Fans Recall Golden Moments in Soccer History

It was 1979. The Berlin Wall was up and the Cold War was on. Lutz Eigendorf was an acclaimed midfielder for the East Berlin soccer club BFC Dynamo (then closely linked to the Stasi, the former East German secret police), and he made a risky move. After an exhibition match between BFC Dynamo and FC Kaiserslautern from West Germany, Eigendorf’s team had stopped on its way back at Giessen in the West German state of Hesse. It was then and there that Eigendorf seized his opportunity to flee from the team, defecting in search of a better life. Four years later, he died in a car accident that many regard as suspicious.

Manuel Francisco dos Santos, known as Garrincha, was an undersized right wing with deformed legs who, at first glance, seemed about as far from an ideal soccer specimen as one could get. But, after an underwhelming start to the 1958 World Cup tournament, Brazil’s coaches decided to throw Garrincha and a promising teenager named Pelé into the lineup for the team’s final group match against the mighty USSR. Garrincha electrified the crowd, and would go on to become regarded by many as the greatest dribbler of all time.

During the 2014 World Cup, playing for Portugal against Germany, Pepe walked away, leaving Thomas Müller on the ground, a victim of the sport’s frequent and unavoidable collisions. Pepe returned to where Müller sat and leaned down, not so much to offer a helping hand as to head-butt Müller with all his might.

From 1938 until 1950, the World Cup took a 12-year hiatus due to World War II, and with no one petitioning to host the first postwar tournament, it risked being canceled altogether. But in July 1946, Brazil — with a growing passion for the sport, though nowhere near the powerhouse it is today — stepped forward and volunteered to host the 1950 World Cup, and in effect saved the nascent global tradition.

When, in 1990, Cameroon became the first African nation in history to reach the World Cup quarterfinals, it sparked a global awareness of Africa in a footballing context. In the early 2000s, Cameroon again seemed ready for stardom, largely due to midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé, a conductor of skill and clout not only on the pitch, but in the dressing room. Then, on June 26, 2003, Foé collapsed on the field without any apparent reason. He died soon after being carried away on a stretcher — and the team’s chance for greatness died along with him.

In 2005, when the Ivory Coast was riven by civil war, the country’s tightly knit national soccer team, known as the Elephants, was one of the most fearsome squads on the continent. Its triumph against Sudan to claim Ivory Coast’s first trip to the World Cup sent people into the streets nationwide to celebrate, and within weeks the rebels and the government agreed to a temporary truce.

What is your favorite moment from World Cup tournaments of the past?

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