It’s always refreshing to see teams make their debut at a World Cup finals.
Sometimes they rise to the occasion and exceed expectations, like Denmark in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990 or Senegal in 2002. Sometimes their debut appearance is one to forget, like Haiti in 1974, Greece in 1994 or Togo in 2006.
Other debutants bring a smile to the faces of those watching, like Nigeria in 1994 and Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz in 1998.
The last World Cup was notable in that there were no first time qualifiers. Slovakia made their first finals appearance since Czechoslovakia split but as FIFA regard both they and the Czech Republic as direct successors, they weren’t officially regarded as debutants.
Compare this to the 2006 World Cup, when six teams qualified for the first time – four of them Africa, and you can see you never know when a crop of new teams will pop up in the finals.
With 75 of the 176 remaining teams having played in the finals before, that leaves 101 possible debutants.
Let’s see who might make their first appearance in Brazil.
We’ll start with South America, where there is only one possible debutant. Venezuela are the only team in the South American qualifying section never to have played in the finals. For decades, they were the whipping boys of South American football. They didn’t win a qualifier until 1981 and then didn’t win again until 1993. But La Vinotino (the Burgundy) have improved dramatically in recent years as shown by their recent semi-final appearance at the Copa America.
With Brazil out of the way, rivals like Colombia and Ecuador lacking in form and 4.5 places still up for grabs, Venezuela have never had a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
The break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s has made the possibility of a European team making its debut at a World Cup more likely. Ukraine, Croatia and Slovenia have all made their World Cup debuts since then and the newer members of UEFA seem to offer the best chance of finding another debutant.
Montenegro have been the surprise package of Euro 2012 qualifying. Their stout, defensive style has seen them remain unbeaten so far and helped push their ranking so high that they were in the second pot of seeds for the World Cup draw. However, they will be up against it, drawn with England again, as well as Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine and Poland.
A more likely debutant may be Bosnia-Herzegovina. They came close last time, losing to Portugal in the playoffs and nearly forced Spain to miss the 2006 World Cup. They’ve got a decent draw with Greece and Slovakia in their group, as well as Lithuania and Latvia, who were surprise qualifiers for Euro 2004.
Another team slowly improving is Belarus. They’re in the hunt for a Euro 2012 place, having lost only one of their seven qualifying games so far, but being drawn with Spain and France in the World Cup may mean a place in Brazil is beyond them.
African football’s unpredictability means the best chance of a debutant could be found here. Angola and Togo reached the 2006 finals when no-one expected them to. Can anyone follow in their footsteps?
One team worth looking out for could be Botswana. They’ve just qualified for the African Cup of Nations for the first time and have a favourable draw in the World Cup, with South Africa likely to be their toughest opposition in the group stage.
Uganda will be looking to make up for an early exit last time by reaching their first World Cup. They are very strong at home and are on the verge of qualifying for the Cup of Nations for the first time since 1978.
Some were surprised to see Burkina Faso among the top seeds in Africa. Their footballing pedigree isn’t particularly strong and they’ve never really come close to World Cup qualification. However, they have a 100% record in Cup of Nations qualifying so far and their seeding has seen them drawn with Gabon and Niger in their World Cup qualifying group. They should get through it and with the five places being decided by a final knockout round, anything could happen after that.
Zambia have come close to qualification on a number of occasions. Many believe they would’ve qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the USA had it not been for the tragic plane crash which killed 18 members of the national squad and the coaching staff.
They would be very popular debutants in Brazil but have a tough task on their hands after being drawn in the same group as Ghana.
In Asia, Bahrain fell at the final hurdle of qualifying in the last two World Cups, missing out in playoffs to Trinidad & Tobago and New Zealand. Their form has dipped since then and may have their work cut out just to reach the final round.
In the same group are Qatar, who would love to appear in the finals before they are due to host in 2022. Also in contention could be Uzbekistan. They reached the semi-finals of the Asian Cup earlier this year and were denied a possible playoff against Trinidad & Tobago a few years ago when a refereeing error forced their first leg against Bahrain, which they’d won 1-0 to be replayed. Bahrain went on to win the tie on away goals.
Jordan also did well at the Asian Cup, beating Saudi Arabia and drawing with Japan on their way to the quarter-finals, and can’t be ruled out.
CONCACAF has provided a number of debutants at recent tournaments and may well do so again. Panama reached the semi-finals of the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup and are more than capable of reaching the final six. Guatemala have also reached CONCACAF’s final round on several occasions but have never really come close to qualifying.
Oceania doesn’t seem likely to offer a debut qualifier with New Zealand set to dominate in Australia’s absence. But the All Whites have slipped up before against Pacific island teams, most notably in qualifying for 2006, when a defeat to Vanuatu meant they only finished third in their qualifying group behind the Solomon Islands, who’d earned a surprise draw with Australia in their final game. They also lost to Fiji during the last qualifying campaign, though they were already guaranteed to top their group.
Whoever qualifies, Brazil 2014 is likely to be a month-long carnival of football but the party might just have a bit more atmosphere if there are some new faces at the finals.
World Cup Tracker - The Road to the 2014 World Cup 