As a Brentford fan growing up watching previous World Cups it was an event for other clubs’ players, until Henrik Dalsgaard broke the mould, playing for Denmark at the last tournament in Russia, while he was one of our players.
Now we have an unbelievable 6 Bees in Qatar, all hoping to lift the trophy on 18th December. For Saman Ghoddos it’s his second World Cup, having been a used sub in all three of Iran’s games in 2018.
In the past the best we could hope for was a “he used to play for Brentford” moment, such as New Zealander Brian Turner at Spain 1982, fellow countryman Tommy Smith at South Africa 2010, or former loanees Les Ferdinand and Paul Merson in the England squad at France 1998. Ex-Bees youth player Peter Crouch also represented England in Germany 2006, scoring a goal, and was involved again 4 years later in South Africa.
Further back in time, England’s 1958 squad in Sweden had two ex-Bees – Peter Broadbent and Bill Slater, both then at Wolves.
Club Ambassador Marcus Gayle was a Wimbledon player when he appeared for Jamaica at France 1998, sandwiched between his two playing spells for us.
At the last tournament, we were able to see Wojciech Szczesny in goal for Poland (as we can again in Qatar), along with Iceland’s unused sub Olafur Skulason.
But with the benefit of hindsight, we now know there are even more players involved in previous World Cups who would eventually go on to appear in our red & white shirts later in their careers.
1930 saw the very first World Cup played in Uruguay. The USA’s Jim Brown, then of the New York Giants, made 3 appearances in the competition, as his team progressed to the semi-final where they met Argentina. Unfortunately, they were 6-0 down and heading home before Jim scored an 89th minute consolation goal. His Brentford career was even shorter as he made just a single appearance for us in 1935.
In Spain 1982 it was the turn of Kenny Sansom and future loanee Graham Rix to play for England, whilst Tom Finney (no – not that one!) was an unused substitute for Northern Ireland. Sansom then went on to appear in Mexico 1986, as did another loanee, Ian Stewart for Northern Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland squad in Italy in 1990 travelled with Chris Hughton and goalkeeper Gerry Peyton, although neither had any game time. The same happened to Nigeria’s Efan Ekoku at the next World Cup in the USA, mirroring his brief spell at Griffin Park. Deon Burton was in the same Jamaican squad as Marcus Gayle in 1998, although they were never on the pitch together, as Deon replaced Marcus in the 80th minute of their final group game against Japan.
Clinton Morrison was another unused player in 2002 Korea/Japan for the Republic of Ireland. Apart from Tommy Smith, New Zealand’s 2010 squad additionally had Winston Reid playing all 3 games, and he scored a 93rd minute equaliser in their first game.
The 2010 tournament also saw a couple of appearances for the youngest player in any of that year’s squads – Denmark’s 18-year-old Christian Eriksen. He then went on to make 4 appearances in his second World Cup in Russia, and scored, with Qatar now being his third competition. The Denmark squad 4 years ago also contained last season’s loanee Jonas Lossl (unused sub) and current Bee, Zanka, who played in 3 games and scored in the 1st minute of their game against eventual finalists, Croatia.
Qatar is already noteworthy as Chris Mepham became our first B team graduate to play at a World Cup, when he started for Wales.
Club skipper, Pontus Jansson was another of our future players who made the trip to Russia in 2018, making 2 appearances for Sweden. The last of which was as a late substitute against England, when his side were 0-2 down, and he was sent on as an additional forward.
Apart from future players, we’ve also had a trio of World Cup participants who have gone on to manage at Griffin Park: England’s Steve Coppell (1982) and Terry Butcher (‘82, ‘86, ‘90), with Republic of Ireland’s Lee Carsley (2002) briefly in charge in 2015.
Conversely, ex Brentford head coach Ray Lewington was alongside England manager Roy Hodgson in the dugout at Brazil 2014. Former chairman Greg Dyke was at the tournament as England FA’s chairman.
A former player from the 1950s who went one better at Spain 1982, was Ron Greenwood, when he was manager of England. Under him, England won all 3 games of the group stage, before going into a 2nd round group where both their games ended 0-0. Unfortunately, it was not enough to progress to the semi-finals and England returned home even though they had not lost any of their 5 games. So, history shows that it is only Ron Greenwood and Alf Ramsey who never tasted defeat with England at a World Cup finals.
1966, of course, still stands as England’s only success and a tenuous Brentford connection is through squad member George Eastham. His father, with the same name, was a player of ours in the 1930s and received a sole England cap before he joined us. George junior failed to add to his 19 caps as he remained on the bench during England’s journey to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy.
Another player from the 1930s, Maurice Edelston, went on to become a commentator/summariser at 3 World Cups, including 1966. Also behind the microphone in ’66 were former Brentford half-back partners Ron Greenwood and Jimmy Hill, then managers of West Ham Utd and Coventry City respectively.
Jimmy Hill increasingly became a very well-known face in the world of broadcasting, most notably presenting Match of the Day for 15 years. Either as a presenter or summariser, he was involved in every World Cup from 1966 up until 1998, making 9 appearances in total – a Brentford record!
Having come this far, maybe one day we’ll see a Brentford player in a World Cup winning squad.