NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 144 of 150

Correct — D, Italy. Italy, four times world champions, failed to reach the 2018 World Cup after losing to Sweden in the European play-off in November 2017. It was the first time the Azzurri had missed the tournament since 1958, which is exactly the sixty-year gap the stem quotes, and it was treated across the sporting press as one of the great shocks of modern football. The other three countries in the option list all qualified for Russia — Mexico, Iran and Saudi Arabia were among the thirty-two teams that took part.

• (a)Mexico — Mexico qualified comfortably from the CONCACAF region and played in Russia. It is one of the most regular qualifiers in the world game, so a sixty-year absence could never apply to it.
• (b)Iran — Iran qualified from the Asian confederation and played in Russia, appearing in Group B alongside Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
• (c)Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia also qualified from the Asian confederation and played the opening match of the tournament against the hosts. It was in Russia, not absent from it.

The 2018 World Cup was held in Russia from 14 June to 15 July, with thirty-two teams. France won it, beating Croatia four goals to two in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The tournament's mascot was Zabivaka, an anthropomorphic wolf chosen by an internet vote in Russia in 2016. Italy's absence was the headline story of qualification: a country that had won the trophy in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 went out in a two-legged play-off, and the loss ended the international career of several of its most decorated players.

Anchor the arithmetic and the item becomes self-checking. Italy last missed a World Cup in 1958, when it lost a qualifier to Northern Ireland; 2018 minus 1958 gives the sixty years in the stem, and no other side in the list has any comparable record of absence. The honest present-day line is that this stopped being a one-off. Italy also failed to qualify for the 2022 tournament, again through the play-offs, and for the 2026 edition, which makes it the country's longest absence from the competition and no longer the isolated shock it appeared to be in 2018. A candidate quoting this fact today should therefore say 'first time since 1958', which stays true, rather than treating 2018 as a unique event.

• Italy lost to Sweden in the European play-off in November 2017 and missed the 2018 World Cup.
• It was Italy's first absence from the tournament since 1958 — a gap of sixty years.
• The 2018 World Cup ran from 14 June to 15 July in Russia, with thirty-two teams.
• France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
• Italy has since also failed to qualify for the 2022 and 2026 tournaments, its longest run of absences.

• Assuming a footballing giant must always qualify; the play-off route makes absences possible.
• Confusing the host of a tournament with its winner — Russia hosted 2018, France won it.
• Quoting 'the first time in sixty years' as though it were a permanent description; the sequence has continued since.

NDA sets one sports current-affairs item per paper, usually on the most recent global tournament — its host, winner, mascot or a notable absence.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The 2018 FIFA World Cup was won by

  • (a)Croatia
  • (b)Germany
  • (c)France
  • (d)Brazil

  Answer(c) France — beating Croatia 4-2 in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Italy's failure to reach the 2018 World Cup came after losing a play-off to

  • (a)Denmark
  • (b)Sweden
  • (c)Switzerland
  • (d)Northern Ireland

  Answer(b) Sweden — in the European play-off of November 2017.