By Nathan Jackson
June 11 2010

The World Cup starts this afternoon with each club aiming to win the 19th tournament. England will of course be hoping for their first win since 1966, whereas reigning Champs Italy will hope to join Brazil on five wins.

I love to the World Cup, it is deservedly known as the best footballing showcase in the world. For 30 or so days we will see brilliance, flair and all the skill that those in League Two could only dream of.

The first game will be South Africa vs Mexico later this afternoon, and to get you in the mood we will give you some lovely World Cup facts.

FACTS

The World Cup's all time leading goalscorer is Brazil's Ronaldo, who broke the record during the last World Cup. He won a winner's medal in 1994 without playing a single minute of football.

Russia's Oleg Salenko has the record amount of goals in one match, scoring 5 against Cameroon in 1994. Ironically that day also saw Roger Milla set the record for the oldest player to have ever played in a tournament.

South America and Europe are the only continents to have winning countries. Italy, Germany, France and England from Europe, Brazil, Argentina and Uraguay from South America.

Brazil have the most World Cup wins with 5, Italy are second with four. Brazil are also the only country to have appeared in every single World Cup.

France famously became the first winners to fail to score at the next tournament. After winning in 1998, they failed to find the net in 2002.

Italy have reached the final every twelve years since 1970. They won it in 1982 and 2006, but lost out on penalties in 1994.

Germany have been in the semi finals more than any other team, making an appearance in the final four on 11 occasions, one more than Brazil.

England hold the record for the most eliminations via penalty shoot out.

Scotland have the record for the most eliminations from the group stage.

Holland and Germany are the only sides to appear in two consecutive finals without winning either. Holland lost to Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. Germany followed this with final defeats in 1982 and 1986.

Indonesia have the fewest matches in a World Cup, with just 1 game. They are not the only team who have failed to score though. Canada, China PR, Greece, Trinidad and Tobago and Zaire have all failed to score a single goal in a world cup.

The famous Hungarian side of the 1950s and 60s have scored an average of 2.72 goals a game in the World Cup, they couldn't even dream of that these days. In 1954 they scored a magnificent 27 goals.

Denmark and Ireland are the only teams in World Cup history to have never failed to qualify from the group stage.

Switzerland's 2006 squad is the only team in World Cup history to go through an entire campaign without conceding.

With just 11 goals scored, England's win in 1966 is the joint lowest scoring tally by the winners, along with Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1994.

Lothar Matthaus of Germany and Antonio Carbajal of Mexico both competed in five tournaments, the record. Pele holds the record for the most wins by an individual player, winning 1958, 1962 and 1970. Some members of the Brazil squad could potentially equal that this year.

In 1975 Austria created World Cup history by coming from 3-0 down against Switzerland to win 7-5, the largest deficit overcome into a win. It was equaled in 1966 by a Portugal side who were 3-0 down against Korea DPR and won 5-3.

Holland's Ernie Brandts became the only player to score for both teams when he scored at both ends against Italy in 1978.

Peter Shilton and Fabian Barthez have the joint record for most consecutive World Cup clean sheets, both standing at 10.

It starts today, come on England

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 11/06/2010 09:26

theimps.ka
11/06/2010 09:26

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londonimp
11/06/2010 10:26

South Africa are playing Mexico today

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