21 FIFA World Cup - Russia 2018

Russia 2018 - It is FIFA World Cup time once again!



By - Lt Col D Purushothaman Pillay (Retd)




Come On B-R-A-Z-I-L !!! B-R-A-Z-I-L !!!



The ball gets rolling for the latest chapter of the "Greatest Show On Earth" the much-awaited 21st edition of this quadrennial global carnival - FIFA World Cup Finals, in the historic city of Moscow, today evening on this 14th day of June 2018.


I am sharing a quick summary of some interesting facts that I have compiled for myself, from my inquisitive Aquarian perspective to understand the subtleties and fathom the major statistics in order to help enjoy the event better. A total of 211 national teams were involved in a protracted two-year-long qualification process to finally send 32 teams to Russia. Aside of Russia who auto-qualify as the hosts, Brazil was the first team to qualify in Mar 2017 and Peru the last team in Nov 2017. Further breaking down the teams according the football continental zones there are a total of 14 European ( 1. Russia (Hosts), 2. Germany, 3. Belgium, 4. Portugal, 5. Spain, 6. France, 7. England, 8. Sweden, 9. Denmark, 10. Switzerland, 11. Serbia, 12. Croatia, 13. Poland & 14. Iceland ) , 5 South American ( 1. Brazil, 2. Argentina, 3. Uruguay, 4. Colombia & 5. Peru ) , 5 African ( 1. Nigeria, 2. Senegal, 3. Egypt, 4. Morocco & 5. Tunisia ), 4 Asian ( 1. South Korea, 2. Japan, 3. Iran & 4. Saudi Arabia ), 3 Central American ( 1. Mexico, 2. Costa Rica & 3. Panama ) and 1 Oceanic ( Australia ) national teams in this total of 32.


Just for the record 9 out of the top 10 national teams with the exception of only Chile, have made it to this World Cup. When we include the top 20, we see that 16 out of the 20 have made it to Russia. Sadly exciting teams like the Netherlands(17), Italy(19) and Wales(18) from the top 20 could not qualify. Other popular teams like Cameroon and Ivory Coast missed the bus from Africa, Ireland, Greece, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, Scotland from Europe, besides Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia from South America. Turkey, USA, and New Zealand were some of the other notable teams who sadly had to miss out this time. The highest ranked team Germany is ranked 1 and the lowest ranked team Russia is ranked 70. Iceland and Panama are two new teams who are making their World Cup debuts in the current edition.


The FIFA World Cup is 88 years old now. The first World Cup with 13 invited teams was held in 1930 in Uruguay, which incidentally was won by the hosts themselves. Subsequent expansion and remodeling of the qualification formats settled on sending 32 national teams to the World Cup finals, from France - 1998 onwards. (Just a quick update, this number is set to change to 48 teams from the 2026 World Cup.) The 32 teams in the current World Cup are further divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each who will play each other in a round robin, which will decide on the top two teams, who will then proceed to the knock-out round of 16. Another interesting bit of trivia, Brazil is the only team to have featured in each and every of the 21 World Cup finals held thus far. Till date, a total of only 81 national teams have made at least one appearance in a FIFA World Cup finals.


Statistically speaking, Germany in their 19 appearances have played the maximum number of World Cup games totaling 106 and also scored the maximum of 224 goals so far. They are closely followed by the eternal favorites Brazil who have played 104 games in their 20 appearances thus far, scoring a total of 221 goals in those games. In terms of wins, Brazil has 70 wins as against 66 by Germany, even on the points earned Brazil has the edge 227-218 over Germany. To put things in better perspective and show how these two top teams are head and shoulders above the rest, let us examine the numbers for the third and fourth placed teams in this list, which includes Italy in the third place, having played 83 winning only 45 games after scoring 128 goals in their 18 appearances in finals, followed by Argentina in the fourth place having played 77 winning 42 games scoring 131 goals in their 17 appearances.


In the 88 year history of FIFA World Cups, the 20 editions of this competition have thrown up only 8 different winners. 5 of these 8 countries have won it more than one time and 3 have won it only a single time. Leading the winners is Brazil with 5 wins followed by Germany and Italy 4 times each, Uruguay and Argentina have won this competition 2 times each. England, France, and Spain are the countries that have won only 1 time each. This competition has been dominated by the European and Latin American teams, no Asian or African team has ever won this cup. In the continental stakes, it was won 11 times by European teams and 9 times by South American teams.



The 20 Winners so far.
Football fever is on overdrive right now, be it in the print, social or broadcast media. We see reports of frenzied football fans waving national flags, chanting and singing on the streets all around the world. The wonder of this simple game and this particular event is that it is a great unifier. Each and every single football enthusiast on the planet irrespective of their country of origin, have one team that they root for and want to win. No wonder then that this event has such a global impact in terms of ardent viewership and fanatic fan-following. All business grinds to a halt the streets remain deserted when the favorite teams are playing. Each world cup has its own defining moments for what it will be remembered for in later years, like for instance the Maradona 'Hand Of God" goal from the 86 cup, the many Schillaci goals for Italy in the 90 cup, the Ronaldo seizure before the 98 final and the Zinedine Zidane head-butting incident from the 2006 cup, to name a few.


Personally, I have been a loyal fan of the Selecao or the Brazilian National Team, ever since I started following these cups from 36 years ago in 1982 when Italy won the cup in Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid defeating Germany 3-1. The other world cups I have since been following have the following winners in Argentina (in Mexico)-86, Germany (in Italy)-90, Brazil (in the USA)-94, France (in France)-98, Brazil (in Japan)-2002, Italy (in Germany)-06, Spain (in South Africa)-10 and Germany (in Brazil)-14.


Looking forward to fair and hard-fought competitive games with some skillful exhibition of exciting soccer, the birth of new superstars, new histories and many memorable moments in the coming 32 days. The apt inaugural clash of the minnows on the 14th of June 2018 is between Russia (the host and the lowest ranked team at 70) and Saudi Arabia (second-lowest ranked team at 67) and will culminate in the 15th of July 2018 summit clash, which will be between the two best teams of the soccer World currently. A total of 11 spruced up cities and 12 modern stadiums in President Putin's refurbished Russia, will be hosting the 64 games that will be played in this World Cup.



All the best to all the teams. As always I will be cheering for my Brazilian team. Come on Brazil! May the best team win!!.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
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