Random World Cup Facts

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

In 2002 South Korea and Turkey both played 7 matches each. South Korea played 6 European teams and Turkey only one.

England as hosts in 1966 were in the first group with Mexico, Uruguay and France. Exactly the same as South Africa this time.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Uruguay(1930 and 1950) and Italy(1934 and 1938) both won the first 2 world cups they participated in.

Uruguay didn't participate in 1934 because of the European boycott of 1930 and didn't participate in 1938 because it believed the WC should be played once in South America, once in Europe, etc.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

You're totally wrong on that one! In 1998, French people were totally CRAZY about the world cup during the whole event, and not just for the final.

I'm French and I had my "baccalauréat" exams in 1998 (the big exams finishing a student school cycle in France when you're 18 years old). The whole country just stopped everything during the world cup. There was nothing else in everyone's mind.

The world cup 1998 was a fantastic event. And by far the most joyful collective experience in my whole life. You just have no clue about it.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Actually, Turkey didn't play any (Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Japan, Senegal, Brazil again, South Korea).

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Yes!! You are right well picked up making the fact even more bizarre.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

I do love the incredible patriotism that strike some people of these sites when the slightest denegration of the nation is mentioned.

Iit is always difficult to quantify such a thing and if you were in paris then there was a much stronger feeling for it but not the same as Korea or Mexico.

These are only snippents but how I got the general feeling:
1.) We drove from Le harve to Toulouse and saw not one mention, advert anything about the WC. At the hotel we stayed at north of Toulouse the manageress could not believe that we wanted to go to the football.

2.) In Bordeaux virtually no mention of the Tournament at all. Just to annoy you this was the worst World Cup satdium by a mile that I have ever been to.

3.) My wife is French and all friends and relatives not only had no interest in it but could not understand what she was doing going to games.

4.) More than a year before the tournament 1.1m tickets were sold exclusively in France. In Toulouse there were vast queues of people selling their tickets outside with no interest in the game. For Japan v Argentina if there were even 5% of the locals there I would be amazed.

5.) When stopping in Brive (yes I know it is a Rugby town) there was a big screen with probably the best game of the tournament Nigeria v Spain and NOT one local even vaguely looking at it.

6.) Watching a game in a cafe in Bordeaux again not one local there, just tourists.

As I say in paris thing were different and probably for your age group but I still feel that winning the tournament made one see through rose coloured spectacles. I don't want to sound vindictive on this but when you tell me I have no clue about it of course I will respond.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

There have been two first round groups where all 4 teams were on separate landmasses. For example, in 2006, Australia and Japan are islands of their own, Croatia is on the Afro-Eurasia landmass, and Brazil is on the Americas landmass.

2006: Australia, Japan, Croatia, Brazil
1998: Jamaica, Japan, Croatia, Argentina

Conversely, there have been 5 first round groups where all 5 teams were on the same landmass. All 5 have consisted of the Afro-Eurasia landmass.

2006: Korea, France, Togo, Switzerland
2006: Spain, Tunisia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia
1998: France, Denmark, South Africa, Saudi Arabia
1994: Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Netherlands
1954: Korea, Hungary, West Germany, Turkey

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

No team has faced a representative from all 6 confederations, but so far, I've found one team that has faced one from 5 confederations. Germany in 2002 faced teams from Asia (Saudi Arabia and South Korea), Africa (Cameroon), Europe (Ireland), South America (Paraguay and Brazil), and North America (United States).

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

This has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism. It is just a fact. I've never seen Paris being so colourful !

Could you just admit that your wife and her family aren't representative of France as a whole ?

I've spent the whole month in Paris and the football madness was everywhere. I've been to Lyon and Marseille later and it was just the same thing. As for Bordeaux, granted I wasn't there, but I strongly doubt there was nothing in the city center. Every cities in France had organized giant screens on main squares to watch games at open air. I hardly believe there was nothing. Or maybe you were there in May?

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

I am just relating the experiences I had and in the areas of Toulouse and Bordeaux there was a distinct lack of interest if you had different experiences where you were then great but don't just assume the whole country was a foaming mass of excitement because it was not.

Equally my wife's friends and family may not be representative of France as a whole but more so Paris is certainly not representative of France as a whole. In Germany it was clear that the locals went to the games en masse in Bordeaux and Toulouse it was definitely not the case. But then as you were not there and had no first hand experience of it apparently I have to bow to your greater knowledge of this.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

The last time Germany did not wear their famous white shirts/black shorts kit in a World Cup match was when they wore green/white against England in the 1990 semifinals, five World Cups (24 matches) ago!

