Test Your Knowledge about the Soccer World Cup!

Dear Readers,

One of my former St. Peter's University Graduate students, Andrey Henao, is now teaching math in the Union City Public Schools. He created an engaging PowerPoint presentation with relevant math problems about the World Cup Soccer Event, for his seventh grade students.

Test your knowledge about the World Cup Soccer Championships through Math problems for middle schoolers.

You can access his PowerPoint Presentation here.

For those who cannot access the link, here are his 45 Math problems listed below, for your enjoyment and sharing! How many can you solve?

1)A World Cup team scored 6 goals in 3 games. At this rate, how many goals would they score in 7 games?

2)A player completed 42 passes out of 56 attempted passes. What percent of passes did the player complete?

3)A stadium sold 18,000 tickets in 3 hours. If tickets continued selling at the same rate, how many tickets would be sold in 8 hours?

4)A fan buys 4 World Cup scarves for $72. What is the cost per scarf?

5)A player had 8 shots on target out of 20 total shots. What was the player’s shot accuracy?

6)The ratio of USA fans to Mexico fans at a match is 5:4. If there are 36,000 Mexico fans, how many USA fans are there?

7)A soccer field is drawn on a scale map. The scale is 1 inch = 30 feet. If the field is 12 inches long on the map, what is the actual length?

8)A team’s chance of winning a match is listed as 65%. Write this percent as a fraction and decimal.

9)Tickets for a World Cup match cost $85 each. If the price increases by 20%, what is the new ticket price?

10)A concession stand sells 15 bottles of water for every 10 sports drinks. Write the ratio of water bottles to sports drinks in simplest form.

11)A team wins 7 out of 10 matches. If the team plays 30 matches at the same rate, how many matches would they be expected to win?

12)The temperature at a World Cup match is 4°C before kickoff. By halftime, the temperature drops 9°C. What is the temperature at halftime?

13)A spinner at a World Cup fan event has 8 equal sections: 3 say “Goal,” 2 say “Save,” and 3 say “Miss.” What is the probability of spinning “Goal” or “Save”?

14)A fan has $120. They spend $37.50 on food and $48.75 on merchandise. How much money do they have left?

15)A stadium elevator starts on level 2, goes down 5 levels, and then goes up 9 levels. What level is the elevator on now?

16)A player’s goal difference over four games is +2, -1, +3, and -4. What is the player’s team’s total goal difference?

17)A fan buys 3.5 pounds of snacks for a watch party. Each pound costs $6.80. What is the total cost?

18)A team’s bus travels 225 miles in 4.5 hours. What is the average speed of the bus in miles per hour?

19)A World Cup souvenir costs $24. A fan uses a coupon for 25% off. What is the sale price?

20)A player runs 7.2 miles during one match and 6.85 miles during another match. How many miles did the player run in total?

21)A stadium parking lot has 2,400 spaces. If ⅜ of the spaces are filled, how many spaces are filled?

22)A team’s score difference was -6 before the final group match. After winning by 4 goals, what is the team’s new score difference?

23)A World Cup ticket costs $90, and a service fee is $12. Write an expression for the cost of buying x tickets.

24)A fan buys 3 jerseys for the same price and pays a total of $195. Write and solve an equation to find the cost of one jersey.

25)A stadium sells x regular tickets and 250 VIP tickets. Write an expression for the total number of tickets sold.

26)A team scored 2 goals in each of its first x games and 5 goals in its final game. Write an expression for the total number of goals scored.

27)A soccer ball costs $28. A team buys x soccer balls and pays $14 for shipping. Write an expression for the total cost.

28)Solve: 4x + 12 = 60

29)Solve: 3(x - 5) = 42

30)A team has 26 players. There are 11 players on the field. Write and solve an equation to find how many players are not on the field.

31)A fan spends $18 on food and then buys x bottles of water for $4 each. The total cost is $42. Write and solve an equation to find x.

32)A team earns 3 points for each win and 1 point for each tie. If the team has 4 wins and t tie, write an expression for the team’s total points.

33)A World Cup shop sells scarves for $15 each and hats for $20 each. A fan buys s scarves and h hats. Write an expression for the total cost.

34)A rectangular soccer field is 360 feet long and 225 feet wide. What is the area of the field?

35)A stadium banner is shaped like a triangle with a base of 12 feet and a height of 7 feet. What is the area of the banner?

36)A circular logo on a World Cup poster has a radius of 6 inches. What is the area of the logo? Use 3.14 for π.

37)A soccer ball has a diameter of 22 centimeters. What is the radius?

38)A coach records the number of shots a team took in five matches: 8, 12, 10, 1, 10. What is the mean number of shots?

39)Using the same data from question 38, what is the median number of shots?

40)A player’s goals in six matches are: 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4. What is the range?

41)A bag contains 5 red balls, 3 blue balls, and 2 yellow balls. What is the probability of randomly selecting a blue ball?

42)A fan randomly chooses one jersey from a rack with 6 USA jerseys, 4 Brazil jerseys, and 5 Argentina jerseys. What is the probability the fan chooses a USA jersey?

43)A team has a 40% chance of winning, a 35% chance of tying, and a 25% chance of losing. What is the probability that the team does not lose?

44)A stadium section has 18 rows with 24 seats in each row. How many seats are in the section?

45)The scores of four World Cup games were: 3–1, 2–0, 1–1, 4–2. What is the average number of total goals scored per game?

Can you imagine how it must be for students to learn math in such a relevant and engaging way?

Kudos to Andrey Henao - an emerging math star goalie.

by Dennis Sevano

Dennis Sevano was born and raised in Hoboken. He writes frequently about educators, sports figures and notables in the Mile Square City and the surrounds. He currently resides in Teaneck.