Greatest World Cup moments A

S WE edge closer to the kickoff of the World Cup in Russia on Thursday, everyone is hoping this football carnival can take its place among some of the great tournaments of the past. That won’t be easy though, as this series will testify. Here is part 4 of the greatest World Cup moments in chronological order.

Diana Ross at the opening

world had ever witnessed.

Escobar own goal

Every player looks glum when he puts the ball into his own net, but when Andrés Escobar scored an own goal in the 1994 World Cup, he had more reason than most to be feeling blue. The defender put into his own net during the group stage against the United States and Colombia went on to lose the match. With Colombia eliminated, it was to get worse for Escobar, who was killed upon returning to his home country. It’s widely believed he was murdered as punishment for his own goal by disgruntled drug lords who incurred huge gambling losses because of his mistake. A footnote to the sorry episode was that the BBC had to issue an apology the following day after pundit Alan Hansen commented on another match: “the Argentine defender wants shooting for a mistake like that.”

Maradona of the Arabs

The greatest goals of the World Cup tend to come from household names. The likes of Bergkamp, Maradona and Pele are regularly cited when the arguments are put forward for the goals of the tournament. But at the 1994 World Cup, the goal of the Finals came from an unlikely hero - Saeed Al-Owairan of Saudi Arabia. During the group stage match against Belgium, Saeed set off from his own half, shrugged off the challenge of two opponents before heading in towards goal. He then skipped past two more Belgians, before sliding the ball just ahead of the advancing keeper, and a last ditch challenge, to knock it into the back of the net. The goal was later voted sixth ground-as-if-you’ve-been-shot routine and with that Ortega was shown the red card.

Owen vs Argentina

The 1998 World Cup in France saw 18-yearold Liverpool wonder-kid Michael Owen break onto the international stage. After forcing his way into the team during the group stage, he was given a start against the mighty Argentina in the second round. And on 16 minutes he produced arguably the goal of the tournament. A fine touch as he received the ball on the half-way line saw him tear off towards goal with blistering pace. Leaving his marker for dead, he then zoomed past the next Argentinean, taking the ball to the right side of the penalty box. Then, without hesitation he crashed the ball into the back of the net with a venomous finish. Forget the subsequent injury problems