WI: Cameroon beats England in 1990

SunDeep

Banned
So, what if Cameroon had managed to defeat England in the quarter final at the 1990 world cup? Let's say the POD is that the referee decides not to award that 82nd minute penalty to England, and the game finishes after ninety minutes as a 2-1 win to Cameroon. How does this affect the rest of the World cup? How much further could Cameroon have gone in the competition, given their relatively weak competition for the latter stages of the 1990 World Cup? Could they have even won it? And even if they didn't win, what would be the ramifications for African football in general?
 

SunDeep

Banned
Any opinions? Or would the prospect of England getting knocked out in the quarter finals by lowly* Cameroon be unpalatable?

*FIFA world rankings
 
juanml82

juanml82

Well, Cameroon will have to play against Germany in semifinals, and probably loose. It would be odd if Cameroon defeats Germany as well. And since they had already defeated Argentina in the groups phase, who knows, maybe Cameroon might surprise everyone and win the World Cup? :eek:

I don't it would have long lasting effects, though. The real issue with the national selections of countries like Cameroon (and, for instance, Colombia) is generational replacement. They need to make football a solid business so prospective stars can prosper at home before going to Europe. Without that, they end up with a good generation of players and, once they retire, their national selection fades.
 

wilcoxchar

Cameroon reaching the semifinals could have a huge effect on African football. Back in 1990 there were only 2 African teams in the tournament. It increased to 3 for 1994 and 5 for 1998, but you might see more representation from Africa in the tournament as a whole, and likely earlier instances of African teams reaching farther in the World Cup than OTL. Almost certainly more than just Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 reaching the quarter finals.

Also maybe earlier scouting of African players by the top European clubs? I'm not familiar with club history regarding African players so I don't know if that was already happening to a large extent or not.
 

SunDeep

Banned
juanml82 said:
Well, Cameroon will have to play against Germany in semifinals, and probably loose. It would be odd if Cameroon defeats Germany as well. And since they had already defeated Argentina in the groups phase, who knows, maybe Cameroon might surprise everyone and win the World Cup? :eek:

I don't it would have long lasting effects, though. The real issue with the national selections of countries like Cameroon (and, for instance, Colombia) is generational replacement. They need to make football a solid business so prospective stars can prosper at home before going to Europe. Without that, they end up with a good generation of players and, once they retire, their national selection fades.
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Well, IOTL, West Germany only went ahead against England in the semi-final due to a defensive error by one of England's players, deflecting the ball into his own net. Then it went to penalties- and we all know England's record on penalties sucks, big time. Would the unknowns of Cameroon have had a better chance of winning a penalty shoot-out that the 1990 England team did? Maybe. Then, of course, you have the final- Argentina. Like you said, they'd already beaten them in the group stage, and Argentina's performance in that final IOTL was terrible, so they'd have every chance of pulling it off.

Long term ramifications, though- well, do the Africans still get three slots at USA 94, or four? How highly ranked would Cameroon and the other African teams be by this stage? Who gets seeded higher or lower when the groups for the next World Cups are drawn, who gets an easier passage as a result, and who stands a better chance of winning ITTL? And in the longer term- does South Africa actually get to host the World Cup earlier ITTL than IOTL, perhaps in 2006 instead of 2010, due to the higher profile of African football? Butterflies abound...
 
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