Next first time winners - The World Cup?

[Miko]

That thread in the WWE section about the next first time World Champion got me thinking, what with Spain having finally stopped underacheiving and grabbed the Gold I just have to wonder who the next first time World Champions will be.

There a few contenders that I've thought of, although more suggestions would be welcome, we'll start with the obvious:

Holland: Last years runners up, have been runners up a total of 3 times now, you have to feel that their time is soon, however, inconsistency is very much part of the Dutch game, even England are consistent, consistently shit anyway. Also the infighting and ego's that generally plague the Dutch game always stand in the way.

Can they finally put all that aside with the right players to finally stop being the best team to have never won the World Cup?

Ghana: My personal favourites, Uruguay did well last time out, but they have a very tough qualifying group, they might not see the light of the World Cup again, I'd put them in the same category as Turkey for now, everyone was raving about them after one good tournament but we havent heard a peep from them since.

Ghana on the other hand have gotten better everytime, and each time look to becoming bigger threats to the established players, 4 years ago Brazil beat them 4-0 with a result that didnt really do justice to their performance, this year they were cheated by a goofy toothed cunt. In 4 years time they could be better still. Maybe one day even legit challengers.

USA: Completes my list, a country that big, with that much money to throw behind the sport, if they ever took it seriously should do well, they should be ashamed if they didnt. The only question is, will they ever take it seriously enough to start making a proper go of it?

Anyway, interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[The Crock]

Holland - They're definitely very very good. I'll be surprised if they don't win it sometime soon. I thought they had a shot this year, and they got far. The next few years they probably might have to redevelop the leadership on their team, because Van Bronckhorst is retiring.

USA - I'm, obviously, a USA fan. I like what we have going for us right now. We have a ton of young stars, and some young guys who are very good that didn't even make the team this year. Undoubtedly nowhere to go but up.

By the way, great thread man.

 

[gd]

I doubt the US will ever win one. Likely not in 2014, since we brought back Bradley, who is a mediocre coach at best. And people will never care about soccer in this country, at least not in the near future, except for the 1 month every 4 years that includes the World Cup. Even then, a lot of people don't care.

Netherlands would seem to be the favorite. It looked like that had a lot of high end players on their team, and with them coming so close multiple times, you got to figure they'll win one eventually. Probably within the next 20 years.

Didn't Uruguay already win a couple, in like the 40s?

 

[Super Hans]

Holland are obviously the favourites to shed the maiden tag, with the history and youth setup that they have at PSV, Feyenoord and particularly Ajax, who in my opinion have the best youth system in the world constantly churning out quality young players.

Out of the others it is only a matter of time before a balanced African team does really well, the continent has top players playing in every top league now and will recieve a huge shot in the arm having just held the greatest tournament on earth can only help fund more grass-roots commitment to the game for the next generation on the continent as a whole.

Other than that it will be the same nations competing at the business end of the tournaments in the coming years.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I See a Lot of Holland & a Lot of Ghana in this thread but I'm going to throw a new name into the ring; Mexico

Mexico are a football loving nation, who have only ever reached the Quarter Finals when the tournament is played in their country. I see a change in that come 2014. In 2014, the World Cup will be held in Brazil, a country where the climate not only suits Mexico but a country where some of the Mexican players ply their craft.

The Mexicans showed at the last World Cup that they have a squad of good players. The only problem with the last tournament was that the players were far too young. To me, they have a real shot in 2014 of reaching the later stages with such a young squad of talented players. With the right coach, the Mexicans could even push for the Semi's or the Final itself.

 

[Ferbian]

Really Holland was the only team in the 2010 World Cup that showcased themselves to the point where you could actually expect them to have taken it home that year, or for that sake to take it home next time. Holland has a strong squad, and did well (With a bit of luck) against some of the other nationally great teams like Brazil, and Uruguay (Who showcased themselves really nicely as well).

However, let's say Holland doesn't qualify (I doubt they wouldn't qualify, but for arguments sake). Then I would really put my bets on Uruguay going far in the tournament. They showed some nice spirit and abilities this year, and if Forlán is still on the squad, then it will definitely look promising for Uruguay.

 

[Miko]

Didn't Uruguay already win a couple, in like the 40s?

Aye they did, it was something that I already knew funnily enough and was going to show off that knowledge in this thread, then sometime while I was typing it I forgot. . .

I See a Lot of Holland & a Lot of Ghana in this thread but I'm going to throw a new name into the ring; Mexico

Mexico are a football loving nation, who have only ever reached the Quarter Finals when the tournament is played in their country. I see a change in that come 2014. In 2014, the World Cup will be held in Brazil, a country where the climate not only suits Mexico but a country where some of the Mexican players ply their craft.

