2018 Russia Trivia

1. On June 22, Brazil earned their first victory of the tournament by beating Costa Rica 2-0, with goals by Neymar and Philippe Coutinho. What was peculiar (and historic) about both goals?

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 6

Answer: Both were scored in time added-on

Brazil was coming from a disappointing 1-1 tie with Switzerland, while Costa Rica had lost against Serbia, so both teams were motivated to make the most out of this match. The game was hard-fought by both squads, with Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas doing a lot of work to save his team throughout the match. The last 15 minutes of the match were especially contested. The referee had called a penalty for Brazil but backed down after VAR showed Neymar had dived (this was the first time in history that a World Cup penalty was called off by VAR). At the 90'+ 1 mark, Brazil finally found their goal when Philippe Coutinho surprised the Costa Rican defenders and scored. Four minutes later, Brazil sealed their win with another goal by Neymar. This was the first time in World Cup history that a match which had been tied throughout was decided by a difference of two or more goals. Neymar's goal also became the latest goal ever scored in the tournament.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Knock-out stages

Answer: Benjamin Parvad

In the 13th minute, Griezmann scored a penalty to put France ahead by 1-0. Argentina hit back with 2 goals from a spectacular goal by Angel Di Maria in the 41st from well outside the box and Gabrial Mercado in the 48th minute from close range. In the 57th minute, Parvard scored the wonder spinning goal from outside the box to make it 2-2. France went ahead by 4-2 when Mbappe scored two goals in quick succession in the 64th and 68th minute. Argentina's Kun Aguero scored in extra time after 90th minute to make the final score 4-3.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 2

Answer: Marcos Rojo

Messi put Argentina ahead in the 14th minute, Victor Moses equalized for Nigeria with a penalty in the 51st minute. Rojo scored the winning goal in the 86th minute which enabled Argentina to qualify for the knock-out phase, finishing second in the group behind Crotia.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 1

Answer: First goal scored by a substitute in the opening game

For the first time in World Cup's history, goals were scored by substitutes in the opening match. Denis Chershev who replaced Alan Dzagoev scored two goals. Another goal scored by the second substitute Artem Dyzuba in the second half only after a few minutes he was in the match. The 5-0 margin beat the previous 4-0 opening match winning score by Brazil over Mexico in 1950.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 1

Answer: Yuri Gazinsky

Russia v Saudi Arabia was the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and it was played on June 14, 2018. At the 11 minute mark, midfielder Aleksandr Golovin crossed powerfully after a corner kick, and his teammate Yuri Gazinsky scored the goal with a header. This instance marked Gazinsky's first goal with the Russia national team, and he became the third player to score the first goal of a World Cup with the head, after France's Lacombe in 1978 and Cameroon's Omam-Biyick in 1990. Yury Gazinsky made his debut with FC Smena Komsomolsk-na-Amure in 2007, where he scored 10 goals. After playing for Luch-Energiya and FC Torpedo Moscow, both of the Russian Professional League, he was signed for FC Krasnodar in 2013. He began playing for the Russia national squad in 2016.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 2

Answer: Brazil

Brazil was first out of ten teams. They achieved forty-one points, won twelve games, drew five and lost one. They scored forty-one goals and conceded eleven. Russia 2018 is the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup. They're only team to qualify for every World Cup finals tournament, all twenty-one (Russia 2018 was the 21s edition).

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 1

Answer: Iceland

Iceland was the surprise winner of Group I with 22 points, ahead of Croatia on 20 points. Iceland created history by setting a new record for the smallest nation in terms of population (just under 350,000 in 2017) to qualify for the finals. The previous record was held by Trinidad & Tobago who had a population of around 1.3m when they qualified for the 2006 World Cup.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Knock-out stages

Answer: Pepe

Uruguay went 1-0 ahead when Cavani scored early in the 7th minute. Pepe equalized in the 55th minute from a header. The winning goal by Cavani was scored in the 62nd minute. Unfortunately for Uruguay, Cavani was injured and had to be replaced, taking no further part in the latter stages.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 2

Answer: Both goals scored during time added-on after 90 minutes

Costa Rica managed to hold Brazil up to the 90th minute. The two goals were scored in stoppage time. Coutinho scored the opening goal in the 90+1 minute, the second goal by Neymar was in the 90+7 minute, with almost the last kick of the match. Costa Rica was eliminated at group stage after their second straight loss.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 1

