DBWI: Non-European world cup winner

[Tyr]

So the world cup (the association football one, bugger off cricket and baseball fans, you had your turns last year) is coming up soon.
This year it is going to be held in Brazil due to the now aborted (poor Australasia won't get its chance) FIFA masterplan to have a world cup on every continent.
When it was announced that the world cup was to be in Brazil it was a rather controversial decision of course. And not just for the relative poverty of Brazil. I mean..."Football and Brazil?" The whole world said "That goes together about as well as chocolate and steak". Why oh why are they putting football (ney, sport)'s premier tournament in a nation of dancers?
So...a WI emerges.
As you all know, no non-European nation has ever won the world cup. We've had a few African and Asian nations in the latter stages of the tournament (a few finals even) and I guess Russia is technically Asian as well as European, but still, every single world cup winner has always been a member of UEFA.
How can we change this?
How can we make it so that non-European countries win the world cup?

Bonus points if it is more than a one off (the easy answer is of course Ken Shinozaki doesn't miss THAT penalty).
Mega bonus points if you can make it a non-anglo American nation.
Just how can we get the South Americans to put away their maraccas and their baseball bats and get into football?

 

[TheMann]

Considering that of the final sixteen teams in Spain in 2010 seven of them (Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Iran and Japan) were not European, I'd say that day isn't that far off. Dancers or not, the Brazilians are getting better every day, and they won't embarrass themselves with the World Cup at home. The Yanks proved how dangerous they were in Spain, I think anyone who'd figured before the Cup that they would get to the semi-finals would be accused of being drunk or crazy.

Besides, who's gonna diss those dancers? Dude, Carnival in Rio is something to see. The people from these Latin countries seem to know how to party, my man. I think the tourists from Europe are gonna get some surprises when they visit Brazil.

 

[funnyhat]

To me, the question shouldn't even be whether there will be a non-European winner, but whether there will ever be another non-Nordic winner. Is any country going to break the Sweden/Finland/Denmark stranglehold that has won every WC since 1974?

 

[machine3589]

To me, the question shouldn't even be whether there will be a non-European winner, but whether there will ever be another non-Nordic winner. Is any country going to break the Sweden/Finland/Denmark stranglehold that has won every WC since 1974?

OOC: And there goes the DBWI. While no non-European nation ever winning the World Cup is somewhat plausible, the notion that these three nations have won even one World Cup is Seelöwe material.

 

[funnyhat]

OOC: And there goes the DBWI. While no non-European nation ever winning the World Cup is somewhat plausible, the notion that these three nations have won even one World Cup is Seelöwe material.

OOC reply: Never count out a country in its best sport. IOTL, ice hockey diverts attention away from soccer in these countries. In a world where hockey doesn't exist and they put all their best athletes in soccer, they could be very good (Sweden is pretty solid anyway.

 

[TheMann]

OOC reply: Never count out a country in its best sport. IOTL, ice hockey diverts attention away from soccer in these countries. In a world where hockey doesn't exist and they put all their best athletes in soccer, they could be very good (Sweden is pretty solid anyway.

But not to that degree.

 

[funnyhat]

But not to that degree.

But we also do not have to assume soccer is as popular globally as it is OTL.

 

[BgKnight]

Considering that of the final sixteen teams in Spain in 2010 seven of them (Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Iran and Japan) were not European, I'd say that day isn't that far off. Dancers or not, the Brazilians are getting better every day, and they won't embarrass themselves with the World Cup at home. The Yanks proved how dangerous they were in Spain, I think anyone who'd figured before the Cup that they would get to the semi-finals would be accused of being drunk or crazy.

Besides, who's gonna diss those dancers? Dude, Carnival in Rio is something to see. The people from these Latin countries seem to know how to party, my man. I think the tourists from Europe are gonna get some surprises when they visit Brazil.

Yeah man, but don't forget, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe are in the play, they are juggernauts on the play-field. I believe the Brazilians will be hard pressed against such forces, and I predict another Eastern European-Southern European showdown. Probably Russians-Spanish again, or Italians-Polish, an interesting possibility is the Balkans and French, as both teams have been smashing it lately.

 

[Kaiser K]

I think the American team could prove a strong contender this year if they perform near as well as they did in Spain. through Poland seems to be the team to beat this year.

 

[mattep74]

To me, the question shouldn't even be whether there will be a non-European winner, but whether there will ever be another non-Nordic winner. Is any country going to break the Sweden/Finland/Denmark stranglehold that has won every WC since 1974?

I think this post belongs in the ASB section

And just to help the thread: This isnt the thread for the womens world cup or Ice hockey

 

[BgKnight]

through Poland seems to be the team to beat this year.

