Random World Cup Facts

I think he meant Materazzi's goal during regulation play, off the corner kick taken by Pirlo to make it 1-1.

 

"India withdrew from the 1950 World Cup because they were not allowed to play barefoot"
hahaha

 

this is main believe about Indian withdraw since then, but the actual reason is that India wanted to focus more on the olympics, perhaps they just used the barefoot request as a reason to withdraw

 

the proof is overwhelming my friend, the German success in soccer was built on two main pillars. the first pillar is banned drugs and the second one is the referees interventions in the games (Rizzoli and Codesal for example). even Sepp Mayer has a confession about doping but that one is to do with Bayern in the seventies.

 

there is also the fact that a ref redcarded a Dutch player (Ninninga) against Germany in 1978 because he laughed!! I know it sounds unbelievable buy yet it happened. As I always say, Fifa has a special law designed carefully for the interest of the German team

 

after the final Blatter escaped in order for him not to watch the Italians lift the cup. I think the reason behind his disappearance is because Italy eliminated Germany in front of his eyes which is something he could not deal with. The Argentinian ref was the french player number 12 but he could not succeed in his mission as France was already weak and reached the final because of the invisible power according to Scolari.)

 

I guess that explains their winning the last 10 World Cups then.

 

ah...the next thread....Germany is so evil....5th thread changed

 

You can visit this blog if you are looking for more facts about World Cup!

http://sportshouse.expertscolumn.com/

 

France's clubs put 23 players into the 1994 World Cup, and Russia's clubs put 10 players into the 2006 World Cup. So for situations we've identified, England 1994 is the nation whose clubs put the most players into a World Cup that that nation missed: 40. Turkey 2014 is the second-most we've identified, with 26. France 1994 is the third-most (but in proportion to the number of teams, the second-most), with 23.

 

That's an awesome fact, but I'm afraid we might have to wait an awful long time to see if it continues standing true.

 

Well, theoretically it could only take 8 years. But yes, it will probably take longer than that.

 

You're 8+ months behind the times.
http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/random-world-cup-facts.212289/page-50#post-30719257

 

I haven't been to this thread in quite some time, and it looks like no one else has either.

Anyway, Portugal's championship in the Euros after only finishing third in group play leads me to wonder if that has ever happened in the World Cup. I know that Argentina came close in 1990 after finishing 3rd in their group, but ultimately lost in the Final. Italy in 1982 was tied on points and goal differential with Peru for 2nd and 3rd in group play in 1982, but had more goals scored, so technically they finished 2nd in the group, before winning the World Cup. I can't think of any other possibilities.

This might actually be the first time in any major international football competition that a team finishing in 3rd place in group play went on to win the championship, although I don't know too much about the Copa America results.

 

Teams that reached the final of a major tournament after finishing third in their group during the group phase:
1990 World Cup: Argentina
1993 Copa America: Mexico
1994 World Cup: Italy
1999 Copa America: Uruguay
2011 Copa America: Paraguay
Euro 2016: Portugal

 

For WC82 group A, Italy had 3 points, Peru 2. However, Cameroon had 3 points and were eliminated on goals scored.

 

something very random in my eyes:

Up to 2022 there will not a single duplication of the major national language of world cup hosts since Spain 1982 (!)

in detail:
2022 - Qatar - arabic
2018 - Russia - russian
2014 - Brazil - portuguese
2010 - South Africa - zulu
2006 - Germany - german
2002 - Japan/Korea - japanese/corean
1998 - France - french
1994 - USA - english
1990 - Italy - italian
1986 - Mexico - spanish
1982 - Spain - spanish (again)

This makes it a chain of 10 different languages in a row.

Even more remarkably, between 1962 and 1986, the hosts major national language was 5 times spanish (62, 70, 78, 82, 86) out of 7 occasions.

 

Technically the United States does not have an official National language and I would venture to say the majority of people in the stands at World Cup 1994 Spoke mostly Spanish as either a Primary or Secondary language.

 

This streak ends in 2026. The only 2 candidates seem to be US and Australia/NZ - both primarily English-speaking.

 

Slovenia and Ireland Rep. are the only two countries with world cup appearances, despite never ever winning a qualifying group.