Only nine (9) days after the great celebration of the World Cup kicks in, let me bring you some history and remember these sensational games that I'm sure have united us with friends, work colleagues, family members, among others...

What is the soccer world cup?

The FIFA World Cup, also known as the World Cup of Soccer (World Cup of Soccer, in some Spanish-speaking countries), World Cup or World Cup, whose original name was the World Cup, is the international men's soccer tournament at international level. of the most important national teams in the world. In addition there are other competitions that are also world cups of football, among which the Women's World Cup of Soccer, with their respective categories with age limit, the U-20 Soccer World Cup and the U-17 Soccer World Cup stand out, all organized by FIFA. This sporting event is held every four years since 1930, with the exception of the years 1942 and 1946, when it was suspended due to the Second World War. It has two main stages: a qualifying process in which nearly 200 national teams currently participate and a final phase held every four years in a predefined venue in which 32 teams participate for a period of close to one month. The final phase of the tournament is the most important single-discipline sporting event in the world.

France 1998 World Cup The 1998 World Cup was held on the European continent after the positive commercial experience left by the United States four years ago, where it was found that football is not only a sport of unlimited popularity but also a great business that eclipses in certain aspects to the Olympic Games themselves. France 1998 in numbers France '98 was a party for which 32 national teams participated for the first time, a new record in the number of sponsors and with an innovation: it was put into practice after the round of 16. The so-called golden goal or sudden death for games that had to be defined in extra time. The technological development of satellite communications gave rise to the television being in charge of showing all the angles of the event, on and off the field. Any corner of the planet, no matter how distant, received the World Cup images (about 40,000 million people watched the contest on television) and also the images of a country that dressed up and enthusiastically to host international football with honor . ("Let's go blue") because they won in football, but also as hosts. Interestingly, the most recognized player in the history of French football, Michel Platini, managed as an organizer what he could not as a player, raise a World Cup. For the representative 32 were used 10 stadiums: the brand new Stadium of France in Saint-Denis, the Parc des Princes de Paris, the Felix-Boliaert de Lens, the Gerland stadium in Lyon, the Geoffroy-Guichard de Saint-Etienne. the Velodrome of Marseille, the Mosson de Montperlier, the Municipal de Toulouse, the Lescure de Bordeaux and La Beaujoire de Nantes. The eight groups were formed as follows: in A: Brazil, Scotland, Morocco and Norway. In B: Italy, Chile, Cameroon and Austria. In the C: France, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Denmark. In the D: Spain, Nigeria, Paraguay and Bulgaria. In the E: Holland, Belgium, South Korea and Mexico. In the F: Germany, the United States, Yugoslavia and Iran. In group G, Romania, Colombia, England and Tunisia and finally in the H, Argentina, Japan, Jamaica and Croatia. On Wednesday, June 10, in Saint-Denis, the then World Champion, Brazil, played against the Scottish national team. It was an important triumph (2-1) for the South Americans led again by Mario Lobo Zagallo who as a player won two World Cups (1958 and 1962) and as coach of Brazil One (1970). The green selection amarelha was going for its fifth world title, an unprecedented event. For this he led a heavyweight squad: goalkeeper Taffarel, Roberto Carlos, Junior Baiano, Cafu, Leonardo, Dunga, Flavio Conceicao, Denilson, Edmundo, Ronaldo and the best of all, Rivaldo. (absent by decision of the coaching staff: Group A Brazil won it with two wins, 2-1 to Scotland and 3-0 to Morocco and a surprise 2-1 loss to Norway, a selection that in a friendly match had already won in Norwegian territory 4-1 to the Brazilians, the Nordics would qualify second in the group, Italy, under the orders of Cesare Maldini, made its debut with problems against a fierce Chilean team, and with a dubious penalty, the Azzurri squad managed to tie the game within minutes of the match. At the end, after losing 2-1 to the Andeans, with a defensive game and without risking, Italy did not generate attraction, despite having Alessandro Del Piero, Christian Vieri, Fabricio Ravanelli and Roberto Baggio on the roster. the Chileans, with the help of coach Nelson Acosta and the duo Salas-Zamorano, were diluted with the running of the matches and ended up losing 4-1 in the round of 16 against Brazil.

Korea / Japan 2002 YOKOHAMA, Japan - With the triumph of Brazil and its pentacampeonato, the FIFA World Cup of Korea-Japan 2002, the first held in Asia, closed its doors leaving few flashes of magic, many joys and disappointments , arbitration controversies and the return of Ronaldo. Korea-Japan 2002 in numbers But beyond football and statistics, it is worth noting that in the 2002 tournament, for the first time in its history, FIFA decided to carry forward what was unthinkable years ago: the organization of a shared World Cup. The decision had its conflicts, because if it is considered that organizing a World Cup already implies setbacks, organizing the same event in two different venues sounds more complicated. As Keith Cooper, FIFA's Director of Communications explained at the time, the 2002 World Cup was not only the organization of the same event in two different venues but also in two antagonistic countries. According to Cooper himself, the differences between the two nations were possibly not detected by the Western world at first sight, but both Japan and South Korea had, and have, a marked historical animosity, political distance, economic rivalry, cultural differences and languages completely different Even so, the 2002 project was carried forward. In terms of infrastructure, Japan had to build eight new stadiums and Korea ten. It was not a cheap world cup, but it left its positive dividends to the two federations and to FIFA. The tournament lasted 30 days, that is three days less than that of France 1998 and television was the main financial weapon of the two venues and FIFA. The satellite broadcasts until the eighth-finals were through the air television and pay-per-view system. The semi-finals, the third place and the final were broadcast only by open channel. The opening day of the World Cup of the new millennium was played on June 1, 2002 in Seoul as well as one of the semifinals, since the other was defined in Japanese territory. The Korean capital also served to elucidate the third place while the grand final was held in Yokohama, Japan. As a corollary to the footballing event, FIFA, for now, made it clear that Korea and Japan were the last World Cup shared. There must be a reason.

