Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 158. (Read 62939 times)

Senegal is the team that has gone the most far in the World Cup together with Ghana I think from Africa and they have done it much differently than Asian teams like Korea in 2002 which was helped by the referees against Italy.Of course these teams from these continents need a lot more improvement in order to be able to fight against European and Latin America teams although the level from these teams has lately only been in the increase.

No one knows when a team from such continents will be able to win the World Cup but I am pretty confident that it would take at least a couple of decades,may be after 2050 we will have one such winner as before that year I doubt it very much.

I would say that neither Asia nor Africa has a chance to win the world cup, considering teams from Europe and Latin America still end up being a lot better. Those nations have a football culture that dates back nearly hundred years, which means that they have a lot more chances to improve during that time.

Whereas if we are talking about Africa, that is a bit earlier than Asia, so they did their time and they are getting better, they have been getting better for a while now and I am assuming that the money football brings to them must be a good feeling. I feel like it is going to end up with Asia being the last one out there, it is going to take a while, but with more time, they will get better without a doubt.

No doubt for Japan national team they are teams participants never absent in edition of World Cup, Japan have many players in top European teams and easily always favorite national teams from Asia for FIFA World Cup 2026. Since many time participating in FIFA World Cup, Japan hasn't impressive performance and always stuck in 16th round, I don't know what happen with Japan and they have top player but difficult lead to quarter final until semifinal stage in edition of World Cup.
I hope next edition has any Asian national teams can lead to semifinal stage after last time did by South Korea when becoming host in FIFA World Cup 2002 and success finish on 3rd position although many controversial thing happening.

Japan or South Korea may not win a title at a World Cup anytime soon, but may I remind you that these times are certainly capable of kicking out renowned nations like Germany? Japan has beaten Germany and Spain in their group in Qatar and they finished the group as 1st in front of Spain and Germany, thereby sending Germany home.

South Korea tied their game against Uruguay and beat Portugal to then finish the group 2nd and send Uruguay home. Uruguay is not some amateur group from nowhere.

Of course they are not title favorites or anything like that, but they have to be taken seriously as teams that can give any other other team a hard time.

Talking about Asia and Asian teams in the World Cup maybe a team like Japan can have a good performance because of the players they have on good and top-level teams in Europe, but still, the fact about these teams is you can judge Germany or Japan just because of a single game and we know during the history of the world cup the Asian teams never achieved any title before. I think still there is no chance even for a team like Japan or South Korea to achieve anything.

And I think we would agree with this, talking about football we will talk about all aspects related to this, individual ability may be something that has more value, but if that ability is not honed in the right way then I think it will not be useful at all. We'll definitely talk about technique, timing and mentality as well. European coaching has achieved that, and it has to be said that they are the parameters for world football.
Some countries may be regressing now, and it's a transition of regeneration. But when they already have a strong foundation with their coaching, then they will be able to quickly return to their proper performance.

It is clear that the way of coaching European teams is very different from Asian teams and we can prove it in an easy way, namely by looking at the course of the matches played by European teams and Asian teams we can already tell that the European game is much better in terms of speed and ball control so that when If a national team from Asia qualifies for the World Cup it will not last long and will definitely be eliminated or even fail in the qualifying round.

Learning how to play strategy from European teams might help but it still won't work optimally because each coach has special strategies and methods to enable the players to play well and in addition for European teams they have very important supporting factors namely star players with above average skill quality.

I remember the name Nakata, who first played at the highest level of European competition, in Serie A and the World Cup he was very familiar. After that, many clubs recruited players from the Asian region, and of course that was very profitable from both sides. The football fan base in Asia is actually quite large, but only a few players can consistently play in Europe. Although in some cases, differences in gaming culture, weather and body posture are always the main obstacles. Of course, European leagues have always been a reference for the best players, and many people admit this.

On the other hand, holding the World Cup in Korean-Japan is a very good start for Asian players. Many Asian players after this event went to European clubs. In terms of talent, Asian players are actually no less than players from other regions.

There are many things about football competition in Asia that still need better development and maybe a decade from now it won't be enough to make Asia even better in competing in the World Cup, in fact, I think Africa is still much better and has a greater chance of becoming champion. World Cup compared to Asia. More African football players play in Europe or other leagues on other continents, while there are still very few in Asia.
If Asia wants to compete better then the players must have the courage to leave their local league and experience tighter and more difficult competition like in Europe even though they only play in the second division.

However, Japan's victory over Germany is still an achievement and that's because Germany not only played badly but slightly underestimated their opponent. I saw the match and how the German defenders made movements that seemed to tease the Japanese players who they might see were shorter but one or two Japanese attacks were enough to destroy Germany at that time. Maybe that's a wrong assessment but currently Germany is not a strong team for a big competition unless there are big changes they make with their new coach later.

I'm from Asia. And I admit that this is true. I have seen several interviews from national team players in my country who said that coaching in Europe is much better in terms of technical and theoretical aspects. And the good news is that things like this can be applied to other national team players who don't play in Europe. They can get a little advice on tactics and style of play based on their time training in Europe.

I can see here some people think Europe and teams like Germany are in danger because other teams in Asia like Japan are getting better and they are having better performance time after time, mostly because of the previous results we saw from them in the game against Germany. I still think Asian teams can't be strong enough to take the World Cup title and even in the game between Japan and Germany, the Germans were in bad form.