The Mexicans showed at the last World Cup that they have a squad of good players. The only problem with the last tournament was that the players were far too young. To me, they have a real shot in 2014 of reaching the later stages with such a young squad of talented players. With the right coach, the Mexicans could even push for the Semi's or the Final itself.

Great choice, one that I had forgotten about, the Mexicans play great football but it's true the inexperience lets them down, and they are almost as useless against counterattacks as John Terry against a sprightly German forward.

They have a lot of work to do, a lot more than a country like Ghana who are developing a more solid European type of defending, if the Mexicans can sort that sort of thing out they could become a great footballing nation.

 

[harrythem]

This thread is impossible to predict because squads will have changed drastically by the next world cup, never mind future world cups. Still, based on set-ups I'm aware of, I'll give it my predictions:

Holland are the front runners because they have, like has been said, a quality youth set-up (although their club level set-up is not a patch on the one we have at Arsenal!).

Portugal could do it. They're very similar to Spain in that they have the talent, but they just need to get someone to be able to organise it and channel it in the right direction.

America could do it but they'd need to invest huge sums of money into improving their player development system as, at the present, they have the squad to get to the second round but no further.

 

[Brilliant Human Being]

There are very few good teams who are or will be well-equipped enough in four years time to mount a serious challenge, short of the next Maradona announcing himself. The truth is, on order to have a good chance to at least get to the semi-finals, you need a hugely gifted squad of players, good team spirit, money to develop existing youth systems, and a healthy slice of luck on the way.

Admittedly the last one is out of a teams control, and there are only a few teams with a combination of the above, let alone all four. Holland are an aging side in some areas, for example Mark van Bommel and Gio van Bronckhorst, for whom the previous World Cup will probably be their last. And from past World Cups, they have found to be the perennial underachievers, suggesting that this years World Cup is the exception, not the rule.

Portugal are very much in the same boat as Holland, in that they always underachieve on the biggest change. Having said that, heading into the next World Cup a number of their players should be hitting their primes; such as Ronaldo and Nani. Ghana are probably the most balanced team of the World Cup virgins, with quality players in the best leagues in the world they can only get better.

The South American teams, such as Mexico and Chile, have a youthful exuberance which made them two of the more attractive teams to watch at this World Cup, however as someone already touched on they have susceptiblity in defence, however they have tremendously exciting; and more importantly young attackers. (Hernandez, Vela, dos Santos for Mexico; Sanchez, Beausejour for Chile) and they can only get better with more experience.

The USA's time will not be for a while, at least not until the majority of the public get interested in the concept of the sport. It will not be for a while until a new team wins the World Cup I feel, as the top teams such as Brazil, Spain, Argentina and Germany look far too strong for most teams. That said, I would say Mexico are probably the best placed.

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

I enjoyed Ghana's run in the World Cup this year but sadly, i just didn't see a strong enough squad capable of going all the way and they were very fortunate this year. This may seem a ridiculous statement to make when they were without Essien but barring a sluggish Germany, they didn't really play any world class opposition. I admit, Serbia were classed as the 'Dark Horses' of the group but they didn't really perform as well as people think. And the USA and Uruguay were solid teams but not worthy of being world champions as i feel they relied more on two or three key players as opposed to the whole team like Spain. And, most importantly, they were had home advantage continent-wise, and at one point were single-handedly representing the entire continent of Africa i.e. Quarter-finals.

USA? Again, i don't see them being world champions. They have really good players in Donovan, Dempsey and Howard but, as sadly England proved, you have to play as a team and not rely on one or two better players. Off topic, whatever happened to Freddy Adu? I remember there being a big buzz around him when he signed for DC at 17 and there were rumours of him joining Man Utd but i never saw him during the World Cup?

Mexico? Perhaps, but probably not. 2014 is in Brazil so they will be used to the South American climate unlike a few of the European teams and they have good players in Salcido, Hernandez (the one at Man Utd) and others but again, do they have a solid spine to the team?

My dark horse, if they qualify (which they failed to do this year) is Russia. With them bidding for the 2018 finals and having some really good players in Arshavin and Zhirkov (who i believe needs to be given a chance at Chelsea), they could get a nice run-in similar to what Holland got this year and could sneak it.

Realistically, it will probably be Holland but one of the things i love about the World Cup is the unpredictability. I never saw Holland going on the run they did; in fact i put £20 on at the bookies on Brazil, but i think it could be a few tournaments before we see someone other than the powerhouses of Germany, Argentina, Brazil, and now Spain winning the major tournaments.