In each World Cup, there's a small
team that surprises everyone! Teams that nobody paid much attention, but went very
far creating the crazier underdog stories ever So in this video, we're gonna see
the biggest underdog of EACH World Cup! From USA 1994 all the way to Qatar 2022! Starting in 1994! And in that World
Cup hosted in the United States, there was national team that was almost unknown,
but made a campaign so good that shocked everyone This was a country that was never that good,
having failed to qualify for 7 World Cups before, and in the ones that did play, their
best campaign was only a 15th place But in 1994, this national team reached
the semifinals: BULGARIA! At the time, Bulgaria had never even played in a UEFA Euro So when they went to compete in 1994,
nobody paid much attention to them, and just making it past the group
stage was gonna be very difficult Actually everyone thought they would be
soon eliminated cause in the first match they lost 3-0 to Nigeria! A humiliation But in the second match against
the weak Greece, they won 4-0! Now, the third game was against Argentina!
The current runners-up with Maradona And that's when Bulgaria showed they were gonna
surprise! With Barcelona 's star Stoichkov, Bulgaria won 2-0!! Yes, they defeated
Argentina and advanced to the knockout stage! Then in the round of 16, they
faced Mexico and had a tough game, where they DREW 1-1 and WON on penalties!
Bulgaria was going to the quarterfinals!
But now, their campaign would probably end
there ‘cause the next opponent was GERMANY! The CURRENT CHAMPION! Yes, and they had almost
the same winning squad, with Matthaus and Voller So they went to the game and
Germany SCORED the first goal, it seemed to be the end ... until at the 75th
minute, from a FREE KICK, Stoichkov EQUALIZED! And while the Bulgarians were still celebrating... Bulgaria WON and qualified for the SEMIFINALS!
They defeated the current champion, and now they were just ONE game away
from reaching the World Cup final But this time against Italy, Baggio scored
two goals and even though Stoichkov scored from a penalty, they couldn't turn it
around and were finally eliminated, finishing the World Cup in FOURTH place! They literally lost 3-0 to Nigeria
in the first match but finished 4th And this was just the first underdog
of the video, we’re gonna see even crazier stories and underdogs that surprised
everyone! From 1998 all the way to the 2022 So now let's go to the next World Cup, in 1998
hosted in France! And Bulgaria also played, but this time they were eliminated in the
group stage! So another team surprised everyone This was a team that fell into
a group with Argentina, Japan, Jamaica, and was playing
its FIRST World Cup: Croatia Yes, Croatia was part of the former
Yugoslavia, and it was only in the 1990s that they became an independent
country, forming their own national team And right off the bat, they
won the first two games, securing a spot in the knockout stage! Only
in the third match did they lose to Argentina, yet they qualified and in the round of
16 they went to play against Romania! Romania also had a good team, but
Croatia managed to secure a spot in the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory! They
were already making a surprising campaign But now in the quarterfinals, the
opponent was GERMANY! It seemed impossible for Croatia to qualify! But with
their number 10 Zvonimir Boban and number 9, Croatia played one of their
greatest games in history THREE-NIL, Croatia HUMILIATED Germany and went
to the SEMIFINALS! They reached the top four! And now in the semifinal, they faced the home
team, FRANCE! And the home team had a tough time, Croatia even scored the opener!
But then France turned it around But their journey didn't end there, they still went to the third-place play-off
against the Netherlands and they WON! In its FIRST World Cup, Croatia got
a THIRD PLACE! Not even the former Yugoslavia had finished third, a huge surprise So now let's go to the next
World Cup! Where we find a team that literally almost made it to
the final, and never qualified again… This was a team that fell into a group
with Brazil, Costa Rica, and China: Turkey! This was the first time Turkey
played in a World Cup in almost 50 years So they went for it, lost
the first game to Brazil, and DREW the second with Costa Rica! Turkey
only managed to win against China! They weren’t having an amazing campaign, yet
they managed to qualify in second place Now in the round of 16, they were gonna face
one of the home teams, Japan! Even though Japan played in their own stadium, Turkey was better
and early in the first half in a corner, Davala headed and scored the ONLY goal of the match!
