Germany won the 2009 U20 EUROs in impressive fashion defeating England by 4-0 in the final. And several players of that squad made the roster in 2014 and won the World Cup. Just alone six of them were starters with Neuer, Höwedes, Boateng, Hummels, Khedira and Özil. I think the U21 EUROs are a very good indicator for greatness in the A senior level to come as well. Europe was and has always been the pinnacle of high quality football and it has become even more blatant since UEFA introduced the CL and made it a very prestigious competition that is watched all around the globe.
This is gonna go in a bad direction… but their home countries are the countries they are born and raised in and where they live - aka the Netherlands. Most of these players like Ziyech did not even speak the Moroccan language, they are born and raised Dutchies. Some even for multiple generations. So how is Morocco their home country? It is their country of heritage not their home country.The Moroccan team is almost entirely boosted by players born and raised in Europe (French, Belgian, Dutch, Spanish). Look it is their choice who they want to represent but if you ask me what I think is beter? I would say represent the country where you were born & raised and learned to play football. Ziyech and Mazraoui are the result of Dutch football as can be seen in the way they play. But anyway, it’s their choice and I can understand them choosing it. There is a lot of Moroccan pride and they generally identify themselves as Moroccan first *insert country of residence* second. I’m happy Morocco won, cool team and a great collection of players. You brought up the discussion and I answered, I’m not really interested in going down this path of discussion much further…
Actually the base of that Germany team who won the 2014 WC won UEFA under 21 Euros, so it really has some metric relevance. 2018 France was based on 2011 and 2013 France under 20 WC teams.
Argentina will be on a good place even without Messi and all the FIFA and World Media protection towards Argentina. We are not worried if someone in Argentina is preaching us about history. If I want to know history I visit a Museum, regardless of today some might say it was a failure, I think it was, but at least our First WC title won't be as a Host Nation ruled by a Fascist Military Junta who actually forged a match fixing scandal with Peru robbing the chance of Brazil playing that final vs the Netherlands. I won't tell you what country was that, but the day our title come will come clean, without robbery, FIFA and Referees protection, and International Media Journalists telling the world how unfair it's little Messi never won the WC. We can smell something strange on the air when we see guys like Paredes behaving like Michael Corleone on the pitch. If I am a Croatia fan I will go to the stadium knowing well there's a chance of something very suspicious coming from the air...
No it doesn`t, as Argentina will never win a youth Euro Keep in mind that @Kamtedrejt in his OP is actually comparing Portugal's future to Argentina's future . . And more so, at recent times both England and Brazil, have won at all youth levels some youth WC's, and where are they at this present WC ? , easy answer : both, on a plane back home....
But the purpose isn't to only use under 20 WC's, Germany can use UEFA and Argentina can use under 20's CONMEBOL South American Championships.
What they identify with is their business, is it not? Italy had a prospect Hachim Mastour years ago that at age 17 decided he wanted to play for Morocco. "Eligible to play for both the Italy national team and the Morocco national team, he announced on 19 May 2015 that he was persuaded to represent the latter, because he felt Morocco to be his country." He was born in Italy to Moroccan parents. Raised in the Reggiana youth system, was promoted for half a season when he signed with Milan in 2014 . Heritage is defined as something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor : legacy, inheritance something possessed as a result of one's natural situation or birth : birthright So could be the culture he inherited or the country he was born in. If he doesn't want to play for Italy, then don't force him. Who wants someone who doesn't want to be there?
Not true actually they all speak moroccan language but not very fluent on "Darija" , Ziyech & Amrabat speaks "Thamazight" very fluently a Moroccan riff dialect . "The Moroccan team is almost entirely boosted by players born and raised in Europe" It's a mix because ( Bono , Ensyiri , Aguerd , Ounahi...and other half of our squad are all from Moroccan clubs )
well now that you mention this, as the OP was about Portugal and Argentina (not Germany), while Portugal has never won it (only has a few losing finalist place), Argentina in Conmebol has won it 5 times with 7 others as losing finalists, being their last win in 2015. With this in mind, comparing Portugal to Argentina, is like comparing ants to elephants..... And btw, I ( me), couldn't care less for both teams the same The only common issue regarding both of those teams, is that when it gets to penalty shoot outs, we have defeated them both ...
