“Neymar’s late penalty versus Norway at the World Cup marks his first international goal, netted on debut, occurring at the same ground (MetLife) as his final international strike on his last cap,” notes Griffin Cant. “Have other players wrapped their international careers in comparable fashion?”

More than 77,000 spectators filled MetLife Stadium on 10 August 2010 when Neymar debuted for Brazil in a friendly versus the USA. The youthful 18-year-old with an unconventional hairstyle headed home after 28 minutes, beating Tim Howard. Almost 16 years on, he converted his spot-kick - his 80th goal for the nation in his 130th outing - past Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland at the identical end as Brazil departed the World Cup in the round of 16, after which he declared his international retirement.

Setting aside single-cap scorers such as Francis Jeffers and David Nugent, the pattern might appear frequent, yet examination of RSSSF records for top international marksmen shows it occurs less often than expected.

Mexico forward Jared Borghetti netted on debut and tallied his 46th and last goal in his farewell match, yet the venues lay roughly 900km apart in Mexico City and Monterrey. Denmark great Pauli Jørgensen from the 1920s and 1930s scored twice on debut and twice in his closing fixture, but the opening goals arrived in Aarhus while the final pair came 14 years later in Copenhagen.

Poland’s Wlodzimierz Lubanski opened and closed his international account with goals on home soil, though in Chorzów and Szczecin, separated by about 550km. Abe Lenstra, a prolific scorer for Heerenveen and the Netherlands in the 1940s and 1950s, started with a goal in a 5-4 loss to Luxembourg in 1940 and scored again on his 47th and final outing against Belgium in 1959. Those matches took place in Rotterdam and then 80km distant in Amsterdam. Zinedine Zidane scored twice on his France debut against the Czech Republic in 1994 and again in his last appearance in the 2006 World Cup final, but the venues were Bordeaux and Berlin.

England’s Tom Finney found the net in his first and last international goals in Belfast, yet the second occurred in his second-last game, just weeks before his ultimate outing. France’s Just Fontaine achieved a hat-trick on debut with his closing goals also in his penultimate match, both in Paris, while England’s Nat Lofthouse followed the same pattern at Wembley.

The nearest parallel to Neymar appears to be Mexico’s Enrique Borja. He scored on debut against Chile shortly before the 1966 World Cup and again in his final appearance versus the USA in summer 1975. Both fixtures occurred in Mexico City, though the first was at Estadio Olímpico Universitario and the second at the Azteca, roughly 7km across town.

Still, others likely exist who achieved the same feat without matching Neymar’s tallies. Suggestions are welcome at knowledge@theguardian.com.

Kit colour choices

“Cape Verde’s exploits have revived a core query on national team colours,” writes Lars Bøgegaard. “It seems odd that a nation with ‘green’ in its name features a mainly blue flag, yet that accounts for the squad’s strip. Why do certain countries such as Australia, Japan and Germany compete in shades absent from their flags?”

“Japan wear blue and white partly due to superstition,” explains Ben Chia among others. “Blue shirts first appeared at the 1930 Far Eastern Games when a Tokyo Imperial University side, whose standard hue is light blue, represented the country.”

Japan retained blue shirts at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and staged a comeback victory over Sweden by 3-2. “They switched briefly to red and white to echo the flag from 1988 to 1992, but after missing the 1990 World Cup and 1992 Olympics they returned to blue,” Ben notes. The choice was confirmed ahead of the 2006 World Cup when the Japanese FA introduced the nickname Samurai Blue.

For Australia, nearly every national sports side wears gold and green, as Michael Haughey details. “The shades symbolise the golden wattle, Australia’s national bloom, along with the nation’s distinctive plant life. ‘Wattle gold’ and ‘gum-tree green’ were taken up by the cricket team in 1908 and declared official colours for sport and other uses in 1984.

The government’s Australia Symbols handbook states green stands for forests, gum trees, pastures and “endless horizons of growing crops”, while gold denotes sporting triumphs, mineral riches, sandy shores and harvests of golden grains. No need to emphasise further.

