Eleven National teams that played in the World Cup that you did not remember

The Qatar World Cup is undoubtedly the greatest football event of this 2022. The best national team tournament will once again bring together the great stars of the moment with the particularity that this edition must be held for the first time in autumn, due to the weather conditions of the small country on the Persian Gulf.

Precisely Qatar, the host, will be the only rookie team in the 22nd edition of the Soccer World Cup. Will it be their first and only participation? That is why we took the opportunity to rescue eleven teams that had a fleeting passage through the World Cup and that you surely did not remember.

1938

Cuba

The Cuban team played in the 1938 World Cup, in France. Their classification was due to the demerits of their rivals, since all the teams they had to face in the previous one withdrew. First Colombia and El Salvador, and in the next phase, Costa Rica and Dutch Guyana (now Suriname). His participation in France-1938 was directly in a 3-3 draw against Romania, so he had to play a tiebreaker five days later that ended 2-1 for the Romanian team.

2

1938

Netherlands East Indies (present-day Indonesia)

Indonesian soccer, which has sadly been in the news in recent weeks due to the tragedy in a stadium on the island of Java, can boast of having played a soccer World Cup. Under the name of the Dutch East Indies (since at that time it was a colony of the Netherlands). It was the first team from Asia to play in the World Cup since during the qualifying phase, they also saw their rivals withdraw. First they had to face Japan, which, when the Japanese went to war with China, withdrew from the previous phase. FIFA organized a play-off against the United States to be played in the Netherlands, but the Americans refused to participate. The Dutch East Indies team made its debut in the round of 16, conceding a humiliating 6-0 defeat to Hungary, which would remain runners-up in the tournament.

3

1970

Israel

Perhaps more than one will be surprised by the inclusion of the Israel team here, but the truth is that the Hebrew team has only participated in one World Cup and 42 years have passed since then. It is common to see the Israeli team playing qualifying rounds for European and World Cups, but before being accepted by FIFA, Israel was expelled from the Asian Confederation due to its conflict with its Arab neighbors, so it had to participate in the qualifying round Oceanian. This was how they managed to access their first and only World Cup: Mexico-1970. After beating New Zealand and Australia in the previous one, they played a worthy role on Mexican soil: draws against Italy (0-0) and Sweden (1-1) and defeat against Uruguay (2-0).

4

1974

Haiti

The Haitian team is another of the great forgotten in the history of the soccer World Cups. They qualified for Germany-74 as the best Central American team after beating Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and the Netherlands Antilles. Once in the big tournament, they had to suffer severe defeats against the best Poland in history (7-0), Argentina (4-1) and Italy (3-1).

5

1974

Zaire (now DR Congo)

The Zaire team (initial name of the current Democratic Republic of the Congo) was the great exotic note of the World Cup in Germany-74 as it was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to reach the World Cup, since in the phase of qualification lowered Togo, Cameroon, Ghana, Zambia and Morocco. Once on German soil, Zaire lost 0-2 to Scotland and 9-0 to Yugoslavia. But without a doubt, the memory of their time in the World Cup was given in the third and last game against the current champion Brazil. With a foul against, a Zaire player who was on the wall, ran up and kicked the ball with all his might while everyone was stunned. Years later it was learned that those players were threatened with death by the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko if they lost by more than three goals against the 'canarinha'. When Mwepu Ilinga starred in the unusual situation, the score was already 3-0, and who knows if with such a distraction, that's how he saved the lives of his teammates.

6

1982

Kuwait

Kuwait is the protagonist of another of the famous anecdotes in the history of the World Cups. The Kuwaiti team reached the Spain-82 event after eliminating South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, China and Saudi Arabia in the previous one. Already in the World Cup, he debuted against Czechoslovakia with a decent 1-1, but against France it was no longer the same. The Gauls led 3-1 in the 80th minute when Giresse scored France's fourth goal. The Kuwaiti players protested and claimed that a whistle in the stands misled them and blamed the conceded goal for that. The protests were such that a sheikh, brother of the Emir of Kuwait, even came down to the field of play, who managed to re-arbitrate the match by threatening to withdraw the team, and forcing them to cancel the goal. Despite this, France would end up winning 4-1. On the last day England won 1-0 and Kuwait had to pack up for home.

7

1986

Iraq

After seeing Iraq in the news for many years, first because of the Gulf War and then because of the US invasion and its allies, it is hard to imagine the team from the Persian Gulf in a soccer World Cup. But that's what happened in 1986. After beating Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Syria in the Asian qualifying phase, Iraq reached the Mexico-1970 event to concede a full defeat: 1-0 against Paraguay, 1-2 against Belgium and 0-1 against Mexico.

8

1990

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates team reached the World Cup in Italy-90 after beating Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia and North Korea in the qualifying phase. Once in the World Cup, their passage was more than fleeting after losing 0-2 against Colombia, 5-1 against West Germany and 4-1 against Yugoslavia.

9

1998

Jamaica

Jamaica was the Caribbean team at the World Cup in France-98. The 'reggae boys' achieved their World Cup dream after beating Barbados, Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Canada in the qualifying phase. In France they were drawn with Argentina and Croatia (they lost 5-0 and 1-3, respectively), but they managed to beat Japan 1-2, which allowed them to finish in third position in Group H.

10

2006

Trinidad and Tobago

The team of Trinidad and Tobago has been the last representative that the Caribbean has had in a soccer World Cup. It was in Germany-2006, an appointment they reached after defeating the Dominican Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guatemala and Panama in the qualifying phase. At the World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago made a promising debut by drawing 0-0 against Sweden, but then lost 2-0 to England and Paraguay.

11

2006

Angola

The Angola team 'snuck' into the 2006 World Cup in Germany after giving surprise in the African qualifying phase for the World Cup, as it had been framed with Nigeria and Algeria, theoretically superior. The former Portuguese colony got off both (in addition to Chad, Zimbabwe, Gabon and Rwanda), which earned it the ticket to Germany. In the World Cup they conceded a 0-1 defeat in their debut against Portugal, but then drew against Mexico (0-0) and Iran (1-1). If they had achieved victory in this last game, they would have qualified for the round of 16

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In 22 editions

A total of 79 participants

22 participations: Brazil
​20: Germany
​18: Argentina and Italy
​16: France, England and Spain
​14: Uruguay and Belgium
​13: Serbia
​12: Sweden and Switzerland
​​11: The Netherlands, the United States, South Korea and Russia
9: Hungary, Czech Republic, Chile and Poland
8: Paraguay, Scotland and Cameroon
7: Austria, Romania, Bulgaria and Japan
​6: Colombia, Nigeria, Croatia, Denmark, Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran and Australia
​5: Peru
4: Algeria, Ghana and Ecuador
​3: Republic of Ireland, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Norway, Greece, Honduras, Egypt, Bolivia and Senegal
2: Turkey, Slovenia, North Korea, New Zealand, El Salvador, Wales and Canada
1: Ukraine, Slovakia, Cuba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jamaica, Angola, Israel, Iceland, Kuwait, Trinidad and Tobago, Iraq, Togo, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), Panama, United Arab Emirates, China, Haiti, and Zaire ( DR Congo)
​Rookie: Qatar

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