Football fans are awaiting the final match of the 2022 World Cup in the State of Qatar between Argentina and France, which will be held next Sunday at Lusail Stadium, and each of them wants to lift the cup for the third time in its history.
Argentina won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986, while France won the title in 1998 and 2018.
On this occasion, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) published on its website some numbers of final confrontations throughout history.
88
Dutchman Johan Neeskens scored the fastest goal in World Cup final history after 88 seconds against host West Germany in 1974.
The players of coach Rinus Mikhalis exchanged 16 passes, and the ball reached the "bird" Johan Cruyff, who was fouled by Uli Hoeness, so the referee awarded the first penalty kick in the history of the final matches.
1974 World Cup Final #OnThisDay
BBC1..LIVE
3:00-6:35pm
Great commentary from David Coleman.
West Germany 🇩🇪 beat Holland 🇳🇱 2-1 in Munich.
A penalty for the Dutch within a minute (always remember the chalk dust on Neeskens pen) Gerd Muller's great winner.
My original recording!
pic.twitter.com/E9huMREN4n
— TV Football 1968-92 (@1968Tv) July 7, 2021
Neskens said, "It was the first time I took a penalty kick nervously. When I started running, I thought about which angle I would shoot, it was almost the right side of the goal. In the last step, I said no, I will shoot on the other side, I did not mean to shoot in the middle of the goal." The goalkeeper equation changed from the right and left corners to a third option in the middle of the goal.
Although it took 44 years to score the first penalty kick in the history of the finals, the second penalty kick in the 1974 final came after only 23 minutes, and the Germans equalized with it through Paul Breitner.
60
West Germany was the first to keep a clean sheet in a final match of the World Cup, 60 years after its launch.
He beat Argentina with a clean goal by Andreas Brehme from a penalty kick in the 1990 Italy edition. His net was guarded at the time by Bodo Iligner, who is still the youngest den defender to play the final (23 years).
30
West Germany ended Hungarian dominance in world football and an unbeaten streak of 30 victories.
On This Day in World Cup History:
Bern, 1954
🇩🇪West Germany 3 (Morlock 10'; Rahn 18', 84')
🇭🇺 Hungary 2 (Puskás 6'; Czibor 8')
West Germany come back from two goals down to beat the favorites in a game dubbed 'The Miracle of Bern'.#Germany #Hungary #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/wpxnMvCdVn
— ThatsLiquidFootball (@ThatsLiquid) July 4, 2018
After its great fall in the first round against the magnificent Hungary 3-8 in the 1954 World Cup, it achieved an uprising in the final against Ferenc Puskas and his companions, and came out victorious 3-2 to crown the title, overturning its delay by two goals.
They are still the only German machines to succeed in overcoming a two-goal deficit in the final.
22
Twenty-two years was the big difference between the age of the Italians, defender Giuseppe Bergomi, 18, and goalkeeper Dino Zoff, 40, in the 1982 final, when Squadra Azzurra won its third title.
As for the second largest age difference between two players in the starting line-up for a team crowned with the world title, it is 15 years and 5 months between the Brazilians Pele and Nilton Santos in the 1958 final.
8
The Englishmen Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst were not the scorers of England's four goals in the 1966 final against West Germany (4-2 after extension), as they participated in a total of more than 8 international matches before the start of the tournament.
Coach Alf Ramsey was slapped with an injury to Jimmy Greaves at the end of the first round, so Hurst, a soft-bodied oud, jumped in his place, and what a jump!
He scored the late winning goal against Argentina in the quarter-finals, becoming the only player to score a hat-trick in the final.
"Two or three days before the final I was wondering who would be selected," Hirst said. "Jamie was back fit, had 43 goals in 54 caps and had the right to come back. Most of my team-mates thought I was going to be let go."
England beating West Germany to win the World Cup in 1966 four-two.
pic.twitter.com/HYnFpd1Gyj
— Morgan Cameron Ross (@Morgan_C_Ross) December 10, 2022
But what happened later became history, especially his second goal in overtime (100), with a controversial ball that hit the crossbar and bounced back to the ground.
After consultations between Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst and his Azerbaijani assistant, Tofik Bakhramov, the goal was awarded amid a German protest and question marks remain.
5
Five players from Brazil's starting line-up in the 1958 final did not start in the first match against Austria.
Djalma Santos, Zito, Garrincha, Pele and Fava were out of the squad in the first match, before they turned into heroes who gave “Seleção” the first title in its history, knowing that the 17-year-old crowned jewel Pele started the tournament with an injury, before leading his country to a great victory over Sweden 5-2 in the final.
3
Although legend Pele won the World Cup 3 times in 1958, 1962 and 1970, his compatriot Cafu was the only one who participated 3 times in the final match.
He entered instead of the injured Jorginho in the first half of the 1994 final against Italy when he was crowned with a penalty shootout, then faced the host France in the losing decisive position in 1998, and carried the captain's armband against Germany in the 2002 edition when Brazil won the last of its five titles.
On the other hand, Pele did not play in the 1962 final due to injury.
2
Only 4 players managed to score in the final of two World Cups: Brazilians Fava (1958 and 1962) and Pele (1958 and 1970), German Paul Breitner (1974 and 1982) and French Zinedine Zidane (1998 and 2006).
2
Only Luis Monti represented two countries in the final.
The midfielder carried the colors of Argentina, in which he was born, against host Uruguay in 1930 and lost 2-4, then represented Italy against Czechoslovakia four years later and won the title this time (2-1 after extension).