It was very painful to be so close to a World Cup final.
I have a favorite line that I ever got to play with, and that would be at the World Cup. I got to play with Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic. I got to be the right winger on their line.
In the World Cup, you can only play who you are drawn against.
At the World Cup, everyone has to face up and beat everyone.
The reason why the entire world sits up and watches World Cup football is the intensity of involvement with which people are playing a game: just kicking a ball around, but with such skill and involvement that it is like the last thing they are going to do in their life.
Penalty shoot-outs are the most high-pressure situation that a goalkeeper will face, and in a World Cup, it’s even worse because the stakes are so high.
I resigned from captaincy because I wanted the new captain to get enough time for preparing a team before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
A World Cup in Brazil is the greatest event in which a footballer can play.
It is important for me, no matter whether I lead or not, that I continue my form even in the World Cup. It is important that you get runs because people look up to you, and the team also expects you to get runs being a senior member of the side.
When we play at the World Cup, any African will back any African team. Because we want to hear the different approach to African football. We want to hear that Africans can do well, and Africans do well.
Winning an official World Cup with the South African team had become my burning ambition.
The World Cup has not been kind to us overall.
The ’54 World Cup was the first time the people got the recognition back after the second World War and felt like they are proud of something you know it brought people back together and you know now we can keep our heads up again.
Kids who dream of reaching the top must grow up looking forward to the big games which define them at every level they play – from Sunday morning in the park to non-League, the top four divisions, Europe and the World Cup.
India is still searching for its first World Cup title. Australia and England have shown they are able to bounce back from disappointment.
A World Cup is always something special and simply indescribable – and being able to hold something in your hands at the end of it all is just incredible.
Zizou has been a leader wherever he has played. He was the captain of France, a World Cup winner and been a winner in all the clubs he played for. So he has enough experience to handle and manage a group. More importantly, he is a man who everyone respects.
To be one of only three Englishmen to have scored in a World Cup finaI is amazing.
Playing a World Cup is spectacular.
World Cup is a big platform.
I started the 1998 World Cup with Teddy Sheringham up front but always planned for Michael Owen to face Colombia in our final group game because they defended square and a quick striker would be able to exploit the space behind them.
This is one thing every coach can take from Menotti. If you win the World Cup, no one can criticize you.
I won’t win a World Cup, and I won’t win the Olympics, but I’m sure I can compete with the best, and that’s what I want to show.
I want to play right-back. I have worked my whole life to get to where I am now in a World Cup squad and to showcase my talent in the World Cup stage, playing in my position.
You cannot compare warm-ups with World Cup games.
It’s really exciting for me and my brothers to watch the World Cup.
What can you say about Messi? A guy who has won five Ballon d’Ors, four Champions Leagues and has scored 97 goals in a year. There is no need to win a World Cup to certify that talent.
Vitesse was my hometown club. They helped me in my career. It was Vitesse who helped me get in to the national team squad in the first place, even if I didn’t make the World Cup.
Winning the title in my first season at City was a dream come true, but the downside was not being selected for Spain’s World Cup squad.
It’s what every kid dreams of: winning a World Cup for your country. There’s nothing that will ever, ever beat that or even compare to it.
Winning the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and then reaching a semi-final of the World Cup is great.
One of my dreams was to win the World Cup.
For quality and excitement the Champions League is better than the World Cup.
The popularity of rugby definitely grew in South Africa over the World Cup, and sport has great power, so hopefully it will make some difference. Even if it’s just 1%, it’s a bit of a change.
I played for Santos at 16, and we had an excellent team, so it helped a lot. And then I played for Brazil at the Maracana against Argentina. So I get more experience. This was one year before the World Cup, and it made a lot of difference.
For a player or coach, there is nothing better than the World Cup.
I’ve kept all of my shirts that wore in the World Cup games, and I’ll be giving them to my family to keep.
Winning the World Cup was very special because it meant so much to so many.
It’s the World Cup, and everyone wants to be there. No one will be burnt out; everyone will be raring to go.
Football became my life at five or six. The earliest memory I have is of playing in my first boots, a pair of black and white Alan Balls. It was 1970, four years after the World Cup, and I scored three goals at school.
It’s not like I’m against alcohol. It’s just a decision I made, and if you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. I’ve been drenched in champagne a few times over my career. I might have a drink if England win the World Cup. That’s one moment where I might.
To win the World Cup is not about one player, it is about a squad.
You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It’s like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon – it’s the same.
From my playing experience in Qatar, I know that it is a country and a region which will host a spectacular and passionate World Cup in 2022.
When you come to a World Cup with Germany you are expected to win it.
I don’t think I am a great. I think I’ve done nothing. I’ve done nothing in soccer. I’ve won leagues, but I haven’t won the Champions League, the World Cup, the Euro. Winning the Euro in France, that wouldn’t be bad.
Of course Neymar is someone that is very important, not only for Brazilian football but for the world of football, and it will be amazing to see him playing in a World Cup and showing all of his skills.
My national team experience was a hugely positive one. I had four years and we won the only trophy on offer and then we qualified for the World Cup, so I think I completed the mission.
When someone becomes a part of the Azzurri squad that has won a World Cup, they are like family, and they never abandon anyone.
Which player isn’t motivated about playing in the World Cup?
If I hadn’t come East as a kid, I might still be a World Cup racer today, but I wouldn’t be the same World Cup racer.
Obviously, playing in a World Cup is always beautiful, helping your team is always cool, but when you don’t think it’s time, you have a clear conscience.
For every player it’s nice to go to the World Cup and it’s very important to do that in your career.
I never played in a World Cup. I wasn’t good enough.
It’s the best thing that can happen to a player. Being able to play at the World Cup is already the best, but then to raise the trophy to the sky is a dream.
Sometimes when you have difficulties qualifying, you can still go and play a good World Cup.
When you’re a player and you win the World Cup and other titles you don’t get the chance to enjoy the moment because of the media scrum. You end up getting tired of it. But when the years go by and you look back on it all, then you understand just what it is that you achieved, that we achieved.
I went to the World Cup and didn’t play, but I came back with an even higher opinion of Gareth Southgate. It’s all about how you treat somebody.
I would not swap the World Cup title for any accolade. But I could imagine that quite a few would swap every accolade for a World Cup title.
Would I have preferred not to play in a home World Cup for Brazil, a privilege that most people in this world can only dream of? Not a chance.
The World Cup is a very big event. Every player dreams of playing in one, and it was my dream, too.
I’m proud to have played 14 matches at the World Cup with the number ten shirt and to have scored eight goals.
I wanted to score the winning goal in the 90th minute of the World Cup final.
There is always something new. But to be honest, if I was to score a goal in a World Cup, I don’t know what I would do.
I got to experience being captain in the World Cup. For me, that was something special, and I’ll always kind of remember, but it’s never been a big thing for me to be captain.
In the 2007 World Cup, Kelly Smith went to another level, scoring twice against Japan and dragging the team forward with an infectious enthusiasm. She changed the dynamic, and we all followed her lead.
I want to reduce my risks as much as possible and hopefully be able to go to the World Cup fit, ready and healthy.
