France wearing green? Argentina in bright yellow? How about Mexico wearing blue and white stripes? In World Cup kit history, there have been five instances of club kits being worn by national teams, often due to bizarre circumstances.
We are going to go on record here and say that democracy is, generally, a good thing. Voting for leaders, holding them accountable with a free press and repeating the process is probably the most effective way to run a government. But when it comes to deciding the greatest World Cup goal of all time, voting might not be the best method.
Due to the dawning of the internet, increased globalization and the heavy concentration of players plying their trade in European club football, there are hardly any unknown quantities at the World Cup now. Years back, nations like Panama, Iceland and Peru would’ve left opposing managers scrambling for information, but in 2018, that’s hardly the case.
Morocco isn’t pulling any punches in its fifth bid to host a World Cup. Competing against the U.S., Mexico and Canada for the right to host the 2026 event, the Morocco World Cup bid is telling FIFA to consider the poor safety record of the U.S. and Mexico, particularly when it comes to murder rate and gun circulation.
For anyone who paid the slightest bit of attention to Argentina throughout the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying cycle, Spain’s resounding 6-1 defeat of La Albiceleste comes as no surprise. Without Messi, Argentina has zero business being at this World Cup. The statistics, again, bear repeating:
Without Messi, Argentina played eight matches in qualifying. They won one. They scored 0.75 goals per game. They lost to Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia. They drew with Venezuela. Tata Martino was sacked and so was his successor, Edgardo Bauza.
The World Cup is drawing closer and closer (79 days!). With that in mind, we have devoted ourselves to a sociological effort: defining the different kinds of World Cup fans out there.
These fans are outright obnoxious.
Not many countries can honestly say they are serious candidates to win the World Cup. Fans from countries with an actual chance of winning the trophy exude confidence and often, arrogance. The only consolation the rest of us have is watching one of these nations fail.
Historically speaking, things look pretty bleak for the five South American nations set to compete in Russia this summer. Over the history of the World Cup, the event has taken place in Europe 10 times. Collectively, if you break those tournaments down by how things finished, European nations have accounted for 34 of the 40 top four finishes (85%), leaving South America with only six success stories:
Since the turn of the 21st century, it’s happened without fail: every World Cup, three nations that began the tournament ranked in FIFA’s top 20 have been unceremoniously dumped from the competition at the group stage. In fact, in two of the four World Cups this century, three of the world’s top 10 ranked sides have capitulated before the knockout rounds.
Here’s a rundown of the three highest ranked sides to fall at the first hurdle in the last four tournaments:
2002
The most wonderful thing about the World Cup is that it’s a carnival. Not in the modern “Oh, this is a great opportunity to get Instagram photos and pretend I’m a famous person” sense of the word, but more like the medieval “Let’s reverse all our social roles, suspend our norms about desired behavior, lose our everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity while pouring libations” understanding.