Avoiding the Drop

What's wrong with this picture?

I’m happy to say that last week’s “good mix of questions” lived up to my evaluation of them. We had three commenters submit their answers and, as would be expected, they all got the easy ones correct, some got the middling questions correct, and the correct answers to the most difficult of the questions were few and far between. Join me after the jump and we’ll see how people did.

Leading the commenter pack was Andrew M., who only missed on question (#1) and it was the hardest of the group. Well, maybe not the “hardest” question, maybe the “least obvious” question would be a better way to describe it. Also submitting their answers- many of which were correct!- this week were WSR and Andrew Q. Here are the answers:

1. Including the 2011 season, only one MLS player has worn the same shirt number for the same team for the longest time?

It looks like everyone saw that I went back and added “MLS” to this question, and while that improved the guesses, it did not result in the correct answer for anyone. The mystery man is Kansas City captain Davy Arnaud has worn the #22 shirt for the last 10 seasons.

2. What is the only country that ranks in the top three all-time in World Cup wins, draws, and losses?

West Germany/Germany (60-20-19)

3. What do the national teams of Scotland, New Zealand, Belgium, and Cameroon have in common?

All four nations were eliminated in the first round of a World Cup even though they didn’t lose a match during the group stage. It seems like this is something that should never happen, and my guess is that if this list read, “Germany, France, Brazil, and England,” FIFA would have found a way to fix this “problem” long ago.

4. During the January window strikers Andy Carroll, Fernando Torres, and Edin Džeko were transferred for a total of approximately £112m- what do they have in common?

They have a total of 0 goals for their new clubs. Or, put another way, at this point in the EPL season I have as many goals as these three players combined.

5. Now that FIFA have approved the use of FieldTurf in full international matches, what national team is likely to join CONCACAF in the near future?

Greenland, as an “autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark,” could join UEFA if FIFA admit them, but would that make any sense? There are 40 nations in CONCACAF at present and if you take out the North and Central American teams and the few good teams in the Caribbean division (Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and maybe Cuba) you’re still left with 27 teams against which they’d have a chance. In UEFA, they might be able to compete with Andorra, the Faroe Islands, San Marino, Malta, and Liechtenstein.

6. Which MLS player has the all-time best strike rate of .89 goals for every 90 minutes he played?

Stern John, who scored 44 times in 55 matches for the Columbus Crew between 1998 and 1999.

7. Who is Luigi Franco Gemma and what was his involvement in European football?

In 1954 Turkey knocked out Spain from during a World Cup qualifier by drawing straws. A blindfolded Italian boy named Luigi Franco Gemma picked the straw to decide the winner.

8. What was unique about the hat trick that West Ham United defender Alvin Martin scored against Newcastle in 1986?

Each of his goals was scored against a different goalkeeper. The first was Martin Thomas, the second against Chris Hedworth, and the third against Peter Beardsley. Beardsley, you may recall, was not actually a goalkeeper by trade- he scored over 100 goals in two stints with Newcastle and another 100+ with other clubs.

9. What was unique about the 1979 Scottish Cup tie between Inverness Thistle and Falkirk?

It was postponed due to the weather- 29 times!

10. What is depicted in the photograph at the beginning of this post?

Bally-Midway’s “World Cup Soccer 1994” pinball game.

That’s it for this week!  I’ll be back tomorrow with another challenging…challenge.