June 12, 2026 • 17 mins
Should goalies get more bathroom breaks? Can a daily banana basket help players feel less homesick? And did a North Korean dictator invent a secret technology to guarantee more wins? Gear up, because Will and Mango have nine strange-but-true facts about the biggest tournament in soccer (which some of you call football)!
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This episode originally aired on July 5, 2018.
Photo by Connor Coyne via Unsplash. Thanks, Connor!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what will?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
What's that mango?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
So you know I love the World Cup, right, And
one of the people I always think about when the
World Cup starts now is Kim Jong Ill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Like the Dictator. What's he have to do with soccer?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah? So, I'm not sure if you remember this, but
in twenty ten, North Korea sent this team to the
World Cup and the coach of the team claimed that
when the North Korean scored, or if they ever won games,
it was only because he was getting guidance during the
game from Kim Jong Ill.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The guy's got so many talents. So how exactly did
this work?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So it's as an amazing way he did this. The
Dictator was apparently sending him telepathic signals through this invisible
cell phone technology that he'd invented I guess one year before.
And that's what dictators doing their spare time. But before
you laugh at how ludicrous that sounds, you do have
to remember that this is the same man who the
first time he played golf supposedly scored five holes in one.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I mean, it might sound just like borderline ridiculous anyway,
but so was the North Korean team any good?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I mean, they did get to the World Cup, which is,
you know, a huge feat but it's hard to compete
against superstar nations and they ended up losing seven zero
to Portugal, and supposedly when they arrived back in Pyongyang,
they were put on a stage and humiliated for six
hours in front of these elite government officials. And it
just sounds miserable, like it's a no win situation. But
(01:24):
that's actually the first of nine World Cup facts we've
got for you today, So let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm
Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
friend Mangesh hot Ticketter and sitting behind that sound proof glass,
he's cross stitching again, Mango, he is. I'm switching a
tribute this time to Paul the World Cup predicting octopus.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
He's so good at needle point, he really is.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, that's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. All right, Mago.
It's obviously World Cup season and we're talking about soccer today.
But I'm curious before we dive in, why do you
love the tournament so much?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So part of it is that I grew up in
the States and I only got to visit my relatives
in India every I don't know, three or four years,
and it was always doing the monsoons. But when it
was a World Cup year, it was just so exciting.
And I remember, particularly like when I was in fifth grade,
my grandparents had one of the few color TVs around,
and this was obviously a long time ago, but we'd
(02:41):
all stay up to watch the games live and you'd
play cards, you'd chat. There just be so much anticipation
for these games. And then my cousin's friends would come
over and so we'd all huddle around this tiny TV
and just root for underdogs. And you know, you'd be
watching like Roger Mila, who is I don't know, like
thirty eight or thirty nine scoring goals, and you'd be
so excited for him, or you know, you'd see these
(03:03):
colonial rivalries play out on the pitch, and it was
just really fun, partially because soccer is so much a
game of upsets, like more upsets happened in soccer than
other sports. But I had this amazing experience in two
thousand and six when I wanted to watch this Ivory
Coast game in Brooklyn, and this was before soccer seemed
to be that big in New York. I was in
Clinton Hill. I was walking to a bar and they
(03:25):
didn't have the game on. And then I walked to
this other bar and they didn't have this game on,
and I was like increasingly irritated that I couldn't watch
this game. And then I walked by this empty African
barbershop and I heard these cheers in the back. So
I just kind of looked in and there was this
guy standing in the back. He kind of just pointed
at me and he said, do you want to watch
the game? And I was like a nodding, and he
(03:47):
pulled this curtain open and in the back of the
barbershop there was this room full of people just huddled
around this tiny TV. And he motioned me to come in,
and so I just watched the game on the floor,
surrounded by people, and it just reminded me of India
and it was just so wonderful. I love that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I love that story. That's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So today's episode of Part Time Genius is brought to
you by Sale, a new esom service app by the
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I wait and I wait, and finally I I see
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and I try to make sounds for a slightly then
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(06:43):
in the episode description. And you know, I obviously love
international soccer. I love men's soccer, women's soccer. But uh,
I'm excited that you actually had to research soccer for
this episode, right right, I'm cureus there's what story you're
gonna lead off with?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, you know, it actually had a lot of fun
researching for this this episode. And I think though that
I'm going to stick with your dictator's theme. And this
is a story that involves Mussolini. So I think we
both know that FIFA is a pretty corrupt organization, but
it's hard to imagine anything is brazen is when Italy
held the World Cup. This was back in nineteen thirty four. Now,
(07:22):
according to a book by the BBC's Chris Hunt, Mussolini
started things off by making the trophy way more ostentatious,
which is not surprising. That's kind of the dictator's thing
to do. He built his own trophy for the Cup
that was six times the size, six times the size
of the traditional World Cup trophy. Then he proceeded to
(07:42):
rig the matches. At least that's what people think. So
there's this rumor that he handpicked every ref in the tournament,
and when Italy beat Austria in the semifinals, it really showed.
