Bizarre incidents in football (mainly in FIFA World Cup™)

1. Claudio Caniggia of Argentina was sent-off from the substitution bench in the match against Sweden in the FIFA World Cup™ 2002.

2. In the World Cup™ 2002 qualifiers in Oceanian group, American Samoa had major difficulties in finding enough players against Australia. So, they fielded an amateur side that included several high-school students who were barely old enough to play in a senior national team. Australia thrashed them 31-0.

3. The most diplomatic piece of referring has been seen in the final match of 1930 FIFA World Cup™ in Uruguay. At the outset of the final between Uruguay and Argentina, a dispute erupted about the ball. Belgian referee John Langenus decided that each half would be played with a ball from one of the teams. Argentina won the draw and kicked off the first half with an Argentinian ball. The second half was then played with a Uruguayan ball.

Interesting facts about FIFA World Cup

1. The first goal was scored by France’s Lucien Laurent against Mexico after 19 minutes on 13 July 1930.
2. Fastest goal was scored after 11 seconds by Hakan Şükür of Turkey against Korea Republic in the 3rd place match in 2002.
3. Swiss player Ernst Lörtscher is the first player to score an own goal in the replay match against Nazi Germany in 1938.
4. Ernie Brandt from the Netherlands is the only player to score goals for both teams in the same match. He scored an own goal in the 18th minute, and then scored the equalizer in the 50th minute. His teammate Arie Haan eventually scored the winning goal, giving the Netherlands a 2-1 win against Italy in the second round match in 1978.
5. Hungary registered the biggest win ever against El Salvador by 10-1 in 1982.