How come China and India didn't qualify for the World Cup?

nutbar · Jul 8, 2010

China were in a tough group in the first group stage in Asian qualifying. Iraq, the Asian champions, Qatar, the Asian games champions, and Australia.

Though the Chinese can't really complain considering the relatively easy final group they got in 2002 qualifying.

Manolo · Jul 8, 2010

zdrav said: ↑

Team sports like soccer are more of a test of a nation's interest and developmental program in the sport, rather than pure athletics. Individual sports rely much more on individual athleticism (duh), so rich and populous countries like the US and China (and the former USSR) tend to dominate the Olympics.

Sports like soccer are not so much about pure athleticism as they are about teaching a very specific set of team skills and tactics from an early age. I'm sure there are millions of Chinese kids who can juggle a ball 200 times, but they have no idea how to play in a team setting because their country lacks the developmental program of, say, Holland.

Soccer is not an activity that one can get better at by merely increasing one's strength and agility in solitary training. That's kind of what the Olympics are about.
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Good post. The other interesting and beautiful part of soccer is how cultural preferences manifest themselves in the different team's styles, and the World Cup is where these philosophies are tested.

For instance, yesterday Spain v. Germany is a microcosm of the two cultures - passion and artistry vs. discipline and efficiency.

It would most certainly be interesting to see how China and India would reflect their cultures into a soccer team.