From headbutts to the Hand of God: 11 moments that shook the World Cup

1966: Geoff Hurst's controversial goal -- did it cross the line?

The 1966 edition of the World Cup offered a helter-skelter final at Wembley, the spiritual home of football. West Germany opened the scoring before being pinned back by England, who then went on to take the advantage. Germany came back bravely to equalize late, making the score 2-2 and sending the game into extra time. And then came the controversy.

Running onto a cross from Alan Ball, England's Geoff Hurst controlled the ball and shot high, beating the keeper but hitting the crossbar. The ball bounced straight down, making it virtually impossible to tell if it had crossed the line. Hands from both sides shot up and a tense few minutes ensued, with the Soviet linesman, Tofik Bakhramov of Azerbaijan, first denying the goal and then, following consultation with the referee, allowing it.



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After that, deflated and on tired legs, the West Germans allowed Hurst the run of the pitch as jubilant England supporters made their way over the advertising hoardings. British commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme summed it up when he uttered the famous line: 'Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over,' as the unlikely hat-trick hero Hurst hammered home a fourth for England. 'It is now!' Wolstenholme concluded.

The fourth goal put the match beyond West Germany for good, sealing the Jules Rimet trophy for England, on home soil for the first and only time.

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1970: Pelé's wild celebration sets the tone against Italy

It's perhaps the most enduring image of the World Cup, and so it is fitting that Edson Arantes do Nascimento -- better known as Pelé, perhaps the one player best associated with the competition -- was at the heart of it.

In the final against Italy in Mexico City, Pelé, playing in his third World Cup final, leaped to meet a long cross from Rivelino, and seemed to hang in front of the goal, before powerfully heading home at the far post.

It was the Seleção's 100th World Cup goal, and opened the scoring in what would ultimately be a 4-1 rout of Italy.

The No. 10, widely considered the best player ever to grace the game, spun around in blind joy before jumping in the air and getting enveloped in a bear hug by Jairzinho.

High off the ground, he pumps his fist three times in the air, grinning broadly, before being mobbed by teammates as he set his Brazil team -- also generally thought one of the best units to have graced the competition -- on their way to a third Jules Rimet trophy, with second-half goals from Gerson, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto.

Pelé's legacy was secured.

1974: Cruyff turns on the magic

Football's a team sport, but every so often there's a moment of individual brilliance that makes the whole stadium -- and watching world -- emit a collective gasp.

So was the case in Dortmund in 1974, in a group game against Sweden. Johan Cruyff, the mercurial Dutchman, bamboozled his opponent with a mind-bending dummy that would come to bear his name -- the Cruyff turn.

Expertly trapping the ball from a lofted forward pass, the Dutch genius faced Swedish defender Jan Olsson just outside the penalty box. In an instant, he faked out the Swede, dragging the ball behind his standing leg and pirouetting away from the defender and toward the goal.

Olsson remained rooted to the spot, struggling to stay upright, no doubt thinking what was going through the minds of everyone else in the stadium and watching: 'What the hell just happened?'

The move came to nothing on the day, but came to define the genius of a Dutch team whose high-concept 'Total Football' philosophy came to revolutionize the sport.

Cruyff scored three goals in the 1974 World Cup, twice against Argentina in the second round and then against Brazil in a 2-0 win that sent Holland through to the final where they were beaten by hosts Germany.

1982: Schumacher foul on Battiston

The World Cup can give us moments of sublime beauty, but it has plenty of capacity for ugliness, too.

One of these less lauded moments came in the 1982 semifinal between France and West Germany -- a game that will forever be remembered for the jarring moment when French substitute Patrick Battiston was floored by German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher.

Midway through the second half Battiston, through on goal following a raking pass from Michel Platini, had only Schumacher to beat when he was flattened by the German keeper, who was racing out of his box to claim the ball. The midair collision left the Frenchman flat out on the turf, unconscious. The ball skipped harmlessly wide as players crowded around his inert form, before he was stretchered off.

The German, who avoided seeing a red card and has since atoned for the incident, stood off to the side, stretching, while the Frenchman was carted from the field. The perceived lack of interest in his opponent's well-being enraged French fans, who jeered at the keeper's every subsequent involvement in the match.

The knockout game ended 3-3 on a raucous night in Seville, with Germany advancing only after a nervy penalty shootout against a French contingent still shook from the horror clash.

1986 El Diego's 'Hand of God' -- and the Goal of the Century'

Even apostates who have forsaken the beautiful game know about the infamous 'Hand of God' incident.

At the Mexico World Cup, at a time when tensions were running high between Argentina and England following the conflict over the Falkland Islands -- known in Argentina as the Islas Malvinas -- the stage was set for a fiery encounter.

Add in the bombastic, barrel-chested genius of Diego Maradona and a quarter-final against the English was always going to be incident-packed. And so it came to pass.

