This weekend, England faces the ultimate road game at this World Cup.
Sunday’s round of 16 matchup against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium will present challenges above and beyond what the Three Lions have faced so far. The altitude, the hostile atmosphere, plus whatever extra gamesmanship might await â it’s all part of the experience of taking on El Tri in Mexico City.
It’s also gripping theatre.
There’s nothing quite like a big World Cup match involving the host nation, and when that team has a famously impressive home record â which Mexico certainly does at the Azteca â there’s a real intimidation factor. Six times the men’s tournament has been won by the country playing at home, most recently in 1998. But there is hope for England. Some of the most famous matches in World Cup history were games the home team actually lost.
Here’s a look at home field advantage through the years:
The first two World Cups were won by the hosts â Uruguay in 1930 and then Italy in 1934. The latter gained infamy because of Benito Mussolini’s use of the tournament as a political tool â and perhaps his impact on the officiating?
“The fascist regime made a political abuse of the event,” Italian writer Marco Impiglia said nearly 80 years later. “It was a questionable win and it raised many doubts at the time.”
It should be acknowledged that four years later, Italy became the first team to win a World Cup away from home, prevailing in France.
The Brazilian men have won a record five World Cups, but have never triumphed at home. The hosts needed only a draw against Uruguay to take the title in 1950 â there was a final group stage instead of a singular title game â but with maybe 200,000 on hand at Rios Maracanã Stadium, the Brazilians went down to an unthinkable 2-1 defeat.
Alcides Ghiggia, who scored the winning goal, once said only three people had silenced the Maracana: “The Pope, Frank Sinatra and me.”
That 1950 loss hovered over the proceedings when Brazil hosted again in 2014 â and the team’s semifinal loss to Germany may have been even more embarrassing. At least that time, the suspense was removed early when the visitors scored a flurry of first-half goals on their way to a 7-1 rout.
England’s lone World Cup championship came on home soil, and not without controversy. In the final against West Germany at Wembley Stadium, Geoff Hurst’s shot in extra time bounced down off the crossbar. Did it go in or not? Goal-line technology was still decades away.
Officials awarded the goal, which put England up 3-2. Hurst later scored again to complete a hat trick, and the final score was 4-2.
The Netherlands lost back-to-back finals in 1974 and 1978 â both times losing to the host country. In 1974, the Dutch scored early, but lost 2-1 to West Germany. Four years later, they had to take on Argentina in front of a frenzied crowd in Buenos Aires. The Argentines took the field several minutes after the Dutch, leaving the visitors by themselves in front of the hostile fans. Then there was a row over whether Rene van de Kerkhof would be able to play with a cast on. Argentina eventually won 3-1 in extra time.
The Dutch nearly faced Brazil in that final. Argentina needed at least four goals against Peru in its final match in its second-round group to make the final. The Argentines won 6-0, leading to plenty of conspiracy theories.
Sometimes, it’s not all that clear who the home team really is. At least that’s what Diego Maradona was hoping when Argentina prepared to face Italy in the 1990 semifinal in Naples. A club star for Napoli, Maradona was beloved there, but would the local fans really cheer for him and Argentina against their own country? Maradona certainly tried to stoke divisions between northern and southern Italy.
“After so much racism, only now they scurry to remember that Naples is part of Italy,” Ma
