After exploring the mysterious World Cup curses, let’s turn our attention to some lesser-known trivia about participating teams. One pattern that stands out is how host nations often enjoy a significant home-field advantage and tend to perform well overall. Imagine a hypothetical penalty shootout between Croatia and England—who would come out on top? Looking at history, England wouldn’t have much reason to boast, having been eliminated in all three of their previous World Cup shootouts.
Yet during the Round of 16 in this edition of the World Cup, England surprisingly broke their penalty jinx by defeating Colombia in a shootout. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s crucial save against Bacca marked the first successful World Cup penalty stop by an English keeper since David Seaman denied Hernán Crespo back in 1998. If even England can win on penalties, there’s no excuse not to give it your all.
For those less familiar with World Cup history, the appearance of Peru might seem unexpected. But in fact, Peru is no stranger to the tournament—they played in the very first World Cup. However, they had been absent from the finals since 1982. Their return after a 36-year hiatus made them the team with the longest absence among all the participants this time. If even Peru can make it back, casual fans might ask—where are the iconic Italian players?
The answer is simple: Italy failed to qualify. This marked their first absence from the World Cup finals since 1958 and made them the only former champion out of eight to miss this year’s tournament. While host nations often shine, first-time teams typically struggle. Among 22 debuting teams across the past five World Cups—including China—only seven have advanced past the group stage. The rest, unfortunately, became stepping stones for others’ success. Football, like life, is often a story of one hero rising on the backs of many.
In this tournament, Panama and Iceland were the fresh faces, but both bowed out after the group stage. Looking back, hosts have lifted the trophy six times: Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978, and France in 1998. Aside from South Africa in 2010, every host nation has at least progressed beyond the group stage, and Russia became the latest to uphold that tradition.
Since the turn of the millennium, European World Cup winners have faced a strange curse—each has failed to advance past the group stage in the next tournament. France in 2002, Italy in 2010, and Spain in 2014 all fell victim. This time, it was defending champion Germany’s turn, suffering their first group-stage exit in 80 years. Now the question is, will France be next?
In response to these recurring disappointments, reports suggest that powerhouses like Brazil and Spain have introduced new rules to restrict transfers of their national team players to clubs like Bayern Munich and Inter Milan for the next four years. Meanwhile, semi-finalists Belgium and England are rumored to be considering moves that involve their top players joining these same two clubs. Ironically, both teams were considered underdogs but made it past the group stage for the first time in history—and even knocked out a strong Spanish squad on their way to the final eight.
As the legend of the Bayern and Inter curse continues to grow, fans and managers alike are left wondering if history will repeat itself—or if this cycle can finally be broken. For now, Crickex Login users remain glued to every development, tracking stats, surprises, and the teams that dare to rewrite destiny.