Another thing too is that whenever Croatia makes it out of the group stage they always lose to the eventual champions. France in the semis in 1998, lost 2-1 and in the 2018 final lost 4-2 and Argentina in the 2022 semis lost 3-0. They always encounter Argentina too. 1998 group stage, lost 1-0. 2018 group stage, won 3-0 and 2022 semifinals, lost 3-0. How strange is that??
@johnsalazar2581 even stranger is how pften Argentina are in a group with Nigeria. It's happened in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018. 1998 is the only time Nigeria qualified for a World Cup and didn't play Argentina in the groups
@@iamnotmrt5063 True. But Nigeria always seems to be unlucky to get the toughest South American opposition in the group stages. 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014, 2018 - Argentina, 1998 - Paraguay. On all occasions they lost. All of their World Cup wins have come against European opposition. Bulgaria and Greece 1994, Spain and Bulgaria 1998, Bosnia 2014 and Iceland 2018.
Well either Paraguay or Ghana,New Zealand for me wasn't much of underdog even if they haven't lost,but since they haven't passed further in knockout stage I don't see them as ecstatic as Paraguay and Ghana who lost by small margin in quarter finals
Croatia were debutants on paper, but a few of their players had played for Yugoslavia previously. Jamaica themselves had a bit of help from English-born players and Japan had a couple of Brazilians
@@izzathturak8463 You missed out 1998 for Croatia also. They finished third in their World Cup debut as an independent country. No one was expecting them to embarrass the Germans 3-0 in the quarterfinals and upset the Netherlands for third place. They even gave the eventual winners France a scare in the semis by scoring first only to lose 2-1.
Honestly the US was an underdog in 2002, for a country that sucks at football, they somehow made it all the way to the quarter finals only losing to a dangerous an well managed Germany. I mean the US beat a very good Portuguese team as well as a decent Mexico
Previous WC Underdogs: 1930: United States, 3rd place; the team was composed of non-professional Irish and Italian immigrants. 1934: Spain, 5th place; they eliminated Brazil and managed to put Italy in a bad situation (despite losing to a rigged rematch). 1938: Cuba, 7th place; they managed to eliminate (via a rematch) Rumania (a much more experienced team), before falling to Sweden. 1950: Spain, 4th place; they ended up beating the United States (an equal underdog), England (favourite, despite being their first World Cup) and Chile (a more experienced team), but couldn't match Sweden, Brazil, and Uruguay (as the final round was among those teams). 1954: West Germany, champions; they managed to win this World Cup with a ragtag team and despite all odds. 1958: Soviet Union, 6th place; the beginning of Lev Yashin's legend (honourable mentions to Wales and Northern Ireland, also beginners that ended up in the 5th and 7th places, respectably). 1962: Czechoslovakia, 2nd place; they managed to repeat the same heroic parcour as in 1934 (where they also ended 2nd), despite the odds. 1966: North Korea, 8th place; they created the biggest surprised ever, after winning (and eliminating) Italy, only to fall against Portugal (also a beginner and underdog, that managed to end 3rd). 1970: Peru, 7th place; they managed to passed the stage group, only to fall to the future champions, Brazil. 1974: East Germany, 5th place; on their only World Cup appearance, they beat their Western enemy (and future champions) on the first round, but fell to Brazil (future 3rd) and the Netherlands (2nd), on the second round. 1978: Tunisia, 9th; despite falling on the first round, they managed to become the first African team to win a World Cup match (3-1 to Mexico) and draw against the holding champions (0-0 t0 West Germany), before falling to Poland (1-0). 1982: Algeria, 13th; they humiliated West Germany on their opening match and for many, they should have qualified for the next round, but they were eliminated by the Austrian-German arrangement at Gijon (honourable mention to France, 4th place, also stolen by West Germany, after the intense match at Sevilla; and to Cameroon, 17th as they drew all their matches, against future 3rd place Poland, future champions Italy and the eliminated Peru). 1986: Morocco, 11th place; they became the first African team to qualify for the round of 16 (ending first over England, Poland, and Portugal), only to lose against the future 2nd place West Germany (honourable mentions to France and Belgium, 3rd and 4th respectably, after winning over more favourite teams). 1990: Cameroon, 7th place; they became the first African nation to get into the quarter-finals (after surprising Argentina, Romania and Colombia, but only losing to the Soviet Union, on their last World Cup ever, and future 4th England), paving the way for future African teams (honourable mention to Costa Rica, 13th place, as they eliminated both Sweden and Scotland, but lost to Brazil and was eliminated by Czechoslovakia, on their last World Cup ever).
Well Bulgaria wasnt exactly an underdog. They had world class and renowned player like kostadinov, stoichkov and Balakov. They qualified by winning twice against France, the second with that legendary last minute goal. So Bulgaria was a rather feared team at that time
1994- Romania & Bulgaria. Sweden reached the semis. Very tricky to choose 1998- Croatia. Some of their players had previously played for Yugoslavia, but what an achievement 2002- Turkey. South Korea had a bit of help from officials. Senegal reached the quarters, but miss out despite defeating France 2006- Ukraine. A world cup where the big boys were at their very best- Spain and Netherlands went out in the last 16 because they played France & Portugal 2010- Uruguay ahead of Paraguay & Ghana. New Zealand deserve a shout for never losing and only one top division player with Ryan Nelsen. Uruguay reached the semis, but they were not popular for what Suarez did. This is the hardest by a mile 2014- Costa Rica. What a story 2018- Russia. Croatia reached the final, but their line-up was stacked. Belgium also had a superstar team 2022- Australia. Morocco had a lot of good players, whilst no-one even thought Australia score a point, let alone beat Tunisia and Denmark
Most people thought that Canada would be the outsiders and that Morocco would have finished 4th in the group phase, whereas they finished 4th in the whole competition.