I agree on that, with the "Kraków 4" in the lead, they will be the big ones. I remember the last cup on the semi-finals with the Balkans, I yelled my guts out, but yell as I must, we lost 1-0.

As for the Americans, I saw some great promise in them in Spain, they even managed to thrash Italy, but in the end, it was the French that beat 'em. I don't think they will be ready to take on the Polish, if they lost to France.

 

[Fed]

The teams in the Americas are getting better each year, and they've fielded some awesomely good players for this Cup. Sentiment in Colombia is that we finally have a chance, and I'd say people are also saying that in Perú, Brazil and the United States. (Especially the United States).

I personally am still rooting for France.

 

[Julius Vogel]

I've always thought it was a bit rich letting Libya field a separate team. Everyone knows they are a cat's paw for the Italian B team. Bit unfair letting the Dual Monarchy having two bites at the cherry. Sport and imperialism shouldn't mix guys.

 

[Kaiser K]

I agree on that, with the "Kraków 4" in the lead, they will be the big ones. I remember the last cup on the semi-finals with the Balkans, I yelled my guts out, but yell as I must, we lost 1-0.

As for the Americans, I saw some great promise in them in Spain, they even managed to thrash Italy, but in the end, it was the French that beat 'em. I don't think they will be ready to take on the Polish, if they lost to France.

Well France's team has been pretty gutted since Spain with the retirement or injury of many of it's top players. so I think the US has a good shot of getting to the finals.

 

[Kaiser K]

I've always thought it was a bit rich letting Libya field a separate team. Everyone knows they are a cat's paw for the Italian B team. Bit unfair letting the Dual Monarchy having two bites at the cherry. Sport and imperialism shouldn't mix guys.

Well at that rate. shouldn't you force the USSR or Great Britain to field one national team as well? instead of the UK's 4 and USSR's 11.

 

[Julius Vogel]

Well at that rate. shouldn't you force the USSR or Great Britain to field one national team as well? instead of the UK's 4 and USSR's 11.

Totally different situations!

You see, Italian Libya, whilst being in personal union with Italy and thus a separate country is the creation of colonialism. The UK and USSR are fraternal associations of republics, the King of the UK being a ceremonial role granted after the incumbent of the day sided with the revolutionaries during the War. It is a bit odd now that I think about it, but then I've never been very good with political theory or history

I'm not sure how any democratic, peace loving football lover could think differently

 

[machine3589]

OOC reply: Never count out a country in its best sport. IOTL, ice hockey diverts attention away from soccer in these countries. In a world where hockey doesn't exist and they put all their best athletes in soccer, they could be very good (Sweden is pretty solid anyway.

OOC: No. No way. Even if these countries gave all of their best to football, they have a snowball's chance in Etna to win any World Cup. It's more likely that Germany, France, England, Italy, Spain and even Portugal and Netherlands would gobble up South America's wins. The idea that Finland, Sweden and Denmark could alternate wins over a forty year period is... heck, I was wrong, even Seelöwe has better chance of suceeding than your scenario.

 

[HesitatedEye]

Hey if Scotland can win a world cup then anything is possible.

 

[Tyr]

OOC: And there goes the DBWI. While no non-European nation ever winning the World Cup is somewhat plausible, the notion that these three nations have won even one World Cup is Seelöwe material.

Ooc- indeed, he broke it, but for different reasons. Golden rule of Dbwis- don't hog the history. There he has casually stolen 40 important years and made them not very useful to others.

 

[Tyr]

Considering that of the final sixteen teams in Spain in 2010 seven of them (Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Iran and Japan) were not European, I'd say that day isn't that far off. Dancers or not, the Brazilians are getting better every day, and they won't embarrass themselves with the World Cup at home. The Yanks proved how dangerous they were in Spain, I think anyone who'd figured before the Cup that they would get to the semi-finals would be accused of being drunk or crazy.

Besides, who's gonna diss those dancers? Dude, Carnival in Rio is something to see. The people from these Latin countries seem to know how to party, my man. I think the tourists from Europe are gonna get some surprises when they visit Brazil.

Haha, yeah "Argentina".
I guess that's one possible way to succeed with this, have the junta be earlier in coming up with its ingenious and super duper secretive plan to offer half the uncapped players in Europes top leagues Argentinian passports.

Brazil... They're not half as bad as Argentina on that front but at least a quarter of their squad in Spain were actually Portuguese, plus a fair few Angolans and Mozambiquians.
Hmm... maybe we could do something with making the Portuguese dictatorships collapse messier so all the good players end up in Brazil instead? Then again it's nurture not nature... Ronaldo would end up doing the foxtrot for a living.