the last time the world cup was played in the united states was 2002.
the last time the world cup was played in the united states was 2002.
when was the last time the world cup was played in the united states?
2002
brazil's qualifying for the event marked the first time in history in which a returning champion (the country had won the 2002 world cup) had to play for a berth in the next world cup — that had a direct effect in the organization of the 2006 world cup: since the 1990 world cup, the competition has had an opening match, which is played immediately after the opening ceremonies; until the last world cup, this match was a privilege of the winner of the previous world cup, who would play its first match as the first match of the given world cup, against an opponent from its group, as decided by the official draw (in the 1990 world cup, argentina, winner of the 1986 fifa world cup, played cameroon in the opening match; in 1994, germany, winner of the 1990 world cup, played bolivia; in 1998, brazil played scotland and in 2002 france played senegal). as of the 2006 world cup, because of the change in the rules, with the last champion no longer having a secured berth in the competition, the opening match has become another privilege of the host nation (in the 2006 world cup, germany, as the host nation, played costa rica in the opening match). despite being the returning champion, the brazilian team debuted, against croatia, only four days after the opening ceremonies and the opening match.
brazil at the 2006 fifa world cup
as the defending champions, india went into the 2015 world cup co-hosted by australia and new zealand with high expectations and were billed pre-tournament favourites. unlike in 2007 and 2011, this time india went into the world cup on the back of poor results, with a mediocre australian tour preceding the event. despite this, it was expected that india would still do well in the world cup due to their familiarity with the australian conditions, having already spent more than 2 months there. the indian team for the 2015 world cup comprised only 4 members from the 2011 world cup-winning squad, which included captain and wicketkeeper mahendra singh dhoni, virat kohli, who was now the vice-captain of the side and one of the best batsmen in odi cricket, suresh raina and ravichandran ashwin. for the first time since the 1992 world cup, the indian world cup squad was without sachin tendulkar, who had retired from all forms of cricket in 2013, while the other stars of the 2011 world cup such as virender sehwag, yuvraj singh, gautam gambhir, harbhajan singh and zaheer khan were dropped due to poor form. despite the absence of these key performers, the indian world cup squad was still a strong side, with a power-packed batting lineup comprising kohli, dhoni, raina, destructive openers rohit sharma and shikhar dhawan and the stylish middle-order bat ajinkya rahane, and a strong bowling attack comprising pacers mohammed shami, umesh yadav, mohit sharma and bhuvneshwar kumar, supplemented by the spinners ashwin and all-rounder ravindra jadeja. the 1996 world cup format, which was also used in 2011, was used for the last time in the world cup, as the 2019 world cup would see the return of the round-robin format last used in 1992. in the group stage, india were placed in group b with arch-rivals pakistan, south africa, the west indies, minnows zimbabwe and associates ireland and the uae.
india at the cricket world cup