“Neymar’s consolation penalty against Norway at the World Cup means his first international goal, scored on his first cap, was in the same stadium (MetLife) as his last international goal on his final cap,” writes Griffin Cant. “Are there any other players who have bookended their international career in a similar way?”
More than 77,000 spectators packed into the MetLife Stadium on 10 August 2010 to watch Neymar’s senior debut for Brazil in a friendly against the United States. The youthful 18-year-old, sporting a questionable haircut, found the net after just 28 minutes, powering a header past goalkeeper Tim Howard. Almost 16 years later, he calmly slotted his penalty – his 80th international goal on his 130th appearance – beyond Norway’s Ørjan Nyland at the identical end of the ground as Brazil crashed out of the World Cup in the round of 16, after which he declared his retirement from the national team.
Discounting those who scored once in a solitary appearance (step forward Francis Jeffers and David Nugent), you might assume this would be a relatively routine occurrence, but digging through the RSSSF records of the sport’s most prolific international marksmen shows it is rarer than expected.
Mexico’s Jared Borghetti opened his account on his debut and struck his 46th and final goal in his farewell match, but those two fixtures took place roughly 900km apart in Mexico City and Monterrey. Likewise, Danish icon of the 1920s and 30s Pauli Jørgensen bagged a brace on both his first and last outings, yet the initial one came in Aarhus and the concluding one 14 years later in Copenhagen.
Zinedine Zidane chips his penalty during the 2006 World Cup final. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Poland’s Wlodzimierz Lubanski started and finished his international journey with goals on home soil, but the venues in Chorzów and Szczecin sit about 550km apart. Abe Lenstra, a prolific attacker for Heerenveen and the Netherlands across the 1940s and 50s, launched his Oranje career with a strike in a 5-4 loss to Luxembourg in 1940 and also scored in his 47th and last cap against Belgium in 1959. The former match was in Rotterdam, the latter 80km away in Amsterdam. Zinedine Zidane grabbed a double on his France introduction – versus the Czech Republic in 1994 – and repeated the feat in his swansong, the 2006 World Cup final. But the debut took place in Bordeaux, the finale in Berlin.
England’s Tom Finney registered his maiden and concluding international goals in Belfast – although the last one fell in his penultimate match, barely three weeks before his final cap. France’s Just Fontaine followed a comparable path, hitting a treble on his first outing and bowing out with goals in his second-to-last game (both in Paris), a pattern mirrored by England’s Nat Lofthouse (at Wembley).
The nearest parallel to Neymar appears to be Mexico’s Enrique Borja. The forward debuted with a goal against Chile shortly before the 1966 World Cup and scored once more in his farewell appearance versus the USA in the summer of 1975. Both contests took place in Mexico City. The catch? The debut unfolded at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario and the finale at the Azteca, separated by roughly 7km across the capital.
Surely, though, there must be others who can match Neymar’s feat, even if they cannot rival his goal or appearance numbers. Send your suggestions to [email protected].
Getting shirty
“The heroics of Cape Verde have relit a fundamental question about national team colours,” emails Lars Bøgegaard. “It is baffling that a country with ‘green’ in its name has a predominantly blue flag, but it explains the team’s kit. Why do some countries – Australia, Japan, Germany – play in colours that don’t match their flag?”
“Japan wear blue and white partly due to superstition,” writes Ben Chia (and others). “They first donned blue shirts at the 1930 Far Eastern Games, where a side from Tokyo Imperial University – whose traditional colour is light blue – represented the nation wearing light blue jerseys.”
As Ben details, Japan kept blue shirts for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where they rallied to overcome Sweden 3-2 in a historic victory. “They briefly switched to red and white to align with their flag between 1988 and 1992, but after failing to qualify for the 1990 World Cup and 1992 Olympics, they reverted,” Ben continues. The colour choice was cemented before the 2006 World Cup, when the Japanese FA coined the team’s new nickname – Samurai Blue.
Japan supporters displaying their blue colours. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
Regarding Australia, virtually all their national sporting sides compete in gold and green, and Michael Haughey can clarify the reason. “These hues represent the golden wattle – Australia’s national blossom – and the country’s distinctive plant life more broadly. ‘Wattle gold’ and ‘gum-tree green’ were embraced by the national cricket team in 1908, and they were declared Australia’s official colours for sport and beyond in 1984.
Per their government’s Australia Symbols handbook, green stands for forests, eucalyptus trees, pastures and “endless horizons of growing crops”, while gold symbolises their sporting triumphs, mineral riches, sandy coastlines and harvests of golden grains. Alright, no need to boast.