I mean, apparently not only were their penalties and bad
calls against Austria that shouldn't have been called, but during
one play in Austrian kicked the ball to go out
of bounds and the ref actually headed the ball back
(08:02):
in and passed it to an Italian player.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's ridiculous, But I mean, I guess if you're going
to the trouble of creating a trophy that's six times
that thing, like you might as well rig the tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It's true, it's true.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It's pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Like you said it was. Soccer is a game of upsets,
so it's possible that they could have won on their own.
And apparently Mussolini didn't even like soccer, and he often
described the sport as unmanly, but he knew that it
was important to be seen as victorious on this huge
world stage. And there are actually academic papers about this
that speculate it would have been hard for Italy to
have gotten those results without at least some help from
(08:39):
the refs.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's really crazy. So one of the things I've enjoyed
doing is seeing what the World Cup teams demand at hotels,
and for some reason, this was leaked in twenty ten.
And some of the things make sense, right, Like Portugal
wanted the hotel to provide these four bodyguards for Christiano Ronaldo,
who's obviously a massive superstar. Algeria wanted Koran's in every room,
(09:02):
and Ecuador wanted a daily banana basket delivered to each player.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's just fun to say daily banana basket.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, I think that should just be a thing everywhere, right,
But perhaps one of the strangest requests was that France
had this outright ban on bar soap for their players,
and they demand that the hotel only provide liquid soaps.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So I honestly get all of the others, but why
the bar soap thing.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
You know, I'm not sure about this entirely. I do
know the French manager is a little kookie, or was
a little kookie, and at the time he was really
into astrology, so he wouldn't like let a Leo be
a defender on the team or whatever. But I think
this was just a way to prevent any chance of
slipping on bar soap in the shower or in the bathroom.
I don't know, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Okay, I mean, I guess, I guess I can see
where he's coming from on that. But all right, Well
here's a quick one about the World Cup trophy. So
for starters, it's strange that it's called the World Cup
when the trophy isn't shaped like a cup anymore. But
one other fact I saw about this, did you know
that the trophy is actually running out of room?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So how do you mean?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, currently there's only space to etch in maybe three
or four more winning teams onto the trophies.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So if you look ahead to the twenty thirty World Cup,
they'll either need to extend the trophy with a bigger base,
or they'll just have to make a new trophy.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
That's pretty funny. So one thing I've heard repeated over
and over since I was a kid was that India
made the nineteen fifty World Cup but then they had
to withdraw. And I've heard different variations of the story, right,
Like I've heard that the team refused to play in
shoes or because they wanted to play barefoot, or like
the Indian government refused to buy them shoes, or they
(10:43):
did wear shoes, but they couldn't play in them, And
I was curious if there was any truth to this. Right,
it turns out, in the nineteen forty eighth Summer Olympics,
the Indian national team competed against France and it was
actually a close game, it was two to one, but
they did it playing barefoot, which actually shocked the world community.
