I was pulling for Ghana in the World Cup, even though they took out the US. An African team has never won. In fact, an African team has never even placed in the top 4. It’s always Europe and South America. I looked it up. Korea placed 4th once, but that’s it for Asia. And nada for Africa.

The list of winners is interesting. It’s a case of Europe and South America alternating. Italy won back-to-back in the 1930s, and Brazil won back to back in 1958 and 1962. But beyond that, it’s Europe one year, South America the next.

In fact, only 7 different countries have won the World Cup:

Brazil: 5 times
Italy: 4 times
Germany: 4 times
Uruguay: 2 times
Argentina: 2 times
France: 1 time
England: 1 time

So the list of World Cup winners is a pretty exclusive club.

And the list of runners-up only adds 4 more teams, all in Europe: Hungary, Czechoslavakia, Sweden, and Netherlands.

The way it stands today, the only past winner still in the tournament are Argentina and Germany–and they play each other tomorrow. The winner will play either Paraguay or Spain, two teams that have never made it to the finals.

Hey, I’m just trying to make it interesting. Ghana’s defeat made it decidely less interesting, and more a matter of The Usual Suspects.