32 Teams, 32 World Cup facts
32 Teams, 32 World Cup facts
Posted: 2010-07-13 12:26
Some interesting facts on each of the 32 teams who competed at the World Cup.
ALGERIA
Algeria’s goalless draw with England was this first clean sheet in World Cup history.
ARGENTINA
In Argentina’s match against Greece on 22 June, Martin Palermo became the country’s oldest World Cup goalscorer to date at the age of 36 years and 227 days. On the same night Lionel Messi became the youngest World Cup captain at 22 days and 363 days.
AUSTRALIA
Australia’s win over Serbia was their second on the World Cup stage after the 3-1 victory against Japan in 2006. Tim Cahill made it onto the scoresheet in both matches.
BRAZIL
Since 1994, Brazil have always qualified for the knock-out stage with the game to spare.
CAMEROON
Rigobert Song became the first African to play in four different World Cups and, at 16 years and 9 days, is the player with the fourth longest World Cup career span and after Antonio Carbajal (Mexico 16 years and 25 days), Hugo Sanchez (Mexico 16 years and 17 days) and Lothar Matthaus (16 years and 14 days).
CHILE
Chile’s win against Honduras on 16 June was their first World Cup victory in 48 years since they beat Yugoslavia 1-0 in the third-place play-off on 16 June 1962.
COTE D’IVOIRE
Didier Drogba scored the first goal by an African player against Brazil in what was the sixth World Cup encounter between a Selecao and a CAF team.
DENMARK
For the first time, Denmark won a World Cup match after coming from behind when beating Cameroon on 19 June.
ENGLAND
England are the team with most goalless draws in World Cup history, having recorded 10 stalemates from 59 matches.
FRANCE
Thierry Henry is the first French player to appear in four FIFA World Cups.
GERMANY
In the match against Argentina on 3 July, Thomas Muller scored Germany’s 200th World Cup goal. Now at 206, the Germans are the second team to reach the milestone after Brazil, whose own total stands at 210.
GHANA
In the quarter-final match against Uruguay on 2 July, Ghana became the first African team to go a penalty shoot-out at the World Cup.
GREECE
Greece’s 2-1 win over Nigeria on 17 June was their first in the World Cup at the fifth attempt. Dimitrios Salpingidis’s goal also ended their run of 404 minutes without scoring on the World Cup stage.
HONDURAS
Honduras have never won a World Cup match, but their loss to Spain on 21 June was the first time they conceded more than one goal in a match.
ITALY
Having drawn 21 out of 80 matches, Italy are now the team with the most ties in World Cup history.
JAPAN
For the first time Japan scored three goals in the World Cup in their 3-1 win over Denmark on 24 June.
KOREA DPR
Korea DPR conceded their 12th goal of the group stage when they lost 3-0 to Cote d Ivoire on 25 June. This was only four short of Korea Republic’s unwanted record of 16 goals in two first-round matches in 1954.
KOREA REPUBLIC
The South Koreans five-goal haul from their three group matches constituted a record for an Asian World Cup participant.
MEXICO
Rafael Marquez established a record for Mexico with his 12th World Cup appearance in the round of 16 match against Argentina on 27 June – one more than goalkeeping legend Antonio Carbajal and his current teammate Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
NETHERLANDS
For the first time ever, the Netherlands were victorious in all three of their group stage matches.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand are one of only four teams in the World Cup to have been eliminated without losing any of their three group matches. Scotland (1974), Cameroon (1982) and Belgium (1998) complete the list of unlucky non-losers.
NIGERIA
Twelve years and three days after his World Cup debut in France in 1998, Nigeria’s Nwankwo Kanu played in his third finals.
PARAGUAY
Paraguay topped their group for their first time in eight participations and went on to make their first appearance in the last eight of the World Cup.
PORTUGAL
Portugal’s 7-0 win over Korea DPR on 21 June was one of the top ten biggest wins in World Cup history. The top three remain Hungary 10-1 El Salvador (1982), Hungary 9-0 Korea Republic (1954), and Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire (1974).
SERBIA
Vladimir Stojkovic became the first goalkeeper from Serbia to save a penalty in World Cup history – not even as part of the former Yugoslavia had any previous Serbian custodian managed it.
SLOVAKIA
In the last seven tournaments dating back to 1986, at least one debutant has advanced to the second stage. Slovakia, the only newcomers in 2010, upheld this tradition.
SLOVENIA
Slovenia recorded their first World Cup victory when they beat Algeria 1-0 on 13 June thanks to a late goal by Robert Koren.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa became the first host country not to qualify for the second stage, despite recording a first victory over a former World Cup winner when beating France.
SPAIN
David Villa is the only Spanish player to have scored in four consecutive matches. Frenchman Just Fontaine (1958) and Brazilian Jairzinho (1970) scored in six games running. Half-a-dozen players have made it onto the scoresheet in five consecutive outings.
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland now hold the record for the longest period of time without conceding a goal in the World Cup – 559 minutes, nine more than the previous record held by Italy. The Swiss sequence was ended in the match against Chile by a header from Mark Gonzalez.
URUGUAY
Oscar Taberez set a new record for the most World Cup games (11) for a coach of Uruguay. The 63-year-old has two more than Juan Lopez, who steered Los Charruas to the World title in 1950 and fourth place in 1954.
USA
American Michael Bradley, who struck the equalizer against Slovenia on 18 June, became the first World Cup goalscorer coached by his father.
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