The 1986 World Cup

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But in 1974, Colombia was the only country to submit a bid, and it was a huge national honor when they were selected to host the nineteen eighty-six World Cup. The nation was transitioning away from a unique, mandatory power sharing arrangement that alternated the presidency between the two major political parties to settle decades of political strife.

Nineteen seventy-four was also to be Colombia's first free democratic election in its history. Adding to the good news, a dramatic spike in global coffee prices triggered a massive growth spurt in the Colombian economy. But Columbia never ended up holding the tournament. A significant multi-year gap always exists between when a country wins a bid and when the tournament actually takes place, creating challenges for the host country and massive expectations from FIFA.

FIFA provided countries with a very specific list of infrastructure requirements for hosting the World Cup. For example, at that time, the host needed enough stadiums to accommodate the sixteen team field through both the group and knockout stages, as well as an enormous venue capable of hosting a World Cup final.

The terms of the nineteen seventy-four bid allowed Columbia to minimize its costs as the nation already had five acceptable stadiums that required only minor upgrades, so they didn't need to build massive new venues. The five stadiums offered more than enough capacity to accommodate the thirty eight games of a sixteen team field.

Columbia also met the minimum expectations for air, rail, and public transit between the five game sites. And Columbia barely met the lighting and broadcasting requirements for the matches, but they did manage to meet them. Then on the eve of the 1978 World Cup, everything changed when FIFA expanded the tournament field from 16 to 24 teams. Adding eight teams effectively nullified the 1974 agreement as the schedule now ballooned to 52 total games.

The new requirements that FIFA presented to Columbia were staggering. The additional matches meant Columbia had to drastically improve its baseline stadium infrastructure as FIFA now expected Columbia to provide twelve stadiums that met international standards. The governing body also added strict new regulations on transportation, lodging, and broadcasting. The unfortunate reality was that Columbia could not build the stadium infrastructure to meet FIFA's new expectations.

Columbia's political leadership between nineteen seventy four and nineteen eighty two did nothing beyond forming bureaucratic committees, and the workers never broke round on a single stadium. By 1982, the country finally admitted what was obvious to everyone. Colombia could not host the World Cup. FIFA immediately entered panic mode. To keep the hemisphere alternating rule alive, the Federation quickly sought a new host after Columbia withdrew.

The United States, Canada, and Mexico all submitted emergency bids. Mexico ultimately won the rights to host the tournament, and they were aided by FIFA's restrictions on holding matches at venues that were not controlled by a nation's soccer association. And this rule limited the appeal of stadiums in the United States, which were built for American football.

Mexico easily met the core infrastructure requirements because it had already hosted the nineteen seventy World Cup and the nineteen sixty eight Summer Olympics. When they were granted the nineteen eighty six World Cup, they became the first country to host the event twice.

Preparations for the World Cup were in high gear until september nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, when a massive earthquake that measured eight point zero in the Richter scale struck Mexico City, killing an estimated ten thousand people. With only eight months to go before the opening match, international critics called for Mexico to withdraw as host, putting the event's future in doubt. Voices inside the soccer world even demanded that FIFA cancel or delay the World Cup entirely.

The global media harbored serious doubts about Mexico's ability to host the event on the heels of a major catastrophe. Skeptics suggested that FIFA rapidly move the tournament to places like the United States, West Germany, or France, countries that possess the infrastructure required to accommodate an event of this size on an emergency eight month deadline.

While the earthquake caused billions of dollars in damage across Mexico City, when the dust settled, it turned out that the core stadium infrastructure was virtually untouched. FIFA in Mexico recognized an unprecedented opportunity and quickly rebranded the tournament as a global celebration of Mexican resilience.

When games finally kicked off in June of 1986, FIFA insisted on playing the marquee matches at noon local time to reach primetime television audiences in Europe, creating a very brutal test for players and fans. 1986 was one of Mexico's hottest summers on record, and players struggled on the pitch. Teams played matches in scorching heat, often at altitudes above 2,000 meters, creating incredibly hazardous conditions for the athletes.

Compounding the misery. The stifling midday smog grew progressively worse the closer you got to the Mexico City Metroplex. Athletes and fans alike complained about the suffocating conditions. Yet, despite the oppressive climate, the tournament delivered several iconic moments that have etched themselves into sporting history. Fans across the world witnessed the global debut of La Ola, which was the Mexican version of the wave.

It actually originated in North American college football and spread to Mexico, and from the World Cup the wave became an international sensation. Fans also learned a new piece of World Cup vernacular, the group of death, a term that describes a difficult group in the opening stages of the tournament.

