It was won by Germany, who beat Argentina 1-0 in the final.

With its 3rd title (and 3 second places) Germany became the most successful World Cup nation for 4 years, until Brazil won their 4th Championship in 1994.

The World Cup began with an upset. Defending Champion Argentina fell 0-1 to Cameroon in the opening match. Cameroon went on to become the surprise team of the Championship, becoming the first African nation to go to the quarter finals and bowing there only in extra time with 2-3 to England after leading 2-1.

But Argentina recovered from their defeat and went all the way to the final. On their way they defeated Brazil in the round of the last 8 and, in the semi final, were the first team in this tournament to score a goal against the hosts Italy, winning through penalties after a 1-1 after extra time.

The final had several firsts:

• For the first time a team reached three World Cup finals in a row: Germany had already lost the finals in 1982 and 1986. This feat was later repeated by Brazil in 1994, 1998 and 2002 with better results: Two titles out of three finals.
• It was the first rematch of a preceding final: The World Cup 1986 already saw Argentina and Germany in the final, only with a different winner.
• It was the first World Cup final that had more than one player of a team sent off: Two Argentinian players saw the red card.
• For the first time, the losing team did not score a goal: Germany won by a penalty in the 85th minute shot by Andreas Brehme after a heavily disputed foul on Rudi Völler.
• German team manager Franz Beckenbauer became the first Footballer to become World Champion as a player (in 1974) and as team manager.

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