You mean under 21 Euros? 3 finals lost. Under 20 WC's 2 finals won and 1 lost. I am not comparing Portugal football history with Argentina, I am not worried about Argentina.
As all of this is really off topic, I suggest to take it to world rivalries. I will not post anything else related to this issue here. . . Back on topic, both Portugal and Morocco exhibited a very amusing match. My sincere kudos to both teams
Here I am again thinking why that idiot named Santos replaced William by Neves, unless he was tired I am absolutely sure at least we would have played better, of course that by itself doesn't mean scoring. I don't know what level of team we will have in 2026, and played on the American Continent is an advantage for South American teams... it's a failure, regardless what they can spin about this.
Congratulations to Morocco. Incredible tournament so far and I'm especially happy for Amrabat. As for Portugal, Fernando Santos needs to go. You can never bet on him, he only achieves something positive once in a blue moon. Put him in charge of the 1970 Brazil team and he would probably find a way to fail.
The controversy would be in Europe not in other countries. No one would care if a christian player dedicates his win to christians. No one in the muslim countries ever was chocked by Kaka dedicating his wins to Jesus. Many players come from lower social classes and are religious, I only care about how they play not how they think. It's not their job to be phylosophical examples for others. The thing is the main reason Morocco is getting this much support is because Africans and Arabs never had any chance to go this far. Things would have been completely different if those countries were usual candidates to lift the cup as it's the case for top European and South American teams. In that case they would see Morocco as rivals and wouldn't support us the same way Argentine wouldn't support Brazil and England wouldn't support France. Btw, currently not only Africans and Arabs are supporting us but also people from various countries, I'm getting messages from people from all around the world. I live in Japan and even the Japanese commentators and former players were siding with Morocco during the last two games. That wasn't the case during Morocco vs Canada, everyone loves a David vs Goliath story.
Actually most of the Moroccans living in Holland speak Moroccan language. Ziyech is a rare case and it's probably because his father died at a young age. There is no one truth in this situation, they have two home countries and no one can force them to limit it to one. Since they are kids they are used to visit Morocco every summer hollidays. Even Fellaini or Afellay still often visit Morocco. They have families in Morocco and watch Moroccan tv channels. If you ever try to cross the Gibraltar detroit in summer you'll see lines of cars every day. Now people use iptv but a few years ago if you went to any immigrant neighbourhood in France you'd see satellite plates headed in the same direction. So you can't deny their ties with Morocco and I can't deny their ties with Holland or France or Italy or Spain. The one thing I don't like is when a player uses a country to threaten the other one like or when a player changes his mind many times. I would like players to make a honnest choice and stick with it. I don't like it either when a player consciously choses to play for a European country at young age knowing that he will switch to Morocco for the A team. But the thing is the clubs also pressure them to not play for young teams of Morocco because they don't want them to play U20 qualifiers in risky pitches in Africa or because they want their value to raise with European NT U20 caps.
Regarding the bolded part, doesn't happen only with dual nationals who can represent European/African teams. We had recently a case in Portugal with Liverpool Fábio Carvalho who played for England Youth teams, then decided to play for Portugal under 21's, and now recently sent a SMS to our under 21 coach saying he doesn't feel motivation to play again for the under 21's again. This was seen as blackmail to the Portuguese Federation that if they don't call him to the main team he will again chose Engalnd in the future. If he is good enough for that.
For me it's simple, if you're a citizen then you have the right to play for the NT because I don't want first class and second class citizens in my country. If you're a citizen, you're a citizen and your past is irrelevant (beyond fulfilling the conditions for citizenship like any non-footballer). This is bigger than football for me. Now, I understand that there need to be rules to avoid switching NTs so I'm fine with FIFA having eligibility rules that restrict eligibility to one team as an adult. But it's the citizen (player) who has the right to choose and he doesn't have to explain why, like none of the single citizenship players do.
That’s an interesting point, but he hasn’t played a minute if senior football so I think he can switch back.