But then nineteen fifty when they made the World Cup,
they actually backed out for a different reason. So according
(11:05):
to historians, while the team might have been annoyed that
they had to play in soccer shoes, it had more
to do with the fact that the World Cup was
announced late and they had this super short practice schedule,
and the fact that the newly independent Indian government didn't
think that the World Cup was that big a tournament,
so like they didn't want to fund the team to
go halfway around the world to Brazil. You know, if
(11:25):
it had been another Olympics, they would have happily ponied
up for that, but they didn't see this as that
big a world event. And the strange part is that
soccer isn't that big in India now, like everyone is
cricket crazy. But if they had sent that team to
the World Cup, there are a lot of historians who
think that India would have been more invested in soccer
over the years and had a much stronger team today.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah and that, I mean, that makes sense when you
think about the impact of this worldwide tournament. But well,
here's a funny little tradition. So in the nineteen sixty
two World Cup, Chile's team ate Swiss cheese before defeating
the Swiss. Then they ate spaghetti before playing Italy and
beat them. Then they drank vodka shots to prepare for
the USSR match, which they also won. And then they
(12:08):
drank coffee before a brazil match. But apparently it was
really the wrong stereotypical food to ingest because their luck
ran out in that game unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. I don't know what Brazilian food you should have
eaten to make sure you beat the Brazilian.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Team, but uh, the tough one.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Here's another weird one about superstitions, and this comes from
an Argentinian goalie named Sergio Goiicochia and he used to
leave it all out on the field before penalty shootouts.
And actually I'm gonna let him describe it. This is
from an interview with The Guardian. So quote reporter, didn't
you used to prepare for shootouts by urinating on the pitch? Goikochia.
(12:47):
You know, by the rules of the game, until the
match finishes, you cannot abandon the field, and if you
have any necessary human urges, you have to go on
the field. So that's what happened against Yugoslavia in the
ninety World Cup quarterfinals. At the end of the game,
I really had to go, so I had no choice,
but we won. So then when the semi final against
Italy went to penalties, I did it again and it worked.
(13:07):
So from that moment on, I did it before every shootout.
It was my lucky charm.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Ah. That is so strange, But you know, you do
hear about so many of these athletes being superstitious, and
there's so much on the line that you know, it's
not surprising they developed superstitions. But that one is a
little weird. I don't know that I know many that
are weirder than that. But all right, we get two
more facts before we declare a winner. But before we
get to those. Let's take a quick break. Welcome back
(13:48):
to Part Time Genius. We're talking about the World Cup.
So before we get to our last couple of facts, Mango,
I'm curious, are you enjoying the tournament this year?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah? I am. I love all the upsets. I I
love following different nations and stuff. But I haven't watched
as much as i'd like because you know, the games
are on during the day. It's funny as we have watched, though,
Lizzie has had this funny theory about the managers of
the teams, like she thinks they either all look like
they could be French presidents or disheveled retirees. And it's
(14:17):
actually a pretty good way to like organize the managers.
If you see them, they neatly fit into those two categories.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's sometimes they're the most entertaining part of these matches.
Like I've loved watching the Senegal coach who was so animated.
It's it's been pretty entertaining.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
And I mean he looks like he should be a
French president, So it's a category.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
You're right, it's a good theory.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Here, what's your last factor?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, Well, this isn't exactly a World Cup fact.
But there's a stadium that I wanted to talk about,
and it's Estadio Milton, Korea, which is also called Big
Zero or the Big Zero. And what's awesome about it
is that the midfield line is located exactly on the equator.
And so here's what I think is fun about that.
So when you're playing there, each team is actually playing
(15:02):
for and defending an entire hemisphere. So I don't know
why I find that so amusing.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I mean, it feels like that's where the World Cup
finals should be held every year, you know, if they've
any made this perfect sense?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
All right, Well what's your last fact, Mago.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, if you've been watching the World Cup, there's been
a little speculation about whether Russia should be winning as
much as they have, and it is actually a good team.
