Football · 1990 · Italy
Cameroon Stuns the World
An African team beats the reigning World Cup holders in the opening match, then rides a 38-year-old substitute's four goals into the tournament's first African quarter-final.
Cameroon 1-0 Argentina (holders)
Opening result
4
Milla's tournament goals
38
Milla's age
Cameroon opened the 1990 World Cup against defending champions Argentina in Milan, and François Omam-Biyik's looping header, spilled by goalkeeper Nery Pumpido, gave Cameroon an unlikely 1-0 win over the holders even after finishing the match with nine men following two red cards.
Roger Milla, 38 years old and coaxed out of international retirement for the tournament, came off the bench to score twice against Romania and twice more against Colombia in the last sixteen, the second after goalkeeper René Higuita's attempted dribble was dispossessed near the halfway line. Milla's hip-swivelling celebration at the corner flag after each goal became one of the tournament's signature images.
Cameroon's run ended in the quarter-final, a 3-2 extra-time defeat to England built on two Gary Lineker penalties, but they had become the first African nation ever to reach that stage of a World Cup. The tournament changed how African football was viewed globally and directly influenced FIFA's later decision to expand the World Cup places available to the continent.
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