The 2002 World Cup

This is my World Cup op and I am here to tell you about it. So just in case you don‘t know...

What is the World Cup?
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The World Cup is held every four years with 32 contenders. It all starts from two years before the actual World Cup, (called the World Cup finals) with the qualifying. It depends how well the many more than 32 contenders do in qualifying to who will compete. For just over 2 weeks from the start of the finals there is what is called the 'group stages'. The 32 contenders are split into 8 groups of 4, and everyone in the groups plays everybody else in that same group. A total of 3 matches are played by each team in the group stages. The top 2 teams of each group go through to the knock out stages. How do they do this?

They get to the top of their group by getting points. 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a lose. If 2 teams have the same amount of points their position will be decided by the highest goal difference: the number of gaols scored minus the number conceded (scored against). If this too is the same, the team that has scored the most goals is placed higher. In the knockout, lets say 'the winner of group H versus the runner up of group C', whoever loses goes out of the tournament. Round 16, the quarter finals, the semi finals, third place play off, and final, are all knockouts. So what happens if it is a draw at full time? You play ‘Golden Goal‘ time which is up to 15 minutes each way but if anyone scores in that time the match ends and they are the winner. If there are no goals then they go into penalties.

The History of FIFA
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The first ever world cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay in which 13 nations took part. The first ever game in the World Cup was the opening match between France and Mexico in Montevideo. 2 weeks after this match of a new football era, was the final between rivals Argentina and Uruguay. Uruguay triumphed 4 -2 and were crowned the worlds first FIFA football champions.

So who has won the World Cup?
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Well, the following teams have won before and including 1970.
Italy (twice). England (once). Germany (once). Brazil (3 times). Uruguay (twice).
The following teams have won after and including 1974, when the cup changed.
France (once). Italy (once). Germany (twice). Argentina (twice). Brazil (once).

Who qualified this year and what is their ranking?
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From Europe...
France (1), Portugal (4), Italy (6), Spain (7), England (10), Germany (12), Sweden (17), Ireland (19), Denmark (19), Croatia (21), Belgium (22), Russia (23), Turkey (25), Slovenia (27), and Poland (36).
From Asia...
Saudi Arabia (34), Japan (38), Korea (41), and China (53).
From North and Central America, and the Caribbean...
Mexico (8), USA (13), and Costa Rica (26).
From Africa...
Cameroon (18), Tunisia (29), Nigeria (31), South Africa (33), and Senegal (45).
From South America...
Argentina (2), Brazil (3), Paraguay (14), Uruguay (22), and Ecuador (37).

(You may notice that there is no rating 5 amongst others. But this is because not all he countries are competing this year. Over 50 countries have competed in FIFA before.)

Of course this is just FIFA's rating. But, it is not brilliant - for example Senegal (rated 45) beat France (rated 1)!

The host nations - what do they have to live up to?
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Well, in the world cup, no host nation has every failed to get into the second stage so that is a challenge to keep up the history. Secondly, 7/10 of host nations win the World Cup the year that they host.

What are the venues this year?