1990 FIFA World Cup Final

Players of Argentina before the match: Juan Simón, goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea and Diego Maradona

The 1990 final is often cited as one of the most cynical and ugliest World Cup finals.[2] It was an ill-tempered game, notable for the first two sendings off in a World Cup final.

After a mostly eventless first half, the West Germans had a few chances at the start of the second half. Pierre Littbarski cut inside, dribbling past three South American defenders, but his shot from outside the box went just wide. Later, Thomas Berthold and Rudi Völler, respectively, failed to capitalize from dangerous free kicks taken by Andreas Brehme. In the 58th minute, Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea appeared to take down Klaus Augenthaler inside the penalty area, but Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal refused to award a penalty kick. Pedro Monzón had the distinction of being the first player to be sent off at a FIFA World Cup final, after being shown a straight red card for a reckless studs up challenge on Jürgen Klinsmann; FIFA had warned its officials to enforce the rules and Monzón had raised his foot during the tackle, a foul that Klinsmann claims left a 15-centimetre (5.9 in) gash on his shin.[3] In the 78th minute, after an incorrectly given corner kick, German team captain Lothar Matthäus lost the ball inside his own penalty area and then appeared to trip Gabriel Calderón. Codesal once again said to play on, amid penalty shouts from the Argentinian midfielder.[4]

Six minutes from full time, Codesal incurred the wrath of the Argentinians after awarding West Germany a questionable[5][6][7] penalty kick for Roberto Sensini's sliding tackle on Völler. Regular penalty taker Matthäus had been forced to replace his boots during the match and did not feel comfortable in the new ones,[8] so Andreas Brehme took his place and converted the spot kick with a low right footed shot to the goalkeeper's right.[9]

Gustavo Dezotti, already cautioned in the first half, received a straight red card late in the match when he hauled down Jürgen Kohler with what The New York Times described as a "neck tackle right out of professional wrestling", after Kohler refused to give-up the ball in an alleged attempt to waste time. After dismissing Dezotti, Codesal was surrounded and jostled by the rest of the Argentinian team.[10] At the final whistle, Maradona, who was man marked by Guido Buchwald for almost the entire match,[11] burst into tears and blamed the referee for the loss.[9] Argentina entered the game with four players suspended and ended it with nine men on the field, overall losing over half their squad due to injury or suspension.[12][13][14]

In total, West Germany had 16 scoring chances out of 23 shots. Argentina became the competition's first finalist not to score, with only one shot on goal.[9] The South Americans failed to put together a coherent attacking strategy and lost the ball frequently. Instead, they focused on defending at all costs, knowing they would have the advantage if they managed to reach the penalty shoot-out, as they had already advanced twice in the tournament by this means.[12][13][14] At the time, the 1990 final was the lowest-scoring final in the history of the competition—although this record was broken four years later, when Brazil beat Italy on penalties after 120 goalless minutes.

The 1990 victory gave West Germany their third FIFA World Cup title, also making them the team to have played in the most FIFA World Cup finals at the time (three wins, three defeats), as well as avenging their defeat at the hands of Argentina in the previous final. It also meant that Germany coach Franz Beckenbauer became the only person to have won both silver and gold medals at the World Cup as a player (1966, 1974) and as a coach (1986, 1990).