Hey guys, as a lead up to the World Cup, I thought you might like to read some interesting trivia about some of the participating countries in this year's World Cup
[Especially for those of you in countries without the FourFourTwo magazine ]


 Odds of South Africa winning the World Cup are 100 to 1

 u.S.A. Fans have bought the most tickets to see World Cup games, followed by England

 Uruguayan right-winger Alcides Ghiggia who scored the winner against Brazil in 1950 is the oldest man alive to have scored in a World Cup final

 South Korea were the only unbeaten team in the Asian zone during qualifying

 England have drawn more games at World Cup finals than any other side to have reached four or more tournaments. England is also the highest scoring team in World Cup qualifying with 34 goals in 10 matches

 The USA’s best finish at the World Cup was 3rd in 1930, one better than this tournament’s favourites Spain

 Slovenia is the smallest country to qualify for two consecutive World Cups

 Germany have not beaten any of the big footballing nations (Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Holland, Italy or Spain) at a tournament in regulation time or after extra time since 1990.

 Australia had the meanest defence during their qualifying campaign. They conceded 1 goal in 8 matches

 The tallest player at the World Cup will be Serbia’s Nikola Zigic at 6’8” (2.03m)

 This World Cup will be Dejan Stankovic’s third World Cup for a different country (Yugoslavia in 1998, Serbia-Montenegro in 2006 and Serbia in 2010)

 The oldest manager is Otto Rehhagel (Greece) at 71 years old

 The youngest manager is Vladimir Weiss (Slovakia) at 45 years old

 The oldest outfield player is Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico) at 37 years old

 Japan has never won a World Cup match overseas

 This year is the 100th anniversary of Italy’s first ever international football match

 The Paraguayans speak the native American language Guarani on the field to avoid being understood by Spanish speaking opponents

 Rory Fallon who scored the goal against Bahrain that sent New Zealand to the World Cup represented England when he was younger but switched to New Zealand

 North Korea’s striker Jong Tae-se who plays in Japan’s J-League is called ‘The People’s Rooney”

 c. Ronaldo’s last competitive goal for Portugal was against Czech Republic in Euro 2008. He hasn’t scored for the national team since.

 Ivory Coast won the Cup of Nations in 1992 and the credit was taken by two local witch doctors. But when they weren’t paid, they cursed the team and they struggled until 2004. After settling the bill with $2000 and a bottle of whiskey Ivory Coast promptly qualified for their first ever World Cup.

 Spain set a new record during qualification with a perfect 10 out of 10 record.




FourFourTwo-Complete Guide to the World Cup

"c. Ronaldo’s last competitive goal for Portugal was against Czech Republic in Euro 2008. He hasn’t scored for the national team since. "

Thanks for the tip. He's only in my Dream Team.... Grr. Time for a replacement.

Those are interesting. I really enjoyed reading. Especially about Australia and their defence only conceding one goal. W2G for them. Yet that sure wasn't what happen with the US Team though

The Paraguayans speak the native American language Guarani on the field to avoid being understood by Spanish speaking opponents

Really? That is interesting. I want to say learning an entire language to compete for the World Cup but I'm sure it's just a few key phrases

Interestin facts, thanks for shering.  

Hahha, I really like this one of the Paraguay! And.... 5/5! Bravo!

A couple more I found!

-This is also the first World Cup with no debutants. Every team playing in this tournament has already qualified before with minnows North Korea playing in 1966 and New Zealand and Honduras both at the 1982 World Cup. Although this is Slovakia's first tournament as an independent nation, they were last at the World Cup in 1994 when they were still part of Czechoslovakia.

- Diego Maradona will make his FIFA World Cup coaching debut against Nigeria, the same team he faced in his last finals appearance as a player at the 1994 finals in the USA.

Read more at Suite101: FIFA World Cup Trivia and Facts Link: internationalsoccer.suite101.com/article.cfm/world...

Nice job Jet. I would be really amused and impressed if you said that you gathered all that info but I wonder about one thing. Stankovic played for Yugoslavia in '98, it's just strange that they still used that name after Yugoslavia fell apart in 1992 and in fact it was only Serbia and Montenegro at that time. Croatians had to be really annoyed during that tournament

-Nine teams competing in the World Cup will be wearing environmentally friendly jerseys made from recycled plastic bottles. Brazil, the Netherlands and Portugal are among the teams who will be sporting the shirts made in Taiwan.

-North Korea are the only nation in this year's World Cup finals not to feature in the top 100 of the official FIFA rankings.

Does anyone think North Korea can escape their group or earn a point from their games in the group stages?

I'm still chuckling to that one player's nickname, "The People's Rooney"....

I don't think they will get even one point, but then in a single match anything can happen.... Man Utd didn't think they'd go down 0-1 to Leeds or Real Madrid 0-4 to Alcorcón, both 3rd tier teams....

New tidbit!    Out of all the countries at the World Cup, only New Zealand left South Africa undefeated!

Ooh just realised another one. That's the second consecutive WC where the team who knocked out Brazil lost in the finals after being reduced to 10 men