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30 Jan 2014
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Michael Cox's five football quiz questions - the answers!

If you're a football fan, the chances are you love a good trivia question. So here's some good news: this week we've asked Zonal Marking's Michael Cox to rack his massive football brain and come up with five of his favourite quiz questions to test you with.

If you're a football fan, the chances are you love a good trivia question. So here's some good news: this week we've asked Zonal Marking's Michael Cox to rack his massive football brain and come up with five of his favourite quiz questions to test you with.

How did you get on? Read the answers to Michael’s five favourite football teasers below, then help us beat prostate cancer by taking the Men United test. Remember, for every person who completes it, Keyline will donate 50p to Prostate Cancer UK.

1. Which nine players have scored for six different Premier League clubs?

Answer: Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Marcus Bent, Nick Barmby, Craig Bellamy, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane and Nicolas Anelka.

Five of these nine have scored for Tottenham, and five have scored for Liverpool, but Chelsea and Arsenal are represented only once – by the same player, Anelka. The only non-international, Marcus Bent, played for a seventh Premier League club, Wolves, but failed to score in his three league appearances. Similarly, Cole made seven appearances for Sunderland without finding the net. Should Bellamy score in the league for Cardiff this season, we will have a new outright leader.

2. Which English league sides are the furthest north, east, south and west?

Answer: Newcastle, Norwich, Plymouth, Plymouth.

Newcastle is marginally more northerly than Carlisle. The two clubs played each other in 2007 for the first time in 23 years, in a pre-season friendly dubbed the ‘Hadrian’s Wall derby’. The game finished in a 1-1 draw. Berwick Rangers, of course, could be suggested as an alternative answer – but they play in the Scottish league, despite being based in England. Logically, Newcastle to Plymouth (who take the prize for being furthest south and west) is the longest away trip in English football – they met four times during 2009-10, with two games in the Championship, and the FA Cup tie going to a replay. It’s a 410-mile, six-hour car journey between the grounds.

3. Which 12 players have missed in a penalty shoot-out at a major tournament for England?

Answer: Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle (Germany 1990), Gareth Southgate (Germany 1996), Paul Ince, David Batty (Argentina 1998), David Beckham, Darius Vassell (Portugal 2004), Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher (Portugal 2006), Ashley Young, Ashley Cole (Italy 2012).

England’s record from penalties is famously bad – in fact, it’s the worst in international history. In seven shoot-outs, England have won just once, against Spain in the quarter-final of Euro 96. It’s a worse record than Holland, who have won once in five attempts, and Italy, who were knocked out of the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups on penalties, but won the 2006 competition from the spot. Pearce is the only player to successfully score in a shoot-out having previously missed – his celebration against Spain in 1996 remains memorable, and he also converted against Germany in the semi-final, before consoling Southgate minutes later.

4. What links the families of José Mourinho and Pavel Nedved?

Answer: They have both named their children after themselves and their wives. Mourinho’s children are José and Matilde, Nedved’s are Pavel and Ivana.

Given his self-confidence, Mourinho’s chosen names for his children aren’t particularly shocking. The more reserved Nedved is a more surprising case, although he explains his reasoning as: “When me and my wife are long gone, there will still be a Pavel and Ivana in the world who love each other.”

5. Which six Dutchmen have scored Premier League hat-tricks?

Answer: Robin van Persie, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Marc Overmars and Dirk Kuyt.

Bergkamp’s hat-trick was the most memorable, against Leicester early in the 1997-98 campaign. It’s often erroneously stated that these three goals earned him first, second and third in Match of the Day’s Goal of the Month competition – although he achieved all three placings, one of the goals was from a game against Southampton. Bergkamp’s second goal against Leicester wasn’t particularly special, so Hasselbaink’s treble against Tottenham in 2002 might be even better – it was a perfect hat-trick, with a diving header and two curlers from outside the box with left and right feet. Van Persie’s most recent hat-trick was the most meaningful, the three goals being scored in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa that sealed last season’s Premier League title.