World Cup Records on Matches

First match:
Mexico 1, France 4 in Montevideo, Uruguay on 13/07/1930.

First tied match:
Italy 1, Spain 1 in Florence, Italy on 31/05/1934.

First match with extratime:
Austria vs France on 27/05/1934.

First Final with extratime:
Italy vs Czechoslovakia on 10/06/1934.

First scoreless match:
Brazil vs England in Stockholm, Sweden on 11 June, 1958.

First match decided on penalty shoot-out:
Semi-final between West Germany & France on 8 July, 1982 in which the Germans won the shootout 5:4.

First Final decided on penalty shoot-out:
The 1994 Final in which Brazil beat Italy 3:2 on penalty shoot-out after a 0:0 tie.

First match played indoor:
USA vs Switzerland at Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, USA on 18/06/1994.

First match where a coach was sent off :
Paraguayan coach Cayetano Re in a match against Belgium on 11 June 1986.

Only finals with no Final:
The 1950 finals, where there was only a final pool without a knock-out Final.

Lowest attendance for a match:
300 spectators for the match between Romania & Peru in Montevideo on 14/07/1930.

Highest attendance for a match:
199,850 spectators for the “final” match between Brazil & Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro on 16/07/1950.

Most matches played by a country:
87 matches, by Brazil.

Most grand final matches played by a country:
7 finals, by Brazil (in 50,58,62,70,94,98,02) and Germany (in 54,66,74,82,86,90,02).

Most matches played by the same two countries in finals:
7 matches between Brazil and Sweden in 1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 & 1994 (2 times).

Read more…

Sports and Hobbies

World Cup Records Held by Players

First player to be sent off:
Peru’s captain Mario de Las Casas in a match against Romania on 14/07/1930.

First red-carded player:
Chile’s Carlos Caszely in a match against West Germany on 14/06/1974.

First goalkeeper to be sent-off:
Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy in a match against Norway on 23/06/1994.

Only player to have been sent off in successive finals tournaments:
Cameroon’s Rigobert Song who was sent off on 24/06/1994 (against Brazil) and on 23/06/1998 (against Chile).

Only non-playing reserve players to have been sent off in finals:
Yugoslavia’s Srecko Katanec on 30/6/90 and Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia on 12/6/02.

Fastest sending-off in finals:
Uruguay’s Jose Batista who was sent off in the 56th second of a group match against Scotland on 13/06/1986.

Fastest red card to a substitute:
Bolivia’s Marco Etcheverry who was sent off after 3 minutes of play as a substitute in the match against Germany on 17/06/1994.

First player to receive a yellow card:
Lovchev of the USSR in the 1970 opening match against Mexico on 31/5/1970.

Fastest yellow card to a player in finals:
Sergei Gorlukovich of Russia who was booked after one minute in a group match against Sweden on 24/6/94.

Fastest yellow card given to a substitute in finals:
Korea Republic’s Cha Doo-Ri after 20 seconds in a group match against Poland on 4 June 2002.

Fastest substitution in finals:
Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi replacing Alessandro Nesta in the 4th minute in a First Round match against Austria on 23/6/98.

First substitution of a goalkeeper:
Romania’s Necula Raducanu who replaced Steve Adamache in a match against Brazil on 10 June 1970.

First player to take penalty shootout in World Cup finals:
Alain Giresse of France, who scored the first ever penalty in a shootout where France lost 4:5 to West Germany in the semi-final on 8 July 1982.

First player to take penalty shootout in a final:
Franco Baresi of Italy, who was the first player to take the shootout in the 1994 final but blasted it over the bar.

First time numbers were used on players’ shirts in World Cup:
In the 1938 finals in France.

Only player to have played in Final for two different countries:
Luis Monti who played for Argentina in the 1930 Final and for Uruguay in the 1934 Final.

Only player to have scored in finals for two different countries:
Robert Prosinecki who scored for Yugoslavia in 1990 and for Croatia in 1998.

Most goals by a player in a finals match:
5 goals, by Russia’s Oleg Salenko against Cameroon on 28/06/1994.

Most goals by a player in a Final
3 goals, by Geoff Hurst of England on 30/07/1966.

Most goals by a player in the same finals:
13 goals, by Just Fontaine of France in 6 matches of the 1958 finals.

Most headed goals by a player in the same finals:
5 goals, by Miroslav Klose of Germany in the 2002 finals.

Most goals by a player in finals in aggregate:
14 goals, by Gerd Mueller of West Germany in the 1970 and 1974 finals.

Most goals conceded by a goalkeeper in the same finals:
16 goals, by Korean goalkeeper Yung Hong Duk in two 1954 finals matches.

Only player to have appeared in the finals before and after the Second World War:
Erik Nilsson of Sweden and Alfred Bickel of Switzerland in the finals of 1938 & 1950.

Only European player to have won 2 World Cups:
Italy’s Giuseppe Meazza & Giovanni Ferrari both played in the 1934 & 1938 champion teams.

Only player to have won 3 World Cups:
Pele of Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

First player to score in World Cup:
Lucien Laurent of France in the 19th minute in the first World Cup match on 13/07/1930.

First player to score a penalty goal:
Mexico’s Manuel Rocquetas Rosas against Argentina on 19/07/1930.