@@EduardoBarajas-wu1xo Your comment makes no sense because Croatia was the team that eliminated Russia. They prevailed against home advantage. Why would than Belgium deserve biggest underdog story?
That's why I don't really trust FIFA ranking. Each football era there are only 10-12 really good national teams. As of now, Morocco is ranked 13th, Mexico (my country) is 14th, and Uruguay 15th. There's no doubt Morocco and Uruguay are A LOT better.
The system benefits countries often play easy matches. While Mexico is hopeless against any proper team, 90% of its matches are against countries that hardly can even compete.
I cannot express enough how the explosive ecstasy of going to the quarter finals was for our beautiful Costa Rica, and to think that a couple of penalties separated us from the top four… oh well, beggars can’t be choosers! It’s already worth celebrating to get to be in a World Cup in a country as small as mine, so you can only imagine how beautiful it was. It truly did unite us, for a couple weeks, sure, but it was unforgettable nonetheless. Pura Vida tiquicia 🇨🇷🇨🇷🇨🇷🇨🇷
If you really wanna talk about 'the biggest cinderella storys' im 100% in for Denmark winning 1992 Euro. The danish team just got qualified, because Yugoslawia got DQ because of the war. Nobody and i say absolutely NOBODY expected them to do any good. Yet they came on top becoming EU Champs. This is unmatched in history. Greece 04 comes close, but still denmark 96 is my alltime fav!
1994 romania Had a Crazy Team with Hagi, dimitrescu, pupescu, petrecu and raducioiu. Game against Columbia where Hagi Scores that Crazy goal and against Argentina probably the best game in their history. Knocking out the 2nd from the last wc and Hagi and dimitrescu were like a power of nature in that game. Quarters against Sweden was just unlucky for them they were 2-1 for Romania und Sweden got also a red card then Sweden scored a goal in the 116 minute to make it 2-2. Sweden won the penalty shootout its unlucky but that team had potential to be world champion many big players, of course not many know them but back in the day Romanian league was top 10.
Other candidates : Paraguay in 2010, Japan's impressive 2018 performance (although only reached round of 16 but almost beat Belgium) and of course Belgium's 2018 performance (finished 3rd and had never reached semis before), maybe it would have been worth focusing on them as Croatia had already been covered for 1998. Either way always funny that France stopped these teams dead in their tracks 😅
Turkey over South Korea for 2002 underdogs is still a fair decision. South Korea should not be in the semifinal because they cheated against Italy and Spain. Even better, either of Italy or Spain should have made through the Final against Brazil, given their squad depths of the team at the time. Uruguay shouldn't be in the semifinal of 2010 because, well, they only prevailed thanks to Luis Suarez' handball against Ghana. Ghana should really deserved 4th place, as did the Paraguay, who went all the way to the quarterfinal, narrowly losing to the champions Spain. Last, but not least, you can also include Russia in 2018, who went all the way to the quarter final. They knocked 2010 champions Spain on penalties in the Round of 16. They should really deserved to face England in the semifinal with even better performance vs Croatia in the quarter final.
In 2010 Blackburn Rovers we're still in the Premier League. Making Ryan Nelson New Zealand's only first division player. When Blackburn were relegated to the Championship, Nelson then moved onto Spurs I think 🤔
@@tosoja9714 not suarez his fault if they cant score penalties. he did what he had to do and got punished for it with a red card and a semifinal ban. Dont get why hes getting so much hate for that
@@jascha2765 so if someone takes the life of your son or daughter who you will never get back, if they go to prison for it then they shouldn't get hate for it by your "logic" since they paid the consequences for it. The fact is Suarez cheated and that made the difference between Ghana going to the semi-finals and not going to the semi-finals. If he didn't cheat, they would've scored the winning goal. Doesn't matter that they missed the penalty because there shouldn't have been any need for one in the first place.
Costa Rica is a pretty underrated football country. They are after Mexico and the USA the most successful CONCACAF country. In club football they are, historically, even more successful than the USA. Not bad for such a small country!
No way! I’m Colombian but we knew we had a great team. Only Argentina and maybe Brazil had a better team in South America. We expected to make it past the round of 16. However nobody expected Costa Rica to do that. I did have a feeling they would do well after seeing their last WC qualifier against Mexico where they dominated but even I wasn’t that optimistic.
Dude. You just game me ptsd with the Bulgaria win over Mexico. I’m in the us and saw that game live. I’m Mexican American and it was a very tough loss in penalties. CAMPOS!!!!
Turkey's 2002 campaign is a statistical improbability. What odds in the current world cup format that a team can play 7 matches without any of them being against another European team?
It is possible. If almost half of the European teams did not make it to the knockout stage (only 9 out of 15 made it to 1/8, and 4 of them played each other)
The World Cup 2002 was rigged. Spain and Italy got robbed heavily... One of the Refs even got punished for corruption No German knows how our awful Squad made it to the Final
1930: Yugoslavia 1934: Germany 1938: Cuba 1950: Sweden 1954: West Germany 1958: Wales and Northern Ireland 1962: Chile 1966: North Korea 1970: Peru 1974: Scotland 1978: Austria 1982: Cameroon 1986: Poland 1990: Cameroon There you go. All the underdogs this guy forgot to mention.
