INTRODUCTION:
I studied drawing at school for many years, but I didn’t like it very much. My favorite subject in school was Olympic sports. I remember when I was a kid and played soccer with my friends. My best memory was when El Salvador, a small Central American country, qualified for the 1982 World Cup. I did not think that “ES” defeated Mexico, sixth place at the FIFA World Championship in 1970.
Between 1978 and 1989, El Salvador experienced one of the worst civil wars in the modern history of Latin America, unfortunately more than 70,000 people were killed by anti-communist dictatorships and Marxist rebels.
Certainly, he was a huge fan of Salvadoran soccer. I once said: “ES will win the World Cup (El Salvador will win the 1982 FIFA World Cup …!). However, the only thing I remember clearly is that Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in the World Cup. from Spain … Goodbye IS …!
Like many people, I believe that soccer has been a “passion” in the world since 1910. When Cameroon, a former French colony in Africa, won its first gold medal at the XXVII Summer Olympics in Australia (2000) … Yaoundè, the capital city of Cameroon, was carnival for days. Cameroon was the second African country to win the gold Olympiad …
Unfortunately, Liberia was the Third World’s nightmare … From 1980 to 2005, more than 180,000 people were killed by dictatorships and AIDS … Today, poverty is a plague … Their per capita income of $ 80 a year It is one of the worst in world history. Hundreds of thousands of Liberians fled the country. Like neighboring Sierra Leone, the African country has one of the highest numbers of orphans in Africa relative to its population.
Fortunately, Liberia is home to George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah, one of the most famous and charismatic players in the world. In 1995, FIFA selected George Weah as the best footballer of the year. He certainly became a “world star” in the 1990s. As did Iman (former supermodel from Somalia) and Dikembe Mutombo (basketball player from the Democratic Republic of Congo). ), George Weah is an icon on the African continent. Since then, he has made a great contribution to the human development of Liberia. George Weah is currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
He was captain of the national team for many years, but his country did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Ironically, Liberia was not one of the best teams in Africa in the 20th century.
In 1994, Bolivia’s qualification for the finals was one of the surprises in Third World sport. Under the leadership of Marco Etcheverry, Bolivia beat Brazil 2-0 in the Pre-World Cup in La Paz, capital of Bolivia. I remember that Etcheverry, better known by his nickname “El Diablo”, was the idol of millions of Bolivians. It was one of the greatest sporting moments in Bolivian history since 1978. At that time, Bolivia, under the leadership of Guadalupe Yáñez, qualified for the FIBA Women’s World Championship in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
In my opinion, the FIFA World Championship is a world without borders. Ferenc Puskas, born in April 1926 in Budapest, Hungary, debuted in the friendly against Austria when he was only fifteen years old … In the last century, Puskas represented both Hungary, a former communist state, and Spain. At that time, Santamaría was playing for Uruguay and Spain. Traditionally American players have Latin American and African roots: Hugo Pérez (El Salvador), Tab Ramos (Uruguay), Claudio Reyna (Argentina), Josmer Altidore (Haiti) and Freddy Addu (Ghana).
Today Gerald Asamoah, born in Accra (Ghana), is one of the best footballers in Germany right now. While Alex (Alessandro) Santos, born in Brazil, is a Japanese player.
Personally, I believe that this century will be an era of “sports miracles” in the Third World. Ivory Coast, better known as Ivory Coast, qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup … Angola made their debut in Germany … Trinidad-Tobago made their World Cup debut … Paraguay won the silver medal in soccer at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
CHRONOLOGY:
1930: FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, one of the most developed countries in the 1930s. The final ranking: 1-Uruguay, 2-Argentina, 3-Yugoslavia, 4-United States, 5- Chile, 6- Brazil, 7-France, 8-Paraguay, 9-Romania, 10-Peru, 11-Belgium, 12-Bolivia, 13-Mexico.
1934: World Cup in Rome. Uruguay did not participate. The final classification: 1-Italy, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Argentina, France, Holland, Brazil, Egypt, Belgium and the United States.
1938: World Cup in France The final classification: 1-Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Cuba, France, Romania, Germany, Norway, Poland, Belgium, Holland, Dutch Indies.
1950: FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In Rio, the host lost the final 2-1 to Uruguay. Brazil was the big favorite … Uruguay had their second World Cup!
