So: what was your big World Cup thrill? Hadji's shuffle? Branco's kangaroo jump? Suker's pulse-check? Or was it your first sight of those 11 yellow-haired Romanians? Earlier tournaments are now known by their 'defining moments'. In 1970, we had Moore and Pele swapping shirts; in '82, there was the demented Altobelli; in '86 the Hand of God; in '90, Gazza's tears. I'm not sure what it was in '94: Romario and Bebeto doing that baby-cradling thing? Or was it about Maradona and his drugs, or Escobar's calamitous own goal?

LRB 30 July 1998 | PDF Download