Calling Uruguay an underdog is ridiculous. Their 80s, 90s and 2000s were underachievers. It is like calling Spain an underdog before 2010. They would qualify to the World Cup, only to be eliminated in disappointing fashion
I think you forget 2014 Algeria national team I mean they Lost to the Champions of that cup in the round of 16 + with both goals being in the extra time
lemme name you some nations that were underdogs before 1994 1930: USA (USA was expected to be eliminated in their group but made all the way to the semi finals losing to Argentina in the semis and reaching 3rd place) HM: Romania 1934: Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovakia was considered a team that would lose in their 2nd match BUT they made it to the final beating Germany in the semis but losing to italy in the final. they were also underdogs Because most of the players played in the czechoslovak league which was pretty bad in the 1930s) 1938: Cuba (Cuba was horrible in football back then since they barely had a league to play in Cuba. And they were expected to lose againts Romania in the first match However since it was a draw but because it was a draw they had to play again then Cuba won againts Romania. Eventually Losing to Sweden in their 2nd match) 1950: Uruguay (Uruguay was actually good in 1950 but back then they were expected to lose againts Sweden And Brazil but they beated Sweden that made them advance to the Final where they won againts Brazil and won the FIFA World cup) HM: USA 1954: Austria (Austria was expected to lose in their group but they managed to go threw and win againts Switzerland in the quarter finals but lost in the semi"s Againts Germany but they won againts Uruguay in the 3rd place match up) 1958: Wales (Wales had a near ballondor winner John Charles but still they were not expected to reach the quarter finals but eventually they did but lost to Brazil in the quarter finals) 1962: Chile (Chile had home matches since they hosted the fifa world cup but they were expected to lose in the quarter finals againts the USSR but they beated them 2-1 eventually going to the Semi finals where they lost to Brazil 4-2 but they won Againts Yugoslavia 1-0 in the 3rd place match up) HM: Yugoslavia 1966: North Korea (North Korea was expected to have the least points in their group but they won againts Italy and drew with Chile and in the quarter finals they nearly won againts portugal but lost 5-3) 1970: Mexico/Peru (Mexico and Peru were kinda expected to go threw their group but Both teams manage to reach the quarter finals where they Lost to Brazil and Italy i couldn"t decide which one of them would be an underdog they were both evenly matched) 1974: East Germany (East Germany was considered back then the best Nation to never qualify for a world cup but since West Germany hosted the world cup in 1974 they finally competed but they somehow managed to win againts West Germany in their group and were better than Argentina in the Semi Group) 1978: Austria/Tunisia (Now Tunisia didn"t make it threw their group but they won againts Mexico And only conceding one goal with the 3rd place Poland team from previous year. but Austria had a Goalscorer Machine Hans Krankl but they were expected to have all loses in the semi group but they managed to win againts West Germany) 1982: Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland were expected to not win againts Spain and Yugoslavia but they managed to top their group and go to the Quarter Group where they lost all their matches but they were still the best underdog team) HM: Kuwait 1986: Denmark/Uruguay (This was a hard choice and i cant decide because both of these teams were good underdogs) HM: Belgium 1990: Cameroon (Cameroon were expected to lose againts Argentina , Romania and the USSR but they had a Super Substitute Roger Milla who helped them win againts Argentina and Romania when they went to the Round of 16 they won againts the Favourites Colombia and they nearly won againts England in the Quarter Finals. (Thats pretty much all the underdogs i think they were before the 1994 fifa world cup)
Morocco was the first African team to qualify in the WC knock out in 1986 and they beat Portugal in the last group stage match to do so.. Now they are the first team to reach WC semi Incidentally both time Argentina was WC winners😂
What's even more surprising about Turkey 2002 is that they set a world record with the fastest goal ever scored in a World Cup with just a few seconds after start.
I remember watching Bulgaria play Italy at giants stadium that place was packed mostly Italian fans but you’d see some Bulgarian groups all over.But that match was really good
We, Bulgarians, will never be tired to point that if the refferee gave us OBVIOUS penalty against Italy, we could have been on the final against Brazil.
@@MilMD1 I know but here hadn't been much change since the 92 team at least 75% of the team was the same as the team there was thrown otut of the 92 EUROS
I can never take that 1998 Romania team seriously for one reason. They all dyed their hair blonde. It was like watching 11 clones of Eminem running amok on the pitch.
My grandfather saw the 1994 world cup it was heartbreaking and happy at the same time he saw Bulgaria our motherland in semi finals we were so happy until they got defeated by the Fettucine Alfredo country 😕
But if you understand football more, Croatia 2018.is not that big surprise. Subašić(Monaco) Strinić(Milan)-Lovren(Liverpool)-Vida(Dynamo Kyev)-Vrsaljko(Atletico Madrid) Rakitić(Barcelona)-Modrić(Real Madrid)-Brozović(Inter) Perišić(Inter)-Mandžukić(Juventus)-Rebić(Fiorentina/E.Frankfurt) Also some substitutions like: Kovačić(Real Madrid), Badelj(Fiorentina), N.Kalinić(Milan), Kramarić(Hoffenheim), Pjaca(Schalke) etc., and every that player play very important role in their clubs then. No suprise for me here, in Croatia we was expecting big result then! Prove for that is Quatar 2022., very similar team with some new great players(some old players gone) we repeat big result again, and again is not that big surprise. Expect Croatia always in the game for big result in next 2 world cups for sure, after that I can't tell from now.
