Saudi Arabia and Japan have produced two huge shocks at the 2022 World Cup, with the competition having had a rich history of mega upsets.
Down the years, the World Cup has had a habit of throwing up some of the greatest upsets the sport has ever seen, as form, reputation and confidence all go out of the window in an instant, and so-called smaller nations seize their opportunity on the biggest stage.
These are games and moments that have been immortalised and re-lived time and time again, with teams and individual players written into the tournament's folklore.
Here, GOAL runs through the most shocking turn ups for the books in the competition's gilded history…
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USA 1-0 England – 1950
World Cup debutants England were huge favourites when they came up against part-timers the USA. Surely there would only be one winner? Well, yes – but not who you'd think.
Haitian-born US striker Joe Gaetjens wrote himself into USMNT folklore with the winning goal in Brazil, in what is now known as
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North Korea 1-0 Italy – 1966
Italy were much fancied to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy in England in 1966. However, they were in stuttering form in the group stage, edging past Chile before suffering defeat at the hands of the USSR.
They would need to avoid defeat in their final group game against North Korea, but remarkably Pak Doo-ik's 42nd-minute strike would send the Azzurri packing as the Asian nation reached the quarter-finals.
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Algeria 2-1 West Germany – 1982
Algeria, making their World Cup bow, against tournament favourites West Germany.
Surely, there would only be one outcome? As you've probably ascertained from the nature of this article, the North Africans would stun their illustrious opponents.
Algeria won 2-1, but they would fall victim to the infamous later in the group phase, when West Germany and Austria purposely played out a favourable result to knock them out.
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Northern Ireland 1-0 Spain – 1982
Against quite literally all the odds – facing the hosts in a partisan atmosphere, down to 10 men and contending with some dodgy refereeing decisions – Northern Ireland would prevail, somehow.
An error from the goalkeeper gifted Gerry Armstrong the winner shortly after half-time, and the Northern Irish held on despite having a man sent off with half an hour still to play.
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