North Korea quarter-finals of the 1966 World Cup
The Race of Life is a documentary that tells the story of north Korean football's dark horse at the 1966 World Cup, and it has been screened in 11 countries and 30 film festivals. Obviously, it is a history to remember, and it is also a history to remember. In 1966, the World Cup was held in England, North Korea was in a group with the former Soviet Union, Chile and Italy, which was a difficult group, the North Korean team lost to the former Soviet Union in the first game, but they then drew with the 1962 World Cup runner-up Chile, the biggest miracle was in Middlesbrough to defeat the two-time World Cup champion Italy, Park Doo-il, who scored the goal, was the biggest contributor to the miracle of the North Korean team.
In the quarter-final against Portugal, North Korea took a 3-0 lead at the start, only to be reversed by Eusebio's four-goal streak due to inexperience. But the quarter-finals were already the best time for an Asian team to participate in the World Cup.
Poland 3rd place in the 1974 FIFA World Cup
The early 1970s and early 1980s were the glory days of Polish football, during which the Polish team won two World Cup runners-up, and the real legend of Polish football began at the 1974 World Cup.
In the 1974 World Cup, Poland was placed in a quasi-death group, but they survived adversity, and the Italian and Argentine teams in the same group became the ghosts of this Eastern European team, and the Poles qualified from the group with a record of three wins. After reaching the knockout rounds, they humiliated Sweden and Yugoslavia, only to lose to the hosts in the final rain battle with the Federal Republic of Germany, but the Poles' dark horse mission was not completely ended, in the battle for the third place, they defeated the defending champions Brazil, Rato scored the winning goal, the landmark figure of Polish football, with 7 goals to become the top scorer of the 1974 World Cup.
Belgium 1986 World Cup Semifinals
When people think of the nickname "Red Devils", they naturally think of Manchester United, and of course, they can't forget the Belgian national team that ran amok in Europe in the 80s. Belgian players represented by Schiffer, Thurlemens and Pfaf were a banner of European football at that time.
Any Maradona fan must have in mind the classic image of the king of the ball facing six Belgian defenders at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Four years later, at the World Cup in Mexico, Maradona completed the great task of unifying the rivers and mountains. Coincidentally, belgium ended the dark horse's mission at the feet of Maradona in the semi-finals.
At that World Cup, Belgium faltered in the group stage. Only third place barely advanced to the round of 16, but after entering the knockout round, the "Red Devils" showed the true color of the dark horse. They narrowed their way against the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals, and although Belanov scored a hat-trick, the former Soviet Union lost to Belgium 3:4 in extra time. However, the quarter-finals were not Belgium's mark at that World Cup, and through a brutal penalty shootout, they beat Spain to reach the semi-finals. Fourth place, and their best result in World Cup history.
Cameroon Quarter-finals of the 1990 Fifa World Cup
On June 8, 1990, Cameroon broke the scoring at the World Cup opener in Italy, and the African Lions actually defeated Argentina led by Maradona 1:0 thanks to a goal from Bijek.
The power of the dark horse is by no means reflected in only one game, Cameroon defeated Romania after defeating the defending champions, and then beat Romania to take the lead in the group. On June 23, 1990, Cameroon and Colombia met in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, which is also a classic match in the history of the World Cup. Colombian star Iquita in the penalty area to take out the footwork, veteran Mira broke the ball after the easy goal, Cameroon became the first African team to break into the quarterfinals, and the optimistic Colombia can only stop in the round of 16, but in the quarter-finals, Cameroon lost to England 2:3, Reinkel scored twice, ending the dark horse tour.
Bulgaria 1994 Fifa World Cup Semifinals
It is said that "one husband should be closed, and all husbands should not be opened", so what if "eleven husbands" should be closed?
In the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the Bulgarian starting 11 people all ended with "fu", so people called them "eleven", and these players played for almost all the top clubs in Europe at that time, such as Stoichkov, Kostadinovs, Barakov, Lechekov all impressed the fans.
The Bulgarian team in 1994 wrote a glorious history for Bulgarian football, although they lost to Nigeria in the first game, but after the big score victory over Greece, they continued to beat Argentina to qualify as the second place in the group. In the ensuing battle, they eliminated Mexico on penalties and defeated defending champions Germany 2:1 in the quarter-finals, reaching an unprecedented height. But in the semifinals, they lost to Italy, led by baggio, ending the dark horse journey.