2006 again should have beem Ghana Made it to the last 16 from a grouo consisting of Italy, Czech Republic (who was 2nd in fifa ranking) and USA (8TH in Fifa ranking)
Bit of patriotism talking through me but still going to say it. Poland was hugeeee underdog in 1974, earlier in WC only once, and on the pitch, practically the best team losing only when faced a strong athelticaly team in a MUDDY weather, which massivelly impacted the game, negatively for us. Wins like 4-1 with Cruyffs prime netherlands just a year after WC say a lot about the quality of this team.
Why Netherland 11th Place? Spain 9th is Correct but Netherlands is place 13th not 11th. (16) Sweden (15) Mexiko (14) Ecuador (13) Netherlands.This Team who lose first game in Last 16 is 16 so i think.Germany vs Sweden was first Game round of 16.
In 2022 South Korea didn't make a historic campaign - they just bought the tournament 🤮🤢 1998 will always be my number one. I love everything about it (except for the final result🤢)
Crazy how every time Croatia made it past the group stage they always finished top 3 and France always placed top 2 with them being right behind them
Another thing too is that whenever Croatia makes it out of the group stage they always lose to the eventual champions. France in the semis in 1998, lost 2-1 and in the 2018 final lost 4-2 and Argentina in the 2022 semis lost 3-0. They always encounter Argentina too. 1998 group stage, lost 1-0. 2018 group stage, won 3-0 and 2022 semifinals, lost 3-0. How strange is that??
@johnsalazar2581 even stranger is how pften Argentina are in a group with Nigeria. It's happened in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
1998 is the only time Nigeria qualified for a World Cup and didn't play Argentina in the groups
@@iamnotmrt5063 True. But Nigeria always seems to be unlucky to get the toughest South American opposition in the group stages. 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014, 2018 - Argentina, 1998 - Paraguay. On all occasions they lost. All of their World Cup wins have come against European opposition. Bulgaria and Greece 1994, Spain and Bulgaria 1998, Bosnia 2014 and Iceland 2018.
@@johnsalazar2581 I mean its really not that strange 😅. That chances of facing the potential champion after reaching the semis is very likely.
@@aighty7216agree
2010 should’ve been Paraguay
They made it all the way to the quarterfinals
I’d have to make an entire video about the 2010 WC haha
@@polyglotsport that’s a good idea! You should do like 2010 World Cup qualifiers where are they now?
Well either Paraguay or Ghana,New Zealand for me wasn't much of underdog even if they haven't lost,but since they haven't passed further in knockout stage I don't see them as ecstatic as Paraguay and Ghana who lost by small margin in quarter finals
Yes it should've been Paraguay or Ghana! 🇵🇾🇬🇭
And only lost to Spain, because their regular goal was disallowed.
2006 could also be viewed as Portugal's peak performance
But there is also 1966, one of the best Portugal side's ever
@@DutchBondFanBro I used to watch your videos daily
No, fue el tercer lugar en el mundial del 66
Ghana would rightly be underdogs of 2010 WC no one expected that Uruguay will be running behind the balls against them in that quarter finals
Quite funny how Argentina in 1998 was in a group full of debutants
With who?
Japan, Jamaica and Croatia all made their debuts in 1998
Croatia were debutants on paper, but a few of their players had played for Yugoslavia previously. Jamaica themselves had a bit of help from English-born players and Japan had a couple of Brazilians
@@encorefootball most of them is star of Yugoslavia
@@encorefootball plus Croatia and Yugoslavia are entirely seperate national teams
Morocco 🇲🇦 22
Turkey 🇹🇷- 2002
Bulgaria 🇧🇬-
Paraguay 🇵🇾 2010
Croatia 🇭🇷 -2018,22
Ukraine 🇺🇦
S.Korea 🇰🇷 2002
@@TejkumarGauchanAh yes, the bribe referees.
@@izzathturak8463 You missed out 1998 for Croatia also. They finished third in their World Cup debut as an independent country. No one was expecting them to embarrass the Germans 3-0 in the quarterfinals and upset the Netherlands for third place. They even gave the eventual winners France a scare in the semis by scoring first only to lose 2-1.
Honestly the US was an underdog in 2002, for a country that sucks at football, they somehow made it all the way to the quarter finals only losing to a dangerous an well managed Germany.
I mean the US beat a very good Portuguese team as well as a decent Mexico
2022 🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦
Previous WC Underdogs:
1930: United States, 3rd place; the team was composed of non-professional Irish and Italian immigrants.
1934: Spain, 5th place; they eliminated Brazil and managed to put Italy in a bad situation (despite losing to a rigged rematch).
1938: Cuba, 7th place; they managed to eliminate (via a rematch) Rumania (a much more experienced team), before falling to Sweden.
1950: Spain, 4th place; they ended up beating the United States (an equal underdog), England (favourite, despite being their first World Cup) and Chile (a more experienced team), but couldn't match Sweden, Brazil, and Uruguay (as the final round was among those teams).
1954: West Germany, champions; they managed to win this World Cup with a ragtag team and despite all odds.
