History and Background
Portugal won their first ever elusive international title last summer, which came at a very unexpected time given their squad was one of the weakest since the golden generation emerged in 2000. Especially defeating the hosts France in the final without Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal really punched above their weight to write a true underdog story.
History and Background
Cameroon may be the giants of Africa, with up to five African Cup of Nations titles — the second most successful nation in the tournament — and seven appearances in the World Cup — the most from an African team. However, they have failed to replicate that success on the world stage.
Their second ever appearance at the World Cup was a magical one, as they narrowly fell to England in the quarterfinals of the 1990 edition. But apart from that, they have failed to even get out of the group stage in their other six appearances.
On Sunday, we’ll be treated to only the fourth-ever meeting between Mexico and Portugal and the second-ever competitive fixture between the two nations. The match is also extremely rare where personal records are concerned — it’s not everyday that you see two all-time top goal scorers for their country go toe to toe.
With 47 goals from 92 appearances, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is El Tri’s record holder, averaging 0.51 goals per game. For Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo has found the back of the net a record 73 times in 139 caps, good for 0.53 goals per game.
History and Background
Since the Confederations Cup began in 1992, Mexico have only missed out on three occasions — making them joint leaders in participation alongside Brazil with seven appearances. They hosted the tournament in 1999 and ended up winning it, beating their arch-rivals the United States in the semifinals and then Brazil in the final.
On Sunday, England won the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, sparking snarky Brits to declare the nation had finally ended its 51-year cycle of hurt, dating back to last winning the World Cup in 1966.
Despite being home to arguably the world’s most entertaining league, England has consistently failed to flatter at the international level. A stellar crop of English players (including David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Michael Owen) in the 2000s were dubbed the Golden Generation. Their play at the highest level didn’t exactly live up to the lofty moniker.
There’s a lot of solid energy coming from India’s Sunil Chhetri, and a good positive aura. What he does here is great — it’s all great. There’s a lot of pressure in international soccer, but you have to just rise above it.
Chhetri harnesses in the good energy, and he blocks out the bad. He feels the circular flow of life, gets on that carrousel and begins doing the bull dance.
History and Background
This will be New Zealand’s fourth ever presence in the Confederations Cup. A small island nation’s previous record hasn’t been so good, losing eight out of nine matches and only scoring twice. They will, however, hope to erase all the terrible memories and put on a good show against the three superior sides in the group.
History And Background
This tournament will be Russia’s first time ever hosting an international football competition in their history. The nation, home to some 144 million people where football is held as the major sport along with hockey, has been underwhelming to say the least when judged by their competitive record.
We’re less than a year away from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but only eight teams have assured themselves of a spot in the 32-team tournament, one of them being the host nation.
Qualifying began back in March 2015 and will continue through this November, when the final berths will be booked.
How does each confederation decide which nations will attend the World Cup? Read on.
Nations: 53
Spots: 5
Rounds: 3