I mean, they came in sort of mediocre, but they've
played smart. But there are questions about Vladimir Putin and
Russian corruption, But the Russians are actually responsible for one
of the most honest moments in World Cup history. And
there's this player named Igor Neto. This was in the
(15:39):
nineteen sixty two World Cup. His team was tied up
with Uruguay and he scored a goal, but it actually
went through the net on the side of the goal,
so Neto went to the ref and he urged him
not to count it because it wouldn't be fair to
win that way. And I can't even imagine a player
being that honest today, you know, I mean, people think
injuries to get penalties, people do all these things. But
(16:01):
you know, he asked for a goal to be retracted,
and luckily the team scored and won in the eighty
ninth minute of that game. But years later he recalled
why he did that, and he said, quote, we should
win without relying on the referees' mistakes, and when it
was changed, I finally felt a sense of relief.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah wow. I mean, you know, it is so rare
in sports to see that level of honesty, So you know,
I kind of want to give you the trophy for
that one. And then, of course, thinking back about the Goycochia,
you know, urinating on the pitch and all of that,
like that is just so strange. But I got to
be honest, I'm super impressed with Lizzie's theory of organizing
(16:41):
the managers. I feel like she's kind of swooped in
and stolen the trophy this week or are you good
with us?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm fine with that. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, thank you guys for listening. We'll be back with
a full length episode tomorrow
Guess what will?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
What's that mango?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
So you know I love the World Cup, right, And
one of the people I always think about when the
World Cup starts now is Kim Jong Ill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Like the Dictator. What's he have to do with soccer?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yeah? So, I'm not sure if you remember this, but
in twenty ten, North Korea sent this team to the
World Cup and the coach of the team claimed that
when the North Korean scored, or if they ever won games,
it was only because he was getting guidance during the
game from Kim Jong Ill.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The guy's got so many talents. So how exactly did
this work?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So it's as an amazing way he did this. The
Dictator was apparently sending him telepathic signals through this invisible
cell phone technology that he'd invented I guess one year before.
And that's what dictators doing their spare time. But before
you laugh at how ludicrous that sounds, you do have
to remember that this is the same man who the
first time he played golf supposedly scored five holes in one.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I mean, it might sound just like borderline ridiculous anyway,
but so was the North Korean team any good?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I mean, they did get to the World Cup, which is,
you know, a huge feat but it's hard to compete
against superstar nations and they ended up losing seven zero
to Portugal, and supposedly when they arrived back in Pyongyang,
they were put on a stage and humiliated for six
hours in front of these elite government officials. And it
just sounds miserable, like it's a no win situation. But
(01:24):
that's actually the first of nine World Cup facts we've
got for you today, So let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm
Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good
friend Mangesh hot Ticketter and sitting behind that sound proof glass,
he's cross stitching again, Mango, he is. I'm switching a
tribute this time to Paul the World Cup predicting octopus.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
He's so good at needle point, he really is.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, that's our friends and producer Tristan McNeil. All right, Mago.
It's obviously World Cup season and we're talking about soccer today.
But I'm curious before we dive in, why do you
love the tournament so much?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So part of it is that I grew up in
the States and I only got to visit my relatives
in India every I don't know, three or four years,
and it was always doing the monsoons. But when it
was a World Cup year, it was just so exciting.
