The World Cup history is full of different stories. We have searched through
archives, videos and books for strange happenings and facts. Here you can
read about some of what we found....
Alf
Ramsey - manager of England's World Cup winners in 1966 - ran out on the
field immediately after the final whistle after his team beat Argentina
in the quarterfinal. But not in celebration, but to prevent his players
to swap shirts with the Argentinians. Mr. Ramsey said: "We don't swap shirts
with animals!".
Brothers
have been part of the same World Cup squad several times. But Victor and
Vyacheslav Chanov are unique. They were in the 1982 Soviet Union squad,
both as goalkeepers! None of them played a match though, as the great Rinat
Dasaev was first choice.
Captaining
a winning side must be every player's dream. It's a once in a lifetime
experience, and the history shows it too. None has done it twice. Diego
Maradona has been the closest when he captained Argentina to victory
in 1986 and to silvermedals in 1990. Dunga of Brazil won as captain in
1994 and lost the final in 1998 and in some way copied Maradona. Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge is the only captain to lose two World Cup finals (1982 and
1986).
Dismissals
or sending-offs didn't help much in the Brazil - Hungary game in 1954.
3 players were sent off, but by today's standard the number would have
been much higher. The match produced disgraceful scenes and was later dubbed
as "The battle of Berne". The players were still fighting on their way
back to the dressingrooms after the final whistle! Hungary won the match
4-2.
Erik
Nilsson of Sweden and Alfred Bickel of Switzerland are the only men to
have played in the World Cup both before and after World War II. They both
appeared in 1938 and 1950.
For
the United Arab Emirates, winning the World Cup was not realistic. In 1990
they were knocked out after three straight defeats in the groupstage. However,
they managed to score two goals and no wonder the goalscorers celebrated
as if they had won the World Cup. The players received a Rolls Royce for
every goal they scored!
Gays,
longhaired players and players with earrings did not have a future in the
Argentine national side as long as Daniel Passarella was the coach. He
set strict rules for the candidates to the tournament in France. Even Gabriel
Batistuta got his hair cut, not to miss the World Cup.
Harald
Schumacher, West Germany's great goalkeeper and twice World Cup silvermedalist,
is perhaps best known for his assult on French defender Patrick Battiston
in the 1982 semifinal. After losing his second World Cup final in 1986,
he said he wanted to come back in 1990 and win the cup at his third attempt.
But in 1987 he wrote a book and claimed 90% of the players in the German
Bundesliga did drugs! He was never picked for the German squad again after
that. He escaped to Turkey and played league soccer there instead.
Injury
time added on by the referree is sometimes necessary. But Frenchman Michel
Vautrot added on 8 minutes only in the first period of extra-time
in the semifinal between Italy and Argentina in 1990! He later admitted
he forgot about the time.
José
Batista of Uruguay was sent off after just 56 seconds against Scotland
in 1986! That is the fastest dismissal in World Cup history. His foul on
Gordon Strachan gave French referee Joël Quiniou no choice. Uruguay
kept the score at 0-0 and progressed to the next round at the expense of
Scotland.
Korea
(North) sent Italy out of the 1966 World Cup already in the groupstage.
In Italy such an early exit is not accepted. Their flight home had a secret
destination to avoid the press, media and angry fans. Many fans still found
out where they arrived and their bus at the airport was bombarded by fruit
and rotten tomatoes as they escaped!
Laszlo
Kiss of Hungary is the only substitute to have scored a hat-trick in the
World Cup. Hungary were 5-1 ahead when Kiss scored his first of three in
this match against El Salvador which ended 10-1 in Spain 1982! That
is by the way the biggest victory in World Cup history.
Mario
Zagallo managed Brazil to their 1970 triumph, with that he became the first
man to play in and then manage a World Cup winning team. He was a member
of the Brazillian sides which won the trophy in 1958 and 1962. Later Franz
Beckenbauer copied that feat.
No
match in World Cup history has been more distasteful than the West Germany
- Austria clash in Spain 1982. Because of the format of the tournament,
only a 1-0 win to the Germans meant that both these neighbour countries
would proceed to the next round at the expense of Algeria. When West Germany
took the lead after 10 minutes, both teams virtually stopped playing. It
slowed down to walking pace with neither of the teams interested in going
forward. The neutral Spanish crowd and the Algerian fans constantly booed
and shouted, a German supporter was so disgusted that he set fire to his
national flag on the terraces. The following day Algeria protested to FIFA
that the game had been fixed and called for both teams to be disqualified,
but their protest was rejected. From the 1986 World Cup onwards, the last
round of matches in the 1st round have been played simultaneously to avoid
scandals like that.
