Here are five names to have at your fingertips about the eighth World Cup, hosted and won by England.

World Cup Willy. The nation that wrote the rules to the game 103 years earlier finally hosted the World Cup. And created the first World Cup mascot — the soccer-playing lion World Cup Willy, the first in a long line of marketable World Cup icons.

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Soccer America Executive Editor Mike Woitalla has written freelance articles about soccer for more than 30 media outlets in nine nations. The winner of eight United Soccer Coaches Writing Contest awards,...