Biggest Nightmare Defeats In World Cup History

The 2022 World Cup has had two enormous upsets from Saudi Arabia and Japan, and the tournament has a long history of spectacular upsets.

As form, reputation, and confidence all vanish overnight and so-called smaller nations take their chance on the grandest stage, the World Cup has a history of producing some of the biggest upsets the sport has ever witnessed.

Teams and individual players have been immortalized in the tournament’s legacy for these matches and moments, which have been repeatedly relived and immortalized.

THEEAGLE runs through some of the competition’s golden history’s most startling results below.

USA 1-0 England (1950)

World Cup rookies When England faced up against part-timers the USA, they were overwhelming favorites. There must only be one winner, right? Yes, but not who you might expect.

Joe Gaetjens, a US striker of Haitian descent, scored the game-winning goal in Brazil, earning him a place in USMNT mythology and earning the nickname “The Miracle of Belo Horizonte.”

North Korea 1-0 Italy (1966)

In England in 1966, Italy was heavily favored to win the Jules Rimet Trophy. They barely beat Chile in the group stage before losing to the USSR, but they were in poor form overall.

However, amazingly, Pak Doo-ik’s goal in the 42nd minute would send the Azzurri home as the Asian nation advanced to the quarterfinals. They would need to avoid losing in their final group match against North Korea.

Algeria 2-1 West Germany (1982)

West Germany is the tournament favorite while Algeria makes their World Cup debut.

There would have to be only one result, right? The North Africans would astound their great opponents, as you have undoubtedly inferred from the content of this piece.

Algeria triumphed 2-1, but later in the group stage they would suffer the infamous Disgrace of Gijon, when West Germany and Austria purposefully played out a favorable outcome to eliminate them.

Northern Ireland 1-0 Spain (1982)

Being down to 10 men, playing the hosts in a partisan environment, and having to deal with some questionable refereeing decisions, Northern Ireland would somehow win.

Shortly after the break, Gerry Armstrong scored the game-winning goal thanks to a goalie error, and the Northern Irish hung on despite having a player sent off with 30 minutes remaining.

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Cameroon 1-0 Argentina  (1990)

Cameroon would pull off a massive upset in their opening match of Italia ’90, despite playing the mighty Diego Maradona and the reigning champions.

Francois Omam-spectacular Biyik’s header against Argentina helped the African team, captained by 38-year-old Roger Milla, go beyond the group stage and into the quarterfinals.

Bulgaria 2-1 Germany (1994)

At the 1994 World Cup, Bulgaria, led by Hristo Stoichov of Barcelona, came as a surprise.

Bulgaria completed a strong run to the semifinals in the USA by stunning defending champion Germany in the quarterfinals after defeating Argentina earlier on in the tournament.

They turned the game in their favor late on thanks to two goals in three minutes from Yordan Letchkov and Stoichov, and they went on to secure a renowned victory.

Ireland 1-0 Italy (1994)

Ireland knocked out eventual champions Italy in New Jersey to kick off the 1994 World Cup.

Just 12 minutes into the game, Ray Houghton scored the game’s lone goal, blasting home from 25 yards out to erupt the loud traveling crowd.

After that, Jack Charlton’s team was able to contain their formidable rivals for the remainder of the match.

France 0-1 Senegal (1998)

Possibly the most well-known shocker in World Cup history.

The 2002 World Cup’s hosts and joint favorites, France, got off to the worst conceivable start as they were defeated by debutants Senegal.

The late Papa Bouba Diop scored the memorable winning goal, and for the French, it was the beginning of a terrible tournament as they were eliminated in the group stages.

South Korea 2-1 Italy (2002)

This game will go down in history because of the Ecuadorian referee’s streak of debatable rulings, including handing the home team a dubious penalty and calling a very little offside for what would have been an Italian golden goal.

Instead, South Korea would triumph in overtime thanks to a goal by Ahn Jung-hwan, who had already eliminated Italy.

Switzerland 1-0 Spain (2010)

Although Spain would eventually go on to win the 2010 World Cup, their tournament got off to the worst conceivable start in their opening match against the Swiss.

Seven minutes into the second half, Man City “legend” Gelson Fernandes scored the game-winning goal, and Switzerland held strong defensively to secure an improbable victory.

South Korea 2-0 Germany (2018)

Germany, the current World Cup champion, failed to go through the opening round despite expectations for a resolute defense.

The shocking loss to South Korea that eliminated them came as a result of Tottenham star Son Heung-min capitalizing on a terrible error by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who dropped the ball around the halfway line, and rushing free to roll the ball into an empty net to seal the points.

Argentina 1-2 Saudi Arabia (2022)

Argentina was one of the favorites going into the 2022 World Cup, as it would undoubtedly be Lionel Messi’s final performance on football’s biggest platform.

Messi and company were humiliated after Messi gave his country the lead from the penalty spot as Saudi Arabia produced a stirring comeback to snag the most unlikely of victories.

The pivotal play was made by Salem Aldawsari, who slalomiered past several defenders before stunningly beating the goalkeeper with a shot.

Germany 1-2 Japan (2022)

A day later after Saudi Arabia humiliated Argentina, Qatar 2022 will suffer another shock.

Amazingly, Japan overcame a 1-0 behind against Germany at the half to defeat Hansi Flick’s team 2-1 and claim a historic victory. After Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty put the Germans ahead, everything was going as planned, but goals in the second half from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano, who, oddly, both play their domestic football in Germany, completed a spectacular comeback.

In fact, it’s the first time ever that Japan has won a World Cup game after falling behind by a goal. What a shocker of a moment!