I never do. When has there been a quality final since 1970? '74 was average, '78 was 6 out of 10, '82 was one of the worst games of the tournament if you ignore the fix of Austria v Germany, '86 was OK. '90 and '94 were abysmal, '98 was average, with Brazil choosing that moment to play by far their worst game of the entire tournament, 2002 was "meh". 2006 was reasonable - but even there the most memorable moment was a head-butt by Zidane - and 2010 resembled a UFC bout rather than a football match. It might be a bit tasty if it turns out to be Brazil/Argentina, but if you're not very naive you know who's going to win anyway.

What moments?

It is also to do with the quality of world cups this millennium. and how far back people's memory goes. 2010 was dire with a disgraceful, forgettable final; 2002 was memorable for the scandalous officiating; and I've gone blank on 2006

Or is it possible that Belgium have a great squad but most of their players are at a similar level - just below world class??

I don't think they got any joy in the game until they started pumping long balls into the box and they certainly weren't going to play themselves round that Argentina defensive unit.

If you're clutching at straws you could describe shots off target as "moments" I suppose.

159 goals thus far. Only 2 behind the total of Japan/South Korea tournament. France '98 had 171 goals so it may take some doing to overhaul that. The knockout stages haven't been goal fests but don't suppose that's a total surprise.

I know I get what you are saying but I'm questioning the medias role in overhyping absolutely everything we see. Calling it a tournament of goals goals goals every 5 seconds is a bit strange giving we've had as many goals in other WC's as if the whole thing is historic.

If they said, we've a lot of tight close games I wouldn't argue with them. The media are more influencial and powerful than ever, I think Sky's brilliant work of Froch vs Groves proves that.

Which games were classics? I must have missed them.

Ive been watching World Cups since 1990 and without looking into it, I think this has been my 2nd fave behind France 98 which was soured somewhat with the whole Ronaldo business in the final.

We need a great Semi Final or Final to really cement this one into the memory I think

And remember that there have been more teams and matches in the last four World Cups anyway. In fact 1970 had exactly HALF the number of games - 32 as opposed to 64. Even 1994 had as many as twelve fewer games (although to be fair it would probably have still been a generally boring tournament with 150 games).


A tight, close game with a last-minute goal doesn't make a classic any more than lots of goals do.

A perfect illustration of your point about hype can be seen in the effusive praise of Brazil v Colombia. On FiveLive, the likes of the excellent Chris Waddle, an aberration among English footballers of his era in having insight, intelligence (and unusual techinque and intelligence on the pitch as a player) rightly pointed out the game was a "joke", as opposed to the ITV and TalkSport commercially driven panels effusing about the so-called "great game that shows how this best ever World Cup just keeps the coming".

According to someone on twitter there was only 3 shots on target in this match, the lowest since 1990 WC final. No idea if that's true.

The QF's have been very disappointing, France were poor, Columbia not up to their earlier performances and Belgium looked clueless until the final minutes. I expect tonights Hol/CR game to be one sided, hopefully I'll be wrong.

Was the '70 final that good? I am too young to recall it and obviously I've seen just how good the football was that Brazil played that day but was it a 'classic'? On paper it seems like a one sided game. I realise I am probably being naive but was it just a great Brazil performance or a bona fide good final?

Only Germany v Holland and our game of those was a classic in my opinon - but I have to accept the possibilty that my opinion of the latter is biased. Granted Cameroon were a revelation for those of us not versed in African footballers, with good players like Omam Biyik that most of us had never heard of, but Argentina were poor in that game evidenced by their performance against a side with 9 men. I'm surprised they got to the final to be honest and they were horrific when they got there. The reason why I don't agree it was a classic tournament as a whole was the extremely poor quality of most of the other matches.

I don't know, as '74 was the first one i was old enough to remember, but the fact that it had a performance and a team that are almosst universally considered the best ever must carry some weight in favour of it being described as a classic

It sounds entirely possible.

Fair point but I wonder if in this social media age it would be considered as one sided. Like I said I know nothing about it other than the score and the goals so I am happy to be proven wrong. If not then you are looking at '66 as the last great final due to the fact that there was 6 goals in a game that could have gone either way. I'm certainly not saying that with my England flag draped over me by the way. I find it embarrassing how many talk about that day when a lot of their fathers weren't even born!

Belgiums golden generation looks on target to achieve the same as ours. Nowt.

I normally consider football matches a classic based on the moment of madness more than how well the teams played.

Nothing has topped the WC match when Italy bursted into life against Germany in 2006 in those final 2 minutes. That second goal was just unbelieveable.

I thought the whole game was intriguing despite being goalless for so long

They hadn't qualified since 2002 so to get to the quarter-finals is an decent achievement

If this is just the springboard then you could say that. However with the players they have failure to do better at Euro 2016 will put them firmly in the same bracket as us.

Blimey - saying that the footballing giants of Belgium just MIGHT end up being as useless as we are in the long-term puts everything in de[pressing perspective.

Belgium seemed overcome a bit with the occasions whilst Argentina after that early goal knew what they needed to do.

Bit like Germany v France.