Denmark winning EURO 92 has to be the best cindarella story of modern(ish) times. They had not even qualified but ended up playing some of the best football at that tournament.
Yes you are right. As Iran fan pointed out. Morocco may not have been favored to move on from their group but they were at least considered by many as a possible darkhorse. Costa Rica was expected to get 0 points. Nobody saw that comming.
I dont think Denmark tops Greece, even though they didn't qualify. Sometimes good teams don't qualify. Denmark still had the quality of the Laudrup bros and more. Greece had nothing but rugged defending.
Kaylor Navas was the star of the 2014 World Cup for Costa Rica and really the only star to come out of the team.
Just out of curiosity when exactly did "modern football" start? I mean, Euro 1992 was 30+ years ago But I agree I think Greece 2004 tops Denmark 92. The Danes were a force to be reckoned with in the 80s and the tournament was held in neighboring sweden. Also only an 8 team tournament. Greece in 2004 had qualified for their first tournament in 10 years, and only 2nd in almost 25 years... Out of the 16 teams, they were considered the least likely other than Latvia to win it, but really came from out of nowhere to do that. Yeah I know the 16 team tournament only means 1 more match than the 8-team tournament, but one more knockout match at that level does count.. beat the holder, the tournament's best team (Czech), and the hosts twice too
Yes, on reflection Greece's win at EURO 2004 probably does top Denmark's at EURO 92 for the reasons stated above. When it comes to deciding when modern football started, I would probably say - for national teams - 1994 because: - that year's World Cup was the first competition to feature 3 points for a win in the group stage; - it was the first World Cup in which 3 African teams qualified; - it was the year when FIFA decided to expand the World Cup to 32 teams from the next edition with 5 African teams and 4 Asian teams to automatically qualify; - the EUROs would expand from the next edition to 16 teams.
I agree 1994 was a landmark year. I know a lot of people don't like to admit it, but hosting the World Cup in the USA meant a lot of money pouring into the game from US advertisers. Salaries started to go crazy in Europe, especially in the Premiership right around this time. Also 1994 was the first World Cup with the back pass was banned, and FIFA cracked down heavily on "professional fouls" meaning red cards were handed out more often. These rule changes inevitably meant more goals and more attacking soccer played than the late 80s and early 90 (see Italia 90 for instance). Also 1994 was when the UEFA Champions League was expanded from an 8-team 2 groups of 4 to a 16 team, 4 groups of 4 tournament. In some ways, this was the birth of the modern champions league. 3 points were adopted for a win around this time everywhere to encourage teams to win rather than play for draws...
We are entering a new era but the (now expiring) modern era IMO began with WC98, which is when 32 team expansion actually took effect. Besides a new winner that year (France) began to herald an era where the list of elite teams and World Cup winners were expanding too. Titles by the old guard (Brazil in 2002, Italy in 2006, Germany in 2014), were punctuated by the addition of Spain to the list of World Cup winners in WC2010 as well as the emergence of the winner of WC98, namely France (as opposed to Brazil, Germany or Italy) as the overall the most successful nation in this new era, with 4 appearances in the final and 2 World Cup titles.
Yes, that is a very good case for 1998. Why do you think we are entering a new era now? Because of the World Cup expansion to 48 teams?
World Cup expanding, end of Messi / Ronaldo dominance, Saudi money taking players out of Europe, new Club World Cup, Nations league, VAR, new FIFA president, etc...
In good part because of the expansion you allude to. But also because I foresee greater parity among confederations and greater fluidity among ranks of elite and non-elite teams.
And they only got 1 vote here, it was my vote. I have been following them in recent years and I have witnessed their improvement. So that is why they got my vote It will be really tough for them to qualify, but you never know.
Here's one you missed Vancity .... Zambia 2012 AFCON Champions - beat Senegal, Ghana, and Ivory Coast en-route in a tournament that was co-hosted in ironically Gabon and Equatorial Guinea...
Yes I remember that one. I'd say that was the biggest upset/Cinderella story in African history. Because of Zambia, Didier Drogba despite being a legend would never win an Afcon. He retired the year they won in 2015.
I dont think they will ultimately qualify but I think they have a very strong shot at one of the 4 2nd placed teams, as their group is very weak.
I remember watching that match and having a really mixed feelings about it as I wanted to see that Cote D'Ivoire and Drogba in particular win an AFCON. However, while I love a good legacy story, I also love a good Cinderella story and Zambia winning in Libreville, where that plance crash happened some 20 years before was absolutely so eerie This just got posted today. Ironically, he has Iraq winning the Asian Cup in here. I don't know, I would maybe put Qatar winning Asian Cup above that in terms of a shock, especially given the political situation between UAE and Qatar at the time
indo not see so much of a cinderalla story with Zambia 2012. In fact, they were also in the QF 2 years before. They were like top 8 in Africa and so it is lmore like Portugal winning Euro 2016 than Denmarl or Greece winneing their sensational Euros.
