5 biggest upsets

Cameroon players celebrate their stunning 1-0 victory against defending champions Argentina at the end of their 1990 World Cup match.

During the years of watching football I have been lucky to witness some big upsets. An upset is an unexpected result or situation which is very rare in football and almost impossible in World Cup football. But from time to time they do happen.
I am going to pick through five biggest upsets in World Cups. My choice is based on what I have seen and what I have read about. Seeing is believing and my ranking goes accordingly.

5. 1950, USA 1-0 England
England were the big favourites in this match whereas the hastily assembled U.S. team was composed of part-time players who didn't know one another. One of them was a Haitian immigrant named Joe Gaetjens, whose first-half diving header produced a result that was so unexpected that British newspapers reported the scoreline as 10-1 in favour of England believing that the telegraph operator had made a mistake.

4. 1966, North Korea 1-0 Italy
This upset is comparable to the biblical tale of David versus Goliath. The giants Italy, two-time champions fell to minnows North Korea, the debutants. A goal by Pak Doo Ik, struck sweetly into the bottom-right corner of the net in the 42nd minute made all the difference. The Italians needing only a draw to progress were eliminated. Thus North Korea became the first Asian team to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup finals.

West Germany legend Paul Breitner tussles with an Algerian opponent during their 1982 World Cup encounter.

3. 1982, Algeria 2-1 West Germany
No African team had ever beaten a European one in the World Cup and Algeria, participating in the tournament for the first time, hardly looked like the country to end that streak. But Lakhdar Belloumi ended a 1-1 tie in the 68th minute and Algeria hung on to beat the reigning European champions.
Alas, Algeria failed to progress despite the stunning result. In the final game of the group, neighbours West Germany and Austria, aware a one-goal win for the Germans would eliminate Algeria and send both European teams through, didn't take a shot after Germany went 1-0 up in the 10th minute.

2. 1990, Cameroon 1-0 Argentina
The rise of African football on world stage occurred when the great Diego Maradona and his world-beaters Argentina were powerless to stop Francis Oman-Byik of unheralded Cameroon from scoring the goal that made him famous. Cameroon went on to become the first African team to advance past the second round. Cameroon's fairy-tale run ended in the quarterfinals against England.

1. 2002, Senegal 1-0 France
In their only World Cup appearance to date, Senegal stunned the defending champions in the opening game on Papa Bouba Diop's goal in the 30th minute. Senegal went on to the quarterfinals, where they lost an improbable matchup with Turkey. France without their talisman Zinedine Zidane, who was injured and missed the first two matches, were eliminated in group play and went home without having scored a goal.

The famous USA team that shocked England line up for the national anthem before their 1950 World Cup match.