The Football Thread - 17/18 Season

[LipeJJ]

pastro243 said:

Slimebeast said:

But if Uruguay, Chile and Argentina can be producing elite talent year after year, why not other countries with similar economies, size of population and interest in football? Like Colombia, Peru, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Iran, Tunisia, Saudi-Arabia, Algeria, Marocco, Egypt, South Africa and Turkey.

And if you consider how damn talented black players are genetically (in France, Belgium, England, Portugal and Holland the black population is only 1-2% but they make up 20-30% of all the professional football players) one would think that at least a couple of Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Cameroon would take steps like Brazil and Mexico did as poor nations in the past and join the elite of world football.

And moneywise, the national teams of countries like USA, Japan, Korea, India and China are performing much worse compared with how much money there are in their domestic leagues.

But no, it's all about Europe.

A few things

- As a chilean I can tell you that we can't produce much elite players. Our current team is a "golden generation" that is made mostly of U20 2005 and 2007 generation, same team that was youngest in southafrica 2010 and one of the oldest in Copa Centenario 2016. From those we have our true world class players that are Vidal and Sánchez and then come the likes of Bravo, Medel and Aránguiz. After that we haven't been able to produce much more. 

- I think Colombia have a way bigger pool of talent than Chile actually. I think our first 11 is better but they have a better squad and more talented players overall.

- Argentina, Uruguay and Chile are not comparable IMO. Population wise, Argentina are 40 million, Chile 17 and Uruguay 3. Talent wise, what Argentina produces is massive, and Uruguay for it's size could be considered the very best. Economy wise Argentina is a mess, Chile and Uruguay are more centered. 

- In terms of CONMEBOL, I think you can divide in the best that are still Argentina and Brazil, then come the good that are Chile, Uruguay and Colombia, the mid Ecuador and Paraguay and the lower Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia. Mexico and USA also have the problem that their competition sucks, Concacaf sucks and Copa Centenario showed it, they should do what Australia did and get out if they want to get better. 

You're the light of this thread when it comes to South American Football... you clearly understand the scenario as a whole. Great post.