Many countries go to the World Cup hoping to have the best summer of their lives. For some though, the dream turns into a never ending nightmare due to the humiliation suffered on the pitch. Below are some of the worst world cup records.
South Korea
Many sides have been thrashed but South Korea is the only to take a hammering in more than one game at the same tournament. Losing 9-0 to Hungary’s Magnificent Magyars was no disgrace, but a 7-0 defeat to Turkey — who themselves lost 7-2 to West Germany — was much more ignominious. Korea’s captain even played in glasses, a nice image of a team who were far too gentle to mix with the big boys.
EL Salvador
El Salvador was on the wrong end of the biggest defeat in the history of the tournament: a 10-1 thumping by Hungary.They did manage to salvage some pride in their subsequent group games, losing only 1-0 to Belgium and 2-0 to Argentina, but those are not the matches for which they are remembered.
Saudi Arabia
The massive scorelines of early World Cups were supposed to be a thing of the past, but Saudi Arabia evoked those black-and-white days with a defensive performance of glorious ineptitude against Germany in 2002. They lost 8-0 — the only time since 1982 that a team has conceded more than six — and looked likely to concede every time Germany crossed the ball. Five of the goals came from headers. Defeats to Cameroon (1-0) and Ireland (3-0) completed the most ignominious of modern campaigns.