Croatia 3rd place in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
In the 1998 World Cup in France, Croatia from the Balkans made its debut in the World Cup and won the third place, but in a sense, the Croatian team in 1998 was more to inherit the football mantle of the former Yugoslavia, of which Sukh and Prossinecky both represented the former Yugoslavia in the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
However, even the 1990 Yugoslav team, which brought together many talents, eventually stopped in the quarterfinals at the World Cup, while Croatia finished third in the summer of France in 1998, which was also a peak period of Croatian football. So how did they get to this peak?
Despite losing to Argentina in the group stage, Croatia managed to reach the round of 16 with victories over Jamaica and Japan, and their opponent in the quarter-finals was also a team from Eastern Europe: Romania. Ultimately relying on Sukh's penalty, Croatia became the only Eastern European team to reach the top 8 of the 1998 World Cup. To the shock of the world, in the quarter-finals against the German chariot, they let the other side 3:0 to the ground (Vaughans was sent off), if it were not for Thuram's flash of inspiration in the semi-finals, perhaps the croatian dark horse could have performed the miracle all the way.
There is no doubt that Sukh, who scored six goals in seven games, was Croatia's biggest contributor to the third place, and '98 was also the most glorious year of the left-footed violin-playing goalscorer's career. Not only did he put Croatian football in history, but he also helped Real Madrid win the European Champions Cup, and in terms of personal honors, he won the Golden Boot of the World Cup and became the top three world footballers that year.
South Korea 2002 Fifa World Cup Semifinals
outline
Senegal Quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup
Senegal is known as the "French second team", in addition to historical origins, senegalese players who appeared in the 2002 World Cup also mostly played in Ligue 1, and this "French second team" made its debut in the World Cup to defeat the defending champion "France First Team".
The 2002 World Cup is destined to be an eternal memory for Senegalese, as they not only completed the classic battle of weak victory in the opener with Diop's goal, but also got enough points on Denmark and Uruguay to qualify from the group as a dark horse. 1990 World Cup. Cameroon set the best result of an African team in the World Cup, while Senegal also replicated the glory of the African Lions after beating Sweden in the quarter-finals. The difference is that Cameroon participated in the World Cup for the second time, while Senegal was the groundbreaking first. But in the 2002 World Cup semi-finals, they lost to the bigger dark horse Turkey.
Turkey 3rd place in the 2002 World Cup
Before 2002, Turkey had only one experience in the World Cup, that was in the distant 1954, but in the mid-1990s, Turkish football began to emerge, first qualifying for the European Championship in 1996, and then successfully advancing to the quarterfinals of the European Championship in 2000. There are stars such as Emre and Basturk in the team, but despite this, not many people expected this team to go so far in the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
It can only be said that it is the will of God. China, Japan and South Korea are three teams from East Asia that have become Turkey's touchstones in the World Cup. First of all, China, Turkey defeated the Chinese team for the first time in the World Cup with three goals, qualified from the group with a goal difference, and then defeated host Japan in the quarter-final with Davara's deadlock. In the end, they narrowly defeated another host, South Korea, in the third-place battle, with Souk scoring the fastest goal in World Cup history, which was also his only goal in the World Cup.
Costa Rica Quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
After the World Cup draw in Brazil, Italy, Uruguay and England were divided into the same group, and people were discussing which two teams would qualify, and no one noticed that Costa Rica, which looked weakest, became the first in the group, and they came out of the group with a record of two wins and one draw. And in the quarter-finals, they beat Greece on penalties. In the quarter-finals, they used tenacious defense to force the Netherlands into a penalty shoot-out, and in the end they only lost to the magical Krühl. It is shocking that such an unknown Costa Rican team was the first to kill the death group and break into the quarterfinals. Their biggest star at the time was none other than Ruiz – Navas, who later flourished at Real Madrid, was not well known at the time.
Croatia 2018 World Cup Runner-up
Seeing this, some people may say, is the Croatian team that year also a dark horse? They are already strong, with mandzukic, Perisic, Modric and Rakitic and other elite players in the team. But I would say that the biggest basis for people judging dark horses is to see if their achievements far exceed people's expectations. It is true that the Croatian team in 18 years has a good strength, but people's biggest expectation is to qualify from the group or reach the quarter-finals, but Croatia has relied on a relatively relaxed schedule and explosive state, and the vietnamese have become more courageous and have reached the final.
They played solidly in the group stage, beating Argentina 3:0 and qualifying for the top spot, followed by two consecutive penalty shootouts, eliminating Denmark and host Russia respectively. The real test came from the final four, in the semi-finals, with goals from Perisic and Mandzukic, beating England 2:1 and reaching moscow. In the ultimate match against France, the Lattice Army also equalized the score at one point, but the lack of strength and luck (oolong ball plus penalty) still made them fall short.