5 matches that changed the World Cup forever

The World Cup is conditioned by memories. The French look back on 1998 as the year diversity won, but the Brazilians who lost in that final - the almost-absent Ronaldo chief among them - have a very different take. The Italians still can't shake Roberto Baggio's overhit penalty, even if it's merely one image from an extraordinary tournament.

But there are certain matches the entire world remembers the same way. Their impact was singular, unequivocal, and massive in both sporting and political terms.

Here, theScore examines five particular contests that made an indelible mark on the World Cup:

1950: Brazil 1, Uruguay 2

Two hundred thousand people, or about 10 percent of Rio de Janeiro's population, crammed into the newly built Maracana expecting Brazil to win the World Cup. It was July 1950, just a few years removed from the Second World War. Brazil was ready to show itself to the world as not only a football powerhouse, but as a strong democracy.

Until the unthinkable happened. Uruguay, considered by many to be mere cannon fodder for the host nation, scored twice in the second half of the winner-take-all showdown to shock Brazil.

"Only three people have ever silenced 200,000 people at the Maracana with a single gesture," said Uruguay's match-winner, Alcides Ghiggia, "Frank Sinatra, the Pope, and I."

The loss hurt Brazilians to the core. Goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa became the scapegoat for Brazilians who felt robbed of a precious moment.

"Under Brazilian law, the maximum sentence is 30 years," Barbosa once said. "But my imprisonment has been for 50 years."

Brazilians still dwell on the Maracanazo to this day.

1966: England 4, West Germany 2

The tone around England was negative during the 1966 World Cup. Hosting the tournament for the first time, the Three Lions were booed off the pitch after their opening draw against Uruguay. They were subject to scathing headlines in the press, and manager Alf Ramsey's tactics were heavily criticised.

However, wins over Mexico and France followed, and as England surged to the final, the mood began to change.

The home of football finally had its crowning moment in the final against West Germany, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick to secure England's first and only World Cup to date. Two of Hurst's goals famously came in extra time following Wolfgang Weber's 89th-minute equaliser.

1994: Romania 3, Argentina 2

The '94 World Cup was the tournament of the underdog. It was the year Romania, along with Sweden and Bulgaria, announced itself to the world.

Romania had just emerged from a period of civil unrest, and its national team played with a similar freedom.

Gheorghe Hagi best represented this new lease on life, his creative playmaking a vital source of pride and joy back home. But it was another Romanian who stole the headlines in a dramatic win over Argentina.

Ilie Dumitrescu scored twice as his country toppled Argentina in the knockout stages. Even though Argentina was without Diego Maradona - who was suspended for doping earlier in the tournament - it was one of the most surprising results in World Cup history.

"I've been told that the victory over Argentina was like a second Romanian revolution, following the first one which toppled (communist leader Nicolae) Ceausescu," Hagi later said. "No doubt about it, we're talking about the biggest win in the history of Romanian football."

1982: Italy 3, Brazil 2

It was billed as a clash of style: Italy's defensive tactics versus Brazil's freedom of expression. In fact, the Azzurri were lucky just to make it to the semi-finals, having ground out three rudimentary draws in the group stage.

On the other hand, Brazil was flashy, playing with swagger. The Selecao had won three of the last six World Cups, and their football was widely considered the best.

But it was Italy who prevailed in one of the World Cup's greatest games ever. Neither team stayed true to its stereotypes. Italy couldn't, for once, keep a lead, and Brazil's silky-smooth playmakers, Zico, Eder, and Socrates, couldn't make up for a weak and clumsy defence. Paolo Rossi, who had only recently returned from a match-fixing ban, scored an opportunistic hat-trick to decide the five-goal thriller.

Brian Glanville called it the "game in which Brazil's glorious midfield, put finally to the test, could not make up for the deficiencies behind and in front of it."

Italy went on to win a third World Cup, and Brazil was left to lament the death of their football as they knew it.

1954: West Germany 3, Hungary 2

It may not seem like such a shocking result more than 50 years removed, but West Germany's victory over Hungary was very much a shock to the system.

Hungary had set the standard in the early '50s, going unbeaten for 29 consecutive matches. It was the era of the trequartista, and it featured an early form of "Total Football" that the Dutch would later adopt. Real Madrid's rotund goalscorer, Ferenc Puskas, was the star of Hungary's Golden Team, leading the line of an extremely flexible 2-3-3-2 formation.

Meanwhile, West Germany was rebuilding itself after the Second World War. Its players were largely amateurs as West Germany no longer had a professional league.

When the two sides met in Bern, Switzerland, for the final, the odds were heavily stacked in Hungary's favour. Gustav Sebes' side had already battered West Germany 8-3 in the group stage, so a similar outcome was expected.

The first 10 minutes followed that train of thought. Puskas and Zoltan Czibor each netted a goal to give Hungary a quick 2-0 lead, but Germany's Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn responded to level the score after just 18 minutes. Rahn popped in another six minutes from time to give West Germany its first World Cup.

Die Mannschaft would go on to become a football powerhouse, while Hungary slipped into irrelevance.