With the 2014 World Cup well under way and journalists always trying to get a different angle, I thought I should help them out a little with these obscure World Cup stories I unearthed.
1: Goalscorers Score Goals
Did you know that – until the 2014 Finals – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo combined have scored less goals at a World Cup stadium than Kojo, an elephant that was involved in the Opening Ceremony at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
2: Bet What You Know
A fun one, this. In 1994, the son of a very famous American billionaire was on his gap year in London.
Taken with his new surroundings and the fever that came with a World Cup Finals back in his home country, he decided to have a big bet on England to win USA ’94.
He wanted to bet £10,000 but none of the big bookmakers would take the bet nor, unsurprisingly, would the independents. He was, apparently, repeatedly told that there was no way England could win USA 94, but he wasn’t dissuaded.
Eventually, he found a small bookie near where he was staying who did agree to take his money. The bookmaker explained to this guy that as England didn’t qualify, his bet would not be able to win but he would take the bet providing this particular chap would sign something that clearly showed he understood this.
The man did so and, of course, lost his £10,000. He had, however, written on the bottom of the note ‘England are just as qualified as any other team’ and signed it with his name.
3: In A Game Of Feet, The One Armed Man Is King
Hector Castro, the Uruguayan international, who scored the final goal to win the first ever World Cup for his country in 1930 had only one arm.
He accidentally cut it off with an electric saw when he was just 13. In typical football style ‘banter’, he was nicknamed ‘El Manco’ or, in English, the ‘One-Armed’.