Following a frantic, bed-tempered first half in which both sides spurned chances, Maradona saw an opening a few minutes after the restart. A mis-hit clearance was heading toward earth and the hands of England goalkeeper Peter Shilton when the diminutive Argentine No. 10, already at full steam, leaped to meet the ball, punching it clear of Shilton and into the net.

An aghast England squad besieged the referee, Ali Bin Nasser of Tunisia, but the controversial opener stood.

Minutes later, almost in penance for the blatant display of cheating, Maradona slalomed through much of the England team and rounded Shilton to produce a piece of sublime individual skill that, to this day, is widely considered the World Cup's finest goal.

England managed to claw one back but it was too little, too late, and Maradona's two very different strikes advanced the Albiceleste to the semis, and, ultimately, World Cup glory.

1990: Roger Milla's celebration

Italia '90 was one of the classiest editions of the World Cup, and was definitely improved by the stylish, hip-swinging celebrations of Cameroonian legend Roger Milla.

Prior to his joyous, finger-raised dance at the corner flag or in front of the fans, goal celebrations tended to be wild, unstructured affairs.

But for Milla's four goals for Cameroon in the competition, in a run that took the West Africans to the quarterfinals -- as far as any African team had ever made it at that time -- Milla injected class and humor into his one-man tango rendition.

The run took in a Group B opening game victory over defending champions Argentina, and a last-16 win over Colombia, in which Milla, the undoubted star of the Cameroonian team -- if not the tournament as a whole -- dispossessed another enduring character of the tournament, goalkeeper René Higuita, to score a second in extra time.

1994: Escobar's fateful own goal

Another reminder that the World Cup is just as capable of doling out pain as it is joy is the 1994 own goal by Colombian Andrés Escobar. The mistake led to his country's elimination from the tournament and, ultimately, his murder, and stands out as a tragic departure from an otherwise exciting tournament in the US.

On July 2, only six days after returning to his home nation, Escobar was gunned down in the streets of Medellín, in what is likely Colombian football's darkest hour. The killing was linked to drug lords who had suffered big gambling losses because of Colombia's exit at the group stage but nothing was ever proven.

Cartel bodyguard Humberto Castro Muñoz confessed to the murder, but it is widely speculated that he did not act alone and was employed by a cartel that lost significant money betting on Colombia.

As recently as the last edition of the World Cup, in Brazil, tributes still poured in from family, fans and former teammates.

'Andrés Escobar -- always in our hearts,' wrote Colombia's most capped international -- Escobar's former teammate, Carlos Valderrama -- on Twitter.

'We'll never forget your kindness, your humility and your fight. I miss you bro, I miss you.'

1998: Bergkamp's moment of genius

The stage: Holland's quarterfinal against Argentina, in Marseilles' Stade Velodrome. It's 1-1, approaching the final whistle.

As extra time beckons, from far inside the Dutch half, Frank de Boer pumps a high, long ball forward, expertly finding the outstretched right foot of Dutch master Dennis Bergkamp in the Argentine penalty area.

The Arsenal legend stops it dead, transferring it to his left foot as he twists past Roberto Ayala. His third touch, again with his right boot, flicks it past Carlos Roa, the keeper; three perfect touches to take the ball from a speculative punt upfield to what remains one of the ultimate moments of skill ever displayed in a World Cup.

It remains the mathematician-like Bergkamp's favorite goal, from a long, storied career. Years later, he was still able to break it down step by step in an interview with football magazine FourFourTwo.

'How did I do it? First, there's eye contact with Frank de Boer -- he's going to give the ball. Then: sprint away, get six yards away from the defender. The ball is coming over my shoulder.

'I run in a straight line, jump up to meet the ball, kill it dead. The second touch turns inside, to make sure Ayala is gone, and get a better angle on goal. I aim for the far post and let it curve in.'

Bergkamp's cool demeanor on-field for Arsenal and Holland earned him the nickname 'the Iceman,' a stark contrast to how one Dutch commentator greeted his spectacular piece of skill that day: 'Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp! Dennis Bergkamp! Ahhhhhh!'

2006: Coup de Boule

Eight years after their triumph in Paris, the French found themselves back in another final. This one, however, would end in a very different manner.

Zinedine Zidane, hero of the 1998 run, was aging and had publicly declared that the match in Berlin that July evening would be his last, after earlier reversing a pledge of retirement.

As was the case in the Euro 2000 final, France's opponent was Italy, and the match got interesting early when Zidane stepped up to the penalty spot after teammate Florent Malouda was brought down. With a nonchalant chip, he beat the sprawling Gigi Buffon to open the scoring.

Marco Materazzi brought it back level just a few minutes later, and the score would remain even until the end of 120 minutes. But it was the Italian scorer who set in motion a dramatic set of events that led to the French talisman Zidane's dismissal.