Answer: 1970

This was the first win recorded by Uruguay since 1970, when they beat Israel 2-0 in their opening match. Uruguay finished fourth in the 1970 edition. The 2018 World Cup was the thirteenth time they had qualified.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 2

Answer: Ecuador

In their last match, away to Ecuador, Argentina started badly trailing by one goal in the very first minute. They came from behind to win the match with a final score of 3-1, with star player Lionel Messi scoring all the three goals. They finished third in the CONMEBOL confederation qualification group.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 1

Answer: Denmark

In the first leg, Denmark only managed to draw 0-0 against Ireland in Copenhagen. In the second leg in Dublin, Ireland scored first in the sixth minute. Denmark's Christian Eriksen scored three goals to help his team beat Ireland 5-1.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 5

Answer: Uruguay

Egypt's earlier loss against Russia left Saudi Arabia with a small chance of climbing up the ranks of Group A. Unfortunately for them, they had to face the tough squad of Uruguay. In the 23rd minute, Uruguay was given a corner kick. The Saudi Arabian goalkeeper tried to catch the ball but missed, leaving the goal wide open for Luis Suarez to gently push the ball into the net. This would be the only goal of the match. Luis Suarez is one of the most famous Uruguayan strikers in recent history. He has played for top clubs like Liverpool, Barcelona, and Atletico de Madrid. Although Suarez has won multiple accolades, he also has had his fair share of controversies. Some of these include stopping a goal by Ghana with his hand during the 2010 World Cup (which culminated in Ghana being eliminated) and biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Knock-out stages

Answer: Completed more than 1000 passes

Spain completed 1031 passes against 204 passes from Russia. Their ball possession was 75% against 25% from Russia and passing accuracy was 91% against 72%. Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev was the Russian hero who saved two penalties to enable Russia to upset Spain by 4-3. Russia converted all four penalty kicks, without the need to go to the fifth as Spain's fifth penalty was saved.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 2

Answer: Deflection off his boot

Probably the easiest three goals scored in World Cup history, Kane's first two goals were from the penalty spot. The third goal was a shot from Ruben Loftus-Cheek which hit the back of his boot and deflected into the Panama's goal. The 6-1 score was England's biggest-ever victory margin in World Cup history. The three goals scored by Kane was England's first since 1986 by Gary Lineker.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 1

Answer: USA

The 2018 edition was the fifth qualification for Iran. In 1998 at France, they recorded their only victory with a 2-1 win against the USA. They were eliminated in the group stage losing the other two games to Germany and FR Yugoslavia. The win over Morocco was only Iran's second in World Cup history.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 1

Answer: With a header

The stadium went crazy when Artem Dzyuba, who had just replaced Fedor Smolov 88 seconds before, was assisted by Golovin to score the third goal and seal the match. Dzyuba headed the ball over the Saudi defenders, leaving the keeper with no chance of stopping the ball. This was the first time in World Cup history that Russia scored at least two goals with the head in one match. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia conceded its 14th header goal in World Cups in their 14th match. Artem Dzyuba has played with Russia since 2006, when he debuted in the under-18 squad. He belonged to Spartak Moscow from 2006 to 2015, a period in which he was also loaned to Tom Tomsk and Rostov. In 2015, he was transferred to Zenit St. Petersburg, and loaned to Arsenal Tula in 2018.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 2

Answer: Peru

Peru finished fifth in the CONMEBOL zone with twenty-six points (7 wins, 5 draws, 6 losses). They defeated New Zealand with an aggregate score of 2-0 (2-0 home, 0-0 away) to become the last team to qualify.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 1

Answer: Italy, Netherlands

Italy finished second behind Spain in Group G with 23 points. In the playoff, they were edged by Sweden with an aggregate score of 1-0. This was the first time they had failed to qualify since 1958. The Netherlands finished 3rd in UEFA Group A with 19 points, level with Sweden, and were edged out on goal difference. Sweden had +19 goals against the Netherlands' +9 goals.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 4

Answer: Head

The match was tied 1-1 at half-time, after which not too many interesting plays happened. At the 73rd minute mark, Japan took a corner kick and Osako did not miss the golden opportunity he received. He leaped up in the air, beating a swarm of Colombian defenders, and strongly headed the ball into the net. With this goal, Japan became the first Asian national squad to defeat a South American representative. The scorer of the 2018 World Cup's 35th goal was Yuya Osako, a forward who has spent much of his career in Germany, playing for clubs like 1860 Munich, 1. FC Koln, and Werder Bremen. This was Osako's only goal in the competition. Japan and Colombia both made it through the group stage, and they were both eliminated in the round of 16.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 2