1954: World Cup in Switzerland. Final classification: 1-West Germany, Hungary, Austria, Uruguay, Switzerland, Brazil, England, Yugoslavia, France, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Mexico, Czechoslovakia, Scotland, Korea.
1958: World Cup in Sweden … The final classification: 1-Brazil, Sweden, France, West Germany, Wales, USSR, Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, England, Paraguay,
Argentina, Scotland, Austria and Mexico.
1962: World Cup in Santiago de Chile … Certainly, the people of Brazil produce the best coffee in the world, but also the best football … The final classification: 1-Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Chile, Yugoslavia, Hungary, West Germany, USSR, England, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Colombia, Bulgaria and Switzerland.
1966: World Cup in London, United Kingdom … The final classification: 1-England,
West Germany, Portugal, USSR, Argentina, Hungary, Uruguay, North Korea, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil …
1970: Brazil won the FIFA World Cup on June 27 in Mexico City. The final classification: Brazil, Italy, West Germany, Uruguay, USSR, Mexico, Peru, England, Sweden, Belgium, Romania, Israel, Bulgaria, Morocco, Czechoslovakia and ES.
1974: World Cup in West Germany … After Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, qualified for the FIFA World Championship, Mobutu Sésé Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa zan Banga, the tyrannical president of the African country, declared a legal holiday . ….. Haitian footballers sometimes use the “Creole” language during matches to confuse their rivals … Brazil and Germany were the obvious favorites. The final classification: 1-West Germany, Holland, Poland, Brazil, Sweden, Argentina, East Germany, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Italy, Scotland, Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Haiti and Zaire.
1978: World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The final classification: 1-Argentina, Holland, Brazil, Italy, West Germany, Poland, Austria, Peru, Tunisia, Spain, Scotland, France, Sweden, Iran, Hungary and Mexico.
1982: For the first time, there were 24 teams. FIFA World Cup in Spain. Italy won the trophy. The final classification: 1-Italy, West Germany, Poland, France, Brazil, England, USSR, Austria, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Argentina, Spain, Algeria, Hungary. Scotland, Yugoslavia, Cameroon, Honduras, Czechoslovakia, Peru, Kuwait, Chile, New Zealand, ES.
1986: World Cup in Mexico. The final classification: 1-Argentina, West Germany, France, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, England, Denmark, USSR, Morocco, Italy, Paraguay, Poland, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Portugal, Hungary, Scotland, South Korea, Ireland of the North, Algeria, Iraq and Canada.
1990: World Cup in Italy. Final Ranking: 1-West Germany, Argentina, Italy, England, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, Cameroon, Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium, Spain, Romania, Colombia, Uruguay, CR, Egypt, Austria, Scotland, USSR, Sweden, Korea the South, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
1994: World Cup in the United States. The final classification: 1-Brazil, Italy, Sweden, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Netherlands, Spain, Nigeria, Argentina, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, United States, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Colombia, South Korea , Bolivia, Cameroon, Morocco and Greece.
1998: World Cup in Paris. The final classification: 1-France, Brazil, Croatia, Netherlands, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Denmark, England, Yugoslavia, Romania, Nigeria, Mexico, Paraguay, Norway, Chile, Spain, Morocco, Belgium, Iran, Colombia, Jamaica , Austria, South Africa, Cameroon, Tunisia, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, South Korea, Japan and the United States.
2002: World Cup in Japan and South Korea … 1-Brazil, 2-Germany, 3-Turkey, 4-South Korea … SKorea has one of the best sports infrastructures in the world …
2006: World Cup in Germany … 1-Italy, 2-France, 3-Germany, 4-Portugal …
REFERENCES:
-Laity, Paul. “Ivory Coast Witchcraft: what a way to win”, National Geographic, MexicoDF, June 2006
-Matthews, Meter.Whitaker’s Almanac International Sports Records and Results 1998-9, London: The Stationery Office, London, 1998.
-Vickery, Tim. “Paraguay: Rags and Riches”, World Soccer Special Edition, London, Summer 2006
-1976 World Sports Almanac, Editorial América, Panama, 1975
-1977 World Sports Almanac, Editorial América, Panama, 1976
-2001 The World Almanac, World Almanac Books, New Jersey, 2000