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Can Morocco or Croatia shatter World Cup's glass ceiling?
In the 21 editions of the World Cup over 92 years featuring 79 nations, there have still been only eight winners and only 13 have made it to the final. Spain were the last to join the elite group of champions in 2010 after France in 1998 and Argentina in 1978.
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Morocco's players celebrate at the end of the Qatar 2022 World Cup round of 16 football match between Morocco and Spain at the Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on December 6, 2022. (AFP/Glyn Kirk)
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roatia and Morocco are the surprise guests in the World Cup's final four but, as the Croatians discovered in 2018 and many other long-shot semi-finalists have before them, the two remaining steps to become world champions can be the steepest.
In the 21 editions of the World Cup over 92 years featuring 79 nations, there have still been only eight winners and only 13 have made it to the final. Spain were the last to join the elite group of champions in 2010 after France in 1998 and Argentina in 1978.
Since then there have been a sprinkling of "outsiders" who made it to the last four, with almost all of them failing to go any further.
Poland and Belgium lost to eventual winners Italy and Argentina respectively in 1982 and 1986 and while as former winners England would not like to be included in the "long-shots" group, it was still a surprise when they made the semis in 1990, where they lost to West Germany.
It was in 1994 though that the apple cart really looked to have been overturned. Bulgaria arrived in the United States having never won a World Cup match in 16 attempts and duly chalked up an 11th defeat in their first game.
They then turned things around utterly, winning two group games, beating Mexico on penalties in the last 16 and then memorably stunning holders Germany in the quarter-finals.
On the other side of the draw Sweden arrived after a last-16 shootout win over Romania.
