1930- Uruguay
1934- Italy
1938- Italy
1950- Uruguay
1954- West Germany
1958- Brazil
1962- Brazil
1966- England
1970- Brazil
1974- West Germany
1978- Argentina
1982- Italy
1986- Argentina
1990- West Germany
1994- Brazil
1998- France
2002- Brazil
2006- Italy
The Jules Rimet Trophy was the original trophy awarded to the winner of the World Cup tournament. Jules Rimet was the President of soccer’s governing body, FIFA from 1921- 1954. That’s the figure of Nike on there, and the Cup is where we get the name of the tournament. During WWII, the trophy was being held by Italy, the 1938 winners. The vice-president of FIFA was worried the Nazis would take this trophy, so he took it back and hid it under his bed. In 1966, the trophy was again stolen, this time in England. It was recovered shortly afterward by a dog named pickles. Jules Rimet had stipulated that if a country were to win the tournament three times, they would get to keep the trophy outright. This happened in 1970 when Brazil worn the tournament for the third time. In 1983, the trophy was stolen in Brazil and has never been recovered.
The second trophy, below has been used from 1974 through the present. The trophy is currently being held by Italy, the 2006 winners. These two trophies are without a doubt the most coveted trophies in the world.
In 1930, Uruguay was the first nation to host the World Cup. There were given this honor as they were winners of the two previous Olympic Football gold medals.
Believe it or not, the USA not only played in the first World Cup, but one of the first two teams (they played simultaneously) to win a World Cup match. France was the other. Below is the jersey the boys will be wearing this year.
In 1950, the US defeated England 1-0 in Brazil at the World Cup. This game is often referred to as “The Miracle on Grass” and remains one of the biggest upset victories in the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) World Cup history. The US jerseys this year are based on the jerseys that the US wore in 1950. See Below for the 1950 USMNT
Below are some of the tournaments record holders.
Pele-
Most World Cup Championships (3): Youngest Goal Scorer- 17 years and 239 days: Youngest Hat Trick Scorer: Most Tournaments with at least 1 goal (4): Longest period between first and last World Cup Goal (12 years)
Cafu- Most matches won (16)
Diego Maradona- Most matches played as a captain (16)
Ronaldo- Most Goals Scored (15)
Just Fontaine- Most Goals in a single tournament- by the way, there were only six games (13): Most Consecutive matches with a goal, tie (6): Most matches with at least two goals, tie (4):
Sandor Kocsis- Most consecutive matches with at least two goals: Most hat tricks:
Fabien Barthez- Most shutouts, tie (10)
Peter Shilton- Most shutouts, tie (10)
Helmut Schon- Most Matches won as a coach (16)
Mario Zagallo- Most Finals appearances as a player and a coach (5)
Joel Quiniou- Most matches refereed
World Cup Victors:
| Men | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
Score
|
Location |
| 1930 | Uruguay | Argentina |
4 – 2
|
Montevideo, Uruguay |
| 1934 | Italy | Czechoslovakia |
2 – 1
|
Rome, Italy |
| 1938 | Italy | Hungary |
4 – 2
|
Paris, France |
| 1950 | Uruguay | Brazil |
2 – 1
|
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 1954 | West Germany | Hungary |
3 – 2
|
Bern, Switzerland |
| 1958 | Brazil | Sweden |
5 – 2
|
Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1962 | Brazil | Czechoslovakia |
3 – 1
|
Santiago, Chile |
| 1966 | England | West Germany |
4 – 2
|
London, England |
| 1970 | Brazil | Italy |
4 – 1
|
Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1974 | West Germany | Netherlands |
2 – 1
|
Munich, Germany |
| 1978 | Argentina | Netherlands |
3 – 1
|
Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| 1982 | Italy | West Germany |
3 – 1
|
Madrid, Spain |
| 1986 | Argentina | West Germany |
3 – 2
|
Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1990 | West Germany | Argentina |
1 – 0
|
Rome, Italy |
| 1994 | Brazil | Italy |
0 – 0
|
Pasadena, California |
| 1998 | France | Brazil |
3 – 0
|
Saint-Denis, France |
| 2002 | Brazil | Germany |
2 – 0
|
Korea / Japan |
| 2006 | Italy | France |
5 – 3
|
Germany |
Estadio Centenario, Uruguay- Host of First World Cup Final
Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg: Site of opening match and final match- 2010 World Cup
Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town: Awesomest Stadium
The World Cup consists of two stages. The first stage is referred to as the group stage. In this stage, each team plays against the other three teams in their group. The groups are below.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
 South Africa |
 Argentina |
 England |
 Germany |
 Mexico |
 Nigeria |
 United States |
 Australia |
 Uruguay |
 Korea Republic |
 Algeria |
 Serbia |
 France |
 Greece |
 Slovenia |
 Ghana |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands |
 Italy |
 Brazil |
 Spain |
 Denmark |
 Paraguay |
 Korea DPR |
 Switzerland |
 Japan |
 New Zealand |
 Côte d’Ivoire |
 Honduras |
 Cameroon |
 Slovakia |
 Portugal |
 Chile |
As you can see in the Groups above, the World Cup matches nations against nations who would never compete against each other at everything. Where else will you see Japan facing off against Cameroon, Serbia facing off against Ghana, North Korea facing off against Argentina? And for most of the world, these matches are the most important sporting events of the year. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group continue into a single elimination bracketed playoff style stage- called the elimination stage or the knockout stage.
As the tournament progresses, we will see the world’s drama unfold. South Africa is the first African host nation for the World Cup. They are playing Mexico right. Best of luck to the Bafana Bafana. Beat El Tri!
The best sporting event in the world has begun!
Tonight, I was able to attend a running clinic in the Cambridge Common led by Barefoot Ken Bob. Check out his website here.
Despite some cool weather and rain, a good crowd was in attendance.
He went over the theory and practice of barefoot running. About twenty minutes into the discussion, he noticed a man walk up and introduced him as Dan Lieberman.
Barefoot Ken Bob is in purple and Lieberman is in red.
Dan is publishing some interesting research on the physics behind forefoot striking versus heel striking out of Harvard University. He talked to us about the physics behind heel striking and forefoot striking. Eventually, we all went for a short run.
Professor Lieberman’s research is really interesting- below are a couple of videos from his lab.
Here is a runner landing barefoot with a heel strike.
Here is a runner landing barefoot with a forefoot strike.
Professor Lieberman is probably the world’s leading researcher on barefoot running. It was great to get to talk to him about my calf strains, running in Kenya and his journey to becoming a barefooter.