And I remember, particularly like when I was in fifth grade,
my grandparents had one of the few color TVs around,
and this was obviously a long time ago, but we'd
(02:41):
all stay up to watch the games live and you'd
play cards, you'd chat. There just be so much anticipation
for these games. And then my cousin's friends would come
over and so we'd all huddle around this tiny TV
and just root for underdogs. And you know, you'd be
watching like Roger Mila, who is I don't know, like
thirty eight or thirty nine scoring goals, and you'd be
so excited for him, or you know, you'd see these
(03:03):
colonial rivalries play out on the pitch, and it was
just really fun, partially because soccer is so much a
game of upsets, like more upsets happened in soccer than
other sports. But I had this amazing experience in two
thousand and six when I wanted to watch this Ivory
Coast game in Brooklyn, and this was before soccer seemed
to be that big in New York. I was in
Clinton Hill. I was walking to a bar and they
(03:25):
didn't have the game on. And then I walked to
this other bar and they didn't have this game on,
and I was like increasingly irritated that I couldn't watch
this game. And then I walked by this empty African
barbershop and I heard these cheers in the back. So
I just kind of looked in and there was this
guy standing in the back. He kind of just pointed
at me and he said, do you want to watch
the game? And I was like a nodding, and he
(03:47):
pulled this curtain open and in the back of the
barbershop there was this room full of people just huddled
around this tiny TV. And he motioned me to come in,
and so I just watched the game on the floor,
surrounded by people, and it just reminded me of India
and it was just so wonderful. I love that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I love that story. That's pretty great.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So today's episode of Part Time Genius is brought to
you by Sale, a new esom service app by the
creators of Nord VPN. Who if you know this show,
you know I love and they have got a special
deal for you. But first, what is an eSIM? So
let me tell you what I could have used an eSIM.
This February I was in Goa. I was reporting on
a new show and I went out to the boonies
(04:30):
to meet with this are Vedic doctor and after the appointment,
I said, hey, can you help me call a taxi?
And he just laughed, which probably should have been my
first indication that something was wrong. And he said, just
walk half a mile down the road and you'll see
a taxi at some point, which was not comforting. So
(04:50):
I'm getting no reception, no internet. I walk a half
mile down the road, still no reception, no internet, and
I wait and I wait, and finally I I see
this old rickshaw driver who is asleep in his vehicle,
and I try to make sounds for a slightly then
a little louder to get his attention, and finally I
do and he does not want to drive me home.
(05:13):
It took me a very very long time to convince him,
and a lot of begging. But you know what would
have helped sale Basically, if you've ever been lost abroad
or badly needed an internet connection with no WI fi
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local SIM card can make. And eSIM provides an Internet
(05:34):
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All you have to do is download Sale in your
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get an exclusive fifteen percent off your first purchase. Download
Sale in your app store and use our code PTG
at checkout to get an exclusive fifteen percent off your
first purchase. For further details, go to sale dot com
slash ptg. That's sale dot com slash ptg. Details are
(06:43):
in the episode description. And you know, I obviously love
international soccer. I love men's soccer, women's soccer. But uh,
I'm excited that you actually had to research soccer for
this episode, right right, I'm cureus there's what story you're
gonna lead off with?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, you know, it actually had a lot of fun
researching for this this episode. And I think though that
I'm going to stick with your dictator's theme. And this
is a story that involves Mussolini. So I think we
both know that FIFA is a pretty corrupt organization, but
it's hard to imagine anything is brazen is when Italy
held the World Cup. This was back in nineteen thirty four. Now,
(07:22):
according to a book by the BBC's Chris Hunt, Mussolini
started things off by making the trophy way more ostentatious,
which is not surprising. That's kind of the dictator's thing
to do. He built his own trophy for the Cup
that was six times the size, six times the size
of the traditional World Cup trophy. Then he proceeded to
(07:42):
rig the matches. At least that's what people think. So
there's this rumor that he handpicked every ref in the tournament,
and when Italy beat Austria in the semifinals, it really showed.
I mean, apparently not only were their penalties and bad
calls against Austria that shouldn't have been called, but during
one play in Austrian kicked the ball to go out
of bounds and the ref actually headed the ball back
(08:02):
in and passed it to an Italian player.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's ridiculous, But I mean, I guess if you're going
to the trouble of creating a trophy that's six times
that thing, like you might as well rig the tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It's true, it's true.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
It's pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Like you said it was. Soccer is a game of upsets,
so it's possible that they could have won on their own.
