FIFA World Cup 2002 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spain

Many considered Spain to be one of the biggest underachievers in world football following their elimination from the 2002 World Cup. Spain had easily qualified for the knockout stage by winning all three of its Group B matches. After barely defeating Ireland in a penalty shoot-out in the Round of 16, Spain faced the co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals.

The game featured controversial refereeing (a theme in this World Cup) by Egyptian official Gamal Al-Ghandour. The Spanish players were especially upset because the referee disallowed two of their goals. In the end, the match ended 0-0 and was decided in a penalty shoot-out. The only one to miss was Joaquin, who was a young winger who played for Betis.

Answer: 1

Italy, Croatia, Mexico, and Ecuador formed Group G. The Mexican squad performed well and ended as group leaders by beating Croatia and Ecuador and tying with Italy. Italy wasn't as lucky and struggled much more to earn the ticket to their next round. Even though they defeated Ecuador, the "Azzurri" lost against Croatia, but were still able to advance to the knockout stage after ending with one more point than the Croatians.

The unlucky Italians had two goals disallowed by English referee Graham Poll, in a match that ended 2-1 in favor of Croatia.

Answer: Henri Camara

The Senegalese squad was one of this World Cup's underdogs that achieved much more than what was expected of them. The African team delivered a shocking upset in their opening Group A match against the then-reigning champions, France. Senegal's subsequent ties with Denmark and Uruguay allowed them to advance as second place in their group. They continued their path by knocking out Sweden in the round of 16, with two goals by striker Henri Camara. That match ended 1-1, so it went to extra time. Camara's shot in the 104th minute ensured that Senegal emulated the feat of Cameroon in Italy 1990 by reaching the quarter-finals. Senegal was ultimately eliminated by Turkey in the quarter-finals.

Henri Camara played for a number of different teams, including Wolverhampton, Celtic, Wigan Athletic, and Sheffield United, as well as several clubs in Greece.

Answer: Cesare Maldini

Cesare Maldini was appointed as head coach of Paraguay only months before the tournament took place. Maldini, who had played as a defender for Triestina, Milan, and Torino, had managed important teams like Milan, Parma, and Italy's national team. Notwithstanding pushback from local managers, Paraguay hired Maldini in January 2002. Having been born in 1932, Maldini was the oldest coach at the tournament at 70 years old. Maldini retired after the 2002 World Cup, though he later served as Milan's talent scout and as a media commentator.

Answer: Slovenia

Despite being dubbed Slovenia's "golden generation", this national team had quite a poor performance at the 2002 World Cup. Having lost all three of their matches against Spain, Paraguay, and South Africa and scoring no points, the Slovenians became the first to be eliminated from the World Cup.

Their first Group B match was against Spain, and they lost by 3-1. After the match, manager Srecko Katanec was involved in a heated argument with Zahovic, which ended in the player being sent home early. Unfortunately for them, the rest of the Slovenian squad would soon join Zahovic after their disappointing tournament.

Answer: No

China appeared in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2002, which was also the case for Senegal, Ecuador, and Slovenia. The Chinese squad was the lowest-ranked team to qualify and, during the tournament, they lost all three of their Group C matches.

They conceded a total of nine goals against (2-0 vs Costa Rica, 4-0 vs Brazil, and 3-0 vs Turkey), making China the second most-scored-against squad in the group stage after Saudi Arabia (they conceded 12 goals, losing 9-0, 1-0 and 2-0). As evidenced by the aforementioned final results, China did not score a single goal during the tournament.

Answer: Nicky Butt

In Group F's second matchday, England barely managed to beat Argentina with a successful penalty by David Beckham. In a post-match interview, the legendary Brazilian player Pele was full of praise for Nicky Butt after he played some awesome paces and made some crucial tackles in the match. Pele said that Butt, a midfielder, was the man to fear for Brazil. Brazil ultimately beat England by a score of 2-1 in the quarter-finals. Butt, who was playing for Manchester United at the time, went on to play for Newcastle United and Birmingham City before retiring with Hong Kong team South China in 2011.

Answer: 3

This unlucky group of nations that failed to find the back of the net at the 2002 World Cup were China, Saudi Arabia and, perhaps most shockingly, France. The French made a single point in Group A following a scoreless tie with Uruguay (they lost the other two games 0-1 vs. Senegal and 0-2 vs. Denmark). China and Saudi Arabia could not earn a single point, since they lost all three of their group-stage matches.

These latter two were also the two national teams that conceded the most goals during the tournament.

Answer: Nigeria

One could say that Nigeria was not flying high in this tournament, given that they finished at the very bottom of Group F. The "Super Eagles" lost to Argentina in their debut match by 1-0, and were then defeated 2-1 by Sweden in their next match. Even though Nigeria managed to draw 0-0 with England, it wasn't enough and the team was eliminated after only having earned one point.

Answer: Germany vs Brazil

Brazil, managed by Luiz Felipe Scolari, won their fifth World Cup by defeating Germany 2-0 in the final. The two goals were scored in the second half by Ronaldo, who also ended as the tournament's top goal-scorer. Cafu, the team captain, was the first to lift the trophy following the win. He added this victory to his collection, given that he had previously appeared in two other finals and had also been part of the winning squad in 1994. In the third-place match, Turkey defeated South Korea by 3-2.

Brazil's five World Cup titles: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002.