The world once again comes to a standstill thanks to the World’s biggest soccer event; The World Cup.
It’s less than 48hrs before the tournament gets underway in Brazil where 32 nations are ready to vie for honours and bragging rights.
Hosts and record winners Brazil entertains 1998 semi-finalists Croatia in the opener in what will be the first of 64 matches.
Previous World Cups have been lit up by skilled players, amazing goals such as the hand of God by Diego Maradona against Engand in 1986, shocking results, upsets, weird goal celebrations and controversial decisions among others but none comes close to the heart breaking “Golden Goal” as witnessed at France 98 and South Korea and Japan in 2002.
Anthony Carbone
The first ever golden goal under a FIFA recognized competition was netted by Australia’s Anthony Carbone.
It was in the quarter-finals of the FIFA U20 Junior World Cup on March 13, 1993, when he scored the winning goal to help Australia beat Uruguay 2-1. It happened in the 99th minute of their encounter in Brisbane, with Carbone leading the hosting Australians into the semi-finals.
History of the Golden Goal Rule in Football:
Members of the ruling FIFA Board initiated the “Golden Goal” system after numerous proposals from experts had been put before them. The FIFA World Cup for U-20s in Australia became the litmus in the competition. The match between Australia and Uruguay was the only tournament match settled by a Golden Goal. The “Golden Goal” regulation stipulated that a match in extra time ended the moment the first goal hit the back of the net. The team that had scored were the winners. With this immediate ending, opponents had no opportunity to equalise.
For the followers and fans of Hockey, the “Golden Goal” in football was seen as a twin to “Sudden Death” in ice hockey, but only lasted a relatively short time. “Sudden Death”, with its meaning of immediacy coming with a decisive goal beyond the 90 minutes, was given a more heartening name in football.
“Golden Goal” makes World Cup debut at France 98:
The “Golden Goal” made its FIFA debut in senior football at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. En route to winning their first and only title, France defeated Jose Chilavert inspired Paraguay in the round of 16 with a “Golden Goal” from centre back Laurent Blanc.
With the game tied at 0-0 after 90 minutes, the game went to extra time but with seven minutes left on the clock to complete the 30 extra minutes, Blanc netted the goal that ended Paraguay’s resistance. That was the end of the game as Les Blues fans and players went into frenzy. Heartbreaking for the Paraguayans and the neutrals who were anticipating a fierce battle in the shootout between France’s Barthez and Paraguay’s Chilavert.
Turkey’s Lihan Manzis scores last ever Golden Goal:
There were three more goals at four years later bringing the total to four altogether at FIFA World Cup finals.
At the 2002 edition in Korea and Japan, three matches were decided in this way: Senegal defeated Sweden 2-1 (Henri Camara 104th), and South Korea beat Italy 2-1 (Jung Hwan Ahn 117th) in the second round; Turkey beat Senegal 1-0 (Lihan Manzis 94th) in the quarter-finals with what became the last “Golden Goal” in FIFA World Cup history.