More of the big guns enter the tournament with both Brazil and West Germany getting their Italia ’90 campaigns under way on this day. For the latter, successive defeats in the finals of the last two World Cups and a semi-final loss in the 1988 Euros which they hosted gave ample incentive for Franz Beckenbauer’s talented squad to get it right this time. Also appearing today were the USA, playing at their first World Cup for 40 years. Could this rag-tag bunch of part-timers and college kids make any sort of mark at Italia ’90 considering all eyes would be on them as surprise hosts in 1994?

HOST: Mark Godfrey

GUESTS: Rob Smyth (The Guardian, Nessun Dorma podcast), Mike Gibbons (When Football Came Home: England, the English and Euro 96), Raphael Honigstein (The Athletic, BT Sport)

MUSIC: UV Protection