Once Germany finally met Brazil in the World Cup taking 72 years it seemed amazing considering they two of the most successful teams in it. I was trying to do this of others and got Spain v Argentina, France v Argentina in recent times, Holland v France. Any other suggestions?
I have checked the list of head-to-head results for the eight teams that have appeared in 12 or more World Cup Finals: Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, England, France, and Spain. (Apologies to the other teams that might be sensibly added to a list of "most successful" World Cup teams, such as Belgium, Sweden, Uruguay, the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Netherlands. Maybe someone else can do the additional 63 matchups.) I used web pages of the form: http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/headtohead/team1=bra/team2=ger/code=17/index.html Here are all the matchups that have happened two times or fewer among those eight teams: Brazil-Germany: 2002 Italy-England: 1990 Italy-Spain: 1934 (with replay), 1994 Argentina-France: 1930, 1978 Argentina-Mexico: 1930, 2006 Argentina-Spain: 1966 Mexico-England: 1966 Mexico-Spain: 1962 England-France: 1966, 1982 England-Spain: 1950, 1982 France-Spain: 2006
I know many people consider Portugal a "top team", but they've only played in 4 World Cups, so therefore, they probably haven't played many teams. And though South Korea isn't a top team, them and Brazil hold the record for being in the most World Cups together without meeting, with 7.
So I got interested and did them anyway. Here are all the other matchups that have happened two times or fewer among those fourteen teams: Brazil-Belgium: 2002 Brazil-Uruguay: 1950, 1970 Brazil-Hungary: 1954, 1966 Germany-Belgium: 1934, 1994 Germany-Hungary: 1954 (twice) Italy-Belgium: 1954 Italy-Sweden: 1950, 1970 Italy-Uruguay: 1970, 1990 Italy-Hungary: 1938, 1978 Italy-Netherlands: 1978 Argentina-Belgium: 1982, 1986 Argentina-Sweden: 1934, 2002 Argentina-Uruguay: 1930, 1986 Argentina-Czechoslovakia: 1958 (never Argentina-Czech Republic) Mexico-Sweden: 1958 Mexico-Uruguay: 1966 Mexico-Czechoslovakia: 1962 (never Mexico-Czech Republic) Mexico-Hungary: 1958 Mexico-Netherlands: 1998 England-Belgium: 1954, 1990 England-Sweden: 2002, 2006 England-Uruguay: 1954, 1966 England-Czechoslovakia: 1970, 1982 (never England-Czech Republic) England-Hungary: 1962 England-Netherlands: 1990 France-Belgium: 1938, 1986 France-Sweden: never France-Uruguay: 1966, 2002 France-Czechoslovakia: 1982 (never France-Czech Republic) France-Hungary: 1978, 1986 France-Netherlands: never Spain-Belgium: 1986, 1990 Spain-Sweden: 1950, 1978 Spain-Uruguay: 1950, 1990 Spain-Czechoslovakia: 1962 (never Spain-Czech Republic) Spain-Hungary: never Spain-Netherlands: never Belgium-Sweden: never Belgium-Uruguay: 1990 Belgium-Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia: never Belgium-Hungary: 1982 Belgium-Netherlands: 1994, 1998 Sweden-Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia: never Sweden-Hungary: 1938, 1958 Sweden-Netherlands: 1974 Uruguay-Czechoslovakia: 1954 (never Sweden-Czech Republic) Uruguay-Hungary: 1954 Uruguay-Netherlands: 1974 Czechoslovakia-Hungary: 1962 (never Czech Republic-Hungary) Czechoslovakia-Netherlands: 1938 (never Czech Republic-Netherlands) Hungary-Netherlands: never
on the flip side, I remember seeing a somewhat whimsical feature before the 98 WC about Scotland having Brazil in their group (almost?) every time Scotland qualifies. Talk about bad luck.
The Spain-Netherlands matchup is interesting. Both teams have been featured regularly in the Finals for the last 40 years. Moreover, they also never met in the European Championships since they switched a Finals tournament format in 1980.
I think it is deceptive with Netherlands in that they generally do well when they actually qualify but certainly are not regulars having missed out on 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986 & 2002.
Wow, yes. According to Fifa these are the only times they've met. All friendlies except for the first one, and the qualifiers in 1983. Netherlands 1:3 (0:2) Spain 05/09/1920 Antwerp Olympic Football Tournament Final Spain 5:1 (1:0) Netherlands 30/01/1957 Madrid Friendly Netherlands 3:2 (2:1) Spain 02/05/1973 Amsterdam Friendly Spain 1:0 (0:0) Netherlands 23/01/1980 Vigo Friendly Spain 1:0 (1:0) Netherlands 16/02/1983 Seville Continental Qualifier Netherlands 2:1 (1:1) Spain 16/11/1983 Rotterdam Continental Qualifier Spain 1:1 (0:1) Netherlands 21/01/1987 Barcelona Friendly Spain 1:2 (0:0) Netherlands 15/11/2000 Seville Friendly Netherlands 1:0 (1:0) Spain 27/03/2002 Rotterdam Friendly
It came close last summer! Had the Dutch defeated Russia in the QFs in Euro'08 they would have faced Spain.That's too bad because this match could have probably been one of the best match at Euro'08...
Sorry if I misunderstood your point, but doesn't this record belong to Brazil and Germany??? I mean, Brazil appeared in all WCs and Germany just missed 1930 and 1950. So, 'till they met in 2002, it was 14 tournaments without meeting...
Before 1874, Holland was not considered a power. That was why I said "the last 40 years". They made 6 out of 9 Finals since Cruyff. Of course, they ain't that great compared to Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil, etc, but France and England also missed three times on the same time span. France twice!
You guys have a much different definition of what a "top team" in the WC is. IMO there are only 4 teams that really deserve to be considered amongst la creme a la creme... those are Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy. These four teams have won multiple world cups and have all played in multiple finals over the last 25 years and have been continued powerhouses since the last half century. That's what makes the (lack of) Brazil - Germany games such a fascinating phenomenon. I guess you could expand the pool a bit and throw in France and England. Maybe even Holland + Spain although with the exception of Holland in the 70s and Guss Hiddinks 98 side, neither of those teams have made much of an impact in the WC recently or historically. Their club teams and performances in the Euros perhaps being a little deceiving. With that said.. what about Italy v Holland? Have they ever met b4?
It must be said though that that particular match was one of the most important, if not the most important match in Spanish football history. It's shocking to know how long ago and infrequent some of the match-ups are!
Brazil vs Germany - 2 times Spain vs Italy - 2 times Argentina vs Spain - 1 times France vs Spain - 1 times Uruguay vs England - 2 times Uruguay vs Argentina - 2 times Uruguay vs Brazil - 2 times
Well I think I can take a wild guess here... it was East Germany Brazil played in 1974 2nd round. However, technically this can't really be counted as it was West Germany, not East Germany whose record Germany inherited.
You have to look at it like this. Germany were split in 4 (and later those 4 became two) because of World War 2 and the same happened to the football federations. The only reason West Germany's records are prioritized over East Germany's is because the West has a much better record then the East. What happened in 1990 was a reunification, not a discardment. Two times.