Spain World Cup History

Spain will be making their 13^th World Cup appearance in 2010, here is a look at how they finished in their previous 12 appearances.

1934 - Italy. Spain reached the World Cup Finals for the first time and defeated Brazil by a score of 3-1 in the preliminary round. In the quarterfinals the Spaniards faced Italy and the teams drew 1-1. Because the tournament did not allow for a penalty shoot out to determine the winner the game was replayed the next day. The Italians won the next day 1-0 to send Spain home.

1950 - Brazil. The Spaniards return to the World Cup after missing the previous one in 1938 (there were no tournaments in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II). In the opening group stage of the tournament Spain won all three of their games. they defeated the United States 3-1, than defeated Chile 2-0. In their final match of the first round Spain defeated the heavily favored English squad 1-0 to earn a spot in the final round. In the final round Spain drew a against Uruguay 2-2 and than were defeated by Brazil 6-1. The loss eliminated Spain from winning the championship. They did play Sweden in the third place game but lost by a score of 3-1 to finish in fourth place. Estanislaau Basora was the leading scorer for Spain with five goals.

1962 - Chile. Spain entered the 1962 Word Cup as one of the favorites to win it all. But Spain failed to get out of the first round losing 2 of their 3 games. They lost to Czechoslovakia 1-0 and to Brazil 2-1. Their one victory came against Mexico in which they won by a score of 1-0.

1966 - England. Spain returned to the World Cup in 1966 and once again were eliminated in the first round. After defeating Argentina by a score of 2-1 the Spaniards defeated Switzerland 2-1. Needing a win in the final first round game Spain lost to West Germany 2-1 and were sent home.

1978 - Argentina. The Spaniards returned to the World Cup for the first tine in 12 years but the results were the same as they were once gain eliminated in the first round. They lost their first game Austria 2-1. They than played Brazil and drew 0-0. In their final game Spain defeated Sweden 1-0, but the victory was not enough to send them to the next round.

1982 - Spain. As hosts of the 1982 World Cup big things were expected of the Spaniards. They managed to get out of the first round. They drew against Honduras in their first match and than defeated Yugoslavia 2-1. Despite losing their final first round match to Northern Ireland 1-0 the Spaniards advanced to the second round. In the second round, which was also a round robin format, the Spaniards were eliminated by losing 2-1 to West Germany and drawing against England 0-0.

1986 - Mexico. After losing to Brazil in their first game by a score of 1-0 the Spaniards than defeated Northern Ireland 2-1 and Algeria 3-0 to advance to the second round. In the second round the Spaniards played Denmark, one of the top teams in the tournament. In the match with the Danes, Spain won by a score of 5-1 on the strength of four goals from Emilio Butragueno. Spain advanced to the quarterfinals to play Belgium. The two sides were tied after regulation and were forced into penalty kicks to determine the winner. Belgium outlasted Spain 5-4 on Penalty Kicks to win the game.

1990 - Italy. Spain advanced past the first round after drawing against Uruguay 0-0 and defeating South Korea 3-1 and Belgium 2-1. In the second round the Spaniards lost to Yugoslavia 2-1 and were eliminated from the tournament. Caminero was Spain's leading scorer in the tournament with three goals.

1994 - United States. Spain drew their first two matches 2-2 against South Korea and 1-1 against Germany. Despite losing their last game to Bolivia 3-1 the Spaniards advanced to the second round where they shut out Switzerland 3-0. Spain than advanced to the quarterfinals where they lost to Italy 2-1.

1998 - France. In their first game of the tournament Spain led Nigeria 2-1 but went on to lose the game 3-2. In their next game the Spaniards drew against Paraguay 0-0. In the final game Spain defeated Bulgaria 6-1 on the strength of two goals apiece by Fernando Morientes and Kiko. However the victory was not enough to send Spain to the next round.

2002 Japan/Korea. Spain was one of the top teams in the 2002 tournament and were paired with Paraguay. Slovenia and South Africa in the first round. On goals from Raul, Juan Carlos Valeron and Fernando Hierro the Spaniards defeated Slovenia in their first game. Spain than defeated Paraguay by the same 3-1 score with Fernando Morientes scoring two goals. Spain than finished out the first round with another victory against South Africa with Raul scoring two goals. With their three first round victories, Spain advanced to the round of 16 where they faced Ireland. Spain looked like they were heading for victory when Ireland scored on a penalty kick in the 90^th minute. Spain managed to defeat Ireland by outscoring them 3-2 on penalty kicks. The victory vaulted the Spaniards into the quarterfinals where they faced South Korea. The two teams were tied at 0-0 after regulation, though Spain did have two goals that were disallowed, and for the second straight game Spain was forced into a penalty kick shoot out to determine the winner. This time Spain lost with South Korea out scoring them 5-3 in the penalty kick shoot out.

2006 - Germany. After their strong showing in 2002, Spain entered the 2006 World Cup as one of the favorites. They easily advanced to the second round after winning all three of their first round games. they defeated Ukraine 4-0, Tunisia 3-1 and Saudi Arabia 1-0. However in the round of 16 Spain lost to France by a score of 3-1. With three goals apiece Fernando Torres and David Villa were the leading scorers for Spain.

Overall Spain has appeared in 49 games in the World Cup Finals, their record is 22 wins, 15 losses and 12 draws.

Source www.fifa.com