Germany 2006 As it did in 1974, Germany again organized a new World tournament in 2006, albeit with a difference. While in 1974, then West Germany was world champion by beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final this time the German team was halfway to lose in the semifinals 2-0 against Italy. Of consolation the host was third after winning 3-1 against Portugal. Germany 2006 in numbers With the support of UEFA, that is, the majority of European countries, Germany had a solid project and first-rate stadiums that served as a stage for the matches. The work of Franz Beckenbauer in the promotion of the German candidacy was important and aroused praise throughout Germany. For Beckenbauer, the organization of the Championship was a personal challenge and toured half the world counting the excellence of an application that provided a perfect infrastructure, great financial investment and optimal security planning, but of course, it is good to note that for the World Cup to be a success in every sense Germany contributed more than 400 million dollars in investments. Thus, Germany played the opening match on June 9, 2006 in Munich against Costa Rica (4-2) in a spectacular audience and in a country that inside and outside the stadium behaved like a class host, even now despite not crowned champion of the World. It was a real football party, with drawbacks, true, but unlike the Korea-Japan Asian tournament of 2002, football was breathed from the start with energy and eager to have fun, beyond the results. Likewise, authorizations were extended, a guided system was extended from the departures of the authorities to the stadiums, as well as the renovation of central stations and suburban train stations in the cities that will be guests of the World Cup, from June 9 to 9. July 2006. Nearly 4 billion dollars were affected by traffic on the routes, on the other hand the rail network invested several billion euros and the organizers were pleased when 50% of the visitors used the rail transports.

South Africa 2010 On July 11, 2010 will be a date recorded forever in the memory of all Spanish fans. That night the national team was proclaimed for the first time in history world champion. A select group of footballers put the good game ahead of the individuals and achieved what is still a historic milestone. Spain won the final in the Netherlands. The Red needed the extension to be able to defeat a leathery 'Oranje'. Andres Iniesta, in minute 116, was the only scorer of the match. Before, Arjen Robben had up to twice to score against Casillas, but 'San Iker' took both duels. It was not much less a path of roses for those of Del Bosque. The initial trip to Switzerland caused the skepticism of more than one fan, but La Roja threw gallons to beat Honduras first and then Chile. In the second round he got rid of Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, in fourth he did the same against Paraguay and in the semifinals he eliminated Joachim Löw's Germany. The end is already known to the whole world.

Brazil 2014 the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil was the 20th edition of the Football World Cup. This tournament was held in Brazil between June 12 and July 13, 2014, being the second time that this sporting event is held in that country, after the 1950 championship. After the FIFA president, Joseph Blatter , established in 2001 the criterion of continental rotation of the tournament headquarters, South America was selected in 2004 to celebrate in 2014 its first cup from Argentina 1978. Despite the initial enthusiasm of some countries, only Brazil and Colombia presented their official candidacies before of the deadline, in December 2006. Some months later, Colombia withdrew its candidacy, leaving Brazil as the only applicant. On October 30, 2007, FIFA officially designated it as the host country of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.3 202 FIFA affiliated federations participated, through their representative teams, in the qualifying process to determine the 31 selections participants in the tournament, in addition to the host. The championship was organized in two phases: in the first, eight groups of four teams were formed each, advancing to the next round the two best of each group. The sixteen qualifiers would face each other in qualifying matches, until they reached the two teams that played the final on July 13 at the historic Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil made a millionaire investment to renew its sports and transport infrastructure in order to organize the tournament. In total, 12 stadiums were defined to be the headquarters of the parties. However, the high cost incurred in the works and their delays, led to a series of protests by the Brazilian population, before and during the World Cup. In the development of the contest there was a series of surprises during the group stage, highlighting the elimination of Spain, the defending selection of the world title. The England and Italy champions were also eliminated in the first phase. In addition, there was an important advance of the American teams, eight of which qualified for the second round. Also for the first time in a World Cup, two African teams advanced to the second phase, in this case, Algeria and Nigeria. During the eighth and quarterfinals the most anticipated results were given, highlighting the parity of the matches, which were decided by minimal differences in the score, in the extra time or in the penalty shootout. The semifinals put face to face, in each of them, a European team with a South American, reaffirming the historical hegemony of the respective associations. Brazil was overtaken by Germany in a historic match, while Argentina reached the final after winning a penalty shootout to the Netherlands. In the final, Germany defeated Argentina 1: 0 in the extension, crowned for the fourth time as world champion and transforming it into the first European team to win a World Cup in American territory. Technically, the tournament featured the debut in a World Cup Soccer transmission system in ultra high definition (4K resolution), as well as the premiere of sensors to avoid ghostly goals with automatic goal detection system (DAG) ), used to determine, in doubtful plays, whether or not the ball crossed the goal line.