And apparently Mussolini didn't even like soccer, and he often
described the sport as unmanly, but he knew that it
was important to be seen as victorious on this huge
world stage. And there are actually academic papers about this
that speculate it would have been hard for Italy to
have gotten those results without at least some help from
(08:39):
the refs.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's really crazy. So one of the things I've enjoyed
doing is seeing what the World Cup teams demand at hotels,
and for some reason, this was leaked in twenty ten.
And some of the things make sense, right, Like Portugal
wanted the hotel to provide these four bodyguards for Christiano Ronaldo,
who's obviously a massive superstar. Algeria wanted Koran's in every room,
(09:02):
and Ecuador wanted a daily banana basket delivered to each player.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It's just fun to say daily banana basket.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah, I think that should just be a thing everywhere, right,
But perhaps one of the strangest requests was that France
had this outright ban on bar soap for their players,
and they demand that the hotel only provide liquid soaps.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So I honestly get all of the others, but why
the bar soap thing.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
You know, I'm not sure about this entirely. I do
know the French manager is a little kookie, or was
a little kookie, and at the time he was really
into astrology, so he wouldn't like let a Leo be
a defender on the team or whatever. But I think
this was just a way to prevent any chance of
slipping on bar soap in the shower or in the bathroom.
I don't know, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Okay, I mean, I guess, I guess I can see
where he's coming from on that. But all right, Well
here's a quick one about the World Cup trophy. So
for starters, it's strange that it's called the World Cup
when the trophy isn't shaped like a cup anymore. But
one other fact I saw about this, did you know
that the trophy is actually running out of room?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So how do you mean?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, currently there's only space to etch in maybe three
or four more winning teams onto the trophies.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
So if you look ahead to the twenty thirty World Cup,
they'll either need to extend the trophy with a bigger base,
or they'll just have to make a new trophy.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
That's pretty funny. So one thing I've heard repeated over
and over since I was a kid was that India
made the nineteen fifty World Cup but then they had
to withdraw. And I've heard different variations of the story, right,
Like I've heard that the team refused to play in
shoes or because they wanted to play barefoot, or like
the Indian government refused to buy them shoes, or they
(10:43):
did wear shoes, but they couldn't play in them, And
I was curious if there was any truth to this. Right,
it turns out, in the nineteen forty eighth Summer Olympics,
the Indian national team competed against France and it was
actually a close game, it was two to one, but
they did it playing barefoot, which actually shocked the world community.
But then nineteen fifty when they made the World Cup,
they actually backed out for a different reason. So according
(11:05):
to historians, while the team might have been annoyed that
they had to play in soccer shoes, it had more
to do with the fact that the World Cup was
announced late and they had this super short practice schedule,
and the fact that the newly independent Indian government didn't
think that the World Cup was that big a tournament,
so like they didn't want to fund the team to
go halfway around the world to Brazil. You know, if
(11:25):
it had been another Olympics, they would have happily ponied
up for that, but they didn't see this as that
big a world event. And the strange part is that
soccer isn't that big in India now, like everyone is
cricket crazy. But if they had sent that team to
the World Cup, there are a lot of historians who
think that India would have been more invested in soccer
over the years and had a much stronger team today.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah and that, I mean, that makes sense when you
think about the impact of this worldwide tournament. But well,
here's a funny little tradition. So in the nineteen sixty
two World Cup, Chile's team ate Swiss cheese before defeating
the Swiss. Then they ate spaghetti before playing Italy and
beat them. Then they drank vodka shots to prepare for
the USSR match, which they also won. And then they
(12:08):
drank coffee before a brazil match. But apparently it was
really the wrong stereotypical food to ingest because their luck
ran out in that game unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. I don't know what Brazilian food you should have
eaten to make sure you beat the Brazilian.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Team, but uh, the tough one.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Here's another weird one about superstitions, and this comes from
an Argentinian goalie named Sergio Goiicochia and he used to
leave it all out on the field before penalty shootouts.
