Fifa World Cup 1994 - Host Nation USA

An unlikely place to stage the World Cup as the US does not really feature as a football nation but it proved a great success as the US is a cosmopolitan nation and with migrants living in the US from all over the world the USA '94 turned out to be the most successful cup in history attendance-wise with nearly 70,000 spectators in average per game. These fans witnessed the re-birth of attacking football in the World Cup. The newly invented back pass rule was an instant success and basically forced defenders to look for forward movement on the ball instead of knocking it between each other in the backline and home to the keeper who could safely pick it up with his hands and waste time.

Brazil seemed like a shadow of their former selves and most unusually their strength was a the back and this stood them in good stead as they won their 4th World Cup beating Italy in the Final on penalties Roberto Baggio was the star of the Italian team and it was a shame that he missed the vital penalty in the final.

Some of the players of the tournament were Stoitchkov, Baggio and Romario and Oleg Salenko of Russia who made history scoring five of his six goals in one match against Cameroon. Sadly for him, it wasn't enough to stay in the tournament. Another goalscorer who made history in that game was Roger Milla. Cameroon's 42-year old supersub became the oldest ever player and goalscorer when he netted Cameroon's consolation goal in their 6-1 defeat.

Maradona was the talk of the 1998 World Cup but not as the playmaker for Argentina and while he looked impressive in the first two games he will be remembered for failing a drugtest. Argentina, with an impressive line-up including Batistuta, Caniggia and Redondo, failed to function without their old master and fell apart with two defeats in a row and bowed out against Romania in the second round.