Which countries are the sleeping giants of world football/soccer? (popularity, European)

[mrconfusion87]

Anyone? However, I wouldn't call the US a sleeping giant. They are awake - not up to their fullest potential like the Western Europeans and South Americans, but awake and steadily getting there, nonetheless. Now let the discussions begin...

[Back to NE]

Good question... I've always thought Canada should be better than they are (maybe wishful thinking just hoping CONCACAF gets stronger), they are a growing nation w/ alot of immigration from the Caribbean, and they don't think loving soccer is a slam against hockey.

China certainly has the manpower to be a soccer power, but so far they just don't seem to take to it.

In a micro-way, I'm surprised Belgium didn't qualify for Euro 2012, they are loaded with quality talent, many who are quite athletic too.

Otherwise, maybe this topic is all about Africa. I don't think the top candidates for ascendance are sleeping, but I'm not sure what it would take for them to come close to winning a World Cup. Maybe a certain special generation should be tailored better to play as a team. For instance, take the best 20 players from the Ivory Coast and stick with them, and don't expand your player pool to 100. I think that hurts alot of nations.

And Russia... their club league is getting much stronger nowadays and I see their national team only getting better.

Oh, and England of course, if they aren't sound asleep they are too stressed out to play well.

[BrianH]

England arent a sleeping giant, they're a quality side with too much arrogance and always do badly because of it IMHO.

Russia has the potential with the amount of money being pumped into certain clubs there. You can only imagine what would happen if they set up a good youth system there.

USA is bursting with potential with football increasing here IMHO. We wont see it for 20 years though I dont think but the potential is definitely there.

[paull805]

I would say Serbia and Japan will keep getting better.

[irish_bob]

since all of the world giants apart from the usa and china are strong football - soccer nations , i guess you would have to say theese two giants are still asleep , chineese prospects are not great however , asian countries have never competed strongly on the global stage despite the popularity of the sport domestically in places like japan and south korea

[paull805]

Holland, Uruguay, Croatia etc fairly small nations but great at football it doesn't matter the size of a country (though it helps) but football philosophy, skill level and football intelligence are the main factors. A hundred plus years of practice also helps lol.

[TAM88]

Every country has their golden generation. Right now we are seeing that with Spain. Outside of the big powers (Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Mexico) I doubt any smaller country will have consistent success at producing a large number of top flight players.

[paull805]

Spain, England and Mexico have never had consistent success! Uruguay (3million people) and Holland (16million people) are small countries who produce excellent players.

[JD47john]

I dont really know the answer to this question. I think the answer to the best teams in the world will always lie with the Europeans and South Americans. I think Germany will go through that stage of the best in the world in the next few years. They are a team with so many great young players who all shine at their clubs.

[Tempranillo]

The problems with all this countries is they doesn't have good football schools, europe has not the better manpower, just the best schools.