Answer: Switzerland

In the Group E match, Serbia scored early in the match (in the 5th minute). In the second half, Switzerland stormed back to score two goals, Granit Xhaka in the 52nd minute from well outside the box and Xerdan Shaqiri in the 90th minute. Germany was the second and the only other team to come from behind, defeating Sweden 2-1 after being a goal down.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 1

Answer: First player above the age of 30 to score three in a match

Ronaldo became the first player above the age of 30 (33 years, 130 days) to score three goals in a single match. He was the fourth player to score a goal in four World Cups. The first three were: Pele (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970), Seeler (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970) and Klose (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018). Eusebio was the first Portuguese player to score 4 goals in a single match, against North Korea in 1966 which Portugal won 5-3, after being three goals down in the first 30 minutes.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 1

Answer: Artem Szyuba

Although according to some broadcasters Artem Szyuba was apparently in an off-side position, he passed the ball to Denis Cheryshev, who was chosen as man of the match at the end. Cheryshev scored a wonderful goal, with the Luzhniki Stadium erupting again as this happened. The Russian crowd was certainly happy to see their team winning 4-0. Cheryshev continued to make history, becoming the tenth player in history to score two goals in a World Cup opening match. Before Cheryshev, the last one to do it was Neymar in 2014 with Brazil.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 2

Answer: Iran

Iran won this group with twenty-two points (6 wins, 4 draws, no loss). They finished seven points ahead of runner-up South Korea (4 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses). Both teams qualified for the finals.

From Quiz Road to Russia - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Part 1

Answer: Germany

Germany were very impressive in winning all their matches in Group C, finishing 11 points ahead of Northern Ireland. They scored 43 goals and conceded only four goals.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 5

Answer: Christian

Prior to this match, Denmark had beaten Peru while Australia lost against France. Both teams were motivated to make the most out of this game, although they ended up taking one point each from their draw. Denmark opened the match with a great volley caught in the air by Christian Eriksen. His goal was the third-fastest World Cup goal for Denmark, preceded by goals by Jorgensen in 92 seconds and Moller in 124 seconds, both in 1998. Widely regarded, as one of the best Danish strikers, Eriksen played back then for Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored more than 60 goals. In 2021, Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest during a UEFA Euro match. The shocking scene caused worry in the stadium and around the world. Eriksen miraculously recovered and was able to play again months later.

From Quiz Goals of the Russia 2018 World Cup - 3

Answer: Brazilians claimed there was a foul

At 50', the Swiss executed a corner kick and somehow, Steven Zuber managed to sneak in between four Brazilians and put the ball into the net with his head. Brazilians claimed that the goal should not have been valid because Zuber pushed the Brazilian defender who was next to him. In the days following the match, members of the Brazil team argued that this would have been a good opportunity to use the newly-implemented VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system. Mexican referee Cesar Ramos did not even consult with the VAR team and conceded the goal as legitimate from the start.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Knock-out stages

Answer: Three

England lost on penalty kicks to Germany in the 1990 semi-final, Argentina in the second round (round of 16) in 1998 and in 2006 to Portugal in the quarter-finals. England won by 4-3 on penalty kick after the score was tied at 1-1 after 120 minutes of play. Head coach, Gareth Southgate, revealed that they had been practicing penalty kicks for five months before the tournament.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 2

Answer: Open goal

The Germans were desperate after falling behind by one goal in 90+3 minute. Manuel Neuer the German keeper left his post to play and lost the ball in the Korean's half to a Korean player, who made a long pass to Son Heung-min. Son latched on the ball to beat the last German defender to score an open goal in 90+6 minute. This was the first ever victory by an Asian team over Germany in World Cup history. The last time Germany was eliminated in the first round was by Switzerland in 1938. They lost 2-4 in a replay after a 1-1 draw in the first game.

From Quiz 2018 FIFA World Cup-Russia: Group Stages Part 1

Answer: 1982

1982 was the last time Germany (West Germany) lost the opening match when they were beaten 1-2 by Algeria. However they recovered from that loss to reach the grand final which they were defeated by Italy 1-3. Mexico recorded their first ever win against Germany in a World Cup match, after suffering three defeats in previous editions.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:52 AM

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