Quote:
Originally Posted by raju
This thread started with a discussion about US chances in future World Cups and I meant to post this then but things moved on a bit too quickly for my slow arse.
Pele said he thought an African nation would win the World Cup by 20something. I think the date might have passed.
Somebody made the point about the kids of poorer nations never being without a football and it follows that these nations would have a better chance of producing real talent over the developed countries, Whos kids play PES 08 instead.
Africa made the decision to hold their African Nations cup every 2 years instead of every 4 and this looks to be having a positive effect.
Given those couple of points, oh plus the number of European teams with training academys in Africa now, can we revise Peles prediction?
Incidently, excuse my ignorance, do the USA play in the Copa America or some other international tournement I never heard of? thanks
Quote:
Originally Posted by sumpy
They compete in the CONCACAF gold cup, and often in Copa America by invitation.
this is only half true. the US hasn't played in Copa America that much and last year it was pointless as we didn't send a worthy side for it
I personally have believed that CONMEBOL and CONCACAF should join forces for an Americas Cup to replace the Gold Cup and Copa America. Both sides would profit from doing this, and it would be a great competetive tournament
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iplayboard
According to a Soccernet article, Nigeria's former coach said that "if Nigerian football had the infrastructure enjoyed by the game in Germany, the Super Eagles would be one of the best teams in the world."
I don't think Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire are far from the world powerhouses in attacking talent. Their defense and goalkeeping isn't quite up to par.
2010 will be a big year for Africa. If the right teams qualify then I think they'll have a decent chance of placing a team in the semi-finals for the first time.
If I had to guess which team outside of Europe and South America will first win the World Cup, I would say Mexico. This generation of players is the first to play extensively in Europe and their youth teams have been successful. Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana and the United States deserve mention as well.
I think that the Cote d'Ivoire needs to prove themselves a bit more to be thrown into this discussion as they've come on more recently then anything. Of the african nations that have a chance to go deep in the 2010 WC, it has to be nigeria and cameroon and Nigeria has been on the cusp for a long time, and like you said, its the defending that is their undoing
At this point though, I don't think that any nation outside of South America or Europe has the ability to win a WC. There's just such a divide at this point money wise which can hinder nations while the talent gap certainly has been shrinking