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Spain Is Now an Underdog to Make the Knockout Stage

This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to Spain. The Spanish lost their World Cup opener in 2010 — but not like this. The last time Spain conceded five or more goals in a match, as it did on Friday in a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands, was exactly 51 years ago, in a friendly against Scotland on […]

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Spain Is Now an Underdog to Make the Knockout Stage

This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to Spain. The Spanish lost their World Cup opener in 2010 — but not like this. The last time Spain conceded five or more goals in a match, as it did on Friday in a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands, was exactly 51 years ago, in a friendly against Scotland on […]

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Brazil’s (Ugly) Win Didn’t Change Its Prospects All That Much

Brazil defeated Croatia 3-1 in the opening match of the World Cup on Thursday — while looking about as bad as it could while winning by that scoreline. Its go-ahead goal came on a penalty kick following a dubious call by referee Yuichi Nishimura. Its third goal perhaps ought to have been stopped by Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa. […]

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Brazil’s (Ugly) Win Didn’t Change Its Prospects All That Much

Brazil defeated Croatia 3-1 in the opening match of the World Cup on Thursday — while looking about as bad as it could while winning by that scoreline. Its go-ahead goal came on a penalty kick following a dubious call by referee Yuichi Nishimura. Its third goal perhaps ought to have been stopped by Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa. […]

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The History of the World Cup in 20 Charts

Brazil, the World Cup host and the clear favorite (in our view), will start off the tournament Thursday with a match against Croatia. Soon after, 30 other countries will take to the pitch with varying prospects of achieving their World Cup dreams. See the FiveThirtyEight World Cup predictions for more on that. But first: a brief tour of World Cup history. We wanted […]

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