Random World Cup Facts

everyone talking about nigerias 4th rendez-vous with argentina now but it is germany vs argentina that happened 3 consecutive times now from 2006 to 2014.

i can also remember germany vs yugoslavia that had such a tripple from 1954 to 1962.

does anyone remember any other encounter sequences like those two, that i had mentioned?

i know at least a third matchup... who guesses it first?

 

cameroon has played a total of 23 matches at 7 world cups so far.

in 1982, 1990, 1994 they faced 2 teams which finally finished among the last 4, at all occasions 1 finalist and 1 semi finalist

in 2002, 2010 they faced 1 finalist

in 2014 they faced one semi finalist

only in 1998, their opponents had been a bit more mediocre, as italy failed to overcome france in th QF on penalties.

 

I know Brazil and Yugoslavia played a lot at the early World Cups.

 

switzerland has played 6 out of their last 7 world cup matches against countries with spanish as their main language.

 

Brazil and Sweden as well. Brazil and Holland?

I think we can almost assume that one of the teams is Brazil.

 

Argentina vs Nigeria, WCs 10, 14 and 18 coming soon.

 

The Swiss player was a forward named Alfred Bickel. The Swede was Erik Nilsson, a left back who was part of our 1948 Olympic gold medal-winning team. Nilsson was the oldest of the two (33 at WC 1950), yet played an important part of our 4th place in Brazil. Definitely an unsung hero for us, amidst the famous Gre-No-Li trio of the 50s.

While the amount of players who have played a subsequent WC 12 years apart is very small, there are actually a few more than they & Laudrup that have accomplished that.

With Russia failing to qualify for the 2006 & 2010 WCs, Aleksandr Kerzhakov had to wait 12 years after being a very young and promising talent in 2002 for another chance at the World Cup. He was part of the 2014 squad.

While the Ecuadorian veteran Walter Ayoví may have a staggering number of caps, he was omitted for the 2006 WC, while the country failed to qualify in 2010.

The Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón took it to another level, when he returned after 16 years.

The South Korean forward Lee Dong-gook was part of the 1998 squad, but was absent in the next two tournaments (one time omitted, the second time injured), only to return in 2014. Curiously, was called up as late as August 2017.

The Costa Rican attacker Hernan Medford played in 1990 and then 2002. Lastly, we have the Spaniard Pirri, who played in 1966 & 1978.

Speaking of Spain, I messed up something in my chart. Turns out, there were 16 World Cup winners in Del Bosque's 2014 squad, not 15. So, they hold the record and don't have to share it with anyone else. I can't edit that post now, but just wanted to clarify that.

 

no... brazil is not one of the teams and yes, argentina vs nigeria will enter that group of encounters.

in fact i ve been wrong. i assumed italy vs poland from 74 to 82 but somehow had in mind, that they played each other in 78, which hasnt been the case. sorry for that.

 

Actually Brazil and Sweden sort of qualify, as they played three times, but over two World Cups, not three. They played each other once in 1990, and twice in 1994.

 

I think it has already been said, but there are three matches that have been played seven times in World Cups:
(1) Brazil v Sweden [1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990, 1994 twice]
(2) Germany v Argentina [1958, 1966,1986, 1990, 2006, 2010, 2014]
(3) Germany v Serbia (assuming Serbia is the successor of Yugoslavia, as accepted by FIFA) [1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1990, 1998, 2010]

There could be an eight match between Brazil and Sweden, and between Germany and Serbia in the Round of 16. Germany v Argentina could only occur as early as the Semifinal.

Curiously, there are no teams that have played exactly six times.

 

Very interesting - never knew that Walter Ayovi was not part of the WC06 team. Also, I believe Sweden finished third at WC50.

Does Daniele Massaro qualify, was in the squad for WC82 and played in WC94 after missing out the two previous WCs.

 

Italy v Argentina met in five consecutive World Cups:
1974 - Italy 1-1 Argentina
1978 - Argentina 0-1 Italy
1982 - Argentina 1-2 Italy
1986 - Italy 1-1 Argentina
1990 - Italy 1-1 Argentina a.e.t., Argentina 4-3 on penalties

 

What I find interesting is that Germany vs Brazil, the two most successful teams in the world cup didn't happen until 2002 final, and has only occurred once more in 2014.

 

14 of the past 17 World Cups (1950*-2014) have featured either Brazil or Germany playing in the Final. (2002 had both.)
The exceptions:
1978: Argentina v Netherlands
2006: Italy v France
2010: Spain v Netherlands

* This is if you consider 1950 Brazil-Uruguay as a 'Final' since it determined who would win the trophy..

 

And the funny thing is they have not faced each other in a World Cup since.

 

Teams that have a winning record (more wins than losses) against Germany in World Cups: Italy, East Germany, and Denmark.

Of those three, only Italy has played Germany more than once (5 times). Its record: 3 wins, 2 ties, no losses.

 

Teams that have a winning record (more wins than losses) against Brazil in World Cups: France, Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, and Norway.

All of them (except Norway) have played Brazil more than once.

 

Teams that have a winning record (more wins than losses) against Italy in World Cups: Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Croatia, Costa Rica, North Korea, and Slovakia.

Curiously, of them only Switzerland has played Italy more than once (2 wins, 1 loss).

 

All champions have played each other at least once. More frequent: Germany v Argentina (7 times). Less frequent: Argentina v Spain (once, in 1966) and France v Spain (once, in 2006). Curiously, Spain lost both matches.

 

Three teams have played against all the champions at least once in World Cups: Mexico, Belgium, and Czechia (assuming it is the successor of Czechoslovakia).

There are eight teams that have played against at least seven champions:

• Netherlands (never faced France)
• Sweden (France)
• Russia, as succesor of Soviet Union (Spain)
• Hungary (Spain)
• Switzerland (Uruguay)
• Chile (Uruguay)
• Austria (Argentina)
• Bulgaria (France)

 

I guess USA we have played 6... are yet to meet France & Uruguay

 

That's correct, USA got 6.

I was actually surprised that there were so many teams missing only one. In Russia 2018, the host is the closest to complete the set, as it could meet Spain in the round of 16.

 

Czechoslovakia has a winning record (more wins than losses) against two champions: Argentina and Spain (true, they played only once, and won than match)

Belgium has a winning record only against Uruguay (beat them in 1990), and a losing record against all the other seven.

Mexico has a losing record against all champions.

 

Record (Wins-Ties-Losses) of CONMEBOL teams other than the Triple Alliance (Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay) against UEFA non-champions teams:

• Paraguay: 4-4-1
• Chile: 4-2-2
• Colombia: 2-1-4
• Perú: 2-0-3
• Ecuador: 2-0-1
• Bolivia: 0-0-2

Total: 14 wins, 7 ties, 13 losses.