Knowing the capital cities: - not a problem. Assuming the usual suspects are in the world cup: - easy. Knowing which so called minnow teams have qualified: - not so much... I missed 3 African countries, 2 Asian ones and 1 European. A multi layered quiz. A good challenge.....
Remembering how to spell the capital of a certain European country. I must have tried every combination out there bar the correct one (and the type-ins). Some day i'll spell it right.
It is a difficult capital to spell for an English speaking person (I'm not sure of the difficulties with other languages) Jetpunkers have got used to it but if you stop people in the street and ask them to spell Reykjavik (giving them the pronunciation) you might be surprised at the results, in USA, UK, Australia, NZ etc.
PRO TIP: pronounce it /ɹeɪkˈʤæv.ɪk/ (rake-JAV-ick) and never misspell it again. Besides, when are you gonna need to pronounce Reykjavík correctly as an English speaker?
Even though soccer/football is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in many other countries, I'd say it's still a little surprising (and certainly embarrassing) that they failed to even qualify.