Knowledge: Lazy-ass footballers

"Last week my favourite footballer Roberto Baggio and I couldn't help noticing that in his illustrious career he played in 16 World Cup finals matches, but only nine qualifiers," writes Marc Harrison. "Which players have found themselves on the plane without having put much effort into the qualifying campaign?"

Step forward Giuseppe Bergomi. "A late call-up to the 1982 squad at the age of 18, Bergomi played the final three matches of the tournament," writes James Borg. "Since Italy won the World Cup in 1982 and hosted it in 1990 they did not have to qualify for either the 1986 or the 1990 World Cup. Bergomi played three matches in 1986 and, as team captain, played all seven matches in 1990. He was then dropped from the Italian national team during Arrigo Sacchi's tenure. He was recalled to it just in time for the 1998 World Cup and played another three matches in that tournament. Overall record: zero qualifiers, 16 tournament matches."

--guardian.co.uk

"Has any Uefa nation played against all the other nations in Uefa?" tweets Chris Shilton. "If not, who has played against the most and the least?"

Several readers emailed in to point out that Estonia will become the first nation to collect the full set of 52 when they face France in June. "France is traditionally one of Europe's top teams and currently on the rise again," Estonian Football Association chief, Aivar Pohlak, said. "But if we look at the match purely from the Estonian football perspective, then for us it is an important fact that we will be the first European football team to have played an official match with every other Uefa member."