Commentators use the phrase to describe the brutal collection of nations that FIFA placed in Group E. It included West Germany, which was an established soccer power, who publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with FIFA's decision to place it in such a challenging group. Their frustration stemmed from being drawn alongside Uruguay, a two-time world champion, a disciplined Scotland team, and a really good team from Denmark.

The name stuck and commentators and fans continue to use the Group of Death moniker to this day. Uruguay triggered the tournament's first major controversy. Famous for its aggressive playstyle, they drew a red card just fifty two seconds into their match against Scotland. Jose Batista flew in with a violent tackle against Scotland's Jordan Strachen, earning the fastest ejection in World Cup history.

Referees rarely use the red card so early, and to see a referee flash one before the stadium announcers have even finished reading the lineups was extremely unprecedented. The now ten man Uruguayan side retreated into a defensive shell, turning the match into an ugly, frustrating slog. They held the Scots to a nil-nil draw, eliminating a Scotland squad that had entered the tournament with high hopes.

But Urgwe's physical approach had already met its match earlier in the opening round when the world witnessed the arrival of the legendary Danish dynamite. The Danes played a fast paced, relentless attacking style that caught Uruguay completely off guard, beating them six one in Uruguay's worst World Cup defeat ever.

Denmark had never before qualified for the World Cup because until nineteen seventy-eight, the Danish football union embraced a rigid form of amateurism that strictly barred overseas professionals from the national team. When those professional athletes finally returned to play for Denmark, the team became a powerhouse.

However, what most people think of when they think of the 1986 World Cup has to be Argentina's Diego Maradona. While his overall play defined the tournament, serious fans instantly point to the legendary quarter final match against England on june twenty second. The game was deeply personal for Argentina.

Because just four years earlier, Argentina and Britain had fought a seventy-four-day war over the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinus Islands, which resulted in over nine hundred deaths and a British victory. Despite claiming before the match that the war meant little to his personal motivation, Meradana later admitted the truth in his autobiography, writing quote. It was like beating a country, not a football team.

Although we said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinus war, we knew that a lot of Argentine kids had died there and that they had mowed us down like little birds. This was our revenge it was, recovering a part of the Malvinus. We said beforehand that we shouldn't mix the two things, but that was a lie. A lie. We didn't think of anything except that, like hell it was going to be just another game. End quote.

England had their own demons to face. They had underachieved on the global stage ever since winning the World Cup in 1966. They desperately wanted to reassert their position among soccer's global elite. And the English had a highly talented roster led by scoring sensation Gary Leinker. Linker would leave Mexico with the golden boot as the tournament's top goalscorer, but few remember his individual accolades because Maradona completely stole the show.

In the fifty first minute, Meradana chased a deflected ball into the box, challenging England's goalkeeper, Peter Shilden. Meradana was six inches shorter than the goalkeeper, yet he leapt in the air with incredible timing to attempt a header. The next split second became one of the most famous moments in sports history. Meradana punched the ball past the goalkeeper with his left fist, and despite furious English protests, the official allowed the goal to stand.

As Meradana later described it, the ball went in, quote, a little with the head of Meradana, and a little with the hand of God. But just four minutes later, Meradana scored what is often considered the greatest goal in World Cup history.

He took the ball in Argentina's own side of the field, turned away from two English players, and dribbled more than half the field, beating Peter Beardsley, Peter Reed, Terry Butcher, Terry Fenwick, and finally the goalkeeper Shilton before putting the ball into the net. In contrast to the first goal, the second was pure brilliance. It was later voted the goal of the century in a FIFA poll.

But Meradana wasn't done yet. This was his tournament. Facing off against a remarkably talented West German squad in the final, Meradana carried Argentina to a thrilling three to two victory. German manager and legend Franz Beckenbauer refused to let Maradona beat him single-handedly, so the West Germans focused an incredible amount of defensive energy on keeping him completely neutralized.

And the strategy worked until it didn't. The Germans covered Maradona relentlessly, but he just used the vacuum created by the extra defenders to help his teammate. When West Germany staged a late comeback to tie the match two to two, Maradona delivered the game's deciding moment in the eighty fourth minute with a brilliant pass through a cluster of defenders to a sprinting Jorge Burachada who secured the three to two victory.

While Gary Linker won the golden boot for most goals scored, Meradana commanded the focus of every defense he faced, leaving absolutely no doubt that he was the world's best player. What started out as Colombia's attempt to host an event that would put them on the world stage resulted in Mexico stepping up at the last minute to host the tournament. An earthquake, scorching heat, and smog didn't stop what many people consider to be one of the greatest World Cups in history.

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