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While England fans will be delighted at the Three Lions opening 6-2 success over Iran, and Welsh fans will be happy at the way they came back to earn a 1-1 draw against the United States, there is no doubt about what has been the result of the tournament so far.
That came on the third day of games on Tuesday 22nd November when the mighty Argentina were humbled by Saudi Arabia, going down to their first defeat in 36 games, losing 2-1 in their opening Group C fixture.
The result is ranked as one of the biggest World Cup upsets in the history of the tournament, but it is not alone as over the years there have been a number of massive shocks at the tournament and in this article, we are going to run the rule over some of the most incredible over the years.
And to finish, we will also highlight some forthcoming games at the current World Cup, where a huge shock could be on the cards.
Although not at the finest point in their history, Italy were still expected to beat the unknown part-timers from North Korea in their Group Stage game at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough at the 1966 World Cup Finals.
Along with Portugal, the Italians were expected to make the quarterfinals from the group, but in a stunning turn of events, they found the North Korean defence inspired and a single strike from Pak Doo-Ik was enough to give the North Korean’s a hugely popular win.
They also went 3-0 up against Portugal in their next game, but ran into a masterclass from Eusebio who dragged his team back to a 5-3 victory.
In 1954, the “Mighty Magyarz” of Hungary were the best team in the world by a considerable margin. They had humbled England 6-3 at Wembley and then thrashed them 7-1 in Budapest a few months later and at the 1954 World Cup they were the favourites to win.
After winning their two group games 9-0 (v South Korea) and 8-3 (v West Germany) Hungary then defeated the two South American. Giants Brazil and Uruguay both by 4-2 scorelines in the quarter and semi finals.
In the final, they’d face a Germany side they had put eight goals past in the Group Stage, but despite going 2-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes, Hungary could not capitalise on their fast start, as Germany roared back to claim a 3-2 win to stun the world.
The 2014 World Cup holders would defend their title in Russia but after picking up just one win from their opening two games in their group, they faced a must-win game against South Korea to reach the knockout phase.
With Sweden leading Mexico ensuring they would join the Mexicans on six points, Germany needed to win the game to progress and as the game wore on they became more desperate and the Koreans looked dangerous on the break.
Then in the 4th minute of injury time, Kim Young-gwon slammed the ball into the roof of the net to put Korea ahead. Germany pushed everyone up to try and equalise, including keeper Manuel Neuer, but they lost the ball and a long ball up field was converted by Son Hyeong-min to give Korea a stunning 2-0 win and eliminate the World Champions.
World Champions France headed to the 2002 finals with hopes of earning their third major title in a row after winning the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships. Their first game in the group was against Senegal, an African side making their first appearance in the finals.
With a number of their players playing their football domestically in France, Senegal held France at bay and Pape Bouba-Diop, known affectionately as ‘the wardrobe’ scored a goal on the half hour mark which France could not answer.
A 0-0 draw with Uruguay followed by a 2-0 defeat to Denmark meant France went home after the group stage and bottom of the group.
South Korea delighted home fans by reaching the Round of 16 of the tournament, but there they ran into an Italy side that was packed with stars and who had finished second to Mexico in the group stage.
Italy began well against the home team and took the lead with Christian Vieri’s fourth goal of the World Cup Finals and Italy looked to have taken the sting out of the Korean’s attack as the game moved into the latter stages.
However, on 88 minutes Seol Ki Hyeon scored a famous equaliser to take the game into sudden death extra time. Penalties loomed until Jung Hwan Ahn headed home in the 118th minute to end the game and hand Korea a stunning, and controversial victory.
Germany’s opening game of the 1982 World Cup produced a huge upset as the previously unheralded Algeria secured a famous victory before they were ultimately cheated out of the competition.
After a goalless first half, Algeria stunned Germany when their star man Rabah Madjer put them in front. Germany responded with Karl Heinz Rummenigge scoring the equaliser 13 minutes later but just a minute later, Algeria went straight down the other end allowing Belloumi to fire home.
Germany could not find an equaliser and in the end it took a disgraceful 1-0 win in Gijon over Austria, a result which put both teams through and eliminated Algeria, with both teams going through the motions after Germany scored, for the Germans to progress.
The current World Cup Champions, complete with Diego Maradona, opened the Italia 1990 World Cup Finals against the minnows of Cameroon, however it was the Africans that would secure a memorable, if somewhat physical victory in the game.
With no real option but to try and bully Argentina, Cameroon kept the game scoreless in the first half but their physicality eventually saw them reduced to ten men with Andre Kana Biyik sent off.
However, shortly thereafter, his brother Francois Omam Biyik took advantage of some slack Argentinean defending and poor goalkeeping to put Cameroon ahead. The Africans were then reduced to 9 men but still held on to record an unlikely win.
In the 1950 World Cup, England took their place in the finals for the first time and were expected to do very well. In their opening group, they defeated Chile in their opener to get off to a great start and were expected to set up a group decider against Spain in their final game by beating the amateurs of the United States.
The US team was full of part-timers and players that had not long got together, but somehow they stunned the world with Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian-born amateur, scoring the goal to give them the win.
Meanwhile, back in England, papers read the scoreline of 1-0 to the United States as an error and instead reported the result initially as 10-1 win for England before the stunning scoreline was confirmed.
We don’t have to look too far back for our second placed shock result of the World Cup Finals as Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina 2-1 just a couple of days ago to claim a stunning victory.
Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the first half and also saw Lionel Messi convert a penalty as they looked likely to extend their unbeaten run of 36 games.
However, early in the second half, the Saudi Arabians scored twice through Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari in the 48th and 53rd minute to take the lead.
Some superb defending combined with a lacklustre display by Argentina eventually saw them through to claim the biggest win in the countries history.
However, the biggest shock ever in the World Cup remains the 2014 semi final, where host nation Brazil, widely expected to go on and win the tournament, would face the pragmatic but strong and organised Germany side.
An injury to Neymar had hurt Brazilian hopes but few could have expected what would unfold.
On 11 minutes, Germany took the lead through Thomas Muller and when Miroslav Klose scored a second on 23 minutes, Brazil fell apart.
Toni Kroos scored twice on 24 and 26 minuted before Sami Khedira added a fifth after just 29 minutes.
The stadium was silenced and two second half goals from Andre Schurrle made it 7-0 to Germany before Oscar claimed a last gasp consolation for the home side.
Outlined below is a list of games which could see a shock result:
Do you think any of these games will see shocks, or is the top ten safe for now?
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