Hour 4, World Cup 2014--written by Katie Bram and me--had the other dominant individual bonus performance, though we didn't know it during the contest for reasons I explained in an earlier email. Scav Elf got 52/55 questions, and that's with me grading him fairly strictly with regards to the offsides rule. That said, this began to move us toward somewhat more niche interests. I was glad to see Scav Elf did so well, because otherwise the field was divided between competent mid-level performances by non-Googlers like the Snuggles/Charlie crew, [citation needed], and Polar Vortex on one side and everyone else, who either Googled and got some stuff or barely got anything. (BOMO Googled and got a lot of questions, though many of them probably required real soccer knowledge). Anyway, we hope you liked hearing some nostalgic Ricky Martin on the video and seeing Iran's awesome jersey.
A side note--Question 25, asking for the description of the 1994 USA kit, provoked many highly polarized and colorful responses. A representative pairing--
Scav Elf (basically seconded by BOMO): "Glorious shorts of faux denim, with stars draped at angles over the shoulder and stripes cascading down over the rippling muscles of every true patriot's chest. (The second uniform had red shorts with vertical red stripes. You know, burger servers at a drive-in--nothing more American!)"
And, in dissent, Polar Vortex: "'denim' coloring background with stars, red was in there somewhere and it was hideous as no one could possibly have pulled the jersey off without looking like a third grader made the jersey shirt for sponge painting project."
Part 1 - The Venue
| Num |
Answer |
| 1 |
Brazil |
| 2 |
The 2016 Summer Olympics |
| 3 |
2002 |
| 4 |
Maracana; 200,000 |
| 5 |
Widespread protests regarding the relationship of World Cup/Olympic spending to national economic policy, unrest surrounding the treatment of the favela areas near the stadiums, a number of high-profile incidents of football-related killings, the behind-schedule construction of several stadiums |
Part 2 - U! S! A! U! S! A!
| Num |
Answer |
| 6 |
Jurgen Klinnsman; West Germany) |
| 7 |
Bob Bradley; Egypt |
| 8 |
Germany, Portugal |
| 9 |
Ghana |
| 10 |
Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley |
Part 3 - The Rest of the Field
| Num |
Answer |
| 11 |
Spain |
| 12 |
Belgium |
| 13 |
Luis Suarez; being charged with "racial abuse" against another player during a game and multiple incidents of biting other players |
| 14 |
Zlatan Ibrahimovic |
| 15 |
Dani Alves and Thiago Silva, Brazil; Sergio Ramos, Spain; Phillip Lahm, Germany |
| 16 |
Bosnia & Herzegovina |
Part 4 - Team Kits
| Num |
Answer |
| 17 |
Argentina |
| 18 |
Croatia |
| 19 |
Mexico |
| 20 |
Portugal |
| 21 |
Ivory Coast |
| 22 |
Honduras |
| 23 |
Costa Rica |
| 24 |
Iran |
| 25 |
Stonewashed blue denim shirt with big diagonal stars, red shorts; extra points if Lalas' beard is mentioned. |
Part 5 - Underwear ads
| Num |
Answer |
| 26 |
David Beckham |
| 27 |
Cristiano Ronaldo |
| 28 |
Hidetoshi Nakata |
| 29 |
Team Italy |
Part 6 - World Cup History
| Num |
Answer |
| 30 |
The USA beats England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup group stage, eliminating them from the final round) |
| 31 |
Hungary; "The ball is round" |
| 32 |
He located the stolen Jules Rimet World Cup trophy in an abandoned parcel |
| 33 |
In 1978, there were allegations that host Argentina's ruling junta had deliberately rigged conditions in the host team's favor, and moreover, the consensus best-player-in-the-world, Johan Cruyff, refused to attend the tournament for the second-place Dutch team; in 1986, Diego Maradona scored the famous "Hand of God" handball goal against England in the final, which was erroneously allowed |
| 34 |
Andres Escobar |
| 35 |
Zinedine Zidane; Marco Materazzi |
| 36 |
Went on strike |
Part 7 - Video Section
| Num |
Answer |
| 37 |
Lionel Messi, Argentina |
| 38 |
Mario Balotelli, Italy |
| 39 |
Neymar, Brazil |
| 40 |
Edinson Cavani, Uruguay |
| 41 |
Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon |
| 42 |
Wayne Rooney, England |
| 43 |
Diego Maradona, 1986 |
| 44 |
Sir Geoffrey Hurst, 1966 |
| 45 |
Dennis Bergkamp, 1998 |
| 46 |
Pele, 1958 |
| 47 |
Gerd Muller, 1974 |
| 48 |
Landan Donovan, 2010 |
Part 8 - The US Women's Team
| Num |
Answer |
| 49 |
Abby Wambach |
| 50 |
Japan |
| 51 |
Briana Scurry, Hope Solo |
| 52 |
Joy Fawcett, Carla Overbeck, Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain |
| 53 |
1991, Michelle Akers |
Part 9 - Bonus! The Rules of Soccer
| Num |
Answer |
| 54 |
At the time the ball is passed to a player, at least one outfield player from the opposing team must be between that player and the goal. |
| 55 |
Four defenders, two defensive midfielders, three attacking midfielders, one striker |
