Thread by @DavidHartrick, Let's Orbis World Cup'90 then.In short; one of the best things humans [...]

Let's Orbis World Cup'90 then.

In short; one of the best things humans have ever done.

Will post this in stages because it's gargantuan. And still brilliant.

If you don't know it this was a collection you built up by buying sets of pages as and when they came out, I remember that being sporadic - some month to month, others seemed to come weekly. Then you had buy stickers to complete it.

It was a parent's nightmare.

Into the Team Pages and Argentina first then.

Those info pages at the start of each team -

They took a massive flyer on lots of the players included because it was done so far away from the competition's start, hence a rogue Hugo Maradona popping up

Into the Team Pages and Argentina first then. Those info pages at the start of each team - They took a massive flyer on lots of the players included because it was done so far away from the competition's start, hence a rogue Hugo Maradona popping up

Italy then, and they obviously didn't see Bobby Baggio making much of an impact so why bother including him

In-Gah-Lund, that image of Gary Lineker is one of my all time favourite ever football photos

...and then at the end, the Germans win etc and so forth.

Just a series of haircuts rather than photos tbh.

Brazil here, and the gap between their best and worst player was pretty much an ocean

Scotland next and another squad who enjoy a haircut by the looks

Holland, and the team I was convinced were going to win based on my eternal love for MvB

There’s a load of Spain players here who were never quite as good as you wanted them to be

Chris Hughton just chilling mid-game in his photo is everything

DNQ.

Became a bit of a favourite page because of their subsequent failure to actually make the World Cup

Why do most of the Soviet Union’s players look about 45?

Belgium, and never trust a man who doesn’t love Enzo Scifo

All goalkeepers should look like Uruguay’s Eduardo Pereira imo

Is... is Zoran Vulic okay?

Costa Rica and rare to see a full set of stickers and not one smile

Sweden but it’s all about Anders Limpar really, that trackie top is a series of fire emojis isn’t it

I remember the club names here were ridiculously evocative to 10-year old me - Lucky Gold Strike, POSCO Atoms, Hyundai Tigers, Yukong Elephants, lovely stuff to see them again

Rene! Carlos!

Czechoslovakia and a home kit that would look excellent today

ANTON PFEFFER

Romania, big few pages for Him! And I’d forgotten about Him! And I know that name too!

The UAE and at last a team who had a proper photo shoot!

You-Ess-Ay and specifically Brighton legend Tony Meola

T’Egypt and you’re lying if you remember anyone on these pages for anything other than being in this album

There they are, the lads, ‘the Cameroons’

We'll break for a couple of days as that's the Team Pages section done, Super Stars next, in the mean time here's Cloughie telling you to watch out for World Cup'90

The Super Stars then, and who else could be first up?

Worth noting the choice of photos throughout this section is incredible.

“Ruud Gullit stands out, not only for his dreadlocks, but for his sheer footballing genius”

Peter Shilton, his full page poster in the greatest England goalkeeper’s kit ever there

Luca! Loved him then, still do now

That final photo of Der Bomber is just stunning, he’ll always be this mythical million-goals-a-season striker to me because that’s how he felt when I was 10 here.

When we could still like him.

Bonus game of “Where’s Molby” here

There he is, my actual fave

Pelé, before all the knob pills and selling diamonds for hair stuff

Our Gary

At least one of these photos was unnecessary.

“But then, men like Steve Nicol know all about the rough edge of life”

Always thought Pierre Littbarski’s inclusion was weirder than Nicol’s, obviously a really good player but not even the best in that squad never mind a Hall of Famer