After Part I and Part II, we're down to the best of the best, four matches that will withstand the test of time. Let's go.
#4 - USA 3, Portugal 2, 2002 Group Stage
There was good reason for my pessimism. This was Portugal's "Golden Generation", the squad of Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Pauleta and Joao Pinto, and the Portuguese were picked by many as a dark horse candidate to win the whole tournament. As for the U.S., they were coming off a last-place performance in France 1998. As in dead last, 32nd out of 32 teams.
So when the U.S. took the lead, my first emotion was jubilation which was quickly followed by discomfort. There were still 86 minutes left in the game. Surprisingly, Portugal didn't respond, and the U.S. goal seemed to unsettle them. Their movement was disjointed and their passes were loose. It cost them in the 29th minute when a bad pass gifted the ball to Landon Donovan on the edge of the Portuguese penalty box. Landon Donovan's cross took a wicked deflection off Jorge Costa spinning into the goal past the wrong-footed Portugal keeper. 2-0 USA. Seven minutes later, U.S. fullback Tony Sanneh galloped down the right sideline off a pass from Donovan. Sanneh swung in an inch-perfect cross. U.S. forward Brian McBride ghosted between two Portugal defenders and hammered a diving header past the goalie. 3-0, and the U.S. was into dreamland! It was virtually inconceivable.
The U.S. was never going to control the entire game against Portugal, and poking the Portuguese bear for the third time finally seemed to wake it up. Within three minutes, Portugal responded scoring off a corner kick, and the game suddenly had a very different feel. The teams entered halftime with the U.S. leading 3-1.
It was over the next 45 minutes that I realized how long three-quarters of an hour could take. It felt like sitting in a dunking booth waiting for somebody to finally hit the lever. The U.S., as they say, parked the bus in their own half of the field and bunkered in. They put nine sometimes 10 men behind the ball and invited Portugal to break them down. The defense held until the 71st minute when Portugal whipped an inswinging cross into the American penalty box, and U.S. defender sliced his attempted clearance past a helpless Brad Friedel in goal. 3-2 and 20 very long minutes left to play.
Remarkably, the Portuguese rarely threatened the rest of the way. They controlled possession but with little end purpose. The U.S. defense was a model of compactness and organization, and when the referee blew the final whistle, America deserved every bit of their shock victory. It was arguably the biggest win ever for U.S. soccer, and it launched the team on a run all the way to the Quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup.
#3 - Senegal 1, France 0, 2002 Group Stage
We already saw Senegal grace this list in Part II of III, but that particular match was about the journey. This one is all end result. Senegal-France was the opening game of the 2002 World Cup, and on paper it was as close to a 16 vs. 1 seed as you'll see in soccer's biggest tournament. Senegal, the tiny West African nation that many couldn't locate on a map, was making their debut at the World Cup Finals; they couldn't have found many more intimidating opening matches. France were the defending champions of both the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, and many of their stars--Thierry Henry, David Trezegeut, Patrick Viera, Claude Makelele--were in the prime of their careers. One caveat was that French superstar Zinedine Zidane, arguably the world's best player, was an injury concern. That, however, was a worry for much later in the tournament than the opening match vs. Senegal.
Remarkably, France never looked a serious threat to turn the game around. Thierry Henry hit the crossbar in the second half, but that was as close as France got. Senegal held on for a shocking 1-0 victory that sent them and France in opposite directions. The Senegalese would advance all the way to the Quarter-finals while France would go home in disgrace taking only one point from three games.
#2 - South Korea 2, Italy 1 (ET), 2002 Round of 16
South Korea's entire 2002 World Cup was shocking. Here was a country that had won exactly zero of their 14 all-time World Cup matches, and they went within one game of the Final. I could do an entire segment of this Top 10 list with just South Korean games from 2002: the 1-0 defeat of Portugal in the group stage, the penalty kick victory over Spain in the Quarter-finals. Only one of South Korea's games, though, had an unforgettable combination of atmosphere, controversy and drama that culminated in one magical moment. The date was June 18, 2002, and the opponent was Italy.
Before we get to anything else -- the goals, the misses or the controversy -- it must be said that this was a spectacular football match. Although South Korea had been surprisingly impressive in the group stage, many thought they would be overmatched against three-time World Champions Italy. Far from it. This turned out to be two high-quality sides going toe-to-toe deep into the South Korean night.
The atmosphere for the game was electric. Roughly 4.2 million (yes million) South Koreans lined the streets to watch the game, and those who made it inside reminded the Italians of their shocking loss to North Korea in 1966.
Throughout the 2002 World Cup, much was made of the South Korean fans' impact on refereeing decisions, and it's hard to argue the point. Just minutes into the match, Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno granted the Koreans a penalty for some shirt-grabbing in the penalty box by an Italian defender. It was a soft call; it was also probably the least controversial major decision made by Moreno that night. Ultimately, the call didn't matter much as Korea's Ahn Jung Hwan saw his penalty expertly saved by Gianluigi Buffon. The Koreans' disappointment escalated in the 18th minute when Italy's star forward Christian Vieri outmuscled two Korean defenders to head home the opening goal. It was suddenly going all wrong for South Korea.
