\u201cSweden\u2019s Yasin Ayari has a Tunisian father and chose not to celebrate his first goal against Tunisia (he couldn\u2019t resist celebrating when he scored later, though). Declan Rice did something similar after scoring against the Republic of Ireland in 2024, but what is the earliest example of a player not celebrating a goal at international level because of a connection to the opposition?\u201d asks Michael Pilcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Breel Embolo, the Swiss international born in Cameroon, not celebrating after scoring against Cameroon<\/a> at the 2022 World Cup,\u201d replies Filippo Varanini.<\/p>\n During a European Championship qualifying match in 2010, Mesut \u00d6zil showed restraint in his celebrations when he scored for Germany against Turkey in a 3-0 win \u2013 the former Real Madrid playmaker was born in Gelsenkirchen to Turkish immigrants. But the earliest example we can find of this particular gesture is with a teammate of \u00d6zil\u2019s, Lukas Podolski, who scored two goals against Poland<\/a>, the country of his birth, at Euro 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a difficult and emotional game for me,\u201d he told FourFourTwo magazine in 2022<\/a>. \u201cBoth the German and Polish press focused on me before it, building the pressure, and there were so many Polish fans in the ground. I didn\u2019t celebrate, but I\u2019m a professional and had to do what was expected of me. I support Poland on every other occasion. I was emotional before and after the game, but for 90 minutes I came to do my job for Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTwo questions on Cape Verde manager Dick Advocaat,\u201d begins Luke Carruthers. \u201c1) He has coached eight different men\u2019s international teams \u2013 can anybody beat that? 2) He has managed the Netherlands men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams at senior level. How rare is this?\u201d<\/p>\n The first part has been covered in a previous Knowledge<\/a> many moons ago, but the answer is categorically Rudi Gutendorf. Incredibly, the German\u2019s management career lasted 53 years and took in 17 national manager jobs in charge of Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Antigua, Botswana, Australia, New Caledonia, Nepal, Tonga, Tanzania, Ghana, Nepal again (but we won\u2019t count that), Fiji, Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Rwanda. Oh, and he also took charge of the Iranian and Chinese Olympic teams in 1988 and 1992, respectively. When asked once why he had managed in so many different countries, the German replied: \u201cOne cannot conserve excitement.\u201d Reader Christoph Arlick has a caveat, though. \u201cQuite a few international sides he was in charge of did not actually play an official game during his time there,\u201d he notes. \u201cHe was on the sidelines for Bermuda, Chile, Botswana, Australia, Nepal, Ghana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Rwanda across 77 games, beating Advocaat by (at least) one country.\u201d<\/p>\n Dick Advocaat at Wembley in 1993, while in charge of the Netherlands men\u2019s side. He briefly coached his country\u2019s women\u2019s team in 1987. Photograph: Mark Leech\/Offside\/Mark Leech Sports Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Dan Almond flags two other managers who can match or better Advocaat\u2019s eight international jobs: Bora Milutinovic (eight: Mexico, Costa Rica, USA, Nigeria, China, Honduras, Jamaica, Iraq) and Claude Le Roy (nine: Cameroon, Senegal, Malaysia, DR Congo, Ghana, Oman, Syria, Congo, Togo), while Tom Reed puts forward Danny McLennan (10: Philippines, Mauritius, Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe], Iran, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Malawi, Fiji, Libya). \u201cTom Saintfiet has racked up 12 international teams (Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen, Malawi, Togo, Bangladesh, Trinidad and Tobago, Malta, the Gambia, the Philippines, Mali) across four different federations,\u201d emails Daz Pearce. \u201cHe needs to manage countries in South America and Oceania to complete the set.\u201d<\/p>\n We are fairly sure the only answer to Luke\u2019s second question is John Herdman, the Englishman who managed both Canada\u2019s women\u2019s and men\u2019s national teams between 2011-23. After the women\u2019s team lost all three of their group games at the 2011 World Cup, many of their players were contemplating retirement. \u201cWe were completely broken,\u201d recalled retired defender Emily Zurrer, who was also part of that 2015 squad. \u201cSome of us were thinking about hanging up our boots and here\u2019s this guy talking about being on a podium and seeing our flag rise \u2026 and very quickly he instilled that belief in us.\u201d The following year, Canada were on that podium earning a bronze Olympic medal<\/a> at London 2012, a feat they repeated four years later in Rio. He assumed a divided men\u2019s team in 2018 but helped Canada men to their first World Cup in nearly four decades in 2022. You can read more about Herdman, and his penchant for Sun Tzu quotes, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n John Herdman (centre) celebrates with Canada\u2019s Christine Sinclair after the latter\u2019s winning goal against China at the 2015 Women\u2019s World Cup. Photograph: Dan Riedlhuber\/EPASweet 16<\/p>\n \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s Chris Wood and Tommy Smith are playing at their second World Cup<\/a>, 16 years after their first,\u201d writes Alexander Scott. \u201cHas any player had a longer wait between World Cup appearances?\u201d<\/p>\n Knowledge legend Dirk Maas swoops in here to answer this one. \u201cNo, Chris Wood has equalled Faryd Mondrag\u00f3n\u2019s feat, who played for Colombia at the 1998 and 2014 World Cup. Before Mondrag\u00f3n, the longest wait was 12 years. Alfred Bickel (Switzerland, World Cup 1938 and 1950), Erik Nilsson (Sweden, World Cup 1938 and 1950), Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez S\u00e1nchez \u2018Pirri\u2019 (Spain, World Cup 1966 and 1978), Wilfried Van Moer (Belgium, World Cup 1970 and 1982), Michael Laudrup (Denmark, World Cup 1986 and 1998), Hern\u00e1n Medford (Costa Rica, World Cup 1990 and 2002), Niall Quinn (Republic of Ireland, World Cup 1990 and 2002), Santiago Ca\u00f1izares (Spain, World Cup 1994 and 2006), Lee Dong-gook (South Korea, World Cup 1998 and 2010), Daniel Van Buyten (Belgium, World Cup 2002 and 2014) and Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Russia, World Cup 2002 and 2014) shared the record of the longest wait. Randall Azofeifa (Costa Rica, World Cup 2006 and 2018), Edin Dzeko and Sead Kolasinac (Bosnia and Herzegovina, World Cup 2014 and 2026), Nabil Bentaleb, A\u00efssa Mandi and Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, World Cup 2014 and 2026) and Lucas Digne (France, World Cup 2014 and 2026) also had to wait 12 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowledge archive<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s often said that, when England lost on penalties to West Germany at Italia 90, Bobby Robson should have brought big Dave Beasant on for the penalties. Surely England had used all their subs by then hadn\u2019t they?\u201d asked George Jones in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Knowledge has often heard this theory that penalty-save specialist Beasant could have been brought on for Shilton before the spot-kicks. Even Chris Waddle, who missed England\u2019s final kick, is said to have muttered it. But on further investigation, it\u2019s a myth. The Guardian\u2019s very own Rob Smyth, who knows a thing or two about Italia 90, happily busts it. \u201cEngland hadn\u2019t used all their substitutes, they\u2019d only brought on Trevor Steven for Terry Butcher (you were allowed two subs then), but it\u2019s a myth because in those days you had to name five subs to choose from for each match. England\u2019s other subs were Chris Woods, Tony Dorigo, Steve McMahon and Steve Bull.\u201d<\/p>\n