WC Famous Five - Rob Mullarkey

TEAMtalk Towers veteran Rob Mullarkey takes a trip down memory lane as he fondly remembers and describes his Famous Five World Cup moments.

5 - The draw for the 1982 World Cup: In recent years the draw for the World Cup has evolved into a two-hour spectacular but it wasn't always the case. The draw for the 1982 finals was almost forced upon us but it turned out to be TV heaven. On such occasions, FIFA likes to make much of its valuable links with Unicef and other charities by having local children at the draw. In Spain, orphans were on hand to help out. How touching it was then to see Hermann Neuburger, the West German representative, shouting at the child unlucky enough to be near him, and showing the caring, sharing side of football executives to the whole world....and incurring the wrath of Jimmy Hill during the first of many interruptions. Not only did the revolving ball dispensers keep breaking but when the draw was eventually made, the first team picked to face holders Argentina were Scotland. Amid the backdrop of the rising tensions in the Falklands, and preferring farce to riot, FIFA opted to put Scotland back in the hat and they were replaced by Belgium. Scotland, unhappy with their status as one of the third seeds anyway, were eventually grouped with Brazil, the USSR and New Zealand and Jock Stein's men, thanks to inferior goal difference, were home before their postcards. 4 - Claudio Caniggia vs Benjamin Massing, opening game - San Siro, Milan 1990: Cameroon were desperate to protect their 1-0 lead against the World Cup holders so when Caniggia led a promising counter-attack, there was only one thing for it. The long-haired Argentina striker had already hurdled two challenges as he advanced towards the penalty area, although the second had knocked him off his stride, but the wonderfully-named Benjamin Massing finished the job with a challenge that left Caniggia without a boot and Massing with an early bath. To make things worse for Caniggia, his shoe-string hairband was also dislodged in the process. The perfect start to the World Cup for Englishmen still bearing grudges over the Hand of God. 3 - Diego Armando Maradona vs England, quarter-final - Azteca Stadium, Mexico City 1986: No one player, not even Pele, has ever dominated a tournament as wholly as Maradona in 1986, taking an otherwise ordinary Argentina side to their second World Cup title. How he did it is encapsulated in his two goals against England; the first a masterclass in the art of deception and the second, simply a masterclass. The two moments that made him an icon and which overshadowed his wonderful goal against Belgium in the semis. 2 - Pele passes to Carlos Alberto, final - Azteca Stadium, Mexico City 1970: Arguably the greatest goal ever scored in the World Cup can be broken down into many great moments, with all but two of the team's outfield players involved. Midfielder Clodoaldo "started the carnival" by dribbling past four Italians in his own half, before passing to Rivelino, who lobbed it to Jairzinho on the left wing. On the left hand side a few yards outside Italy's penalty area, Jairzinho passed to Pele, who was standing to his right just outside the "D". Brazil's legendary number 10 paused for what seemed like an age before stroking the ball into what appeared to be empty space to his right. Out of camera shot came Carlos Alberto who provided a fitting epitaph for the greatest team ever to grace the finals. The closest we've come to as good a team goal in the finals since was Argentina's 26-pass move finished by Esteban Cambiasso in 2006, but that was against Serbia-Montenegro in the group stage. Carlos Alberto's was in the final. 1 - Marco Tardelli's goal celebration, final - Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid 1982: Watching West Germany reach the World Cup final in Spain was a pretty sickening process. Not content with conspiring with neighbours Austria in the first group phase to condemn Algeria to an early exit (both sides stopped playing after Horst Hrubesch gave the Germans the lead in the 10th minute of the greatest fraud in World Cup history), Karl Heinz Rummenigge and friends then had the audacity to knock out England by way of a 0-0 draw in the second group phase. And how Harald Schumacher was not even booked for what was effectively GBH on France's Patrick Battiston in the second semi in Seville, I will never know. Suffice to say, Italy's final victory proved the angels of justice do sometimes watch over football matches and Tardelli's goal celebration in a 3-1 win was a moment of class. Fabio Grosso tried to recreate it when he scored Italy's opener in their semi-final defeat of Germany in 2006 but nobody will ever better the original.