1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage 1990 FIFA World Cup knockout stage The knockout stage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup was the second and final stage of the final tournament, following the group stage. It began on 23 June with the round of 16 matches, and ended on 8 July with the final match of the tournament held in Rome, in which West Germany beat the defending champions Argentina 1–0 to claim their third World Cup. Sixteen teams advanced to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination style tournament: The top two teams from each group plus the four best third-placed teams. In the
Argentina at the FIFA World Cup <section begin=Lineups /> Argentina has played a total of 81 FIFA World Cup games through 17 tournaments facing 36 rivals. Games that went on penalty kicks are shown as drawn. Teams in bold denote world cup winners, teams in "italics" show teams which played it first match ever in a World Cup against Argentina.<br> Teams with a * mark no longer exist. East Germany was annexed to Germany. Soviet Union now plays as Russia.<br> +Played as Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. Through Argentinian team history, several coaches had trained it with different football styles from offensive to defensive tactics. There