group B for example to be a breeze for Spain and Portugal, yet iran and morocco were margins away from qualifying...of course Iran was amazing that tournament. I've watched so many of the videos I made in those 2 weeks during quarantine now. So emotional! and that's considering the very toxic news coverage going into the tournament, and yet it turned out to be absolutely amazing on and off the field.

1998 France - Highlight of my childhood when Iran beat USA 2-1. I still remember that explosion sound in the neighbourhood when Mahdavikia made is 2-0 vs. USA. Other than that, Denmark-Brazil was one of the best games I've ever seen...Blanc kissing Barthez' head before each match...the Romanian blonde hear, THAT England-Argie match.

2006 Germany - Very high quality tournament, fantastic opening game. so many legends at top of their game...Germany-Italy semi is one of the best matches ever, and the final and that iconic Zidane moment. less said the better.

2014 Brazil / 2002 Korea Japan / South Africa 2010 - Underwhelming tournaments for me for different reasons...2014 started brilliantly and then turned real dour, the infamous semi-final aside...2002 was tainted by the obvious South Korea bias, and 2010 with the vuvuzelas and Spain having won it scoring only 7 goals...meh to be honest.

 

[VorZakone]

Just watched all the goals from '98. Lots of iconic players. Was actually impressed by this Moroccan dude called Hadda, looked him up on Wiki but his career was pretty mediocre.

 

[SilentStrike]

1998 good

2002 poor

2006 amazing. The Holland/England Portugal matches filled with crazy stuff, then Italy-Germany which was one of the greatest games i've ever seen, and then Zidane's card in the final.

2010 very poor. Worst world cup I've ever seen. Pretty much no good games were played there. And the winners, Spain, played the most dull football I ever seen. And the horrible vuvuzela's of course.

2014 amazing. Holland, Germany, Colombia all playing exciting football and battering giants like Spain and Brazil 5-1 and 7-1. Neuer's sweeper keeper performances were incredible.

2018 okay. All big teams seemed very underwhelming to me, but France winning it was well deserved. Never really jumped on the Croatia hype train either.

 

[Robertd0803]

Besides the game v Romania I dont remember much of Italia 90.

USA 94 was awesome to 9 year old me at a time. Learning every squad from the Panini sticker album. Rubbish final.

Didnt really have any mass on 98 and wasnt really following 2002.

2006 was a great tournament with one of the best games Ive ever seen in Italy/Germany. Great final.

2010 was a drone of noise from those fecking vuvuzelas and Spain dominating Germany in a way Ive never seen. The final was a personal low point at the time so will probably not retain any fond memory of this.

2014 will probably win my most memorable simply for one reason. Holding my newborn son in my arms watching Spain vs Chile

Dont have any lasting impression of 2018 oddly.

 

[alexthelion]

1970, that Brazil side.

1974 and 78, outstanding Holland team should have won one or even both.

 

[SNes]

82 for me, lost out to the cheating germans, Bryan Robson showing his class, Norman Whiteside being the youngest player, and I fell in love the way Brazil played football.