Every case in Truth Lab is rebuilt from primary sources — federation documents, club annuals, newspaper logs — and published with a signed verdict: busted, confirmed, or still disputed. Folklore is allowed here, but only when it is labeled as folklore.
The squad averaged 47 caps with 11 players from the 1982 World Cup group. The underdog script was written by broadcasters, not by data.
68,991 average across 52 matches — verified line-by-line against FIFA's official post-tournament report. Untouched for 30+ years.
5 of Italy's 8 goals, 5 of their 6 knockout goals, a final played on a wounded leg — and the shootout was already 3-2 to Brazil before his kick. The scapegoat verdict fails on arithmetic.
He scored 25 goals in 31 league games in his debut season after the record move — a third straight Golden Boot. The “flop under pressure” narrative collapses on contact with the fixture list.
Convulsions five hours before kick-off, back in the lineup 42 minutes before it, 0-3 after ninety. Twenty-eight years, six explanations, none sealed — the archive's first disputed verdict.
The official team sheet says he played every minute of the quarter-final — and hit the post twice. The substitution everyone remembers happened four days earlier, against England, in a match Argentina won. A false memory, transplanted onto the wrong fixture.
Ten men conceded nothing for 73 minutes, Campbell's winner was wrongly disallowed, and the shootout that decided it does not contain Beckham's name. The “one stupid boy” verdict fails on arithmetic.
Involved in both goals on comeback night; a double and the FWA in his first full season back — 249 days could not confiscate three trophies in 22 months. What ended the peak was the retirement he signed himself, on 18 May 1997.
3.00 points per game with him, 6 scored and 1 conceded; 0.00 without, 2 scored and 5 conceded. The only tiebreaker that put Argentina third was the 0-2 played without him — and they had already qualified before kick-off.
Six matches, 18 goals, 12 names: the Cotton Bowl belonged to three men, while the group's only real hat-trick came the same day in another city — Batistuta. Three teams on six goals, split across 3, 4 and 5 scorers.
Chance creation, progressive carries and big-chance conversion all peaked in 2005/06. The headbutt ended a career that was still climbing.
Reconstructed from club annuals and newspaper logs, the verified figure sits at 214. The rest belongs to folklore — we now track it separately.
Full dossiers for all twelve verdicts are live (Cases 003—014: Shearer 1996, Zidane 2006, Ronaldo 1998, Cameroon 1990, Higuita 1995, USA '94, Baggio 1994, Batistuta 1998, Beckham 1998, Cantona 1995, Maradona 1994, Group D attribution) — click the titles to open the case files. The homepage section 05 keeps the current verdict summaries. BallFact's 1994 files (10 of them) share a focus entrance: America 1994 · A Focus.