Men’s team yet to advance to World Cup final

Has the United States ever won the World Cup?

No.

Only eight national teams have ever won the World Cup, first awarded in 1930, and the United States has never made it to a final match.

The United States’ best showing was in the inaugural World Cup, where it placed third.

Winners by tournament year:

1930 — Uruguay.

1934 — Italy.

1938 — Italy.

1950 — Uruguay.

1954 — West Germany.

1958 — Brazil.

1962 — Brazil.

1966 — England.

1970 — Brazil.

1974 — West Germany.

1978 — Argentina.

1982 — Italy.

1986 — Argentina.

1990 — West Germany.

1994 — Brazil.

1998 — France.

2002 — Brazil.

2006 — Italy.

2010 — Spain.

2014 — Germany.

2018 — France.

The United States’ women’s team, on the other hand, has appeared in four of the seven Women’s World Cup finals, winning three times and never finishing lower than third.

Winners by tournament year:

1991 — United States.

1995 — Norway.

1999 — United States.

2003 — Germany.

2007 — Germany.

2011 — Japan.

2015 — United States.

The next Women’s World Cup will be in France in 2019.

Online: www.fifa.com.

 


 

Obama a Christian, not a Muslim

Is Barack Obama Muslim?

No.

From a transcript of remarks Obama delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2009:

“I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

“I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose — His purpose.”

Online: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/02/05/my-hope-my-prayer.

 


The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.

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In this file photo, United States’ Matt Besler tries to defend as Belgium’s Daniel Van Buyten takes a shot on goalkeeper Tim Howard during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Belgium and the USA on July 1, 2014 at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador

Natacha Pisarenko

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