One
of the most controversial managerial decisions was made by Ademar Pimenta,
coach for Brazil in 1938. Leonidas,
one of the stars of that tournament, had scored 6 goals in two rounds,
but was left out of the team for the semifinal against defending champions
Italy because the manager wanted to save him for the final! Brazil lost
the game, but won the bronzematch this time with Leonidas in the team scoring
twice!
Penalty
shoot-outs have played a vital part in recent World Cups. (West) Germany have the best record,
winning all four shoot-outs they have been part of. England have the worst record with three losses in three shoot-outs.
Quiroga,
with the first name Ramon, was keeper for Peru in the 1978 World Cup. He
was similar to his Colombian colleague René Higuita in his style
of goalkeeping. In Peru's match against Poland (0-1) he set some kind of
record as being the only keeper to be booked for a foul in the opponents
half of the field!
Russian
referree Miroslav Stupar made a controversial decision in the Kuwait -
France match in 1982. France led 3-1 when Giresse blasted home number four
with the Kuwaiti defenders rooted to the spot. They claimed they had stopped
playing upon hearing a whistle. The Kuwaiti FA president Prince Fahid came
on to the field from his seat in the stands and protested long and hard.
It led to Stupar disallowing the goal! However, France scored a fourth
goal in the last minute. For Prince Fahed's interference an £8.000
fine was imposed on the Kuwaitis by FIFA.
Suspension
made it impossible for Paolo Rossi
to play for two years. Just weeks before the 1982 World Cup, he returned
after being punished for a bribe scandal. Coach Enzo Bearzot had faith
in him and picked him for the squad, despite playing just a few games in
the last couple of years. He played four games in the cup without scoring,
the pressure on Rossi and Bearzot increased. People wanted him out of the
team. But in a decisive match against favourites Brazil, he scored a hat-trick
and sent Italy to the semis, there he scored both goals in the 2-0 win
against Poland, and he scored the first in Italy's 3-1 victory over West
Germany in the final. Those 6 goals made in him topscorer of the tournament.
The
World Cup has only seen 5 players who each have appeared for two nations:
José Altafini (then known as Mazzola) Brazil in 1958 and Italy in
1962; Luis Monti, Argentina in 1930 and Italy in 1934; Ferenc Puskas, Hungary
in 1954 and Spain 1962; José Santamaria for Uruguay in 1954 and
Spain in 1962 and Robert Prosinecki for Yugoslavia in 1990 and Croatia
in 1998.
Usually
the World Cup Final produces lots of goals. No final match had produced
less than three goals until West Germany beat Argentina by 1-0 in 1990, and after 1990 no final match
has produced more than three goals. Before 1990 we hadn't had a single player sent off in a Final, but including
1990 and onwards we've had five players sent off in the six Finals that have been played. Football has changed.
Venue
for the 1970 World Cup's opening match was the Azteca Stadium in Mexico.
This match between Mexico and the Soviet Union marked the start of a new
era, as substitutions, yellow and red cards were used for the first time
in the competition's history.
Walter
Zenga, goalkeeper of Italy, holds the record of longest unbeaten goalkeeper in
World Cup history. He played 517 minutes (Almost 6 games) without letting
in a goal in the 1990 tournament. Claudio Caniggia of Argentina ended his
run in the semifinal which Italy lost on penalties.
Xuereb
of France (first name Daniel) came on as a substitute for Bruno Bellone
in the semifinal against West Germany in 1986, that meant that every letter
in the alphabet had been used for players' surnames since the start of
the championships in 1930.
Youngest
player to have appeared in a World Cup match, was Norman Whiteside of Northern
Ireland in 1982. He was 17 years and 42 days old when he played against
Yugoslavia. The oldest player, was Roger Milla of Cameroon, who was 42
years and 39 days when he played against Russia in 1994. He infact scored
in that game, making him the oldest goalscorer as well!
Zairean
Muampa Kazadi was the first goalkeeper to be replaced for any other reason
than injury in World Cup history, when Zaïre were 0-3 down versus
Yugoslavia after just 22 minutes in 1974. However, his replacement Dimbi
Tubilandu couldn't stop the goalrush and his country eventually lost the
game 9-0! Only one other time has a goalkeeper been replaced for any other
reason than injury. That was in the bronzematch in USA 1994, when Bulgarian
keeper Mihailov was substituted at half time when Sweden lead 4-0. Nikolov
came in for him and kept a clean sheet in the second half as the result
stayed that way.
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