The World Cup, the best teams in the world battling it out. You would expect tight games, with every team being hard to beat.
In this article we look at 14 scores when the games were not close and a team took a real drubbing
Games
27 May 1934 – Italy 7–1 United States
A far superior Italian team had an easy victory against the United States, but they had to play against Mexico in the qualifying just three days earlier.
Schiavo scored two goals in the first half, one of which was from more than 30 yards out. It was 3 – 0 at half time and the USA actually managed to pull a goal back
A very good performance from the US goalkeeper did not stop the Italians scoring seven goals before the final whistle.
5 June 1938 – Hungary 6–0 Dutch East Indies
This was the Dutch East Indies (now called Indonesia) only appearance in the finals and due to the format they only played one game.
The difference between the two teams was evident as the game resulted in a humiliation for the Dutch East Indies, which managed to hold out for just 13 minutes but by half time it was 4-0 to the Hungarians.
In the second half, although Hungary relaxed their pressure and only added 2 goals, they were never truly troubled by the opponents who never really looked like making a comeback.
12 June 1938 – Sweden 8–0 Cuba
Cuba had actually beaten Romania only 3 days earlier in a replay, this contributed to the result
The result was never in doubt as Sweden was more accustomed to playing at this level. Wetterström netted a hat-trick before half-time, with the Cubans unable to deal with the relentless Swedish forward play, especially after Arias was forced to leave the pitch injured and there were no subs in those days.
Tomás Fernández did miss a penalty for Cuba. Harry Andersson also netted a hat-trick in the game – 4 goals in first half and second half for an easy win
2 July 1950 – Uruguay 8–0 Bolivia
This was actually in the group stages but because the group only consisted of the 2 teams because France pulled out it was a one-off
Bolivia only qualified because Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru in South America withdrew fro qualifying, it turned out that the difference in the 2 teams was huge because of this.
Uruguay were 4 up by half time and added another 4 in the second half with Oscar Míguez scoring 3 goals
9 July 1950 – Brazil 7–1 Sweden
In this 1950 world cup there was a final round consisting of Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay. The winner of the group would be the winners
In the first group game Brazil absolutely trounced Sweden with Ademir scored 4 goals out of the 7 goals in the first 60 minutes of the game. The Swedes looked out of their depth with the huge home crowd.
Brazil then won 6-1 against Spain but a famous 2-1 defeat by Uruguay meant they won the World Cup in Brazil
17 June 1954 – Hungary 9–0 South Korea
This was an absolutely nuts World Cup
The first game was a rout – Puskas scored 2 and the great Kocsis scored a hat-trick. Hungary were the best team by a long way in this tournament and scored a lot of goals
So this was maybe not a surprise
20 June 1954 – Turkey 7–0 South Korea
The next match for South Korea did not go much better, 4 nil down at half time and an eventual conceded 7.
Turkey finished on the same points as Germany – who had been thrashed by Hungary 8-3
Germany won the game 7-2 – nuts
19 June 1954 – Uruguay 7–0 Scotland
FAmously in the 50’s Scotland were a shambles, the way they were run. Should have taken part in 1950 but the SFA did not want it. 1954 was just as bad.
After falling out with the SFA, reportedly due to the poor preparation of the team, manager Andy Beattie resigned hours before the game against Uruguay
Uruguay were the reigning champions and had never before lost a game at the World Cup finals. The gulf in class was exposed in horrific fashion as Uruguay won 7–0 with Calos Borges getting 3 goals.
18 June 1974 – Yugoslavia 9–0 Zaire
20 years to the next big defeat and its a team that has changed their name to the DR Congo. Zaire were a shambles and allowed people to keep the naive african team stereotype going.
In the game, Bajević scored 3 goals with 7 different scorers. Yugolavia were 6 up by half time in a rout.
It was alleged by their defender Ilunga later that the team had effectively refused to play against Yugoslavia after learning they would not be paid.
A disaster of a tournament where it appeared that Zaire were affected by events in their own country which also impacted the game against Brazil where they lost 3-0
19 June 1974 – Haiti 0–7 Poland
Haiti, the first team from the Caribbean to qualify since Cuba in 1938
In this game Poland were 5 up by half time and cruising, they added only another 2 goals but it has to be remembered that this was a really good Poland team who came up an inexperienced team who were out of their depth.
Szarmach scored 3 goals in the game, Haiti would get no points scoring 2 goals and conceding 14. they have never got near the World cup finals again
15 June 1982 – Hungary 10–1 El Salvador
Hungary defeated El Salvador 10–1, equalling the largest margin of victory recorded in the finals
El Salvador due to economic reasons sent a 20-man squad instead of 22 and their preparations were very poor – the fact they made it was an achievement
Hungarian substitute László Kiss scored a hat-trick, the only World Cup hat-trick by a substitute, and the fastest ever in a World Cup, in the space of seven minutes
Hungary could only get 1 point in their next 2 games and finished second to Belgium and Argentina
1 June 2002 – Germany 8–0 Saudi Arabia
A surprising result because World cups for years had generally been low scoring and also the assumption that the teams were all a far higher standard.
Now to be fair this was one of the best German teams for a long time who reached the final
It was four nil at half-time and by the end of the match Miroslav Klose had scored a hat-trick in the game
21 June 2010 – Portugal 7–0 North Korea
North Korea in the previous game had run Brazil close only losing by 2 goals to 1 – so hopes were high for the next game against Portugal. Oh boy.
This was the first time a live football game was broadcast on North Korean television – oh dear.
What people probably do not recall is it was only 1-0 at half time – shame about the second half .
The biggest miracle – it took Cristiano Ronaldo 87 minutes to score
8 July 2014 – Brazil 1–7 Germany
This was modern day shocker but Brazil did flatter to deceive in this World Cup, the loss of Neymar was a key moment but the real issue was the suspension of Thiago Silva – the best defender they had by a long way.
Germany already were 5–0 up by the 29th minute, with four goals scored within six minutes where the Brazilians defensive frailities were exploited again and again with teh Germans just rolling the ball in the net at times
In the second half it was like the Germans felt sorry, only for the André Schürrle to pop up with 2 goals
Brazil scored a consolation goal in the last minute, ending the match 7–1 in front of a shocked home support.
The Brazilian players left the pitch in tears to a chorus of boos and jeers with their particularly passionate media enraged by the result – Germany won the final.