1958: Soviet Union, 6th place; the beginning of Lev Yashin's legend (honourable mentions to Wales and Northern Ireland, also beginners that ended up in the 5th and 7th places, respectably).
1962: Czechoslovakia, 2nd place; they managed to repeat the same heroic parcour as in 1934 (where they also ended 2nd), despite the odds.
1966: North Korea, 8th place; they created the biggest surprised ever, after winning (and eliminating) Italy, only to fall against Portugal (also a beginner and underdog, that managed to end 3rd).
1970: Peru, 7th place; they managed to passed the stage group, only to fall to the future champions, Brazil.
1974: East Germany, 5th place; on their only World Cup appearance, they beat their Western enemy (and future champions) on the first round, but fell to Brazil (future 3rd) and the Netherlands (2nd), on the second round.
1978: Tunisia, 9th; despite falling on the first round, they managed to become the first African team to win a World Cup match (3-1 to Mexico) and draw against the holding champions (0-0 t0 West Germany), before falling to Poland (1-0).
1982: Algeria, 13th; they humiliated West Germany on their opening match and for many, they should have qualified for the next round, but they were eliminated by the Austrian-German arrangement at Gijon (honourable mention to France, 4th place, also stolen by West Germany, after the intense match at Sevilla; and to Cameroon, 17th as they drew all their matches, against future 3rd place Poland, future champions Italy and the eliminated Peru).
1986: Morocco, 11th place; they became the first African team to qualify for the round of 16 (ending first over England, Poland, and Portugal), only to lose against the future 2nd place West Germany (honourable mentions to France and Belgium, 3rd and 4th respectably, after winning over more favourite teams).
1990: Cameroon, 7th place; they became the first African nation to get into the quarter-finals (after surprising Argentina, Romania and Colombia, but only losing to the Soviet Union, on their last World Cup ever, and future 4th England), paving the way for future African teams (honourable mention to Costa Rica, 13th place, as they eliminated both Sweden and Scotland, but lost to Brazil and was eliminated by Czechoslovakia, on their last World Cup ever).
Great analysis I agree with you 👏🏼
Great comment, better than the video!
Great analysis! 1978 Tunisia is a strange case - how often do you find a team with 1W 1D 1L (+1 goal diff) that is eliminated at group stage?
Ireland 1990 as well, first world cup, got to the Quarter Final
Well Bulgaria wasnt exactly an underdog. They had world class and renowned player like kostadinov, stoichkov and Balakov. They qualified by winning twice against France, the second with that legendary last minute goal. So Bulgaria was a rather feared team at that time
stoichkov has to be the one of the most underrated player
4:32 turkey mentioned 🐺🐺🐺🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷
1994- Romania & Bulgaria. Sweden reached the semis. Very tricky to choose
1998- Croatia. Some of their players had previously played for Yugoslavia, but what an achievement
2002- Turkey. South Korea had a bit of help from officials. Senegal reached the quarters, but miss out despite defeating France
2006- Ukraine. A world cup where the big boys were at their very best- Spain and Netherlands went out in the last 16 because they played France & Portugal
2010- Uruguay ahead of Paraguay & Ghana. New Zealand deserve a shout for never losing and only one top division player with Ryan Nelsen. Uruguay reached the semis, but they were not popular for what Suarez did. This is the hardest by a mile
2014- Costa Rica. What a story
2018- Russia. Croatia reached the final, but their line-up was stacked. Belgium also had a superstar team
2022- Australia. Morocco had a lot of good players, whilst no-one even thought Australia score a point, let alone beat Tunisia and Denmark
Most people thought that Canada would be the outsiders and that Morocco would have finished 4th in the group phase, whereas they finished 4th in the whole competition.
2018 should have been Belgium, the home team always has an advantage and the refs are always going to be on their side in this case Russia
2022 should be japan
For 2018 I would add Sweden too. No one expect them to go through the 2nd round and beat Mexico 3-0 to claim the 1st place.
@@EduardoBarajas-wu1xo
Your comment makes no sense because Croatia was the team that eliminated Russia. They prevailed against home advantage. Why would than Belgium deserve biggest underdog story?
2006
2010 Ghana
2014 Algeria and Costa Rica
2018 Croatia
2022 Morocco
9:47
How tf algeria 💀
That's why I don't really trust FIFA ranking. Each football era there are only 10-12 really good national teams. As of now, Morocco is ranked 13th, Mexico (my country) is 14th, and Uruguay 15th. There's no doubt Morocco and Uruguay are A LOT better.
The system benefits countries often play easy matches.
While Mexico is hopeless against any proper team, 90% of its matches are against countries that hardly can even compete.
I cannot express enough how the explosive ecstasy of going to the quarter finals was for our beautiful Costa Rica, and to think that a couple of penalties separated us from the top four… oh well, beggars can’t be choosers! It’s already worth celebrating to get to be in a World Cup in a country as small as mine, so you can only imagine how beautiful it was. It truly did unite us, for a couple weeks, sure, but it was unforgettable nonetheless. Pura Vida tiquicia 🇨🇷🇨🇷🇨🇷🇨🇷
If you really wanna talk about 'the biggest cinderella storys' im 100% in for Denmark winning 1992 Euro.
The danish team just got qualified, because Yugoslawia got DQ because of the war. Nobody and i say absolutely NOBODY expected them to do any good. Yet they came on top becoming EU Champs. This is unmatched in history. Greece 04 comes close, but still denmark 96 is my alltime fav!
