World in Motion

The Inside Story of Italia '90

Italia '90 was the best and worst of World Cups. It made a global star of England's inspirational Paul Gascoigne and gave fresh confidence to English football but it was also the lowest- scoring of all World Cups, leading directly to the back-pass ban that transformed the sport. World In Motion travels from Africa to South America, via Europe and the Middle East, to hear from the protagonists of Italia '90 and find out why it is still seen as a special and transformative moment, not just in English eyes but in other countries far and wide. It was a World Cup of firsts – from Cameroon's quarter-final trail-blazers via the feats of newcomers like the Republic of Ireland and Costa Rica – but a tournament too which marked the last hurrah of the old footballing powers of the Eastern Bloc amid the collapse of the Iron Curtain. It began with the biggest shock of any opening game, as nine-man Cameroon beat Argentina, and it ended with the worst final of all, as West Germany beat nine-man Argentina with a much-disputed penalty. In between it gave us a big spectacle, a winning soundtrack and some unforgettable storylines. World In Motion speaks to players and coaches, referees and administrators, reporters and fans to gauge the full impact of football's dramatic Italian summer – including meeting Roger Milla at his home in Cameroon and Totò Schillaci at his football school in Sicily. In the process it rediscovers a time when the game stood on the brink of change, with the Premier League and Champions League on the horizon, yet the World Cup remained a thrilling voyage of discovery – a land of novelties, from Fair Play flags to fan embassies to that first-ever penalty shoot-out heartbreak for England ...