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
2014 FIFA World Cup Final the Argentina–Belgium quarter-final. He had previously taken charge of the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final and the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final. He was also one of the referees at the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He became the third Italian referee to take charge of a World Cup final, after Sergio Gonella in 1978 and Pierluigi Collina in 2002. Both teams named unchanged starting line-ups from their semi-finals, but German midfielder Sami Khedira withdrew during the warm-up with a calf injury. He was replaced by Christoph Kramer, who had