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With Brazil hoping to adding a 6thWorld Cup trophy to their collection and make up for their 1950 disaster, we take a look at6 host nations who have gone all the way and won the World Cup.
#1 Uruguay- 1930
Uruguay hosted the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 and faced Peru and Romania in Group 3. Uruguay played their first match against Peru 5 days after the tournament began due to construction delays. The match was preceeded by a ceremony in honour of the Uruguayan centenary celebrations.
Uruguay won 1-0 in what was considered a poor performance after their Olympics exploits 2 years earlier. They then defeated Romania 4-0 in the next match to qualify for the semi-finals.
The semi-finals were contested by Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay and the United States, with Argentina and Uruguay winning 6-1 against United States and Yugoslavia respectively. The final took place on July 30 in front of a 93,000 strong audience and Uruguay went on to defeat Argentina 4-2 with the tournament’s top goalscorer Guillermo Sabile scoring.
Jules Rimet presented the World Cup to Uruguayan Football Association President Raul Jude.
#2 Italy- 1934
Italy became the second nation to win the World Cup while hosting it in 1934. This was the first World Cup that had a qualifying stage with 16 out of 32 teams being selected for the final tournament.
After internal disputes within the Argentinian squad, not a single player who played the 1930 final against Uruguay played in the tournament. Argentina and Brazil both suffered early exits after defeats to Sweden and Spain respectively. Italy on the other hand demolished the United States 7-1 in their first match.
All 8 teams that qualified for the quarter-finals were Eurpoean with all 4 South American teams falling early. Italy faced Spain in the quarterfinals and after the match ended 1-1, the first ever replay in World Cup history took place. Italy won the replay 1-0 and beat Austria in the semi-finals by the same score.
They faced Czechoslovakia in the final and with 80 minutes played, they were losing 1-0 before a late equaliser took the match into extra time where Italy finally scored the winner to be crowned World Champions.
#3 England- 1966
The 1966 World Cup was one were teams adapted a more defensive and tactical style. This was evident as England won the group stage having scored only 4 goals and conceding none. This was Brazil’s worst World Cup campaign as they failed to qualify for the quarterfinals after losing to both Hungary and Portugal.
England became the first team to win the World Cup after losing their first match.The biggest upset of the group stages occured when North Korea beat Italy to qualify ahead of them, becoming the first non-European and non-American team to qualify for the final stages.
England played Argentina in the quarter-final and won 1-0 in a controversial fixture dubbed “El Robo Del Diglo” (the robbery of the century) in Argentina. England then faced Portugal in the semi-final winning 2-1 with Bobby Charlton scoring both goals and Portugal’s Eusebio scoring his 9th and Golden Boot winning goal for Portugal in the 82nd minute.
England faced West Germany in one of the most exciting finals ever as England looked set to be crowned champions but an 89th minute Wolfgang Weber goal taking the match into extra time. England eventually won 4-2 with Geoff Hurst becoming the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
#4 Germany- 1974
After the heartbreak of losing the finals in 1970, West Germany were looking for redemption. From the beginning of the tournament, Netherlands and West Germany were the dominant sides with the Dutch demonstrating their ruthless Total Football and easily topping their group.
West Germany faced East Germany in probably the most politically charged match ever with West Germany already having qualified for the second round. East Germany won the match and the embarassment led to West Germany realigning their squad for the rest of the tournament.
The Netherlands continued their dominance brushing aside Argentina (4-0), Brazil (2-0) and East Germany (2-0). Johan Cryuff and Johan Neeskens proving too much to handle for their opponents. West Germany had a quieter campaign with wins over Yugoslavia, Sweden and Poland.
Holland were favourites to win the final which took place on 7 July and took the lead within 2 minutes through a Johan Neeskens penalty. West Germany rallied and equalized through a penalty before Gerd Muller scored the winner with a stunning volley giving the Germans their second World Cup trophy.
#5 Argentina- 1978
The following World Cup started with a few surprising results after Poland topped Group 2 ahead of champions West Germany and Peru won Group 4 ahead of former finalists, Netherlands.
The biggest surprise was however in Group 3 as Austria managed to finish above Brazil. Argentina had a tough time in Group 1 where they faced off with former champions Italy, Hungary and France. They qualified second after losing to Italy in the deciding match.
The Netherlands were again dominant in the second round and qualified for their second successive final after beating Austria 5-1, drawing 2-2 with West Germany and beating Italy 2-1. Argentina and Brazil were the main contenders for the remaining final spot with Argentina finally getting through after a 6-0 demolition of Peru.
The final was held in Buenos Aires and Argentina won 3-1 after extra time. A brace from Mario Kempes and a goal from Daniel Bertoni gave Argentina their only World Cup trophy. Argentina became the only team to win after losing two games although this was surpassed by Italy in the next World Cup.
#6 France- 1998
The 1998 World Cup saw France being dominant on home turf from the beginning, winning their group stage with ease.
Brazil however had a rocky start after losing to Norway but still managed to top their group. In the Round of 16, Brazil thrashed Chile 4-1 and advanced to the quarter-finals where they beat Denmark 3-2. France played a close game beating Paraguay 1-0 in extra time and then beat Italy 4-3 on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Croatia pulled off one of the greatest upsets ever to beat Germany in the quarterfinals and faced France for a place in the finals. Brazil faced a strong Netherlands side in the semi-finals and beat them 4-2 on on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time. France then beat Croatia 2-1 to qualify for the final.
The final took place on 12 July and Zenedine Zidane scored a brace to give France a 2-0 lead at half time. France were down to 10 men after Marcel Desailly was sent off but Brazil failed to capitalize and Emmanuel Petit made it 3-0 to clinch the game for the Frenchmen.
This was their only World Cup win and they are the last team to win a World Cup on their home turf.