Hey manin te conheço do Brasil! E ótimo inglês esse seu cara, sucesso
Great video, thank you!
Thank you!
1994 romania Had a Crazy Team with Hagi, dimitrescu, pupescu, petrecu and raducioiu. Game against Columbia where Hagi Scores that Crazy goal and against Argentina probably the best game in their history. Knocking out the 2nd from the last wc and Hagi and dimitrescu were like a power of nature in that game. Quarters against Sweden was just unlucky for them they were 2-1 for Romania und Sweden got also a red card then Sweden scored a goal in the 116 minute to make it 2-2. Sweden won the penalty shootout its unlucky but that team had potential to be world champion many big players, of course not many know them but back in the day Romanian league was top 10.
Other candidates : Paraguay in 2010, Japan's impressive 2018 performance (although only reached round of 16 but almost beat Belgium) and of course Belgium's 2018 performance (finished 3rd and had never reached semis before), maybe it would have been worth focusing on them as Croatia had already been covered for 1998.
Either way always funny that France stopped these teams dead in their tracks 😅
Turkey over South Korea for 2002 underdogs is still a fair decision. South Korea should not be in the semifinal because they cheated against Italy and Spain. Even better, either of Italy or Spain should have made through the Final against Brazil, given their squad depths of the team at the time.
Uruguay shouldn't be in the semifinal of 2010 because, well, they only prevailed thanks to Luis Suarez' handball against Ghana. Ghana should really deserved 4th place, as did the Paraguay, who went all the way to the quarterfinal, narrowly losing to the champions Spain.
Last, but not least, you can also include Russia in 2018, who went all the way to the quarter final. They knocked 2010 champions Spain on penalties in the Round of 16. They should really deserved to face England in the semifinal with even better performance vs Croatia in the quarter final.
But they also got a penalty for the handball so it's still fair.
Can you do older world cups underdogs?
In 2010 Blackburn Rovers we're still in the Premier League. Making Ryan Nelson New Zealand's only first division player. When Blackburn were relegated to the Championship, Nelson then moved onto Spurs I think 🤔
2010: Ghana
2014 : Costarica
2018: Croatia
2022:Morroco
2010 should have been Ghana. They also made it to the quarterfinals.
semi finals
Quarter finals@@enjoyfootball26
I think 2010 should have been Ghana. They nearly made it to the semi final, if not for Suarez handball
@@tosoja9714 not suarez his fault if they cant score penalties. he did what he had to do and got punished for it with a red card and a semifinal ban.
Dont get why hes getting so much hate for that
@@jascha2765 so if someone takes the life of your son or daughter who you will never get back, if they go to prison for it then they shouldn't get hate for it by your "logic" since they paid the consequences for it.
The fact is Suarez cheated and that made the difference between Ghana going to the semi-finals and not going to the semi-finals. If he didn't cheat, they would've scored the winning goal. Doesn't matter that they missed the penalty because there shouldn't have been any need for one in the first place.
Costa Rica is a pretty underrated football country. They are after Mexico and the USA the most successful CONCACAF country. In club football they are, historically, even more successful than the USA. Not bad for such a small country!
Ruiz and Ziyech both played for my favourite team - the eternal Dutch underdog.
Since I'm costarican sure I knew what Ruiz did in the Eredivisie, but didn't know that also Ziyech played in Twente.
To be honest Colombia were the real underdogs in 2014 world cup
No way! I’m Colombian but we knew we had a great team. Only Argentina and maybe Brazil had a better team in South America. We expected to make it past the round of 16. However nobody expected Costa Rica to do that.
I did have a feeling they would do well after seeing their last WC qualifier against Mexico where they dominated but even I wasn’t that optimistic.
Colombia was a really good team and were far from underdogs, Costa Rica hands down in 2014 were massive underdogs.
For 2018, Russia deserves an honorable mention, that's arguably one of the best matches in my opinion in World Cup history, Croatia vs Russia
That match against ghana was devastating 😢
Dude. You just game me ptsd with the Bulgaria win over Mexico. I’m in the us and saw that game live. I’m Mexican American and it was a very tough loss in penalties. CAMPOS!!!!
fun fact: the fastest goal in world cup's history was scored by an turkish player
Whose name is now deleted...
@@mnmlflmkrjealous of Turkiye 😂😂
@@shanglaithotsem5771his name is banned turkiye
@@shanglaithotsem5771 The guy was/is a religious cult member and that cult tried a coup in Turkey... So he is banned now.
4:16 Yugoslavia was third on first World Cup in Uruguay 1930.
The 1990 underdog was definetly ireland or cameroon. Ireland made it to the quarterfinals but cameroon did well against england with a 3-2 loss only
Turkey's 2002 campaign is a statistical improbability. What odds in the current world cup format that a team can play 7 matches without any of them being against another European team?
It is possible. If almost half of the European teams did not make it to the knockout stage (only 9 out of 15 made it to 1/8, and 4 of them played each other)
interesting fact I didn't think about it
The World Cup 2002 was rigged. Spain and Italy got robbed heavily... One of the Refs even got punished for corruption
No German knows how our awful Squad made it to the Final
goalkeepers really shine in world cups
1930: Yugoslavia
1934: Germany
1938: Cuba
1950: Sweden
1954: West Germany
1958: Wales and Northern Ireland
1962: Chile
1966: North Korea
1970: Peru
1974: Scotland
1978: Austria
1982: Cameroon
1986: Poland
1990: Cameroon
There you go. All the underdogs this guy forgot to mention.
