With the POD as late as possible, create a scenario where two non-USA and non-USSR countries ended up as Superpowers that confronted each other in a Cold War...
(Whether one of them ended up collapsed or not, is entirely up to you)
Possible candidates:
non-Soviet Russia
Imperial/post-imperial China
Great Imperial Germany
How about: Germany versus China?
China's buildup: the "Hua Dynasty". American soldier of fortune Frederick Augustus Ward, who OTL founded the "Ever-Victorious Army", which "Chinese" Gordon led after Ward's death, is not KIA. While recovering from wounds, he learns Chinese, and establishes a strong relationship with Tseng Kuo-fan, the greatest of China's anti-insurgent generals in the 1800s. Between them they defeat the Tai Ping Rebellion. Ward demonstrates great initiative and ability, and is awarded high Imperial rank. He proves his loyalty to China when his forces defeat British troops in the Second Opium War.
But the paranoid Dowager Empress tries to have him and Tseng assasinated. Tseng and Ward ("Hua" to the Chinese) overthrow the Dowager and the Qing dynasty in self-defense. Tseng, old and sick from wounds by the assassins, declares that Ward (who has survived a dozen desperate battles, led numerous successful attacks, and brilliantly handled the political side of the rebellion) truly has "the Mandate of Heaven". He is foreign? So were the Manchus. He is married to a Chinese lady. (As OTL.) He has defended China against the foreigners.
The Hua Emperor revolutionizes China, bringing in hundreds and eventually thousands of energetic Yankee engineers and advisors. (Not that many, considering the size of China.) By 1900, China is a major industrial and military power. China supports its neighbors against European domination, having absorbed American anti-colonialist sentiment. (No, that's not ridiculous. A lot of Americans were very unhappy with annexation of the Philippines and Hawaii, and similar moves. The annexation of the Philippines passed the Senate on the VP's tie-breaking vote.)
In the Sino-Spanish War of 1894, China kicks Spain out of the Philippines and Micronesia; the Philippines becomes independent under Chinese protection, and China annexes Micronesia.
In the Sino-Russian War of 1903, China takes the Amur River area, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands from Russia. China also forces France to withdraw from Indochina; first blocking France's complete takeover in the 1880s, then supporting Indochinese independence in the 1900s.
Japan and Korea become China's subordinate allies too. They have friendly relations with China, but they really don't have any choice anyway. (Sort of like Canada and the U.S.)
Meanwhile in Europe: Franz Joseph dies of pneumonia, and is succeeded by Rudolph, just in time for the Ausgleich renewal crisis of 1897. Rudolph bungles the renewal, and Austria-Hungary falls to bits. Pan-German racialism is stronger than OTL, though. Imperial Germany absorbs Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia. Russia tries to add Galicia to the Kingdom of Poland, and is defeated by Germany in a short war. Italy picks up Trentino, Istria, and Dalmatia. Poland and Hungary become German satellites.
Alt-WW I breaks out around 1912, pitting Grossdeutschland, Italy, and Turkey against France and Russia. Britain is paralyzed by the Irish Crisis, and remains neutral. France and Russia are broken, with the latter collapsing. Germany become a militaristic authoritarian state, ruling over a constellation of satellite states and protectorates stretching far to the east, and dominating the Middle East through its Turkish ally. Throughout the German sphere, ethnic Germans dominate; some places explicitly, others
de jure. Germanization of the locals and German colonization are both practiced.
The German sphere ends at the Urals, though. China made it clear Germans are not welcome in Asia, and created its own satellite states in Russian Asia. However, Turkish ambitions in Central Asia are a sore point.
The "Cold War" between Germany and China continues for many years.