Norman Hubbard is Soccernet's resident anorak. If you have any questions on football facts, statistics or trivia, he'll try to answer as many as possible. This column, as the next will be, is devoted to World Cup questions. Thanks for the other questions, which I will get back to later, but if you have any World Cup queries, please email in now.
I was recently reading the article about Bobby Moore on ESPNsoccernet and was surprised about the fact that he almost didn't appear in the World Cup since he had refused to sign a new contract with West Ham and therefore would have been ineligible to play because he was a player without a club. I have never heard of that rule before, and was hoping for some clarification on that rule - if it is still in use by FIFA today? Garrett says
That is true. It was the 1966 World Cup, to be precise, where Moore's presence would prove crucial for England. He was able to play when Sir Alf Ramsey summoned the West Ham manager, Ron Greenwood, to England's training camp at Hendon Hall and got Moore to sign a one-month contract to cover the tournament. That rule is thankfully not in use today so unattached players - like Australia's Craig Moore and, after his release by Chelsea, England's Joe Cole - can play in the World Cup and those whose contracts expire during it, such as France's William Gallas, won't have to follow Bobby Moore's lead and sign a short-term deal to be eligible to play.
I watched the 1990 World Cup and am wondering what happened to Carlos Valderrama and Rene Higuita of Colombia Allan Mugisha writes
Midfielder Valderrama and goalkeeper Higuita may be best remembered for their unusual hairstyles, but they were two of the more prominent members of a talented Colombia side. Valderrama became their most capped footballer with 111 international appearances, was voted Colombia's greatest ever player and carried on until he was 40 at club level, finishing his career with Colorado Rapids in the MLS. He has since been assistant manager of Junior Baranquilla in Colombia and last month ran a football clinic in El Salvador. He retains his frankly ludicrous look.
As for Higuita, perhaps best known for his 'scorpion kick' method of saving shots, he was, rather surprisingly, still playing until earlier this year. He retired at 43, ending his career at Deportivo Pereira in Colombia after a career that included 68 caps, a ban for testing positive for cocaine, a spell in prison after being convicted of involvement in a kidnapping and a friendship with Diego Maradona. A great eccentric, he recreated the scorpion kick in his final game and has talked about going into politics.
I have read that everyone's favourite neighbours, North Korea, have been informed by FIFA that they can only use a striker as a goalkeeper since he was registered as the third choice. My question is why is FIFA so anal about there being three keepers in a squad? Why can't they leave it up to the associations to decide how many players of each position they want to use to try and win the competition? Is there an official explanation for this stance? Mark from Singapore.asks
An official explanation of sorts is provided in the rules FIFA provide for the tournament which state: "Each [national football] association will be required to provide FIFA with a final list of no more than 23 players (three of whom shall be goalkeepers)." However, the North Koreans may merit some sympathy, especially poor Kim Myong-Won, the striker who cannot now play in attack, because those rules may have appeared open to interpretation: it does not say that the nominated trio must operate solely as goalkeepers and cannot be used in outfield positions. After the North Korea furore, FIFA said in a subsequent statement: "The three players listed as goalkeepers can only play as goalkeepers during the World Cup and cannot play outfield. And Kim Myong Won will not be allowed to play as an outfield player if he has been put on the list as a goalkeeper." It's not a mistake anyone is likely to make in the future, but FIFA may want to clarify its own rules anyway.
One thought that also occurred to this observer: Germany's third-choice goalkeeper, Hans-Jorg Butt, is an excellent penalty taker. Consider the following scenario: Germany are drawing 0-0 in the knockout phases with say, 119 minutes gone, and a penalty shootout beckoning; manager Joachim Low knows he has Butt, likely to score from 12 yards, on the bench and some players on the pitch who are not confident penalty takers. By FIFA's ruling, if he wanted to bring Butt on, he would have to take off his goalkeeper and not, for instance, a left back. And to return to your original question, that seems unnecessarily anal.
Manchester City supporters may also recall the events of May 15, 2005, when Stuart Pearce's side were drawing 1-1 with Middlesbrough and the manager replaced a midfielder, Claudio Reyna, with a goalkeeper, Nicky Weaver, in the closing minutes. Weaver went in goal and David James moved into attack in an unconventional search for a winner. By Premier League rules, this was fine, but it would be prohibited in the World Cup.
We know that Dennis Bergkamp is afraid to go on aeroplanes. Do you know any of other players that have phobias? Malcolm Chang of Malaysia asks
A World Cup - or, to be precise, incidents during it - is cited as a reason for Bergkamp's fear of flying: a couple of plane trips in the 1994 tournament in the United States, and conversations with his then Netherlands team-mates, deterred him from using that method of transport again. The subsequent international tournaments he played in - Euro '96 in England, the 1998 World Cup in France and Euro 2000 in Holland and Belgium - were in comparatively small countries, meaning he could travel by road and rail. Bergkamp had retired from international football in 2000 because the 2002 World Cup was held in Japan and South Korea, though ultimately Netherlands didn't qualify anyway.
This isn't an exhaustive list of phobias - that would be rather long - but plenty of other players have shared his fear of flying. Paolo Guerrero is the most recent to struggle with it, a problem for a Peruvian who plays for Hamburg. Among others who were afraid of air travel were Robbie Savage and Jimmy Johnstone, though, unlike Bergkamp, both did actually board aeroplanes. In the sort of bizarre incident that appears to happen to Savage, a former Gulf War pilot was sacked for allowing the former Wales international to sit in the cockpit for some of a flight in an attempt to cure his phobia. Meanwhile, in 2008, Emmanuel Adebayor refused to fly with the Togo team to Zambia because he feared the plane would crash. It did not, but the side did, losing 1-0 in his absence. And while it isn't quite the same as a fear of flying, the Spain winger Jesus Navas long suffered from acute homesickness, which makes his presence in South Africa a surprise to some.
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