It’s not that I forgot, the video would be too long
1986:Morocco
not in the video but in 1966 north korea got quarterfinals
I think the biggest underdogs in 2010 was Spain, a team which lost the very first match and barely made it to the semi finals and finals.
Calling Uruguay an underdog is ridiculous. Their 80s, 90s and 2000s were underachievers. It is like calling Spain an underdog before 2010. They would qualify to the World Cup, only to be eliminated in disappointing fashion
W Morocco🇲🇦✨
New upload🎉
I think you forget 2014 Algeria national team
I mean they Lost to the Champions of that cup in the round of 16 + with both goals being in the extra time
They did give Germany a scare in that game just like Ghana did in the group stage.
@@johnsalazar2581 I mean if they play against another team maybe I say maybe they will reach the simifial or even the final
@@ادمبوغبينة good shout, but Costa Rica’s run was better
@@fifamobilefan471 bro if the Brazil lose 7-1
Algeria and Costa Rica will win for 3-1
@@ادمبوغبينة what does that even mean?? 💀
It appears you might need to make sn e tire video for 2010. New Zealand, Ghana and Paraguay turned up.
croatia and morocco are the best underdogs so far
I think, you should add Paraguay from 2010. These guys almost went to semi finals
good video but it will been better to start with world cup 1990 and Cameroon
lemme name you some nations that were underdogs before 1994
1930: USA (USA was expected to be eliminated in their group but made all the way to the semi finals losing to Argentina in the semis and reaching 3rd place) HM: Romania
1934: Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovakia was considered a team that would lose in their 2nd match BUT they made it to the final beating Germany in the semis but losing to italy in the final. they were also underdogs Because most of the players played in the czechoslovak league which was pretty bad in the 1930s)
1938: Cuba (Cuba was horrible in football back then since they barely had a league to play in Cuba. And they were expected to lose againts Romania in the first match However since it was a draw but because it was a draw they had to play again then Cuba won againts Romania. Eventually Losing to Sweden in their 2nd match)
1950: Uruguay (Uruguay was actually good in 1950 but back then they were expected to lose againts Sweden And Brazil but they beated Sweden that made them advance to the Final where they won againts Brazil and won the FIFA World cup) HM: USA
1954: Austria (Austria was expected to lose in their group but they managed to go threw and win againts Switzerland in the quarter finals but lost in the semi"s Againts Germany but they won againts Uruguay in the 3rd place match up)
1958: Wales (Wales had a near ballondor winner John Charles but still they were not expected to reach the quarter finals but eventually they did but lost to Brazil in the quarter finals)
1962: Chile (Chile had home matches since they hosted the fifa world cup but they were expected to lose in the quarter finals againts the USSR but they beated them 2-1 eventually going to the Semi finals where they lost to Brazil 4-2 but they won Againts Yugoslavia 1-0 in the 3rd place match up) HM: Yugoslavia
1966: North Korea (North Korea was expected to have the least points in their group but they won againts Italy and drew with Chile and in the quarter finals they nearly won againts portugal but lost 5-3)
1970: Mexico/Peru (Mexico and Peru were kinda expected to go threw their group but Both teams manage to reach the quarter finals where they Lost to Brazil and Italy i couldn"t decide which one of them would be an underdog they were both evenly matched)
1974: East Germany (East Germany was considered back then the best Nation to never qualify for a world cup but since West Germany hosted the world cup in 1974 they finally competed but they somehow managed to win againts West Germany in their group and were better than Argentina in the Semi Group)
1978: Austria/Tunisia (Now Tunisia didn"t make it threw their group but they won againts Mexico And only conceding one goal with the 3rd place Poland team from previous year. but Austria had a Goalscorer Machine Hans Krankl but they were expected to have all loses in the semi group but they managed to win againts West Germany)
1982: Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland were expected to not win againts Spain and Yugoslavia but they managed to top their group and go to the Quarter Group where they lost all their matches but they were still the best underdog team) HM: Kuwait
1986: Denmark/Uruguay (This was a hard choice and i cant decide because both of these teams were good underdogs) HM: Belgium
1990: Cameroon (Cameroon were expected to lose againts Argentina , Romania and the USSR but they had a Super Substitute Roger Milla who helped them win againts Argentina and Romania when they went to the Round of 16 they won againts the Favourites Colombia and they nearly won againts England in the Quarter Finals.
(Thats pretty much all the underdogs i think they were before the 1994 fifa world cup)
Next you can do for euro
Morocco was the first African team to qualify in the WC knock out in 1986 and they beat Portugal in the last group stage match to do so..
Now they are the first team to reach WC semi
Incidentally both time Argentina was WC winners😂
What's even more surprising about Turkey 2002 is that they set a world record with the fastest goal ever scored in a World Cup with just a few seconds after start.
I'm recognizing this voice.
SoccerJM, is that you?
I am proud to be Croatian🇭🇷
Nigeria was also phenomenal at 94 world cup. They gave Italy a tough time
1986 was Belgium 1990 was Ireland
I remember watching Bulgaria play Italy at giants stadium that place was packed mostly Italian fans but you’d see some Bulgarian groups all over.But that match was really good
We, Bulgarians, will never be tired to point that if the refferee gave us OBVIOUS penalty against Italy, we could have been on the final against Brazil.
