“Franco Armani won his first cap for Argentina against Nigeria in the group stage,” notes Brian Langdon. “Has anyone made their international debut at a later stage of the World Cup or another major tournament?”

Armani made his debut at the age of 31 after Willy Caballero’s nightmare against Croatia. He joins a long list of players who made their international debut during the group stage, including Josimar and a number of England players that we highlighted in last week’s Knowledge.

There is at least one case of a player making his debut during the knockout stages of the World Cup. The Brazil right-back Ze Carlos won his first – and only - cap at the age of 29 in the classic World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands in 1998. Cafu, the usual right-back, was suspended. He returned for the final, and Ze Carlos returned to relative anonymity.

It’s widely reported that Uruguay’s Rubén Morán made his international debut in the final match of the 1950 World Cup – against Brazil, in the Maracana, at the age of 19. It’s with a heavy heart that the Knowledge can report one of its favourite World Cup stories is actually a myth: the Brazil game was Morán’s third cap. It’s still a great story, though it had a sad ending – the youngest of that legendary Uruguay side was the first to die. Morán died in 1978 at 47 years old.

There have been at least two players who have made their international debuts in the knockout stage of the European Championship. Samuel Umtiti won his first cap for France in the Euro 2016 quarter-final against Iceland. And the West German forward Dieter Müller made his debut in the Euro 76 semi-final, when he came on as an 80th-minute substitute against Yugoslavia. Oh, and he scored a hat-trick to give West Germany a 4-2 win. Now that’s a debut.

Have you got any other examples? If so, email knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet@TheKnowledge_GU

Eliminated but unbeaten

“Scotland were the only unbeaten side at the 1974 World Cup, yet were knocked out at the group stage,” says Peter Sagar. “Has this happened before or since?”

Last week we looked at Algeria 1982, the only team to go out of the World Cup after winning two group matches. But as Peter points out, there is another group with a helluva hard-luck story to tell: teams who went out without losing a game. That fate befell Scotland’s 1974 side. They drew with Brazil and Yugoslavia, but went out on goal difference after beating Zaire 2-0 in their opening game. Brazil (3-0) and Yugoslavia (9-0) bettered that.

A number of other teams have gone out in similar circumstances. New Zealand were the only unbeaten team at the 2010 World Cup, after drawing all three group games. The same happened to Cameroon in 1982 and Belgium in 1998.

New Zealand’s undefeated World Cup team of 2010 wave to the crowd after drawing 1-1 with Slovakia in their opening group game. Photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images

A couple of teams had longer unbeaten runs without winning the tournament. England played five matches in 1982, going out in the second group stage, while Brazil played seven in 1978: three in the first group stage, three in the second – when they were eliminated on goal difference after Argentina’s controversial 6-0 win over Peru – and one in the third-place playoff, when they beat Italy 2-1.

Finally, a number of teams have remained unbeaten in normal and extra-time but went out of the tournament on penalties. The list includes Brazil and Mexico in 1986, Italy in 1990 (England were unbeaten when they went out but later lost the third-place playoff), Italy again and the Netherlands in 1998, Ireland and Spain in 2002 Switzerland, Argentina, England and France in 2006, Costa Rica and the Netherlands in 2014 – and, of course, Spain on Sunday.

Sweet spot

“In my local grocery store (TX_USA), I saw these at the checkout,” tweets Paperhankie, stuffing himself with James Harden-inspired sours. “Big beardy basketball player. Any soccer players have/had a candy/sweet named after them?”



Step forward Leônidas da Silva, the Brazilian genius who was the top scorer at the 1938 World Cup. His performances in that tournament were so impressive that a French journalist nicknamed him ‘the Black Diamond’. The name stuck and the Brazilian chocolate manufacturer Lacta repackaged their existing product. They renamed it Diamante Negro (yep, that translates as Black Diamond), and Leônidas advertised the product himself. “To this day,” writes Marcelo Miranda, “Diamante Negro is one of the best-selling chocolate bars in Brazil.”

It is no Sugarpova – how can you ever forget – but Aleksander Gjerdevik brings more sweet offerings. “In the 1990s Norway had the Drillo ice cream, named after the national team coach Egil ‘Drillo’ Olsen,” he says. Shins sends in a snap of gelatine-free strawberry spaghetti by the name of the Brazilian Bebeto, hopefully linked to the USA 94 World Cup winner.

Have you got any other examples? If so, email knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet@TheKnowledge_GU

Knowledge archive

“Has a player ever received a second booking for time-wasting when being substituted? If so, can his replacement still come on or not?” pondered Umberto Wibbi back in 2008.

Let’s get one thing clear, should a player receive a red card for time-wasting during his departure from the field of play then the chap poised to replace him may as well put his tracky bottoms back on. According to the whistle-blowing boffins in black, them’s the rules Umberto.

“It happened at Deepdale to Preston centre-back Youl Mawéné in a game against West Brom,” points out Lilywhite Aaron Lavery. “Having been booked five minutes earlier he was due to be substituted after suffering a shoulder injury. He started trotting off only to be ordered to stay on by management as we were defending a corner.” Gather round, folks, for here’s the good bit. “The referee viewed Youl’s decision to stop and turn back as time-wasting and duly gave him the second yellow.”

Wibbi’s wonderings also pricked up the ears of Cláudio Gameiro. It’s a World Cup qualification clash between Portugal and Germany in Berlin and Cláudio picks up the story just as Rui Costa was dawdling off the pitch too slowly. “A few metres from leaving the pitch, furious French referee Marc Batta ran towards Rui Costa and showed him a second yellow card,” he fumes. “With no substitute allowed for Rui Costa, down to 10 men and 15 minutes left, playing in Berlin with an angry French referee, it’s easy to guess what happened next?”

“Germany equalised, we lost two vital points and we had to wait until South Korea and Japan in 2002.”

Can you help?

“Was the pass for South Korea’s second goal against Germany the longest assist in World Cup history?” asks Michael McCourt.

“While watching France v Argentina I noticed that France’s kit (blue shirt, white shorts, red socks) is their flag rotated 90 degrees,” writes Ivor Leonard. “Are there any other international teams that wear their flag as a kit?”

Kylian Mbappé sporting France’s flag-inspired kit. Photograph: Anthony Dibon/Icon Sport via Getty Images

“Over the course of Spain’s last three World Cups, what is their pass to goal ratio?” asks Alex Potter.