Whereas before Asian countries might not have been considered, now they are starting to get a lot of attention, and you're right that it's because of the players who are carving out careers by joining big clubs in Europe. It's understandable, because it must be recognized that the quality of coaching in Europe is much better than in Asia that makes players develop faster when they are there than joining local clubs that are still in the Asian region. I don't mean to underestimate the quality in Asia at all, but that's what I see at least for now.

We should just accept the reality that in every era, there will be a star and we cannot really compare which is the best because even if we say it honestly, it's already biased as we already have our own preferences before we even get the chance to speak what we think. Sure, those players are good and will not be forgotten but the thing is, they are all a history now and the football will be revolving around the new players anymore and will give the limelight to the new ones. Those stars that we've mentioned, their time was already over, they were the best but only on their era as we cannot really tell what would happen if they had the chance to play in one single era.

There are many great players that never achieved stardom levels like Pele of Maradona. For example, in Brazil there was Rivaldo, one of the best players of that squad, but he never got the same recognition of Pele.

I think everyone remembers the bicycle kick goal of Rivaldo in the final though...

Comparisons are often difficult because often the metagame of a game or a sport is ignored and people just look at the stats to determine who was the best, I have no doubt that in terms of skill the current players are not below the players of the past, it is just the skills needed were different, Pele which is often considered to be the best soccer player ever, played at a time in which the game was slower, however the physical contact was way more intense and there were less fouls called because of it, while the ball was much heavier, so while Pele will not shine as much as he did back then if he played now, I doubt Messi and others like him will shine as they do now if they played under the rules, equipment and the metagame Pele faced at the time.

Well I wouldn't say that, one thing is what Ney has done in Europe where obviously his achievements are going to be very minimized, because he is not European, but it is like taking away the merit of a Mbappé being in Europe, because that's how he does everything wrong, to All of Europe will be almost like a hero, now the merits that Neymar has achieved are many, in fact he equaled and surpassed King Pelé in his country, he joined a Saudi League where I know he will do very well, the dam will not be there attacking him nor do I think that his teammates will attack him, there if he is more valued and above all wanted, what can't he do more? There is nothing worse than you leaving a soccer ball to a Brazilian and telling him that he is finished, because it eventually ends up infecting you and leaves you totally humiliated, because the Brazilians have so much talent that when they are made to get in a bad mood they score goals, or being told that they can't, we are talking about a star player, an icon of Brazil and the world , at this Moment Nyemar put Brazil in First place in the table of the Muncial qualifiers in CONMEBOL, and it is one of These players scored 2 goals, putting Brazil in its first game with 5 goals in favor, and in Brazil, and they say that Ney is not capable of doing more? I think that many people underestimate a lot of what a player can do, yes , he Went to Saudi football where many criticize him, for every minute that passes he makes money that none of us would regret having in 1 year , so nothing more There he is superior to anyone , and with Respect to what he can do, there are too many Things.

What has Stopped Ney is obviously his ankle injuries, but we all know that those of us who have always suffered from ankle injuries are something that is very difficult, because to strengthen the ankle it takes almost years, and any effort can to try to stabilize it again, that's what happens in football, that's like saying that Messi is finished, no, Messi is in a league that isn't at his level, that's why he shines easily, but he can hold on to this World Cup and he still wants another one and even so he could continue dancing like a world-class soccer Player.

After Brazil won the game friendly match against Bolivia to show how ready they were, another country in CONMEBOL played against Bolivia. We know Argentina and Brazil usually racing to become the best team there but recently Argentina showed better performance because of the performance they had in the last World Cup. Now Brazil is making progress and they want to show a better face in the 2026 World Cup.
In the friendly between Argentina and Bolivia, while Messi was not playing for his team still they won the game with a 3-0 result which can show that Argentina is strong even without their legendary palyer, Messi.
    

I can easily say that Neymar could be compared to Ronaldo, but not Ronaldinho. The difference is that Ronaldo played at a great time of Brazil, but he was consistently injured too, but won some stuff with his team as well. I believe that Neymar is a great player too, but he is constantly injured as well.

Ronaldo could have been one of the best players in history if he didn't get injured this much, and Neymar could have been the best of his time as well if he didn't get this many injuries. Ronaldinho is a different type of player, he was a great player but he was also a showman as well, he just enjoyed playing football, it was fun for him, it wasn't being the best that he cared about, it was being loved and enjoyed.

Most players who have individual skills above the average of other players often experience injuries, one of which is Neymar. When his skills are too prominent and displayed in a match, he will automatically receive a tackle from the opponent, this is one of the reasons why Neymar is often injured. It's true that few players recovering from injury score goals straight away, and Neymar makes it seem like an easy thing to do.

Over time, many Asian players have played in the top European leagues, so as you said, it was not surprising when Germany lost to Japan. The 2026 edition of the World Cup will again be a moment for countries, especially Asia, to show their quality.

I would guess that Neymar being injured most tourneys is a big reason why they are not winning much. This once again comes down to not being able to show up, doesn't matter if you are the greatest player or not, I feel like if you do not show up, then what matters if you are the greatest football player that ever played or a terrible player?

You should be considering him with his injuries as well as his talent, yes he is very talented and one of the best, that part is definitely true, but that doesn't change the fact that he gets injured way too often. I remember seasons where he played only 20 games, how could we consider him worthy of a great player title with such a season. That's why he is not in my top players list.