World Cup history

I was doing a little research on the World Cup and found http://www.worldcup-history.com/ Hey that sounds cool - then when i clicked on the link i got this:

We've been shut down due to HEAVY traffic!
We will try to get the page online again as soon as possible. bummer.

But this site is working well. Leave it to the Brits. The British have a passion for soccer that is... well, lets just say that you'll never catch me in the stands at an English soccer match :-)

And I was wrong (write it down, it doesn't happen very often) when I said that the USA is getting involved in the World Cup kinda "late in the game". It turns out that the Inaugural Cup was in 1930, and it involved 13 countries including the USA. The USA went 40 yrs without appearing. (We made it in 1950 and did not reach the World Cup again until 1990). The original "Team USA" won their group but was defeated by Argentina in the semi-finals. The first World Cup had only 3 "rounds" of play: Group, Semi-finals and the Championship game. This year's Cup has had 5 "rounds" of play: Groups (A-H, 32 teams), the "Round of 16", the Quarter Finals, the Semi Finals and the Final round with the two games which determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th places.

A quick history with the winners and the hosts. 1930:Uruguay, 1934:Italy, 1938:Italy France (starting in 1938 the title defender & the host country qualified automatically - this privilege has continued to the present) 1950:Uruguay Brazil, 1954:West Germany Switzerland (this year saw the record for number of goals scored in a World Cup game [12] with Austria over Switzerland 7-5 in the quarterfinals), 1958:Brazil Sweden (the first Cup of Pele - age 17), 1962:Brazil Chile, 1966:England (the English striker remains the only man to score 3 goals in a World Cup final), 1970:Brazil Mexico (Pele's final Cup appearance), 1974:West Germany, 1978:Argentina, 1982:Italy Spain, 1986:Argentina Mexico (Maradona & the infamous 'Hand of God' goal), 1990:West Germany Italy (arguably the worst World Cup final ever), 1994:Brazil USA, 1998:France, 2002:Brazil South Korea/Japan.

As you may have noticied, the World Cup fell victim to world politics in 1942 and 1946. Thankfully, it has continued uninterrupted since that time.

France & Italy have played against each other several times but they have never before met in a World Cup final. This year Italy defeated host Germany and France defeated title defender Brazil.

If I had my way at this point, this year's Cup would shake down as Italy 1st, France 2nd, Germany 3rd, Portugal 4th. I really don't like the lack of sportmanship that Portugal has shown this tournament. (more later)