As Rafael Marquez came on as substitute in the 72th minute of the game against Germany, which was won by Mexico 1:0, he equalled a record. Marquez became just the third footballer in history to play at five World Cups!
Notably the first man to do it was another Mexican - goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal, who appeared at every tournament from 1950 to 1966. A few decades later, his record was repeated by the famous German midfielder Lothar Matthaeus, who played at five World Cups from 1982 to 1998.
It should be noted that the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also went with his team to five World Cups - but did not play a single minute during his first tournament in 1998. This year, the great Gigi was expected to travel to his sixth World Cup and to actually play at his fifth one, but Italy did not qualify for the competition in Russia.
The 39-year-old Marquez actually boasts a unique achievement: he captained his team in all four previous World Cups in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 - and in the match with Germany, he was also given the armband by Andres Guardado whom he substituted. By the way, Mexico were eliminated in the Round of 16 in all four Marquez's previous tournaments. But now by beating Germany they showed that they want to go farther!
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