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

and that was the only time they wore them at italia'90

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

The first Asian country to participate in the World Cup was the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1938. They traveled by ocean liner 23,000 km round trip to play one match against Hungary, which they lost 6-0.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Whoops, I forgot that one.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

England isn't an Island.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

England is on an island, which is what matters in this case. Unless they are in the same world cup group as Scotland or Wales. Did that ever happen?

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Surprised no one mentioned this, since it could play a major role in prediciting the 2010 champions:

8 out of 9 World Cups hosted in Europe were won by European teams and
all 9 WCs hosted outside of Europe (South America, Mexico, USA, Japan/Korea) were won by South American teams.

Brazil in Sweden '58 were the only exception to the rule. I always say tradition is meant to be broken, but it seems Brazil/Argentina are ''destined'' to win this one.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Actually it's been 9 out of 10 World Cups hosted in Europe that have been won by European sides. Europe and SA are currently tied with 9 wins each. BTW, the 2010 WC will be a little different than the other WCs played outside Europe, because except for 1978, they have been played in hot, humid weather. The chilly conditions in South Africa will probably be more to the Euros liking. This may be the time that Euirope finally wins a WC on another continent.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Whoops, forgot about 1962. That WC was also played in "Chile" weather.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

Kind of a strange thing about WC 2010. With the exception of England in Group C, all of the European winners in qualifying play are grouped in South Africa with another European group winner. Moreover, all of the 2nd place teams in qualifying play, again with the Group C exception Slovenia, are the lone European side in their respective groups. Very curious, since one would have expected the presumably stronger group winners to have received more favorable draws, and not the 2nd place teams. I haven't researched it but I would be surprised if this has ever happened before to the extent that it will occur at this WC.

 

Re: Little known and interesting or not facts re WC.

I'd like to preface this post with the following question: which team has faced the most UEFA qualifying group winners in group play in the World Cup? I think there are a lot of clues to the answer below.

Essentially what you are saying is that the three non-European seeds each drew one of the four UEFA playoff winners from Pot 4, rather than one of the four UEFA group winners in Pot 4. The chance of this happening at random is 4/8 * 3/7 * 2/6 = 24/336 = 1/14, which is low but not surprisingly low.

This sentence suggests that you misunderstand the logistics of the World Cup draw.

Apparently not, as follows.

In 2006, we had the opposite phenomenon: Argentina drew group winners Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro, Mexico drew group winner Portugal, and Brazil drew group winner Croatia; seeded playoff winner Spain drew group winner Ukraine.

In 2002, it was more of a mixed bag: Brazil drew playoff winner Turkey, Japan drew playoff winner Belgium and group winner Russia, Argentina drew group winners England and Sweden, and South Korea drew group winners Portugal and Poland; seeded playoff winner Germany drew UEFA/AFC intercontinental playoff winner Ireland.

In 1998, Argentina drew playoff winner Croatia, and Brazil drew "lucky loser" Scotland and group winner Norway; seeded playoff winner Italy drew group winner Austria.

In 1994, there were no UEFA playoffs. USA drew runner-up Switzerland and group winner Romania, Brazil drew runner-up Russia and group winner Sweden, and Argentina drew runner-up Bulgaria and group winner Greece; seeded runner-up Belgium drew runner-up Netherlands.

In 1990, there were no UEFA playoffs. Argentina drew group winners Romania and Soviet Union, and Brazil drew runner-up Scotland and group winner Sweden; seeded runner-up England drew runner-up Ireland and group winner Netherlands, and seeded runner-up West Germany drew group winner Yugoslavia.

In 1986, Mexico drew playoff winner Belgium, and Brazil drew runner-up Northern Ireland and group winner Spain.

In 1982, there were no UEFA playoffs. Argentina drew group winners Belgium and Hungary, and Brazil drew group winners Scotland and Soviet Union; seeded runner-up England drew runners-up France and Czechoslovakia, and seeded runner-up Italy drew group winner Poland.

In 1978, 1974, 1970, 1966, 1962, and 1958, only UEFA group winners could advance to the World Cup (and some had to compete in intercontinental playoffs first).

In 1954, group runner-up Scotland ended up in the group with seeded group winner Austria, seeded CONMEBOL team Uruguay, and unseeded group winner Czechoslovakia.

In 1950, group runner-up Scotland declined the World Cup invitation.

In 1938, group runner-up Belgium faced hosts France in the round of 16, and group runner-up Sweden actually received a post-Anschluss bye (over Austria) into the quarterfinal match against the winner of Cuba versus group winner Romania.

In 1934, group runners-up Austria and France faced each other in the round of 16, while group runner-up Romania faced group winner Czechoslovakia, and group runner-up Belgium faced group winner Germany.

In 1930, no qualification for the World Cup was necessary.