The Turkey national team was in the quarterfinals And now they faced another surprising
team: SENEGAL! Whichever team passed would be a giant underdog surprise! And this
game was very balanced, going to extra time! And in extra time, there was the golden goal
rule, first goal wins! So in the 94th minute... Turkey was in the semifinals, who
would’ve imagined? Now, if they won just one more match, they would be
in the FINAL! But this time they fell against Brazil! So with a goal
from Ronaldo, they were eliminated! But also in the third-place play-off, they
faced the other home team South Korea, which also made a historic campaign, and
they WON! Turkey finished in THIRD place! They won the bronze medal, finishing only
behind Brazil and Germany! Really impressive But believe it or not, after that, Turkey NEVER qualified again... they never
played another World Cup, crazy right? So now let's go to the next one: the
2006 World Cup hosted in Germany! And there was another national
team that NEVER played again This was a team coached by the legendary former player Oleg Blokhin and had the captain
Shevchenko: the Ukraine national team! Ukraine was in its first World
Cup as an independent country, and right in the first match... they
lost 4-0 to Spain! They were humiliated and couldn't do ANYTHING! Everyone saw
they would be eliminated very quickly But their group also had Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, so they managed to WIN the
next games and qualified! And now in the round of 16, they faced a team that
did very well in the group stage: Switzerland! Switzerland had finished FIRST in their
group! So they were favorites to qualify! But against Ukraine, the game was VERY balanced, with both teams hitting the post! But
NOBODY scored and it went to penalties And on penalties, Switzerland made history: they were the first team in a World Cup to
MISS every shot! So by 3-0, Ukraine QUALIFIED Ukraine was in the TOP 8 of the World
Cup! Something that nobody would’ve imagined when they lost 4-0 to Spain,
who at this point was already eliminated But in the quarterfinals, they faced ITALY, who
would be the champion that year! So they lost 3-0! Ukraine finished in 8th place, ahead of teams
like Spain and the Netherlands, a real surprise But now leaving 2006 let's go to the
next World Cup: South Africa 2010! This Cup was legendary, full of surprises! And
a big surprise happened in the group stage! In the group of the defending champion
Italy, there was Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand! Yes, New Zealand qualified
and had everything to make the worst campaign! None of their players were from
a top-flight European team, they played in teams from New Zealand, Australia,
United States and English second division So they didn't seem to have
any chances! Until they DREW the first game with Slovakia with a goal
in stoppage time! They were NOT defeated! But now the next game was gonna
be against ITALY! Just imagine, it was New Zealand against the current champion! But right in the 7th minute who scored
the opener was New Zealand! Then Italy equalized from a PENALTY and
the match ended in a draw! New Zealand tied with Italy! That deserved a title Now the last game was against Paraguay! If
they WON they would be in the knockout stage! So they went all in! But the ball didn't
wanna go in, and they ended in another draw By just ONE point, New Zealand finished third
in the group and was ELIMINATED! Leaving the World Cup without losing ANY GAME! They were the
ONLY unbeaten team in 2010, believe it or not And before we go to the biggest
underdog of the 2014 World Cup, which in my opinion was the most
impressive, in 2010 there were still other surprising campaigns! Like GHANA,
that reached the quarterfinals, and URUGUAY Uruguay couldn't make a good World Cup since
1970! Until in 2010 with Forlán and Suárez, they finished first in the group,
eliminated South Korea, Ghana on penalties, and only lost in the semifinals against
the Netherlands in a GREAT 3-2 match! Then they also had a BIG game against Germany,
but also lost by 3-2 and finished in fourth place! Nobody imagined that Uruguay would finish among the top four! 2010 was crazy, it would take a
whole video just to talk about that World Cup So now let's go to the 2014 World Cup, that had,
in my opinion, the most shocking underdog ever! This was a team that was already
considered eliminated even before the tournament started because
they fell into the group of death! In 2014, there was an absurdly
difficult group, which had Uruguay, 2010 semifinalists, Italy,
2006 champion, and England! 7 World Cups titles in total! And the unlucky team that had to play against
them was the small Costa Rica Costa Rica had failed to
qualify for the previous Cup, and in 2006 was the second
WORST team losing all matches So everyone felt sorry for
them, were considered eliminated So they went to the first game against
Uruguay and... Costa Rica conceded the FIRST goal! It was happening as everyone
imagined... until the second half came. 3-1! Costa Rica DEFEATED Uruguay and shocked
