Belgium Away 2012

 

 

  

 

Flag of Belgium 

First international: Belgium 3-3 France (1904)

Biggest win: Belgium 9-0 Zambia (1994)

Biggest loss: England 11-2 Belgium (1909)

Most capped: Jan Ceulemans (96 caps)

Top scorer: Bernard Voorhoof (30 goals)

Star player: Vincent Kompany (Man City)

Belgium qualified for 6 world cups between 1982 and 2002 and have qualified for 11 in total. Belgium were famously knocked out by England in the 1990 world cup thanks to a volley from David Platt. They reached the knockout stage in 5 of those 6 tournament but since then they have relatively under performed by not qualifying for a major tournament since 2002. Belgium currently have a very good squad on paper and I would expect them to qualify for Brazil 2014. They have players such as Fellaini, Vermealen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Benteke, Hazard, Mirallas, Defour, Witsel, Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku and Mignolet who have all done well recently. With these players in the squad I would expect them to qualify for the next world cup with that squad. They currently sit top of their qualifying group after 4 games. 

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Home 2011

 

 

 

Seattle Sounders Home 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Seattle Sounds are a team that currently play in the MLS. But you don't need to know about them. What you need to view is Djimi Traore's volleyed goal for them which was an absolute beast so here you go. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObZVcMYxWXQ

Andorra Home 2011

 

 

Flag of Andorra

First international: Andorra 1-6 Estonia (1996)

Biggest win: Andorra 2-0 Belarus (2000)

Biggest loss: Czech Republic 8-1 Andorra (2005)

Most capped: Oscar Sonejee (90 caps)

Top scorer: Ildefons Lima (7 goals)

Star player: Ildefons Lima (FC Andorra)

This football shirt was supposedly matchworn in an under 21 game against some team. It's a nice rare shirt for one of the smallest European nations.

 Andorra's top scorer Ildefons Lima is actually a defender which makes it slightly weirder when you think he is the top scorer as I doubt there are many defenders out there that are top scorer for their country. In their history they have only ever won one competitive match which was a 1-0 win over Macedonia in a world cup qualifier. England recently played them and beat them 6-0 at Wembley which I did go to and I have to say Andorra were not a very good side but they are only a small country sandwhiched between France and Spain with an estimated population of 85,000 so what can you expect from them really? 

I also have an Andorran national team jacket as well which you can see here

http://bradsfootballshirtcollection.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/andorra-national-team-jacket.html

Gremio Home 2001

 

 

Gremio is one of the top teams in the Brazilian league. They famously are the team that the legendary Ronaldinho and Liverpool's Lucas Leiva started their careers at. 

Basque Home 2011

 

 

  

 

Flag of the Basque region 

Basque is a region in Spain. The Basque country team class as a regional football team which is only allowed  to play friendly matches. These may be against other Spanish regions or FIFA countries themselves. Most of the Basque players are formed from Real Sociedad and Atletico Bilbao players but Xabi Alonso also plays for the team as well. 

Cape Verde Away 2012

 

 

 

 

Flag of Cape Verde

First international: Guinea-Bissau 3-0 Cape Verde (1979)

Biggest win: Cape Verde 5-0 Equatorial Guinea (2009)

Biggest loss: Senegal 5-1 Cape Verde (1981)

Star player: Ze Luis (Braga)

Cape Verde is a small batch of islands just of the coast of west Africa. It currently is estimated to have a population of 500,000 and it probably won't come as a surprise to you that they've never qualified for a World Cup or African Nations Cup although that could soon change as they currently hold a 2-0 advantage from the first leg of their AFCON final qualifying round. Although Cape Verde are not a dominant force in world football they have produced some pretty impressive players but the majority of them decided to represent Portugal instead. Players like Nani, Rolando, Manuel Fernandes, Eliseu, Varela, Patrick Vieira and Henrik Larsson all could of represented Cape Verde but chose to play for other countries. 

 Their biggest achievement to date is probably drawing 0-0 in a friendly with Portugal despite 110 places in the rankings separating them at the time.

Niger 3rd 2011

 

 

 

 

Flag of Niger

First international: Nigeria 1-0 Niger (1963)

Biggest win: Niger 7-1 Mauritania (1990)

Biggest loss: Niger 1-9 Ghana (1969)

Star player: Moussa Maazou (Etoile Du Sahel)

Niger had never qualified for a major tournament until the 2012 African Nations Cup. If you watched the tournament you would of seen Niger wore Errea shirts for the first match before reverting back to Tovio shirts which are the ones in the picture. I am not sure why this happened but unless you know your shirts then you probably did not even notice it. Niger in a group of South Africa, Egypt and Sierra Leone shocked everyone by topping the group and qualifying for the 2011 African Nations Cup before going out in the group. They will also be participating in upcoming after scoring two late goals to win 2-0 and go through 2-1 on aggregate against Guinea.

Fenerbache Away 2011

 

Fenerbache are one of the most successful Turkish sides. Former Liverpool favourite Dirk Kuyt now plays for the team.