A-Z Of The World Cup | Vital Football

A-Z Of The World Cup

herringthorpe

herringthorpe

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Staff member
Usually one we do every four years in the summer but the football world has been turned upside down!

So this is anything to do with the Football World Cup - any team, any stadium, any player who has ever played or been played in!

A Argentina - Won the competition twice, though not started so well this time.
 
B BELGIUM - strong World Cup team , but may be past their peak. Beat England 2-0 to claim the third place trophy in 2018. Scheduled to play Canada tomorrow night (23/11/22).
 
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or... DENMARK - drawn 0-0 v Tunisia in Group D today (22/11/22)
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E ENGLAND - World Cup winners in 1966. Beat Iran 6-2 in Group B yesterday (21/11/22)
 
Yes, both were great World Cup goalscorers...

... or GERMANY / West Germany - World Cup winners in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014.
Playing today (23/11/22) in Group E.

... or "GROUP OF DEATH" - a World Cup Group with three or four highly rated teams in it . Only two can usually qualify for the nexrt stage of the competition.
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H HONDURAS - played in the World Cup final stages in 1982, 2010 and 2014. Yet to win a game.
 
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Yes, it was a bit of a "Group of Death" situation for them- see previous post.
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J Japan - much improved in recent years. Playing today (23/11/22) against Germany in Group E (see earlier post).
 
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K - KOREA, North and South. In 1966 North Korea beat Italy 1:0 and then played in a cracking game against Portugal at Goodison Park in the 2nd Round. Leading 3:0 they eventually lost 3:5 with Eusebio scoring 4. A great game.
South Korea have appeared in 11 World Cups perhaps most memorably when they co-hosted in 2002 and finished fourth. They beat Italy 2:1 AET in a controversial match to reach QF where they beat Spain on penalties. Lost 1:0 to Germany in SF.
 
The 1966 World Cup tournament was generally fairly dour, but had a few great games in it - N. Korea v Portugal was one of them. The final wsn't bad either!

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L Latvia and Lithuania have never qualified for the World Cup final stages, so...

... the Russian goalkeeper , LEV YASHIN. First of the modern style keepers - tall, athletic, came off his line to command the penatly area, close down the angles, etc. Played in three World Cups - 1958, 1962, 1966. Back in the 50's /early 60s most keepers tended to stay on their goal line. In recent years a new goalkeeping style-has been developed - "sweeper-keepers".
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M Morocco - appeared in six World Cup final stages - 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018, 2022. Reached the "last 16" only once (1986). Drew 0-0 with Croatia yesterday (23/11/22)
 
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Canada had 22 shots ... just THREE on target. Reminds me of another team, can't quite place who...:rolleyes:

Only saw the second half of the match . Belgium seemed to be playing like it was a warm-up/ friendly game. Poor performance from them and lucky to get away with it. Don't know if there was anything odd about the pitch, but neither side could control the ball very well, including De Bruyne.
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N NORWAY - Reached the World Cup final stages in 1934, 1994, and 1998. Best performance was in 1998 -, when they reached the "Last 16". Didn't qualify for the final stages in 2022.
 
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O - OCEANIA. One of the six international regional federations in world football. Only one of the current Oceania teams has ever reached a World Cup finals - New Zealand (Australia transferred from Oceania to the AFC). None qualified in 2022 with New Zealand losing in an inter-federational play off with Peru.
 
P PORTUGAL - regular qualifiers for the World Cup final stages since the turn of the century and Christiano Ronaldo has played in a record five tournaments. Never won it though - best performance was 4th place in 2006. They beat Ghana 3-2 yesterday (24/11/22) in Group H.
 
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