UFWC - Will the 'trophy' change hands today?

Today sees Costa Rica play Greece in the title match for the Unofficial Football World Championships. 
The winner will move up in the rankings - Costa Rica from equal 24th (with Angola, Paraguay, Peru and Zimbabwe) to joint 22nd (with Colombia and Romania). Greece would move ahead of Japan and Chile, to joint 15th alongside Wales and Austria.


For those who didn't read my last post about the UFWC, it is the longest international football 'competition' in which there is a winner-stays-on mentality. The first champions were England back in 1873, having beaten Scotland - they held onto it until they were beaten, the team that beat them then held onto the title until they were beaten, and so on.. Right up to present day, over 800 international matches have had the title up for grabs, over 142 years, title bouts have been fought between some of the huge teams in the World, as well as some of the minnows.

As recently as 2012, North Korea were UFWC title holders having won it from Japan - and held the title for a whole year before losing against Sweden on penalties in the 'King's Cup', held in Thailand.

Scotland currently top the World Rankings with most successful defences of the title, mostly due to the fact that in the early years there were very few international football teams at all. They look likely to stay there for some time, with England 13 defences behind, and Argentina 3rd in the rankings and 29 victories away from overtaking them.

This year, we will see the UFWC and the World Cup title unified during the World Cup for the 9th time in history. England could've kept them apart had they beaten current holders, Costa Rica,  before heading back home - but alas they did not, Costa Rica successfully defended the title and it is now up to Greece to take it off them.

What's great is that the teams competing don't even know they are competing for it. They could lose the title in an international friendly, or they could - as will happen this year - win it in the World Cup Final. It is unlikely that Costa Rica will keep hold of it for much longer, but you never know! 

The winner of today's game will then take on the team who wins between Netherlands and Mexico, in another title bout. 

Today, I think Costa Rica will keep hold of it. Greece have only scored 2 goals in the competition, and blagged it through the group stage thanks to a last minute penalty which Samaras put away. 

Costa Rica have impressed, beating both Uruguay and Italy - and are currently one of the few teams to maintain an unbeaten record in the competition. They've played some good football, and are ultimately the surprise of the tournament.

I'm gonna go for a win on penalties for Costa Rica, after a 1-1 draw. Quite specific, but I'd like to imagine it'll go that far.