First player to score an own goal:
Ernst Loertscher of Switzerland against West Germany on 9 June 1938.

First substitute to score a goal
Mexico’s Juan Basaguren in the match against El Salvador on 7 June 1970.

Read more…

Sports and Hobbies

Finally the list of National squads for World Cup 2006 is out.

Here’s the list of my favorite National teams with their respective squads including each player’s current professional Clubs:

Brazil squad:

Goalkeepers: Dida (AC Milan), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)

Defenders: Cafu (AC Milan), Cicinho (Real Madrid), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Cris (Olympique Lyon), Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders: Edmilson (Barcelona), Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyon), Emerson (Juventus), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Kaka (AC Milan), Ricardinho (Corinthians)

Forwards: Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Adriano (Inter Milan), Fred (Olympique Lyon).

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Germany squad:

Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal/ENG), Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich), Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Robert Huth (Chelsea/ENG), Marcell Jansen (Borussia Monchengladbach), Per Mertesacker (Hannover), Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Jens Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund)

Fowards: Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Lukas Podolski (FC Cologne), Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Monchengladbach), Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04)

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Argentina squad:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca Juniors), Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Oscar Ustari (Independiente)

Defenders: Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan/ITA), Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza/ESP), Juan Pablo Sorin (Villarreal/ESP), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna/ESP), Leandro Cufre (Roma/ITA), Roberto Ayala (Valencia/ESP), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United/ENG)

Midfielders: Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan/ITA), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal/ESP), Lionel Scaloni (West Ham/ENG), Luis Gonzalez (Porto/POR), Javier Mascherano (Corinthians/BRA), Pablo Aimar (Valencia/ESP)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ESP), Hernan Crespo (Chelsea/ENG), Carlos Tevez (Corinthians/BRA), Javier Saviola (Sevilla/ESP), Julio Cruz (Inter Milan/ITA), Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors)

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England squad:

Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), David James (Manchester City), Robert Green (Norwich City)

Defenders: Gary Neville (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Real Madrid), Michael Carrick (Tottenham Hotspur), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur)

Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

On stand-by: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Young (Charlton Athletic), Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace).

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Italy squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Angelo Peruzzi (Lazio), Marco Amelia (Livorno)

Defenders: Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Palermo)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Simone Perrotta (Roma), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Simone Barone (Palermo), Francesco Totti (Roma)

Forwards: Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan), Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese)

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For the list of squads of other National teams, visit the Fifa World Cup website.

Sports and Hobbies

Last Saturday evening while typhoon Caloy was pouring rain and blowing gusty winds over Metro Manila, I was glued on the TV set watching, what else - Football. But it was not any ordinary Football match, it was a live telecast of the FA Cup Final match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United. A match that will go down as one of the greatest in the competition’s 134-year history. Liverpool FC repeated the drama it played during last year’s UEFA Champions League Finals by winning the match via a penalty shoot-out.

The match started with West Ham United getting the first score courtesy of a Liverpool own goal and then earning its second score by a shot on goal. Liverpool managed to tag along by scoring their first goal before the first half ended. Liverpool started the second half with an equalizer by Steven Gerrard. But West Ham United immediately got the lead again by shooting another goal making the score 3-2. As the second half comes to a close and while West Ham United fans were already celebrating their imminent victory, the miracle of the match happened. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard suddenly scored a goal equalizing the score to 3-3 as the clock marked exactly 90 minutes with an added 1 minute injury time - just a whistle away to full time. A 30 minute extra-time was played still resulting to a 3-3 standstill. The rest is already history. Liverpool lifted the FA Cup after defeating West Ham United in a sudden death penalty shoot out.

This FA Cup finals had shown that England is already warming up for the World Cup next month. BBC has recorded a peak of 11 million viewers who watched the FA Cup finals on BBC. According to BBC these figures are only for viewers who watched the match at home, and do not include those who saw it in pubs or clubs or from other channels. I wonder how many in the Philippines were able to watch the match? Perhaps a thousand, I wish.

Sports and Hobbies

As the anticipation and preparations for World Cup 2006 goes fever pitch, football fans around the world are now preparing their list of teams to root for and players to watch. Here’s mine:

My teams: (The usual favorites. Most likely to reach the semi-finals and finals)

Brazil
Germany
Argentina
Italy
England

But of course, I will still be cheering for:

Japan
Korea
Australia - With Guus Hinddink as Coach, Australia is a team to reckon.

My list of players to watch (A partial list of mostly my favorite old stars. Although this year’s World Cup will set the stage for the debut of a new generation of promising players.):

1. Ronaldinho (Bra)
2. Ronaldo (Bra)
3. Robinho (Bra)
4. Adriano (Bra)
5. Oliver Khan (Ger)
6. Michael Ballack (Ger)
8. Hernan Crespo (Arg)
9. Javier Saviola (Arg)
10. David Beckham (Eng)
11. Michael Owen (Eng)
12. Francesco Totti (Ita)
13. Gianluca Zambrotta (Ita)

PS: I would like to drumbeat the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2006 by dedicating my sidebar for news and updates about events and happenings leading to Germany. All news are RSS feeds from the news and features content of the official FIFA World Cup website. Read the news and updates and feel the heat rising as the World Cup 2006 drama unfolds.

Sports and Hobbies