I've heard recently on this thread, certain nations reckon they will be POWERHOUSES in the very near future (India, Syria). So realisticaly who will these nations be? Predict your regional powerhouse in 10-15 years time and your Asian powerhouse in 10-15 years time, the nation you reckon that the rest of the world will take notice and fear. Please vote and give your reasons why: My Vote West Asia: Iraq to build on their success of Asian Cup trumiph and push into the World Cup group stages in South Africa and beyond. Jordan and Syria to follow as regional powerhouses, this i mean by winning Gulf Cups, West Asian Cups, but not really make it on a world stage. Saudi Arabia to be themselves and compete but not improve on what they already are. East Asia: China to start to be noticed as real contenders for every qualification to every world cup and cause surprise in reaching second round. Japan and Korea to continue steadily Asian competition, but have more focus on world wide stage SAFF And Central Asia: Uzbekistan to break into World Cup and face Kazahkstan to see who the real power of Central Asia is. India to dominate SAFF Championship until everyone gets fed up and gives up. ASEAN Region: My beloved Thailand to forever wanting to qualify for world cup, but be upstaged by Singapore and Indonesia. Indonesia also being the nearly boys but Singapore qualify for World Cup, but ASEAN championship open between Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Laos unfortunatley are still rubbish. World: Iraq for West Asia and Japan / Korea to continue trend in East Asia for fighting for Asia against rest of the world. Saudi Arabia to have a good world cup, reaching quarter-finals and then exploding and struggle in Asian competition along with Iran
Saudi Arabia will become less of an influence on the region with the emergence of Iraq. The only thing that has stopped Iraq becoming one of the best in Asia, is all the wars that continually rage on. The only other team I see pushing to become a powerhouse is China if they pull the finger out. In the future, Fifa will be forced to expand the amount of teams that qualify from Asia.
I agree with the first section -- China should be the strongest nation in soccer in Asia NOW, let alone in the future. The second section ???? -- Asia already receive at least 1.5 spots more in the WC than they really deserve. Until Asia start to do something in WC's that they don't host, then they should lose spots. I say give those places to regions such as Europe and S America who have teams that know how to actually win games at WC's.
believe me, Chinese football is hopeless. The population=potential thing is really irrational. Football is always the king in China but their team is always mediocre. North Korea is more hopeful. They are rising again after Kim Jong-il lifting the ban on international games.
Qatar will never be a major football power. The population of the country is less than that of a small city and they will need a major immigration drive.
Australia could be a big Asian powerhouse if it sorted out all of its coaching and logistical problems.
within the next 10 years,i reckon these will be the Asian powerhouses. Australia, Japan, S.Korea, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia,Uzbekistan and maybe China.
Pretty close to that now. Iraq and Uzbekistan only have to continue good performances to challenge the big 5 that are already there, China has been on the cusp for a while, surely they'll take the next step soon.
So? its still a WORLD CUP. We might aswell piss it off then and only have reigonal championships like we have now.
China, where 1/4 of my ancestors come from, will become a powerhouse. With all of the people over there, they are bound to produce some world class players in the near future. I'm not saying that they'll dominate in the World Cup, but they can dominate Asia.
World cup 2006 ( I think this was the huge gap of World cup 2006) Argentina 6 – 0 Serbia and Montenegro (A European country) Asian countries need more experience in the World Cup if they are to do well in the future. South Korea also had a bad early world cup campaign when they lost to Sweden in 1948. Sweden 12 - 0 South Korea And by above statement i am sure you are mentioning Saudi Arabia and specially the match with Germany which they lost 8-0. You can't compare between the two teams. Germany has been playing in the World Cup since 1934, 60 years before Saudi Arabia played its first World Cup. So you need to give time for the Asian countries to develop.
Qatar "buys" ready made talents from across the world. Their national team is a mini-UN. They have players from Uruguay, Brazil, Ghana, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Tanzania, etc! Not sure if they have someone from Qatar! VidER
I don't think so. There is no good Chinese footballers in Europe right now despite the fact football is nr 1 sport in China.
Within 10 years I think these Asian countries are the best: 1 Japan 2 China 3 Korea 4 Australia 5 Iran 6 Saudi Arabia 7 Iraq 8 India 9 Indonesia 10 Vietnam 11 Malaysia 12 Syria 13 Thailand 14 UAE 15 Qatar
Several people have said "Australia WILL become a powerhouse" or something close, but aren't they already considered a powerhouse in Asia?
Yes, i would say they are, but i guess people are just confirming that they will still be a powerhosue come 10 years time.