FIFA World Cup 2026

[ShapurII]

Mexico is strong in both baseball and soccer.

Yeah, but they're not as good as 15-20 years ago. I think their football peaked around 2006 to 2010 and then it started to decline.

 

[Yellow is Okay]

Comparing China with KSA football wise makes no sense.

China was never much of powerhouse when it comes to football. Neither their national team nor domestic league.

They even used to (and still do) naturalize a lot of foreigners (Brazilians etc.) to play for them. Much like tiny Qatar (250.000 natives) have been doing (although most of them are fellow Arabs - often born in Qatar) with great success (2 times Asian Cup winners in a row).

KSA best achievements in football came long before the large investments in the domestic league (you could argue that those investments have been to the detriment of the local talent).

KSA is one of the few Asian teams to qualify from the group stages in a World Cup (only Japan and South Korea have done that so far in history since 1930), second most joint Asian Cup wins and most finals of all teams alongside Japan. We are one of Asia's football giants historically and traditionally. So we have historically over performed compared to our population size. Best domestic football league in Asia as well. Most succesfull club team in Asia (Al-Hilal) etc. which was the case before the investments in the domestic league BTW.

However a World Cup and competing against the top, top teams (elite) like Spain and the best European and South American teams is a completely different ballgame.

Also have in mind that football is the most competitive sport in the world. The competition is unlike that of any other sport.

Also China, from what I have seen and know, seem to excel in niche sports. I don't see them dominating the biggest sports out there such as football, basketball, tennis, hockey etc.

They tend to dominate badminton, table tennis, gymnastics and such sports. Which in places like KSA are barely practiced by anybody because everything is about football which has its downside.

Of course there's no 1:1 comparison, but investment and approach-wise I think it's basically the same. China wants to get to the World Cup and Saudi wants to go deeper into the knockouts. Saudi clubs also have rules that a minimum number of domestic players has to be met. You could say that holds local talent back, but it can also lift the level of the league and the Saudi players by playing alongside and against world-class footballers. You can already see it with Qatar.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Time to get ready for the Iran game.

 

[_Arabia_]

Of course there's no 1:1 comparison, but investment and approach-wise I think it's basically the same. China wants to get to the World Cup and Saudi wants to go deeper into the knockouts. Saudi clubs also have rules that a minimum number of domestic players has to be met. You could say that holds local talent back, but it can also lift the level of the league and the Saudi players by playing alongside and against world-class footballers. You can already see it with Qatar.

The Chinese approach seemed to have been limited to paying huge wages to over the hill players. I did not see or hear much about grass roots changes within Chinese football itself. Here over 10 years later we can conclude that they failed spectacularly.

KSA's approach is yet to be seen. So far youth results have been great but not sure if that has any direct correlation with greater investments in the domestic league.

Investments BTW that have lately slowed down and which are expected to slow down further.

Not sure if I am a big fan of this approach either. While you are right, that top players in the domestic league who are now playing wit the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Mahrez and all the rest of them (most old players now looking for their last paycheck), should get better from it (theoretically), by playing and training with elite players (formerly at least) but the better approach would be to have your best players play in top European leagues or above average European leagues. Which is also a tendency that has been increasing in recent years which is good to see but far from good enough.

Europe is like the NBA in basketball. It is by far the best league in the world with everything this entails of the best players, elite managers, tacticians, staff, training, nutrition, pressure, exposure etc. Ideally you want your best talents and players to compete and grow in such an environment rather than being in their own comfort zones and being pampered.

As I said it is good that KSA has historically been one of the few football giants in Asia but competing with the top elite European and South African teams in a World Cup, is a completely different matter altogether. Which is why you have only ever had European and South American World Cup winners. With this unlikely to change anytime soon.

Even the Moroccan team that has had so much success lately (4th place in the 2022 Qatar World Cup) ALL of their players were born in Europe and grew up in the European football ecosystem.

KSA does not have that luxury as we barely have any diaspora of note (outside of century old and millennia old that are now found across most of the Muslim world but which have no relation to KSA other than ancestral and they would never get KSA citizenship either for that matter) abroad. Some 500.000 people or so.

If we had a large European diaspora like our Moroccan and Algerian brothers, just in France alone, it would have looked much differently.

Pre-1980, Morocco was just a footnote in terms of football heritage. Until recently (this year - they lost against Senegal in the penalties but were afterwards retzroperspectively awarded the trophy due to Senegal going off the pitch and the game being stopped for a long time due to some refereeing protests from them) they had just won 1 African Cup of Nations. It is largely thanks to their diaspora (European) that has changed things for them.

 

[ShapurII]

Time to get ready for the Iran game.

I hope Iran would park the bus and wait for counter-attack opportunities.

If it were me, I would play 5-4-1 with two wings and 3 center backs. One of them would try to man-mark Lukaku.

