"I noticed that Spain fielded seven players from one club – Barcelona – in the latter stages of their quarter-final," writes John McDougall. "I am guessing this is still not the record number of players from a single club one country has fielded at the World Cup finals – or is it?"
Indeed Spain had seven Barcelona players on the field against Paraguay – Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, David Villa and Pedro – for around nine minutes, from the introduction of Pedro from the substitutes' bench on 75 minutes, to the replacement of Puyol with Carlos Marchena on 84.
But the kings of tiki-taka are far from the first to take all their eggs from one particular basket. Back in 1966 seven Peñarol players started for Uruguay against England in the group stages. In 1990 Egypt fielded seven players from Al-Ahly from 61 minutes onwards against the Republic of Ireland and four years later Italy repeated the trick against Jack Charlton's boys in 1994, with eight Milan players – Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Demetrio Albertini, Roberto Donadoni and Daniele Massaro – playing in the second half of Ireland's 1-0 win.
But as far as we can tell – and, as ever, feel free to correct us on this – only two teams have ever fielded eight players from one team in a World Cup finals. First once again were La Celeste, who, four years after facing England with seven Peñarol players, took on Italy in Mexico with eight players from Nacional in their ranks. Among their number was Víctor Espárrago, whose name translates rather wonderfully as Victor Asparagus.
It was 16 years and the tournament was back in Mexico before it happened again. This time it was the Soviet Union's turn. The Red Machine began their 6-0 win over Hungary with eight Dynamo Kiev players in their XI. In all they used nine players from the club, although Igor Belanov of Dynamo Kiev had been replaced two minutes before the introduction of Dynamo Kiev's Vadym Yevtushenko (who in any case came on for Dynamo Kiev's Pavlo Yakovenko).
Spain, though, could potentially set a record for a World Cup final should they get there. The most players from one club used in a final is six, a peak reached by West Germany against Holland in 1974 (Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Uli Hoeness all played for Bayern Munich) and Italy against West Germany in 1982 (Dino Zoff, Antonio Cabrini, Claudio Gentile, Gaetano Scirea, Marco Tardelli and Paolo Rossi all turned out for Juventus)
PUNDITRY CORNER
"Watching Al-Jazeera the other day, I noticed Scott Minto and Ali Benarbia (a blast from City's past) doing some punditry work," writes Lee Marsden. "Are any other unlikely World Cup pundits popping up in other parts of the world?"
Let's start at ESPN, where a few familiar (and a few unfamiliar) faces have been popping up over the last month. There's the usual suspects – the likes of Steve McManaman, Ruud Gullit and Jürgen Klinsmann – but there's also former Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough midfield dynamo Robbie Mustoe, ex-Wimbledon, Norwich City, Sheffield Wednesday, and Grasshoppers striker Efan Ekoku and, to complete a trio of sometime Owls, former Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County midfielder John Harkes. Of course, there is method behind the madness – Ekoku and Harkes played for their respective countries – Nigeria and the USA – at World Cups, while Mustoe has been coaching in the States since retiring.
Lee Sharpe and Tony Cottee have been popping up on Malaysia's Astro station, while Ray Wilkins and Tim Sherwood have apparently been making cameo appearances on the aforementioned Al-Jazeera.
"Here in Canada CBC's World Cup coverage features the oddly placed former Charleroi manager John Collins of Scotland 'fame'," writes James Mair. "He's paired up with former Ipswich Town defender and Canadian international Jason De Vos to provide 'expert' punditry in the studio. They make an odd pair."
And Dan Stevens has a conspiracy theory: "Brighton & Hove Albion boss Gus Poyet has been enjoying the past few weeks as an expert on Egyptian television," he writes. "Gus has been accompanied by former England midfield tortoise Peter Reid, who has just taken over at Plymouth Argyle – a very convenient-looking appointment seeing as the Albion have spent the past four months chasing after Plymouth attacker and former loanee Ashley Barnes."
Spotted Mixu Paatelainen on Peruvian TV? Gilles de Bilde offering punditry in Norway? Then let us know at the usual address.
BORDERS (NOT THE BOOKSHOPS)
"I noticed that in the Algeria v USA match only one player in the Algerian starting line-up was actually born in country, the rest are born in France," noted Kai Helge Aalhus last week. "Have there ever been any starting line-ups with fewer players that are actually born in the country they represent?"
Plenty, is the short answer, but here is Sean DeLoughrey with a longer one: "The entire 1954 West Germany squad were born in Germany (as distinct from West Germany) and there are other similar examples due to border redefinitions (Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, etc). Of the Republic of Ireland's 22-man squad for the 1990 World Cup only six were Irish-born (Bonner, Staunton, Moran, Whelan, Quinn, Stapleton). The ever-presence of Packie Bonner, Steve Staunton and Kevin Moran ensured a minimum of three Irish-born players on the pitch at any time though."
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"When Brazil won the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time in 1970, they were allowed to keep it. If Argentina or Germany triumph this year, they would match that achievement, having won the new trophy for the third time. But would Fifa give them the new trophy to keep?" asked Colin Glen way back in 2002.
No they wouldn't, Colin. All they would get – like every other World Cup-winning team – would be temporary possession of the trophy for four years and a gold-plated replica.
Harsh? Well, perhaps. But Fifa's position is understandable. After all, they gave away the original Jules Rimet trophy – a pure gold depiction of Nike of Samothrace designed by Abel Lafleur – to Brazil only to see it stolen in 1983 and then melted down.
Another reason for their reluctance is cost. The current trophy – 5kg of gold and malachite – cost $50,000 to make back in 1970 and is worth several millions pounds today.
When it was made, Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga described his creation in the following grandiose terms:
"The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory".
It might sound pretentious to you and me, but Fifa clearly agree that it's something special too – which is why their regulations state the trophy will, at all times, remain theirs.
For thousands more questions and answers, why not take a trip through the Knowledge archive
Can you help?
"I noticed the other day that during the 1970 World Cup, a different football was used during England's group games from the ball that was used when they lost against West Germany," notes Grant Trebble. "That one was plain and orange in colour, the other black and white. Any ideas why this happened?"
"Apart from the original Jules Rimet World Cup trophy, are there any other football trophies that have been lost and recovered or have disappeared without a trace?" asks Graham Clayton.
"I saw the Italian team getting some well-deserved stick at an airport as they flew back from the World Cup, but has there ever been a case of fans attacking returning players after a particularly bad tournament display?" wonders James Ellison.
"The Europa League kicked off last Tuesday. What is the earliest that one of Europe's top competitions has begun?" muses Frank Joyce.
"ITV have had a miserable time of it at the World Cup and the sacking of Robbie Earle reminded me of their unfortunate Ron Atkinson association," begins Steve Corbett. "Are there other instances of football punditry mishaps from around the world down the years?"
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com