Who are they ? . I think USA , Australia and The Ivory Coast . Australia based on how much Football has grown since 2005 and America because of one man . Becks . If Ivory coast can get it together there gonna be a massive force i think . What about you ?
Mexico. Their league is getting very rich off of TV deals (not unlike the top European leagues), their top players are going to top European clubs, and their youth teams have been really awesome in recent years (with players like Vela and dos Santos being highly hyped around the world).
I do agree with those 3 nations. Cameroon and Nigeria were fairly strong during the 90's and now theyve dropped off. South Korea and Japan have the potential to be bigger but for some reason they just dont fulfill their potential. A lot of the middle-eastern countries are playing good football and are also attracting south-american players who wont play for their NT's to improve the countries technical skills. The improving football nations are mostly coming from outside Europe.
Out of the three posted in the original post, I only agree with the Ivory Coast, due to their increasing talent and great young players. Australia I think will be good but not a powerhouse. My USMNT is on par with Australia and will only become a powerhouse because of one man, not Becks, but Jozy Altidore! Mexico definitely what a team they're going to have for the next WC. Russia will be good too, with promising young talent.
Are we talking about nts or about club football and longterm or shortterm? Regarding nts, the current nt from Ivory Coast looks pretty impressing and will be for the next few years, but I'm not so sure if they can keep up, the big African teams all seem to have ups and downs, if there are African countrys that can lay the grounds for a continued international success similar to the real powerhouses, I'd rather bet on South Africa, Egypt or Morocco, though this is only a guess based on political stability. Elsewhere, my first bet would be on Mexico. However they failed to do compete with Brazil, Argentina and the bigger European teams for years, no real reason to believe that this will change. The US are another possibility, but I wouldnt bet on them, at least not in the upcoming 20 years or so. In Asia I don't see a country with notable success in the next few years, on longer term I tend to think of Japan, Korea or China, maybe Australia rather than the Arabs, but I doubt it will happen for decades. Regarding club football, see leagues-on-the-rise-thread, I see the MLS rising pretty fast, the J-League seems strong, the Mexican league is enjoying some success, however I tend to think that the big European clubs/leagues are too far ahead in money, prestige, organisation and world wide marketing to ever get caught.
Colombia hopefully, Our league is getting better and we have some players with enormous talent(Falcao, Jaime Castrillon)
The U.S. is rising, but as much as I would love to see us become a powerhouse, its not gonna happen for a while. Mexico is rising faster than we are. They've always had a strong domestic league, attracting some of the top talent in Latin America, but now that they're exporting players to the top leagues and teams of Europe, they have the potential to become a world power. The only thing lacking is a good coach.
Ok. Is he really that good? He played for a club here where i live in florida called Boca Juniors. I play in Orlando and I actually played against him about three times. He did not impress anyone the first two games, but the third game he actually scored two goals. I guess he just got a lot better the past year?
they have not failed to compete. they have beaten argentina and brazil, tied italy in 94 and 2002, were ahead against argentina in 2006 and germany 98, took bulgaria(fourth place finisher) to pk's in 94, and germany in 86, tied holland in 98, and beat belgium in 86 (fourth place finisher.) they're one of four teams to make it out of the group stages in the past four cups - and the streak could've been six if the federation wasn't so full of retards. to hell with competing. i want to win. raul rodrigo lara letting a ball goes through his legs, leaving klinsmann alone vs. campos. then bierhoff winning the header. borgetti's own goal, and maxi's golazo - choking in pk's in 86 and 94, and choking against the u.s. no more competing, i want a win. i'd say lack of a 9 to bang them in is the thing we need the most. if only borgetti , luis hernandez, carlos hermosillo, etc... were a younger.
Well I will admit that I've never played against him or even watched him that much but from what I saw in the U-20 World Cup and all of the hype around him, he can become an icon for US Soccer and lead us to glory.
Loads of teams grab a win every now and then, especially in friendlies. While Mexico often do ok in the World Cup, I have also yet to see a truely amazing performance of a Mexican team, they were often good, but I've never seen them being good enough for the title. And imho every world champion I have seen (since 1990) put together one or the other outstanding match on their way to the title.
i bet you'd be saying different if they wouldn't have choked. the games against germany in 86 and 98, italy in 94 and 2002, argentina in 2006 were good performances, but mexico couldn't come through when it counted. imagine how different history would be if they would've won at least one of those. that's why i'm tired of playing toe-to-toe and barely losing or tying. i want a win. no more ya merito. i've had a lifetime of ya merito.
