It all starts with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa at the famous Azteca (now known as the Estadio Banorte) in Mexico City. Co-hosted by USA and Canada, this will be the 23rd World Cup, the inaugural tournament back in 1930.
As we build up to the summer’s football fest, we take a look at the Spurs players to feature on the greatest stage of all...
Michael Carrick, Aaron Lennon, Paul Robinson
Aaron Lennon burst onto the international stage after arriving at Spurs in the summer of 2005 – a year later, he was representing England at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Outstanding as we challenged for Champions League places in the Premier League under Martin Jol in 2005/06, the jet-heeled winger had just turned 19 when he earned his first senior cap in a World Cup warm up against Jamaica on 3 June.
His next cap was on the world stage as England took on Trinidad & Tobago in Nuremburg – England won 2-0 with late goals from future Spur Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard.
England progressed after a 2-2 draw against Sweden and ‘Azza’ was a late substitute as England beat Ecuador in the Round of 16.
Next up, an infamous quarter-final against Portugal as Wayne Rooney was sent off and Aaron came on for David Beckham on 52 minutes. It stayed at 0-0 – Portugal went through on penalties with Cristiano Ronaldo slotting home the decisive penalty in the shoot-out.
The legendary wide man went on to feature at the 2010 World Cup and earned 21 caps over a seven-year spell. He made 367 appearances for us in a 10-year stint, 2005-2015.
Paul Robinson joined us from Leeds in the summer of 2004 and by October, had established himself as England’s number one – as the White Hart Lane faithful always sung to him!
He was up to 22 caps by the start of the tournament and played every game – Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Ecuador and Portugal, keeping four clean sheets out of five. The popular goalkeeper won 37 of his 41 caps during his time at Spurs, departing for Blackburn in 2008.
Michael Carrick impressed in our run to fifth place in the Premier League in 2005/06 and earned a place in Sven Goran Eriksson’s squad for Germany. He only featured against Ecuador, starting with Robbo in the 1-0 win in the Round of 16. Carrick moved to Manchester United later that year and went on to earn 34 caps.
Young-Pyo Lee
Young-Pyo Lee became the first South Korean player to ever pull on the Spurs shirt when he joined us from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2005.
The full-back had been one of his country’s key players for a number of years, moving to Europe to further his career and he quickly established himself in the Netherlands. He won league titles and reached the Champions League semi-finals PSV and on the international scene, he’d been a major part of the South Korean side which enjoyed a fairytale journey at the 2002 World Cup, reaching the semi-final stage as they co-hosted the tournament with Japan before losing out Brazil.
Young-Pyo started all three group games against Togo, France and Switzerland. It started well for Dick Advocaat’s side as they came from behind to beat Togo 2-1 before holding France to a 1-1 draw. That meant they needed a draw from the final game against the Swiss to progress – but they fell to a 2-0 loss.
Young-Pyo earned 127 caps for South Korea and featured in his third World Cup in South Africa in 2010.