To this day my mind can not comprehend how did Costa Rico top that group fill with giants
1990 - Cameroon 🇨🇲
didnt know u had an english channel
In 1994 you could also take Sweden along with Bulgaria two underdogs getting 3 and 4 place
2010 Semifinals ideally should've been Ghana vs Paraguay.
They weren’t on the same side of the bracket
We need underdog of Olympics. Atlanta 96. Nigeria's dream team followed by Cameroon at Sydney 2000.
In the third-place playoff in 1994, Bulgaria were trashed 4-0 by Sweden, a fellow underdog.
If you started in 1990 ireland would have been selected cause it was there first world cup and got to the quarter final
you forgot to mention romania and sweden 1994
paraguay 2010
belgium 2018
portugal 2006
tecnnicaly part of the 98 Croatia team was the same team that played in the 1990 WC and basically the same team that got kicked out of the 92 EUROS
Croatia debut WC was 1998
@@MilMD1 I know but here hadn't been much change since the 92 team at least 75% of the team was the same as the team there was thrown otut of the 92 EUROS
also you couldve added Paraguay for the 2010 world cup cuz they made it to the quarter finals
do the biggest underdog in UEFA champions league next season
No way, every one who knows and watches football closely wouldnt be surprised by Croatia reaching far...they had one of the best teams
I can never take that 1998 Romania team seriously for one reason. They all dyed their hair blonde. It was like watching 11 clones of Eminem running amok on the pitch.
the starting XI: Whos that guy again
they could have argued like:
"I'm the real slim shady" "yes I'm the real shady" "all you other slim shadys are just imitating
My grandfather saw the 1994 world cup it was heartbreaking and happy at the same time he saw Bulgaria our motherland in semi finals we were so happy until they got defeated by the Fettucine Alfredo country 😕
What about belgium in WC 2018??
Yesss
I get it, Croatia was a Beautiful Story
But Belgium had a magical World Cup as well
In Sha Allah an underdog team will won the world cup one day.
But if you understand football more, Croatia 2018.is not that big surprise. Subašić(Monaco)
Strinić(Milan)-Lovren(Liverpool)-Vida(Dynamo Kyev)-Vrsaljko(Atletico Madrid)
Rakitić(Barcelona)-Modrić(Real Madrid)-Brozović(Inter)
Perišić(Inter)-Mandžukić(Juventus)-Rebić(Fiorentina/E.Frankfurt)
Also some substitutions like:
Kovačić(Real Madrid), Badelj(Fiorentina), N.Kalinić(Milan), Kramarić(Hoffenheim), Pjaca(Schalke) etc., and every that player play very important role in their clubs then. No suprise for me here, in Croatia we was expecting big result then! Prove for that is Quatar 2022., very similar team with some new great players(some old players gone) we repeat big result again, and again is not that big surprise. Expect Croatia always in the game for big result in next 2 world cups for sure, after that I can't tell from now.
Brazil really beat Turkey twice in the same tournament 💀
I gave the first like
2006 WC Underdog: Portugal 4th Place.
How, that was their golden generation, plus they were euro finalists the year before
2004 isn't "a year before"@@fifamobilefan471
2002 World cup : South Korea!!
한국은 포르투갈, 이탈리아, 스페인 등 우승후보들을 연달아 격파하면서 4강까지 갔습니다.
In 2018 could be a big surprise Russia.
2006 again should have beem Ghana
Made it to the last 16 from a grouo consisting of Italy, Czech Republic (who was 2nd in fifa ranking) and USA (8TH in Fifa ranking)
Thanks for including Ukraine
Algeria 2014
she surprised germany in 16 round but we lose 2 1 after 120 min
World Cup is a 7 games tournement btw
7/6 games not to lose
I think 2018 should’ve been Belgium.
I think Greece's 2004 campaign was more surpising than most of these.. European teams were at their peak back then!
This is about WC, not the euros
Are you Brazilian
Bit of patriotism talking through me but still going to say it.
Poland was hugeeee underdog in 1974, earlier in WC only once, and on the pitch, practically the best team losing only when faced a strong athelticaly team in a MUDDY weather, which massivelly impacted the game, negatively for us.
Wins like 4-1 with Cruyffs prime netherlands just a year after WC say a lot about the quality of this team.
The biggest underdog isn’t in world cup, it’s in uefa euro cup, denmark didn’t qualify for euros even, but later they won it
I'm Costa Rican lol
2006 should have been Portugal since it was their second ever time making to the Semi Finals since 1966
But they were Euro 2004 finalists
Croatia the ultimate underdogs
Why Netherland 11th Place? Spain 9th is Correct but Netherlands is place 13th not 11th. (16) Sweden (15) Mexiko (14) Ecuador (13) Netherlands.This Team who lose first game in Last 16 is 16 so i think.Germany vs Sweden was first Game round of 16.
2010 is definitely Paraguay or Ghana.
They also could be there, 2010 was such a crazy world cup
Racist video
In 2022 South Korea didn't make a historic campaign - they just bought the tournament 🤮🤢
1998 will always be my number one. I love everything about it (except for the final result🤢)
Cameroon 🇨🇲
2010 should be Ghana
Biggest WC Underdog : Cristiano Ronaldo Knockout Goals in World Cup
Belgium 2018
Tbh you violated Paraguay for 2010 WC
i love the way how u speak 🫣