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2010: Clearing the South American obstacle
By Adokiye Amiesimaka
WHEN South Africa hosts the next World Cup in 2010, it will be the first
time that an African country will stage this most prestigious FIFA tournament
since it began in 1930. If an African country ever had bright prospects
of lifting the cup, it is on 'home turf' in 2010. Though FIFA does not
currently rate Nigeria among the top three teams in Africa, we are confident
that none of the qualifying countries will dare take us for granted in
the competition. On our part too, it will be in our best interest not
to regard any of the matches as a pushover. Our preparation should therefore
include a detailed study of each of the teams that is expected to participate
in the championship to enable us to craft an intelligent strategy for
each match. But as football records show there are some countries that
may require special attention.
A total of seven countries have won the World Cup in the last 78 years.
They are Brazil (five times - 1958 in Sweden, 1962 in Chile, 1970 in Mexico,
1994 in the United States, 2002 in South Korea/Japan); Italy (four times
- 1934 in Italy, 1938 in France, 1982 in Spain, 2006 in Germany); West
Germany (three times - 1954 in Switzerland, 1974 in West Germany, 1990
in Italy); Uruguay (two times - 1930 in Uruguay, 1950 in Brazil); Argentina
(two times - 1978 in Argentina, 1986 in Mexico); England (once - 1966
at home); and France (once - 1998 in France).
It will be seen at a glance that only South America and Europe have produced
world champions so far. Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina are from South
America, while Italy, West Germany, England, and France are from Europe.
Remarkably, of all the winners, it is only Brazil with a record five wins
that has not lifted the cup on home soil. The only time that Brazil hosted
the competition in 1950, it was Uruguay that won it. On the other hand,
it is only Brazil that has won the World Cup in a continent other than
its own, as well as in a total of four different continents - South America,
Europe, North America, and Asia. In fact, Brazil has been victorious in
every continent that has hosted the World Cup.
While Brazil's current performance in the World Cup qualifying series
in South America may not be very impressive, there is no reason to doubt
that it will eventually qualify. At least, Brazil has history on its side.
It is the only country to qualify for each of the 18 tournaments so far,
scoring a record total of 201 goals as well.
In addition to the World Cup, Brazil has won the FIFA Confederations Cup
twice (1997 in Saudi Arabia, 2005 in Germany), and the Copa America eight
times between 1919 and 2007. Like Nigeria, Brazil has won the FIFA U-17
tournament three times - 1997, 1999, and 2003. But unlike Nigeria that
won the gold medal in the football event in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
USA, Brazil has never won gold in this event, only managing to win silver
two times (Los Angeles '84, Seoul '88), and bronze two times (Atlanta
'96, Beijing '08).
The point must be made however that Brazil's South American neighbour,
Argentina, has the world record for most international titles won by any
country. In addition to winning the World Cup two times, Argentina has
won the Olympic football tournament two times (Athens '04, Beijing '08);
the FIFA U-20 World Cup a record six times (1979 in Japan, 1995 in Qatar,
1997 in Malaysia, 2001 in Argentina, 2005 in Netherlands, 2007 in Canada);
the FIFA Confederations Cup once (1992 in Saudi Arabia); and the Copa
America 14 times between 1921 and 1993.The only FIFA organised international
tournament that Argentina has not won is the U-17 competition in which
it has come third three times.
Brazil and Argentina have also produced the two most exceptional players
that the world has seen in the last 50 years. They are, Edson Arantes
de Nascimento (Pele) and Diego Armando Maradona respectively. It will
be recalled that Pele was the first player to score over a thousand goals
in a professional career, and the only player to win the World Cup three
times - 1958 in Sweden, 1962 in Chile, and 1970 in Mexico. He is arguably
the greatest football player that the world has ever known. On his part,
Maradona did not only win the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, but his second
goal against England in that championship is reputed to be the greatest
goal that has ever been scored in the World Cup. Both countries currently
parade some of the best players in the world like Kaka, Robinho, Ronaldinho,
Messi, and Riquelme.
It must be acknowledged, however, that the current Top Five FIFA rankings
as of September 2008 are from Europe. They are, Spain, Italy, Germany,
the Netherlands, and Croatia respectively. Strangely, Brazil and Argentina
occupy the unusual positions of sixth and seventh respectively. But the
rankings are updated monthly and are subject to so many variables that
they may not truly reflect the relative strengths of the teams.
As can be seen, it has become the tradition for the World Cup to be won
by a country from the continent in which it is hosted. But Brazil has
shown that it can break with tradition and has actually done so several
times. Argentina's exceptional ability to accumulate international titles
also gives it an intimidating posture. Add to this the fact that no European
country has won the World Cup outside Europe and it becomes compelling
that for an African country to win this elusive cup, special steps must
be taken to neutralise the anticipated threat from South America.
Happily, Nigeria has started by taking the right step in appointing a
Nigerian, Shaibu Amodu, as head coach of our Super Eagles: the records
show that no country has ever won the World Cup with a foreign head coach.
But, we still need to do more.
To be continued.
Punchng.com,
7 September 2008
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