Was Nigeria, USA or Japan becoming football powerhouses just fads?

HomokHarcos · Jun 12, 2016

I’m going to talk about three different teams at different times who were supposed to be an up and coming team, but later shown that it seemed like a false prediction.

1994 Nigeria: After thrashing Bulgaria 3-0 in their opening game, they gave Argentina a real challenge until losing 1-2. However they still topped their group with a 2-0 win over Greece. Against eventual finalists Italy, they were leading until the last two minutes when they allowed the equalizer and eventually went out. Nigeria were said to be a potential powerhouse, but they have never made it further than they did in 1994.

2002 United States: Starting off their tournament with a shock 3-2 win over Portugal, they followed it up with a 1-1 draw against hosts South Korea. Despite a poor 1-3 loss to Poland, the USA made it to the Round of 16 where they beat rivals Mexico 2-0. In the quarterfinals they fought a very close game, but went out. The United States were said to be a potential powerhouse, but they have not made it as far as since then.

2010 Japan: Opened up the tournament with a 1-0 win over Cameroon, they barely lost to eventual finalists Netherlands 0-1. This was followed up with an impressive 3-1 win over Denmark. In the Round of 16 they made it to penalties against Paraguay, where a missed shot eliminated them. Japan were said to be a potential powerhouse, but in 2014 they had a disastrous performance finishing last in the group with 1 point.

mfw13 · Jun 12, 2016

The premise itself is false....there are no football powerhouses anymore except for maybe Germany.

The talent levels are too balanced between nations, resulting in massive inconsistency from one tournament to the next. And given how big a role tournament draws have in determining outcomes, even tournament results often give false impressions.

For example, is the Netherlands a powerhouse? They've made three World Cup Finals, and lost in the semifinals of WC 2014 on PK's to Argentina, but at the same time went winless at Euro 2012 and didn't even qualify for Euro 2016.

Is Italy a powerhouse? They won WC 2006, but didn't make it out of the group stage in either WC 2010 or WC 2014. But in between they made the final of Euro 2012...

Mexico and the United States are generally considered to be the two best teams in CONCACAF and are two of only eight countries to make it to the knockout rounds of both WC 2010 and WC 2014, but the USA lost to Jamaica in the semifinals of the 2015 Gold Cup and tied Panama twice, and it took two very controversial PK awards for Mexico to even make the Final.

Is Argentina a powerhouse? They haven't won a tournament since the 1993 Copa America, but now with Lionel Messi are considered to be one of the best teams in the world.

Is Brazil a powerhouse? They were embarrassingly eliminated from World Cup 2014 by Germany, have failed to make it past the quarterfinals of each of the past two Copa America's, and are currently sitting 6th in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.

Nigeria won the 2013 ANC, was one of only two African nations to make the knockout rounds of WC 2014, and then failed to even qualify for the 2015 ANC.

Teams are too inconsistent, PK's play too big a role in tournament outcomes, and talent levels are too balanced these days for there to be too many true powerhouses...

bungadiri · Jun 12, 2016

This has nothing to do with FIFA and Tournaments.