5. South Korea 2-1 Italy, 2002 Round of 16

They may have been co-hosts, but even with 72,000 roaring fans behind them, South Korea were expected to crumble under the power, intensity and sheer talent of an illustrious Italian side. After missing a penalty four minutes in, the stadium fell silent, knowing the home team wasted a rare chance to edge ahead.

To no one’s surprise, Italy pounced on the mistake, as Christian Vieri fired home a powerful header midway through the first half. Growing in skill and confidence with every kick of the ball, the deficit looked increasingly harder to make up. It took until the 88th minute, when Seol Ki-hyeon capitalised on a defensive error, taking the game to extra-time.

As penalties loomed ominously, and Italy dominated possession and attack, striker Lee Young-pyo produced something difficult to comprehend in the 117th minute – rising above his opponent, despite being three inches shorter than him, to score a soaring header. Three million people flooded the streets of Seoul in celebration.

4. Cameroon 1-0 Argentina, 1990 Group Stage

It might only have been the Group Stages, but to Cameroon it may as well have been the World Cup Final. Playing the defending champions, in only their second appearance in a World Cup, there are few games with more of an imbalance in experience and, so everyone thought, in talent.

Even Diego Maradona failed to put the ball in the back of the net for Argentina, and the clock kept ticking, until at 67 minutes François Omam-Biyik capitalised on a goalkeeping error for the African nation, clinging onto their slight victory until the final whistle.

The match wasn’t just an enormous fluke, either. Cameroon stormed on to top their Group and eventually bowed out to England in the quarter-finals – a run they haven’t come close to emulating since.

3. USA 1-0 England, 1950 Group Stage

The ‘Kings of Football’, with a post-war record of 23 wins, four losses, and three draws, against a US team of part-time players, at a time when football, or soccer, was barely a sport in the States.

As England finally made their World Cup debut, after boycotting it for three years due to disagreements with FIFA, the world waited for the Three Lions to make an emphatic statement about their largely unrivalled ability – as well as their intent. But a soulless game left room for opportunity for the US, and right at the end of the first half Joe Gaetjens, an unknown Haitian-born student, brushed the ball into the back of the net with the tip of his head.

The victory proved such a legendary tale that it was turned into a book, and eventually a film, ‘The Game of their Lives.’ Even as an England fan, it’s difficult not to enjoy this iconic, or infamous, story of the underdog.

2. West Germany 3-Hungary 2, 1954 Final

This score-line may not make eyes explode today, but in 1954 it certainly did. Hungary, known as the ‘Golden Team’, were heavy favourites, boasting a 31-match unbeaten record heading into the final. When the Germans went 2-0 down after eight minutes, it fitted perfectly into the script – everyone expected another cruel onslaught of Hungarian power.

But the underdogs heroically clawed their way back to level terms at the Charmilles Stadium, with goals from Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn, and when the latter fired in an incredible strike in the 84th minute there was little time for the Hungarians, in disbelief, to retaliate.

The monumental upset is forever remembered as the ‘Miracle of Bern’ in Germany, and the match is even said to have had an impact on German and Hungarian history, and the shifting power dynamic, in the aftermath of World War II.

1. Brazil 1-7 Germany, 2014 Quarter-Final

The host nation, the overwhelming favourites – Brazil were undoubtedly the team to beat in 2014. While overcoming Germany, as England know all too well, is no mean feat, a tense, tight 90 minutes of football was expected to play out between the two superpowers.

But 5-0 down after 29 minutes, the nation, indeed the world, fell silent. The players seemed to quite literally collapse under the pressure on them, and even those who put the ball in the net, Germany’s Muller, Klose and Kroos, struggled to believe the scoreboards.

The game, and Brazil’s promising home World Cup run, will forever be defined by that blistering opening half-hour that fateful night in Belo Horizonte. Whatever quite went on in the minds of those 11 players we’ll never know. What could have been, had they not crumbled so emphatically and exponentially, we’ll never know either. It’s perhaps a more interesting question, though.

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