Michael can also shed light on why Germany feature in a predominantly black and white strip (with stylish red and gold accents from their national banner). “The German squad plays in the colours of the Prussian flag, which became the dominant part of the German state upon unification in 1871.”
Alasdair Brooks, meanwhile, provides details on several other national teams whose kit colours diverge from their flags:
Italy: Wear blue because these were the colours of the former royal dynasty, the House of Savoy, and were retained when Italy became a republic in the 1940s.
Venezuela: That distinctive burgundy originates from the traditional hues of the Venezuelan military. In the late 1930s, the squad arrived for a fixture in Colombia without uniforms, so the national army loaned them their maroon kits, and the colour endured.
Malaysia: Compete in yellow and black, reportedly inspired by the stripes of the Malayan tiger, which also doubles as the team’s nickname.
India: As with other Indian national sports outfits, the football side utilises a colour from their flag – the Ashoka Chakra (blue wheel) at its centre. Officials apparently worried that saffron was too entwined with Hindu nationalism and might estrange players from other religious backgrounds, while green was too closely linked to Pakistan – so they settled on blue.
Goal difference kings
“Senegal ended the group stage with a record of won one, lost two but a goal difference of +2. What’s the highest goal difference a team has achieved while losing more games than winning in a group – and has this scenario ever happened in a domestic league?” asks Mark Payne.
Senegal have equalled a mark established in 2002, write Haydon Bambury and Dirk Maas. “Senegal’s record mirrors the one set by Portugal in 2002,” notes Haydon. “They lost 3-2 to the USA, thrashed Poland 4-0, then fell 1-0 to South Korea in their final fixture, finishing P3 W1 D0 L2 F4 A6 GD+2. Unfortunately for them, 2002 featured a 32-team World Cup, meaning no third-place teams advanced and they had to head home.”
Domestically, we’ve previously examined clubs relegated with a positive goal difference, and the prospect of a losing record paired with a positive goal difference is clearly much greater across an extended campaign.
Pape Gueye celebrates during Senegal’s 5-0 demolition of Iraq in Toronto. Photograph: Indrawan Kumala/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Knowledge archive
“Scotland were the only unbeaten side at the 1974 World Cup, yet were knocked out at the group stage. Has this happened before or since?” asked Peter Sagar in 2018.
Scotland’s 1974 squad drew with Brazil and Yugoslavia, but exited on goal difference after defeating Zaire 2-0 in their opening encounter. Brazil (3-0) and Yugoslavia (9-0) bettered that result – and numerous other teams have been eliminated in comparable circumstances.
New Zealand finished as the only unbeaten outfit at the 2010 World Cup, having drawn all three group matches. The same occurred for Cameroon in 1982 and Belgium in 1998 – and we can also include Iran in 2026. A couple of sides even went unbeaten over more fixtures without claiming the trophy, however.
England contested five matches in 1982, departing in the second group phase, while Brazil played seven in 1978. Three in the opening group stage, three in the second – where they were knocked out on goal difference following Argentina’s contentious 6-0 victory over Peru – and one in the third-place play-off, when they beat Italy 2-1.
Several teams have stayed unbeaten across regular and extra-time but bowed out on penalties. The list features: Brazil and Mexico in 1986; Italy in 1990; Italy and the Netherlands in 1998; Ireland and Spain in 2002; Switzerland, Argentina, England and France in 2006; Costa Rica and the Netherlands in 2014; plus Spain and Denmark in 2018.
The Netherlands repeated the trick in 2022, losing on spot-kicks to Argentina – and once more at this tournament, exiting to Morocco via penalties after an unbeaten group run. Finally, a mention for Cape Verde, who drew all three group games and succumbed to Argentina in extra time – heading home without being defeated inside 90 minutes.
Can you help?
“Jordan Henderson broke his wrist celebrating England’s win over Mexico, thus managing to get booked and injured in a game that he didn’t actually play in. Has any other unused substitute done this?” asks Tom Francis (and others).
“Sweden’s 5-1 victory against Tunisia was followed by a 5-1 defeat against Netherlands,” writes Dirk Maas. “Are there more examples of stunning World Cup wins followed by heavy defeats with the similar scoreline (or vice versa: heavy defeats followed by stunning wins with the same scoreline)?”
“After Paraguay somehow managed to get zero yellow cards against France despite committing 13 fouls, what’s the highest number of infringements a team has totted up in a game without collecting a caution?” wonders Jim Hearson.
Matias Galarza (right) of Paraguay sends Michael Olise of France high into the air. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA
“Lionel Messi is Argentina’s youngest and oldest goal scorer – has any other footballer achieved this accolade or is likely to in the future?” asks Paul Gage.
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