england last won an opening game world cup in 1998.
england last won an opening game world cup in 1998.
when did england last win an opening game world cup?
1998
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
this defeat represented the first time that germany had lost the opening game in defence of their trophy. they beat argentina 3–1 in 1958, drew 0–0 with poland in 1978, and defeated bolivia 1–0 in 1994. germany lost their opening match at a world cup for only the second time, having done so in 1982, against algeria. this is the third consecutive world cup in which the reigning champion has failed to win their opening match – italy drew 1–1 with paraguay in 2010, while spain lost 5–1 against the netherlands in 2014; and also the fourth champions failed to win their opening match, as france lost 0–1 to senegal at the 2002 fifa world cup (all of whom, coincidentally, had been knocked out at the group stage). germany had 26 shots, the most by a side without scoring in a world cup fixture since 2006 (portugal v england, 29 shots in a 0–0 draw). mexico beat germany for only the second time – their last win against them came in a friendly in june 1985. rafael márquez featured in his fifth world cup finals, becoming just the third player to achieve this feat – along with mexico's antonio carbajal and germany's lothar matthäus.
2018 fifa world cup group f