The 15 biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup

Scotland was a popular dark-horse pick after winning three of its four qualifying matches. Peru was a quarterfinalist in 1970 but wasn't expected to seriously challenge the talented Scots in this first-round contest. After tying the match before half, Peru used two Teofilo Cubillas goals to pull off the upset.

With New Jersey's Giants Stadium packed with Irish supporters as if they were in Dublin, Ireland handed Italy its first loss in 13 World Cup openers. Ray Houghton's goal in the 11th minute would stand and give the Irish their first World Cup victory not determined by penalties.

The host U.S. was an improved side, but Colombia was one of the World Cup favorites. The Americans opened the scoring on an own goal off the foot of Colombian defender Andres Escobar, who was murdered shortly after the tournament — in which Colombia did not make it out of group play — allegedly because the goal and loss angered a gambling syndicate back home. 

Playing in its first World Cup since 1958, Northern Ireland wasn't given much chance to beat Spain on its home soil in the first round. However, Gerry Armstrong's goal in the 47th minute stunned the Spaniards and remains the greatest goal in Northern Ireland soccer history.

Co-hosting the tournament with Japan, South Korea had not won a single match in its five prior World Cups, but after a strong showing in group play, it took one of the tournament favorites to extra time. In the 116th minute, Ahn Jung-hwan broke the tie to eliminate the favored Italians, who weren't pleased with the game's officiating, and send South Korea to the quarterfinals.

Algeria boasted one of the best teams in African soccer history, but outside of that continent nobody gave it a chance against the mighty West Germans. However, the Algerians used their speed to thoroughly outplay the West. In the end, Algeria was kept out of the Round of 16 as West Germany and Austria failed to attack for the final 80 minutes of the last group match knowing West's 1-0 lead and eventual win would allow both to advance on points.  

In one of the more controversial matches in World Cup history, Spain had two goals disallowed, and the contest eventually went to penalties. Experienced in this scenario, co-host South Korea converted all five of its attempts to become the first Asian side to reach the semifinals of the World Cup.

Making its World Cup debut, Senegal faced the defending champs, who were minus the injured Zinedine Zidane but had plenty more talent, like Thierry Henry, to spare. With nothing to lose, Senegal played loose and confident and went ahead on Bouba Diop's first-half goal. That stunned France so deep that it didn't score or win a game the rest of the group stage, becoming the first defending champ not to make it out of the group stage.

Loaded with obvious political undertones, soccer seemed almost secondary to the citizens of both countries. But on the pitch, it played out as one of the most intense games in World Cup history. The underdog East Germans stymied the West and rode Jurgen Sparwasser's late goal to victory in this first-round match. West Germany, however, would regroup to win the tournament.

In what's considered the greatest soccer moment for the African continent, Cameroon smothered the defending World Cup champions and made life particularly miserable for star Diego Maradona in this group contest. The world's best player barely had room to run against physical Cameroon, which managed to prevail despite finishing with nine men.

The Germans were playing as a unified country for the first time after West Germany won the title four years earlier. What came to be known as the "Golden Generation" of soccer in Bulgaria, its national team made an impressive run to the semifinals highlighted by this quarterfinal victory. Down 1-0, second-half goals from Hristo Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave Bulgaria the country's most memorable World Cup win.

Dubbed the "Miracle of Bern," West Germany was not yet the power it would become while mighty Hungary was the World Cup runner-up in 1938 and beat the West Germans 8-3 earlier in the tournament. The Hungarians went ahead 2-0 during this rainy final in Switzerland, but West Germany equalized prior to the half, then capped what's considered the greatest comeback in World Cup history on Helmut Rahn's goal with six minutes to play.

Needing to beat Australia in a playoff just to qualify for the World Cup, North Korea opened with a 3-0 loss to the Soviet Union and then drew Chile. This was not Italy's strongest group but still one that should have easily handled North Korea — yet the Italians missed a number of chances, and Pak Doo-ik's goal in the 42nd minute eliminated Italy in the first round.

The American soccer version of the "Miracle on Ice," England was a powerhouse team that seemed to score at will and was a reported 3/1 favorite to win the World Cup. The U.S. was composed of a ragtag group with little talent, but it outplayed the English and Joe Gaetjens' first-half goal stood up. England would lose its next match versus Spain to bow out of the tournament in embarrassing fashion.   

In a year where total points from a final group stage determined the World Cup champion, all heavily favored Brazil — who won its previous two matches by a combined 13-2 scoreline — needed was a draw against Uruguay to claim the crown on its home soil. However, the upstart Uruguayans overcame a 1-0 deficit to equalize midway through second half, and Alcides Ghiggia's goal in the 79th minute sent them to the improbable victory and World Cup title in what became known as "El Maracanazo."