Croatia is 2nd smallest country to make WC final - who is the smallest?

Reading comprehension much? wrote:

If you can tell me when Iceland made the WC final, I will give Jamin a rim job and post the video on letsrun

The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the World Cup Finals

rojo wrote:

They keep repeating that stat? Anyone know they smallest?

Is it Hungary? If that's the case, then it's misleading as Hungary is twice as big as Croatia now but may not have been 50 years ago.

Population: Uruguay 3.4 million,

Croatia 4.8 million ( 50 years ago estimated at 4.2 million)

Hungry 9.7 million ( 50 years ago it was 10 million)

Croatia is 2nd smallest country to make WC final - who is the smallest?

"who" ... ?

you personify countries??

The word "which" wrote:

rojo wrote: Croatia is 2nd smallest country to make WC final - who is the smallest?

"who" ... ?

you personify countries??

If rojo wants to use "who", then "are" is probably superior.

France are leading Croatia wrote:

The word "which" wrote:

"who" ... ?

you personify countries??

If rojo wants to use "who", then "are" is probably superior.

Is there anyone who cares?

So if Croatia was a state in the US - Would it be one of the 25 biggest or one of the 25 smallest?

vivalarepublica wrote:

Uruguay also won the World Cup in 1950 when they still had less population than Croatia, unless the country expanded and then contracted. I did notice that the commentators failed to mention that.

They did win in 1950 but there was no Final. It was a round-robin tournament in the latter stages, not a knockout.

So technically that Uruguay team can't be counted as being the smallest country to make the WC Final.

Technically ... wrote:

vivalarepublica wrote:

Uruguay also won the World Cup in 1950 when they still had less population than Croatia, unless the country expanded and then contracted. I did notice that the commentators failed to mention that.

They did win in 1950 but there was no Final. It was a round-robin tournament in the latter stages, not a knockout.

So technically that Uruguay team can't be counted as being the smallest country to make the WC Final.

Ah, thanks, I thought the final in 1950 was a two-game playoff, not a full on group stage. That final game between Uruguay and Brazil in 1950 was nuts. 200,000 rabid Brazilian fans stuffed into the Maracanã, and Uruguay pulls off the upset. Insane.

It was a de facto final in 1950 because the winner became the champion but it is a moot point as Uruguay also won in a "normal" tournament with groups, semifinals and final in 1930 at the first WC ever.

And, as I only learned during the current WC (or I might have known before and forgotten about it) they are allowed 4 stars on their jerseys because the tournaments at the Olympics in 1924 and 1928 which they won both are recognized by the FIFA as proto WC tournaments and these were also knock-out tournaments.

So Uruguay definitely made a real WC final at least once.