No I wouldn't compare Zambia to be the Portugal of Africa. Even if they were #8 in Africa, there was a significant drop off in quality at that time from the top 4 or 5 teams to them, that there simply isn't in Europe. Portugal has been a European power. Zambia would definately be more akin to a Denmark than a Portugal, probably even more like a Poland or an Austria winning the euro. Zambia winning afcon was definately way more of a surprise than you are making it out to be.
Huh, comparing Zambia and Portugal? Portugal had literally the (or 2nd) best player in the world on their team, at least best player in Europe at the time. They've also had plenty of success at youth tournaments and have been FIFA regulars in the latter stages for some time. I'd say it's more akin to Ukraine or Slovakia or someone like that winning the Euros. Also you have to look at the teams they beat along the way. Even France in the final weren't quite the France-force they've gone on to become now. That was the start though of this dynasty-cycle...
Almost a half year fast forward let's do a quick recap how the situation has evolved at these teams Burkina Faso They had an okeyish start to WCQ with 4 points out of their first two qualifiers but the points dropped (1-1 draw) at 'home' against Guinea-Bissau may hurt in the end. Egypt have currently a two point lead over Burkina Faso in the standings. Furthermore Burkina Fas still hasn't sorted out the stadium issue. As it stands Burkina Faso are forced to play their home qualifiers outside of their country. The AFCON performance was alright. They did the bare minimum. Burkina Faso didn't impress and didn't look the electric team going forward they were the AFCON before. That gets highlighted by the fact that they scored only a single goal out of open play during the tournament. Oddly 3 of 4 goals they scored from the penalty spot. Burkina Faso finished 2nd of their group and were eventually knocked out 2-1 by Mali in the round of 16. Venezuela They had a flying start to WCQ and sit currently after one third of WCQ played in 4th place with 9 points. The eyevbrow raiser and highlight of their campaign so far has been the away point at Brazil and Eduard Bello's spectacular bicycle goal. Venezuela showed themselves dangerous in transition and they keep a very compact team shape. Only 3 goals conceded after 6 games is a marvellous stat for Venezuela. A decent showing at this summer's Copa America would enhance the solid quest Venezuela have been putting forward for a debut at the 2026 World Cup. Uzbekistan They had a nice trip to the USA where they showcased their quality. They were combative and earned a 3-3 draw on Mexico. Albeit they lost 3-0 to the USA they put up a very good fight and could have taken something out of that game if they were more clinical and more focussed in the latter stages of that game. In WCQ they had a good start. They did their homework at Turkmenistan and played out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Iran in Tashkent. It was a game of two halves with Uzbekistan having Iran on the ropes for practically the entire 2nd half. They enetered the Asian Cup with several absences because of injury. Most prominantly talismanic striker Eldor Shomurodov missed the tournament. Uzbekistan had a decent Asian Cup all circumstances considered. They came 2nd in their group, beat Thailand 2-1 in the round of 16 and lost in the quarterfinals to hosts and eventual champions Qatar on penalties. It was a game that could have unfolded differently if Barsham (Qatar's goalkeeper) was shown a red card for his exit and mistimed challenge outside of the penalty box in the 2nd half of regular time but the referee saw yellow as sufficent booking.... Bahrain Bahrain had a subpar start to WCQ. They beat Yemen on the road without much problems but they fell short to the UAE at home in a 2-0 loss. They had the lion share of possession and outshot the UAE but they created very few clear-cut chances. At the Asian Cup Bahrain had results wise a decent campaign but the low energy levels and the fact that they ran out of steem in the last 30 minutes against both South Korea and Japan exposed Bahrain. Bahrain somehow topped their group over South Korea and eventual finalists Jordan but it was more down to the odd circumstances of South Korea underperforming and Jordan playing deliberately to lose in the 2nd half against Bahrain on the final matchday of the group stage. Bahrain's tournament came to an end after a 3-1 defeat to Japan in the round of 16. A game which was only for a short spell in the 2nd half open after the blunder of the Japanese goalkeeper allowed Bahrain back in the game for some time. The contract with manager Juan Antonio Pizzi was in the after-match of the Asian Cup dissolved by mutual consent. Dragan Talajic who was responsable for Bahrain's youth department has been named the new manager. He has 4 games now to find his team and fine-tune tactics before business will get serious for Bahrain in round 3 of WCQ.