Both sides had chances as the game progressed with neither finding a breakthrough. It appeared as though the South Korean fairytale was coming to an end, but Korea's Seol Ki-Hyeon flipped the script with two minutes left to play. After passing the ball outside the Italian penalty box, the Koreans swung in a short cross. The ball floated just over the head of one defender catching Italy's Christian Panucci off balance. His miscontrol dropped the ball at the feet of Hyeon who volleyed the ball past Buffon setting off eruptions around the stadium.
Amazingly, Hyeon's salvation goal was almost rendered completely moot. Just moments after Korea's equalizer, Damiano Tommasi put a cross on a platter for Vieri who responded with an all-time slice.
1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, and the drama was just getting started. In 2002, the extra time format was still Golden Goal, and the Italians thought they'd found theirs in the first 15-minute frame. Vieri flicked on a long ball putting Francesco Totti in on goal. Song Chong-Gug flew in with a desperate challenge, Totti went down, and Italy screamed penalty. The referee, Moreno, wasn't interested and remarkably showed a yellow card to Totti for diving. The replays showed that Gug took both ball and man. Regardless, the Italians were furious.
Adding insult to injury, it was Totti's second yellow card, so the call reduced Italy to 10 men. Still, Gennaro Gattuso had a golden chance to win it in the second extra time, but the chance went begging. Italy would rue that miss. In the 117th minute, Lee Young-Pyo hit an inswinging cross, and Ahn Jung-Hwan rose highest flicking the ball past Buffon and into the pages of World Cup history. Shockingly, there is no good YouTube video of this goal, so you'll have to watch the full highlights package below to see it. South Koreans, there are 50 million of you. You know how to use the Internet. Get on this.
Ahn's goal sent one nation into pandemonium and the other into bitterness and despair. Italians cried foul of the referee, and one Italian, Luciano Gaucci, was so upset that he procliamed, "[Ahn] will never set foot in Perugia again." Gaucci was the owner of Italian football club Perugia, and one of his employees was... Ahn Jung-Hwan.
#1 - Uruguay 1, Ghana 1 (4-2 pen.), 2010 Quarter-finals
Here it is, the most shocking of shocking matches. Why? During this countdown, we've seen matches with amazing twists: World Cup debutantes taking down tournament favorites, expected close games that turned into blowouts, and remarkable comebacks. None of those matches were like this one. The ending to Uruguay-Ghana was unprecedented, and it's one of the most dramatic finishes not just in soccer but in recent sports memory all together.
The first 90 minutes were normal enough. It was scoreless until first-half stoppage time when Ghana's Sulley Muntari opened the scoring. After picking up the ball inside midfield, Muntari took two touches and let fly an overly optimistic effort from 40 yards. The ball swerved over the shoulder of a ducking Ghana player who blocked the view of Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera. Muslera was wrong-footed, and his recovery dive was too late. 1-0 Ghana on the stroke of halftime. Ten minutes into the second half it was Uruguay striker Diego Forlan's turn to score from distance. Taking a free kick five yards outside the corner of the Ghanaian penalty box, Forlan hit the ball with the instep of his right boot, and this normally causes the ball to move from left to right. At least Ghana keeper Richard Kingson thought it would. The ball knuckled instead of curving, and to his horror, Kingson found himself flailing at thin air as Forlan's strike flew into the top of the net. Tie game.
1-1 was how the match would stay through normal time and deep into extra time. With seconds to go before penalties, Ghana won a free kick on the right touchline, and this was where it all began. John Pantsil swung a cross into the box; it pinballed amongst several players until Ghana's Stephen Appiah volleyed past Muslera. A desperate Luis Suarez blocked the shot on the goal line for Uruguay. This time it was with his leg. Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah was first to the rebound and headed the ball back towards goal. Suarez was there again, but this time his block wasn't from his leg.
Famously, Suarez threw both hands at the ball and tomahawked it clear. The infraction was spotted by the referee. Despite his halfhearted protests, Suarez received a straight red card and walked off the pitch in tears. More importantly, Ghana was awarded a penalty.
The weight of the moment was immense. With 121 minutes on the clock, the penalty would literally be the last kick of the game, and it would send Ghana through to the Semi-finals if converted. Ghana had never advanced that far in a World Cup, but this was about more than Ghana. It was about all of Africa too. No African team had ever reached the a World Cup Semi-finals, and with the 2010 tournament in South Africa, many believed this was their time. And here was the moment. Step forward Ghana's best player, Asamoah Gyan, to set off celebrations around a continent.
Stomachs were punched in most places around the world save Uruguay. Muslera hit the bar in gratitude as the Uruguayans had been granted a lifeline. The match was going to penalty kicks. Impressively, Gyan stepped forward to take Ghana's first penalty, and this time he converted. Ghana, however, would miss two of their next three while Uruguay made three of their first four. Taking their final spot kick, Uruguay's Sebastian Abreu dinked his penalty over Kingson, and the Ghanaian tragedy was complete.