List the countries you believe are "sleeping giants" or teams that will make a "splash in the water" in the near future.
China : They have been far behind South Korea and Japan, but they are rapidly catching up....and look at their economic growth.... Austrailia : After moving to Asian region they will compete against South Korea, Japan, Iran, Saui Arabia....Austrailia has good chance to qualify on a regular basis....good move and it will awaken.... and they got good coach... Canada....They have very talented players playing now in Europe....it will strengthen Canadian NT and Canadians will move up the ladder in Concacaf and beyond.... United States : Soccer is still much more room to grow in the States...MLS will grow into 18-team league....their U-17, U-20 teams are very solid and producing promising talents.... and in Europe, countries like Romania, Switzerland, Ukraina will move up lively....
The term "Sleeping Giant" means a team that was once good and has always had good support. Those teams aren't they are just possible up and coming teams. Sleeping giant? Holland because they still haven't won a World Cup even though they should have. And they haven't done as well as they should have in recent competitions
you know South Africa will be much better by the 2010 world cup. also look for Albania to continue to improve, they won't be giants but could be the next 'Latvia'.
I don't know why so many people are saying Ukraine. They've only had a sovereign national team for a decade now and have one world class player in Shevchenko - other than that, they're a pretty ordinary side. I'm definitely going to say Spain. When you consider the way they have dominated in WC qualifiers (this current campaign + Euro2004 excluded) and the strength of their domestic league, I find it quite shocking that they've never even made the semifinals of the WC - excluding their final four group appearance in 1950. Last weekends home game against Serbia emphasized this. On paper, Spain were stronger in every department yet still could only manage a draw. As for other teams... China and Australia definitely. The entire continent of Africa has got to be on there as well but one team that is definitely a sleeping giant is Ghana. They've been a powerhouse in youth soccer for sometime but never been to a single world cup - although that is probably going to chance in a couple of months time.
I've always heard INCREDIBLE amounts of hype for Cameroon for the past decade yet they've usually disappointed.
For this year, England. They lost to N.Ireland and Denmark, but they will win the WC next year. I say it here.
I hope for Canada to massively improve. I like Canada and have friends there, may go spend some while there soon... And I think China and India both have a bright future when it comes to soccer. Also, many African countries such as Congo or Kenya have many talented boys, if the West would help out a bit in building suitable training accomodations these countries could get far as well. I also think Chile will return to top level sooner or later.
Korea and Japan. People say that WC2002 was a fluke, but everyone who sometimes watches east asian football would agree that they had an amazing developement in the last 5 years and play very good football with discipline and, unlike 10 years ago, good physique. If they keep on improving their technical skills they can become one of the "B-Teams" in world football within the next 5 years. Teams that probably can't win a WC, but have a good chance to reach the quarters or even the semis. I don't see a real sleeping giant in Europe, Scotland and Ireland maybe because of the big tradition and fanbase (because of that I wonder how they could become so bad in the first place). Also Turkey, they have a fanatic fanbase, a solid leauge any lots of good young players. And of course Switzerland, they have amazing youth teams and host EC 2008.
I don't know if I'm missing something here, but no one has mention HUNGARY, YUGOSLAVIA, or (most importantly) URUGUAY. Those nations are a big part of football history and were powers in the past. Even Czechoslovakia (now Czech Rep). Those are the first names that come to my mind with the denomination "sleeping giants".
Yes, but it depends on the definition of "sleeping giant". A sleeping giant is not a nation that has been great in the past and now isn't, but a nation whose gigantic potential hasn't been used yet. And neither of the first three nations you've mentioned have this potential in my opinion.
I totally agree with this. Living in the the mid East, obviously I get a lot of exposure to Asian football and there is some surprisingly high qualify stuff, especially in those countries you just mentioned. I can definitely see China becoming a powerhouse in Asia - and then, as LordR said, becoming a "B-Team" - occasionally causing a couple of upsets. This may sound a little bizarre as they've already hosted 2 world cups, reached the second round of the last 3 WC's, won the confederations cup, and just beaten Brazil and Argentina within the last year - in competitive matches, but I'm actually going to nominate Mexico. In many ways I'm surprised that Mexican players haven't had a larger impact in the world game. For instance, with the exception of Hugo Sanchez, and the more recent Rafeal Marquez, not too many Mexican players have made a big splash in Europe - which really surprises me when you consider the cultural connections their players have with Spain and Italy. The transition would be easy. The Mexican national team is starting to get the results now that their potential merits, and their current world ranking reflects this but when you consider that they have a football crazy population, and a decent domestic league, with world class stadiums - it surprises me that we haven't seen to many Mexican football "superstars"
OK. Thanks for clarifying that. Then yeah, I believe currently Nigeria, Cameroon, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, etc. are nations with amazing talent but that are still to prove themselves and become true superpowers.
Vamos ver.....If Almeida (6 ' 7 Monster, FC Porto) get called up to replace Pauleta for the WC....I would suggest everyone watch out.
What score would it be if the portugal play the US again next year, and which team will win the match ? i would say a draw 2-2.