the world! Now in the next game against Italy... 1-0! Costa Rica DEFEATED Italy and secured a spot in the knockout stage! They defeated the
team with Buffon, Pirlo, and Balotelli! Now they were going to play against England, and
they drew 0-0!! So instead of being eliminated, Costa Rica finished FIRST
PLACE! 2 WINS and 1 draw! Just that could already be worth as a title Now they went to the round of 16, faced Greece
and started winning! But one player was sent off, so they conceded a goal at the end and
went to penalties! Then the keeper Keylor Navas showed his ability making a HUGE save,
and Costa Rica went to the quarterfinals!! Costa Rica was among the top
eight! And in the next game, they faced the Netherlands, the current runner-up It was a very difficult game
against the team of Robben and Van Persie! But Navas made incredible saves and
also had the luck of the ball hitting the post! So nobody scored and it went to penalties again Costa Rica was one penalty shootout away
from reaching the semifinal! But this time it didn't work out, the Netherlands' keeper
saved TWICE, and Costa Rica was eliminated They were defeated without losing a SINGLE game! This was so impressive that Keylor
Navas, who played for Levante, was immediately bought by Real
Madrid, and you know how it went And now after Costa Rica, in 2018 another
unexpected team managed to go even further And it was a team that went through all the knockout stage matches
going into extra time: Croatia After Croatia got third place in 1998, it had never done anything similar! They
fell in the group stage in 2002 and 2006, DIDN'T qualify for 2010, and in 2014 they
ALSO fell in the group stage... a real decline Their squad wasn’t bad at all… yet, due to
their history of group stage eliminations, almost nobody paid much attention Then in their first game against Nigeria,
they already showed their strength by winning 2-0! But Croatia proved they could
go far in the next game against Argentina! Even with Messi playing, in the second half
Croatia DESTROYED them scoring THREE GOALS Now in the last game, they also WON
against Iceland to stay UNDEFEATED! They qualified for the round of 16,
and in the knockout stage defeated Denmark on penalties! After that they also
defeated the home team RUSSIA on penalties! For the first time in 20 years,
Croatia was back in the semifinal! And competing for a place in the
grand final, they faced England! England were gonna give
everything to reach the final, and Croatia was more tired from
having played two extra times So early in the game, from a free-kick,
England scored with Trippier! Until in the second half, Perisic raised
his foot to push it into the goal, and took the match to extra time! There was
ANOTHER penalty shootout coming! But in extra time... 2-1 and for the first time in history,
Croatia was in a World Cup FINAL Never, not even the former Yugoslavia,
had reached a World Cup final… Then in the final against France with Mbappé,
they lost 4-2, finishing second place! But imagine, a team that was 20th in the
FIFA ranking reached the FINAL! Made history So after this surprising underdog in
2018, let's go to the next World Cup, Qatar 2022! And again there was another country
that no one imagined that would go that far This team that shocked everyone in 2022,
had been eliminated in the group stage of the previous World Cup, and didn't even
manage to qualify for 2002, 2006, 2010, and not even for 2014: the Morocco national team In the FIFA ranking Morocco was in 22nd place!
And a few years earlier, they were even below 40th So even though they had good players
like Bono, Amrabat, Hamdallah, Hakimi, and Ziyech; they weren't a team
that people talked about that much Then in the group stage, they had bad luck because
they fell into a group with Canada with Davies, the current runner-up Croatia, and Belgium,
who had finished third in the previous Cup! But Morocco showed that they weren't there to
be eliminated early: they drew against Croatia, WON against Canada, and against Belgium, it was 2-0! They scored two goals
and went to the knockout stage Then in the round of 16, they faced Spain,
which had players like Busquets, Pedri, Gavi, Laporte, and others! It was a
very good team, but against Morocco, they couldn't do ANYTHING, and
the game went to penalties! And on penalties, the Spanish
trembled: Sarabia hit the post, and Bono saved the other two!
Morocco was in the QUARTERFINALS They had never reached the quarterfinals before, and now they were gonna face
another strong team: Portugal! Portugal had everything to reach the
semifinal, but then at the 42nd minute... 1-0!! And then Bono made gigantic, almost
impossible saves to prevent Portugal from scoring! So, for the first time in history, an African team reached the semifinals! NEVER had
an African team reached the top four But it all ended with a defeat
from France and from Croatia, finishing the World Cup in FOURTH PLACE Who would’ve imagined that a
team that was ranked 22nd and eliminated in the group stage of the
previous World Cup, would go that far
