News about Claudio Caniggia

The run-up to Christmas can be a nightmare for women, with pubs full of pissed men armed with flaccid sprigs of mistleto

Claudio Caniggia, a former Rangers and Argentina actor, has been sentenced to up to 15 years in jail for an alleged sex assault on his ex-wife. After Mariana Nannis accused him of systematically assaulting her at a Buenos Aires hotel where they were both living at the time, the 56-year-old, who also played for Roma and Dundee, had attempted to suspend charges against him. But Caniggia, who competed in three World Cups for his country alongside Diego Maradona, suffered a big setback on Friday after the Criminal Division of Argentina's Nations Appeals Court dismissed his lawyers' allegations that could not stand.

All attention will be on Qatar on Sunday, not only are they making their debut at the World Cup finals, but they will be doing it as the host nation. The home team's progress has always been a subpoena to any tournament, and this one will be no different as they face Holland, Senegal, and Ecuador in a competitive league. Other World Cup hosts have varying over the years, from being left out on the first stage to winning the tournament, as Sportsmail examines how every country has fared when being on the home team.

Only a select group of footballers will qualify to play at a World Cup. An even more elite group is those that were able to win the world's biggest tournament. After all, only eight nations have lifted the trophy in almost a century of history. Any player faces the greatest challenge and the holy grail. However, there have been some truly outstanding teams who came so close to winning it and then stopped so far. Sportsmail looks at some of the best teams that did not win the World Cup in Qatar ahead of the tournament.