Totally youthless

In 2001 the tiny Pacific country of American Samoa were trying to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. Having lost their first two matches 13-0 and 8-0 they prepared to travel to Australia only to find that 10 of their 11 first choice players had problems with their passports and couldn't play. The coaches rushed around the island to find other footballers but ended up having to use youth team players from the local high school. Three of them were only 15 years old. The match did not go well: Australia won 31-0.

Short memory

Many footballers have strange pre-match rituals or superstitions. One of the silliest of these involved England's World Cup-winning team of 1966. The captain, Bobby Moore, would only leave the dressing room before kick-off if he was the last man to put on his shorts. His team mate Martin Peters noticed this and waited until Moore had put on his shorts before taking off his own. Moore then took off his shorts again and waited until Peters put his back on.

Piles of trouble

In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, England faced Argentina in a tense match. A bouncing ball was heading towards the England keeper Peter Shilton but Argentina's brilliant but very short forward Diego Maradona leapt up and punched the ball into the net. Everyone watching saw that it was handball except the Tunisian referee who gave the goal although he later claimed that some piles medicine had affected his eyesight.

Three-card trick

British ref Graham Poll would rather forget the 2006 World Cup. While in charge of a bad-tempered match between Australia and Croatia he booked Josip Simunic for a foul. A little while later he booked Simunic again but "forgot" to send him off. It was only when Poll booked Simunic for a third time that the player was given a red card. Poll, meanwhile, had a red face…

What a relief

In 1962 England were playing Brazil when the match was stopped because a small, scruffy dog ran on to the pitch. Several people tried to catch the cheeky mutt without success until England's star forward Jimmy Greaves got down on his hands and knees and beckoned the stray towards him. The plan worked and Jimmy grabbed the dog, holding it in his arms to pass it on. His reward? The dog tiddled all over his shirt.

Pass the cup, please

Brazil were red-hot favourites for the 1950 World Cup. They were playing the final against Uruguay at home in Rio in front of a world record crowd of nearly 200,000 people. The noise was off the scale when Brazil hit the first goal. But then Uruguay spoiled the party by scoring twice and winning the match 2-1. Everyone was so stunned that they forgot to organise a ceremony to present the winning team with the trophy.

It's only a game

In 1969 the Central American countries of El Salvador and Honduras were not getting on very well due to a heated argument over ownership of land. At the same time they were put together in a group to qualify for the 1970 World Cup. There was fighting when the two teams met and when El Salvador won they also declared war on Honduras, resulting what became known as the Football War: one of the silliest conflicts ever.

Andy Seed is the author of The Silly Book of Side-splitting Stuff.