And actually I'm gonna let him describe it. This is
from an interview with The Guardian. So quote reporter, didn't
you used to prepare for shootouts by urinating on the pitch? Goikochia.
(12:47):
You know, by the rules of the game, until the
match finishes, you cannot abandon the field, and if you
have any necessary human urges, you have to go on
the field. So that's what happened against Yugoslavia in the
ninety World Cup quarterfinals. At the end of the game,
I really had to go, so I had no choice,
but we won. So then when the semi final against
Italy went to penalties, I did it again and it worked.
(13:07):
So from that moment on, I did it before every shootout.
It was my lucky charm.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Ah. That is so strange, But you know, you do
hear about so many of these athletes being superstitious, and
there's so much on the line that you know, it's
not surprising they developed superstitions. But that one is a
little weird. I don't know that I know many that
are weirder than that. But all right, we get two
more facts before we declare a winner. But before we
get to those. Let's take a quick break. Welcome back
(13:48):
to Part Time Genius. We're talking about the World Cup.
So before we get to our last couple of facts, Mango,
I'm curious, are you enjoying the tournament this year?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah? I am. I love all the upsets. I I
love following different nations and stuff. But I haven't watched
as much as i'd like because you know, the games
are on during the day. It's funny as we have watched, though,
Lizzie has had this funny theory about the managers of
the teams, like she thinks they either all look like
they could be French presidents or disheveled retirees. And it's
(14:17):
actually a pretty good way to like organize the managers.
If you see them, they neatly fit into those two categories.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's sometimes they're the most entertaining part of these matches.
Like I've loved watching the Senegal coach who was so animated.
It's it's been pretty entertaining.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
And I mean he looks like he should be a
French president, So it's a category.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
You're right, it's a good theory.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Here, what's your last factor?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
All right, Well, this isn't exactly a World Cup fact.
But there's a stadium that I wanted to talk about,
and it's Estadio Milton, Korea, which is also called Big
Zero or the Big Zero. And what's awesome about it
is that the midfield line is located exactly on the equator.
And so here's what I think is fun about that.
So when you're playing there, each team is actually playing
(15:02):
for and defending an entire hemisphere. So I don't know
why I find that so amusing.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I mean, it feels like that's where the World Cup
finals should be held every year, you know, if they've
any made this perfect sense?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
All right, Well what's your last fact, Mago.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Well, if you've been watching the World Cup, there's been
a little speculation about whether Russia should be winning as
much as they have, and it is actually a good team.
I mean, they came in sort of mediocre, but they've
played smart. But there are questions about Vladimir Putin and
Russian corruption, But the Russians are actually responsible for one
of the most honest moments in World Cup history. And
there's this player named Igor Neto. This was in the
(15:39):
nineteen sixty two World Cup. His team was tied up
with Uruguay and he scored a goal, but it actually
went through the net on the side of the goal,
so Neto went to the ref and he urged him
not to count it because it wouldn't be fair to
win that way. And I can't even imagine a player
being that honest today, you know, I mean, people think
injuries to get penalties, people do all these things. But
(16:01):
you know, he asked for a goal to be retracted,
and luckily the team scored and won in the eighty
ninth minute of that game. But years later he recalled
why he did that, and he said, quote, we should
win without relying on the referees' mistakes, and when it
was changed, I finally felt a sense of relief.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah wow. I mean, you know, it is so rare
in sports to see that level of honesty, So you know,
I kind of want to give you the trophy for
that one. And then, of course, thinking back about the Goycochia,
you know, urinating on the pitch and all of that,
like that is just so strange. But I got to
be honest, I'm super impressed with Lizzie's theory of organizing
(16:41):
the managers. I feel like she's kind of swooped in
and stolen the trophy this week or are you good
with us?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Yeah, I'm fine with that. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, thank you guys for listening. We'll be back with
a full length episode tomorrow
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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