I don't know but it'd be nice to see a new team win the world cup soon. I don't think it's going to happen in '10. Mexico has a shot in '14 I'd say. The United States I'd say will make the semi finals in one of the next three tourneys. It'd be exciting to see Russia get in the mix as well. Probably will happen sooner or later. I don't know what's going on much in terms of Africa in terms of who plays for what country, but it'd be nice to see the continent establish a consinsent powerhouse. I'm rooting for Australia to step it up as well. I'm sure they will.
I think the Mexican team has improved, but they are seldom taken seriously outside North America. Mexico's record is what, two quarter final appearances ever. That's not a good record. Quite why they do so badly in a football mad country is something of a mystery. Traditionally, the lack of exposure for players to any decent non-Mexican competition was suggested, as they tended to only play top international sides in friendlies, and never played club football against anyone better than Mexican League teams.
it's because they choke when it matters. they can't take that extra step. pk losses in 86 and 94, and then losing 2-1 after being ahead in 2006 and 98. and of course, losing to the u.s. in 2002. it seems to be more mental than performance, because they haven't been run out of the stadium in 1/8 finals, but they can't finish off the game when they can, or make the pk's.
I'm not sure that Mexico hasn't already peaked, relatively. It has long been the national sport and in a country as large as that, they should have done something more by now. The longtime trend of Mexicans only playing domestically isn't an excuse, either. Brazil was already winning World Cups before they had begun to ship most of their top players off to Europe. If anything is going to propel Mexico into the upper echelons of the football world, it will be the continued improvement of the U.S. Up until a fifteen years ago, they could pretty much count on a win against a win in any match played in CONCACAF, but that is no longer the case, which might spur some continued growth in Mexican football. I'd like to think that the U.S. is on the cusp of something bigger myself, but that will depend largely on the continued development of MLS and whether some of the promising talents we have coming up live up to their potential. Australia was good at the last cup, but I don't know anything about their youth ranks. Ivory Coast is good for the moment, but you never know how long the African nations will remain at a high level. Cameroon and Senegal both looked to be taking off a few years ago, and both have fallen off noticeably recently.
brazil won titles with domestic squads, but the trend lately has been less and less domestic players for brazil (and also argentina.) i don't think mexico has peaked, since for the first time they don't just have a player here and there in europe, but have a good amount players based in europe, with several of those coming from the u-17 champions, with others having the potential for bigger things as well. granted, they're not all in top clubs, but guardado has been impressive at depor, vela , at osasuna, pardo at stuttgart (osoroio's been so-so), salcido at psv, and marquez at barça (although poor gio has been struggling.) de nigris has been playing well in smaller turkish teams, galindo at frankfurt, and moreno recently left to az there are also a few other players with the potential to go to europe (bermudez, ochoa, villaluz among others.) i'm not saying that simply having more players in europe will make them better, but having players who've been spanish, dutch, and german champions is better than being at chivas or america. if mexico keeps it up, they should finally have a breakthrough cup..... hopefully they break the choking streak.
Japan. League's getting better, popularity in the sport as a result is getting better, especially at a young age, soccer is catching up to baseball in popularity. Youth developement is very well established right down to grassroots soccer and youth academies for all 18 J1 clubs is very good and vast. as well as some J2 clubs. The J.League has got to a point where a all J.League Japan side is a good quality side. With an all J.League side, last year in august, Japan beat a full-strength Cameroon team (yes Eto and Geremi too) 2-0. And Egypt 4-1. The defense is solid with tall centre backs and a tendancy for taller japanese players. current centre-backs are Nakazawa (187cm, 6 foot 2 inch) and Tulio (185cm, 6 foot 1 inch), with Daiki Iwamasa as reserve centre-back (187cm, 6 foot 2 inch). All of Japan's defence (particularly, Nakazawa and Tulio), including the right and left backs, are very reliable. The midfielders are continuing to be brilliant playmakers and great as a core starting quick attacking moves. Now our strikers just need to be more composed and focused when shooting cause that's all that's lacking from an excellent side top quality side. nippon ganbare. other countries that will become awesome will be cameroon and Mexico.
I know Japan are certainly doing well but you lost to Australia, playing our first World Cup match for 32 years and you finished last in that group behind Croatia. Also at the Asian Cup you really shouldve done better. The Japanese team needs to perform better at big tournaments and not just in friendlies.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Portugal. Not a historically dominant side in Europe, but the so-called "Golden Generation" has given rise to an even more prolific squad is looking like a serious title contender, whether in Europe or the world championships.
Agreed. Portugal are now established as a second tier side (alongside England, Holland and Spain) and they are producing sufficient youngsters of enough quality to maintain this level for the next decade.