Italy have a very bad record against teams with the word North in their name.
Eliminated by Northern Ireland in 1958, North Korea in 1966 and North Macedonia in 2022.
They also have a bad record against teams with South in their name, being eliminated in 2002 with South Korea, being beaten in 1994 by Southern Ireland and being beaten 14-32 by South Africa last Saturday.
They do however have an exceptional record against teams with West in their name, having never lost a competitive game to West Germany.
Northern Ireland were supposed to play Italy in ther crucial final qualifier in Belfast on December 4th, 1957, but the Hungarian referee couldnât get to Belfast as his flight was grounded by fog in London, so the teams, who were already there, played a friendly instead, which was anything but friendly.
The match eventually took place on January 15th, 1958 and the North win 2-1 to win the group. A draw in that game would have necessitated a play-off at a neutral venue.
It would have to be a team that has qualified for a lot of World Cups but has lost a lot of group matches.
Argentina have qualified for most World Cups but I can recall them losing a good few group matches. 1982 v Belgium, 1990 v Cameroon, 1994 v Bulgaria, 2002 v England, 2018 v Croatia, 2022 v Saudi Arabia.
Brazil almost never lose group matchesâŚitâs not them.
Italy lost to Ireland, Slovakia, UruguayâŚitâs not them.
West Germany lost to East Gerrmany in 1974, Algeria in 1982, Denmark in 1986, Ireland in 2002*, Serbia in 2010, Mexico in 2018, South Korea in 2018, Japan in 2022 and possibly another team in 2022. So theyâve lost a good few too. They never lose on penalties in the knockouts, when they lose, they lose.
It would have to be either Argentina or Mexico then.
Argentina were involved I think in the second group stage in 1974. They probably racked up a couple of losses there. They lost to Italy in 1978 in the group. They racked up three losses in 1982, losing to Belgium, Italy and Brazil.
Which country has taken part in the most opening matches of a World Cup?
Both in terms of stand alone opening matches and including tournaments where the opening matches were multiple matches held simiultaneously at different venues.
Involved in stand alone opening matches in 1950, 1958, 1970, 2010 and 2026 and one of the simultaneous opening matches in 1930 (one of two), 1954 (one of four) and 1962 (one of four).
York City begins with a Y. No club beginning with Y has ever been in the top division of English football.
But clubs begnning with two of the 26 letters of the alphabet have maintained a constant presence in the top division of English football since the start of the Football League in 1888.