World Cup’s 101 Most Memorable Moments: Lothar Matthäus’ individual brilliance

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Editor’s notice: Each day between now and the kickoff of the primary match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Nov. 20, we’ll unveil a special reminiscence from World Cup historical past. The countdown from 101 continues with Lothar Matthäus’ solo objective vs. Yugoslavia.

Say what you need concerning the optionally available defending from Yugoslavia on this one; it’s nonetheless laborious to dribble end-to-end after which rating at a World Cup.

Yet that’s precisely what West Germany captain Lothar Matthäus did when these two European rivals met of their opening group stage recreation at Italia ‘90.

Matthäus picked the ball up in his own half and slalomed deep into enemy territory, then shrugged off a challenge (really the only one he faced) from Davor Jozić. With Jozić’s teammates retreating, he fired a right-footed blast into the underside nook of Tomislav Ivković’s objective from properly exterior the Yugoslav’s 18-yard field.

Matthäus’ (*101*) and Rocket

Lothar Matthäus’ solo objective is second No. 93 on our 101 Most Memorable World Cup Moments countdown.

The objective was considered one of two on the day by Matthäus, and the emphatic 4-1 triumph set the tone the remainder of the event for the Germans, who went on to hoist the World Cup for the third time.

One of the main soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has lined United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at a number of FIFA World Cups. Before becoming a member of FOX Sports in 2021, he was a workers author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.