World Cup Trivia Question

Callumcafc

England and Belgium will play each other for the second time at this World Cup. It's only the fourth time this has happened in the last 10 World Cups.

Can anyone name the three previous instances of this occuring (without using Google) in the last 40 years?

C_A_F_C

Brazil vs Turkey - 2002

Henry Irving

Italy v Poland I think in 82

Hungary v W Germany in 54 but that's more than 40 years

shirty5

Italy v Poland 1982

Callumcafc

Two down, one to get.

Brazil Turkey 2002
Italy Poland 1982

both correct.

ForeverAddickted

Brazil and Czechoslovakia? - Couldnt tell you the year though

Callumcafc

ForeverAddickted said:

Brazil and Czechoslovakia? - Couldnt tell you the year though

Happened in 1962 so 56 years ago. Also in 1938.

Callumcafc

It was a bit more common with replays and fewer teams in the earlier tournaments so I chose 40 years as the cut off point. Here are a list of instances before then...

1934:
Italy v Spain

1938:
Switzerland v Germany,
Cuba v Romania,
Brazil v Czechoslovakia

1954:
W Germany v Turkey
Switzerland v Italy
Hungary v W Germany

1958:
N Ireland v Czechoslovakia
Hungary v Wales
Soviet Union v England

1962:
Brazil v Czechoslovakia

Callumcafc

Still one more to get. It happened in the 90s.

North Lower Neil

A guess, but Brazil v Sweden 94?

Callumcafc

Got it! That's all of them.

Italy Poland 1982
Brazil Sweden 1994
Brazil Turkey 2002
England Belgium 2018

North Lower Neil

First time neither game has really mattered?

MrOneLung

Of course the first game mattered. It set us on the easy path to the final....

guinnessaddick

MrOneLung said:

Of course the first game mattered. It set us on the easy path to the final....

Which neither team reached, perhaps if the result in the first game was reversed, one of them might have reached the final.