As anyone who followed the Premiership last season knows, football is certainly a game that that can throw up some big surprises – and these are just as likely to occur in international tournaments as they are in domestic leagues.
This year’s European championships are a perfect example of this with the incredible run that Wales have enjoyed, as well as England’s frankly embarrassing defeat by Iceland, a country with a population of a little over 3,23,000.
Just a few days ago, Scottish giants Celtic lost 1-0 in their Champions League qualifier to semi-pro Gibraltar side Lincoln Red Imps, whose players included taxi drivers, labourers and agents.
Prompted by this we’ve take a look through the record books and picked four of the biggest upsets ever in major international football tournaments.
USA 1 – England 0, 1950
In a group match in the 1950 World Cup played in Belo Horizonte in Brazil the plucky Americans stunned the world by beating England at their own game. The England team were without their star player, Stanley Matthews, who the management had decided to rest for the match, so lacked a lot of attacking power. The winning goal came in the 38th minute from Gaetjens’ header.
England even had a chance to equalise from a penalty in the second half but the keeper, Frank Borghi saved it. The match went down in US sporting history and they even made a film of it.
North Korea 1 – Italy 0, 1966
In the year that England did go on to enjoy footballing success the Italians were not so lucky. Drawn against unknowns North Korea in a World Cup match played in Middlesbrough the Azzurri had a nasty shock waiting for them in the form of a single goal scored by Pak Doo-Ik.
In a time when no subs were allowed the Italian captain had to leave the team a man short when he injured himself performing a sliding tackle which helped the Koreans’ cause. Allegedly Pak Doo-Ik was rewarded with a car on his return to Korea while the Italians were pelted with rotten tomatoes when they got home.
Faroe Islands 1 – Austria 0, 1990
When the tiny Faroe Islands were drawn against Austria at home in 1990 there wasn’t even a suitable pitch to play on so the match was held in Sweden. The “home team” went into the game expecting a defeat of at least 10-0 so developed a strategy of dividing the game into 5 minute segments and trying to get through each one without conceding a goal. They managed this with quite some style and in the 62nd minute Torkil Nielsen made the key breakthrough – watched by a crowd of 1,250.
Denmark 2 – Germany 0, 1992
When Denmark beat Germany to become the winners of UEFA Euro 1992 it wasn’t so much the result that was a surprise, it was more the fact that they were there at all. Having initially failed to qualify it was only because Bosnia and Montenegro had been excluded as a sanction against their role in the war in Bosnia so Denmark were admitted at the last minute. Short of preparation, they still went on to win, also beating France and Holland along the way.
So it all goes to prove that, no matter what the odds for Euro 2016 said, there were certainly more than a few precedents for tearing up the form book. And it’s also worth remembering that underdogs’ success gives fans whose own teams have gone home a chance to get behind another neutral team – remember how Iceland became everyone’s favourite team?
Even Portugal, who eventually won the tournament, were rank outsiders at the beginning (behind the likes of Spain, Germany, France, England, Belgium and Italy). They finished third in their group behind Hungary and Iceland, and at that stage, nobody would’ve expected them to go all the away. In the final, the odds were against them, especially after Cristiano Ronaldo was stretchered off early in the first half. France had a great record on home soil, having won the 1984 European Championships and 1998 World Cup, and had the likes of Griezmann and Payet in fantastic form.
However the Portuguese defended resolutely, and Swansea reject Eder was the unlikely hero, with his shot in second half extra time sealing victory for Fernando Santos’ team. The pragmatic Santos had a long coaching stint in Greece and is seen to be similar to Otto Rehhagel, the man who scripted the country’s Euro fairlytale twelve years ago.