Here’s a question that you won’t find in Never Mind The Penalties – The Ultimate World Cup Quiz Book: How many squads at the 2010 World Cup didn’t feature English-based players?
The total at this year’s tournament will almost certainly be lower, with only Colombia and Russia lacking options from the English leagues as the countdown continues to Brazil 2014.
Subject to availability – a phrase which embraces such eventualities as injury at the end of a tough domestic season or maybe lengthy suspension after appalling behaviour – Germany will surely select Mesut Özil and Uruguay will pin their hopes on Luis Suárez, both having shone in South Africa and then in the Premier League.
And if the tournament fails to excite punters and pundits in quite the same way as before then it’s almost certainly down to the fact that we no longer have to wait four years to see the world’s best players. Many of them are in action in our own competitions every week, with the rest beamed to our screens via wall-to-wall coverage of the Champions League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.
The movement which developed into an overseas invasion of players into the English game began as a trickle. Spurs were at the forefront in 1978 when they signed Argentina’s World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricki Villa. Later that year Manchester City recruited the stylish Kazimierz Deyna, who had captained the Poland side which denied England in the 1974 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Since then countless performers from world football’s biggest stage have paraded their skills...
Five stars of the World Cup and the Premier League
Dennis Bergkamp
A mean streak which surfaced occasionally couldn’t detract from the quality of a player who scored stylish and stunning goals for Arsenal and the Netherlands, notably against Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup.
Jurgen Klinsmann
Infuriated fans with his theatrics for the German national side but then brought smiles to their faces with the diving goal celebration which appeared regularly during two successful spells with Spurs.
Luis Suárez
A bad boy at the 2010 World Cup with Uruguay and on many occasions since with Liverpool but arguably the most lethal striker in the Premier League and a major threat to England’s hopes of progress this summer.
Dan Petrescu
Sheffield Wednesday brought Romania’s attacking full-back to England after he impressed at the 1994 World Cup and he soon made an impact in the Premier League. Chelsea signed him the following year and he became a key player at Stamford Bridge.
Jay Jay Okocha
England in 2002 were Jay Jay Okocha’s last opponents in his third World Cup finals. Four seasons at Bolton Wanderers followed and he signed off at Hull City. Had the magical midfielder managed more than 18 appearances, City would surely have won a Premier League place without having to battle through the play-offs.
World Cup wish list – five legends who would have enhanced the English game
Gheorghe Hagi
A mercurial midfielder who starred for Romania at three consecutive World Cups. Nicknamed “the Maradona of the Carpathians”, Hagi played for Real Madrid and Barcelona before leading the transformation of Galatasaray into European contenders. He would have improved any English club of his time.
Hristo Stoichkov
Experienced mixed fortunes as Bulgaria exited the 1998 finals without a point four years after shocking holders Germany on their way to the semi-finals. Stoichkov scored the first goal against the Germans and finished as the 1994 tournament’s joint top scorer.
Paolo Rossi
Italians have made their mark in the English gave but we have never quite attracted the very best. Paolo Maldini would have been a catch and Totò Schillaci’s goal celebrations would have been a sight to behold. But the addition of Paolo Rossi, hero of the 1982 Finals, would have been a game-changer.
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Supremely talented, a prolific goal scorer and with an ego the size of his native Sweden, Ibrahimović would be perfect for the Premier League. Instead he’s delivered outstanding and outrageous performances for the likes of Ajax, Juventus, Barcelona and both Milan clubs, but at the age of 32 there’s still time for a London swansong.
Zinedine Zidane
The World Cup has not provided the best stage for Zizou as France lurched from the ecstasy of 1998 to the collective embarrassment of 2002 and his personal shame in 2006. Retirement spared him a hat-trick of humiliations in 2010, but as a player he had it all would have pulled the crowds in the Premier League.
One to watch in 2014
Rather than an individual player I’ll be keeping an eye on the team who could just make a mockery of the old joke about ten famous Belgians. Fourth place in 1986 is their best finish so far and they haven’t even qualified for the last two tournaments, but Mignolet in goal, Kompany at the back and Hazard up front are only three reasons why Belgium are a team to avoid in Brazil.
Oh, and the answer to that question by the way is five: Germany, Italy, Japan, North Korea and Uruguay.
Never Mind The Penalties: The Ultimate World Cup Quiz Book, written by Phil Ascough with a foreword by Kevin Kilbane, will be published by The History Press in the spring.