Michael also clarifies Germany’s mainly black-and-white kit with red-and-gold accents drawn from the national flag. “The German side adopts the colours of the Prussian flag, which formed the largest portion of the unified German state in 1871.”

Alasdair Brooks supplies further instances of national sides whose colours diverge from their flags:

Italy: Wear blue as these were the colours of the former royal House of Savoy, retained after Italy became a republic in the 1940s.

Venezuela: The striking maroon stems from traditional Venezuelan army colours. In the late 1930s the team reached a match in Colombia without kits, so the military supplied burgundy uniforms and the shade remained.

Malaysia: Play in yellow and black, said to draw from the Malayan tiger stripes that also inspire the team nickname.

India: Like other Indian national sports teams the football side incorporates a flag colour - the blue Ashoka Chakra wheel at the centre. Officials felt saffron too linked to Hindu nationalism and potentially off-putting to players of other faiths, while green too closely recalled Pakistan, so blue was selected.

Goal difference leaders

“Senegal finished the group stage with one win and two losses yet a goal difference of +2. What is the highest goal difference recorded by a side that lost more matches than it won in a group, and has the same situation arisen in a domestic league?” asks Mark Payne.

Senegal equalled a mark from 2002, note Haydon Bambury and Dirk Maas. “Senegal’s record matches that set by Portugal in 2002,” writes Haydon. “They fell 3-2 to the USA, defeated Poland 4-0, then lost 1-0 to South Korea in their last match, ending with P3 W1 D0 L2 F4 A6 GD+2. Unfortunately for them the 2002 World Cup featured 32 teams so no third-placed sides advanced and they departed early.”

Domestically, sides relegated despite a positive goal difference have been examined previously, and the chance of a losing record paired with positive goal difference rises over a full campaign.

Knowledge archive

“Scotland remained the sole unbeaten side at the 1974 World Cup yet exited at the group stage. Has this occurred before or since?” queried Peter Sagar in 2018.

Scotland’s 1974 side drew with Brazil and Yugoslavia but departed on goal difference after opening with a 2-0 win over Zaire. Brazil (3-0) and Yugoslavia (9-0) posted superior margins, and several other teams have exited similarly.

New Zealand stayed unbeaten at the 2010 World Cup after three group draws. Cameroon in 1982 and Belgium in 1998 shared the fate, as did Iran in 2026. A few sides posted longer unbeaten sequences without claiming the trophy.

England played five matches in 1982 before elimination in the second group stage, while Brazil played seven in 1978. Three came in the first group stage, three in the second when they were eliminated on goal difference after Argentina’s disputed 6-0 win over Peru, and one in the third-place match which they won 2-1 against Italy.

Several teams stayed unbeaten through normal and extra time yet fell on penalties. The list covers Brazil and Mexico in 1986; Italy in 1990; Italy and the Netherlands in 1998; Ireland and Spain in 2002; Switzerland, Argentina, England and France in 2006; Costa Rica and the Netherlands in 2014; plus Spain and Denmark in 2018.

The Netherlands repeated the outcome in 2022, losing on penalties to Argentina, and again at this tournament, exiting to Morocco on spot-kicks after an unbeaten group run. Cape Verde also merit mention after drawing their three group games and losing to Argentina in extra time, departing without defeat inside 90 minutes.

Can you help?

“Jordan Henderson fractured his wrist while celebrating England’s victory over Mexico, thereby receiving a booking and an injury in a match he did not feature in. Has any other unused substitute repeated this?” asks Tom Francis among others.

“Sweden’s 5-1 win against Tunisia was followed by a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands,” writes Dirk Maas. “Are there further cases of striking World Cup victories followed by heavy defeats with the same scoreline, or vice versa?”

“After Paraguay collected zero yellow cards against France despite 13 fouls, what is the highest number of fouls a team has committed in a match without receiving a caution?” wonders Jim Hearson.

“Lionel Messi is Argentina’s youngest and oldest goal scorer - has any other player achieved this or is likely to do so?” asks Paul Gage.

Another World Cup Knowledge special follows next week. Send World Cup questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com.