I expect us to lose this match. Our team entered LA barely 16 hours before the match. And our defense line is pretty messed up.

 

[Yellow is Okay]

The Chinese approach seemed to have been limited to paying huge wages to over the hill players. I did not see or hear much about grass roots changes within Chinese football itself. Here over 10 years later we can conclude that they failed spectacularly.

KSA's approach is yet to be seen. So far youth results have been great but not sure if that has any direct correlation with greater investments in the domestic league.

Investments BTW that have lately slowed down and which are expected to slow down further.

Not sure if I am a big fan of this approach either. While you are right, that top players in the domestic league who are now playing wit the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, Mahrez and all the rest of them (most old players now looking for their last paycheck), should get better from it (theoretically), by playing and training with elite players (formerly at least) but the better approach would be to have your best players play in top European leagues or above average European leagues. Which is also a tendency that has been increasing in recent years which is good to see but far from good enough.

Europe is like the NBA in basketball. It is by far the best league in the world with everything this entails of the best players, elite managers, physics, tacticians, staff, training, nutrition, pressure, exposure etc. Ideally you want your best talents and players to compete and grow in such an environment rather than being in their own comfort zones and being pampered.

As I said it is good that KSA has historically been one of the few football giants in Asia but competing with the top elite European and South African teams in a World Cup, is a completely different matter altogether. Which is why you have only ever had European and South African World Cup winners. With this unlikely to change anytime soon.

Even the Moroccan team that has had so much success lately (4th place in the 2022 Qatar World Cup) ALL of their players were born in Europe and grew up in the European football ecosystem.

KSA does not have that luxury as we barely have any diaspora of note (outside of century old and millennia old that are now found across most of the Muslim world but which have no relation to KSA other than ancestral and they would never get KSA citizenship either for that matter) abroad. Some 500.000 people or so.

Yes, it definitely did not work out for China so that is why they have scaled back on the big investments and shifted focus to youth development. They have actually been doing pretty well with that lately. I also think sending players to top European leagues is generally a better long term approach but at the end of the day, it is a matter of choice. If Saudi Arabia does not want to stick with the current model anymore, you guys can always change direction whenever you want. There is no single right way. You can even combine both strategies. Lately, we have seen more British players heading to other leagues too even though the Premier League is still the top one right now.

 

[Master Chief]

It is largely thanks to their diaspora (European) that has changed things for them.

You've hit the nail on the head. And what a great strategy! Get the diaspora to learn off the Europeans and in about 20 years, have enough to build your team. It's also a cheaper approach than the expensive mega leagues approach adopted by KSA.

You have to tip your hat to Morocco for what they achieved at a fraction of the cost of what middle eastern nations are trying to do. Of course, some of this diaspora talent will end up playing for their host nation (Lamine Yamal, case in point) but enough will turn up for their ancestral nation to create a proper team.

I'm not saying the KSA league won't eventually work, but Morocco's route is proving to be smarter.

 

[_Arabia_]

Yes, it definitely did not work out for China so that is why they have scaled back on the big investments and shifted focus to youth development. They have actually been doing pretty well with that lately. I also think sending players to top European leagues is generally a better long term approach but at the end of the day, it is a matter of choice. If Saudi Arabia does not want to stick with the current model anymore, you guys can always change direction whenever you want. There is no single right way. You can even combine both strategies. Lately, we have seen more British players heading to other leagues too even though the Premier League is still the top one right now.

When we played China in the World Cup qualifiers I distinctly remember seeing quite a few naturalized (non-Chinese originally) players playing for China. Brazilians and Africans if I am not wrong. That is insane if you have a population of 1.3 billion! I don't recall KSA ever even using 1 player not born in KSA and not a citizen.

I think there is a right approach if you want to reach the top, top (elite) level or aspire to it. In order to reach that level you need your best players to play in the best leagues in the world (which are all in Europe) in order for them to be tested on a weekly basis.

That and some kind of (ideally) long-term plan and system in place when it comes to your football ecosystem. You need to be able to identify your best youth talents from a very early age and have world class youth managers teach them and ideally later send them abroad to Europe.

Of course football/sports is not math or an exact science but it is not a coincidence that Morocco has improved tenfold with such an approach.

To me it is simply absurd that a country of 1.3 billion (!) with people who are also quite interested in football (whenever European top teams visit Chinese stadiums during summer tours, they are always full) have not performed better. I remember from my visits/time in Hong Kong and Shanghai that football bars were full whenever the biggest English and Spanish league games were played.

Another insane example is India with 1.4/5 billion people and how bad they are at sports on the global scale.

 

[_Arabia_]

You've hit the nail on the head. And what a great strategy! Get the diaspora to learn off the Europeans and in about 20 years, have enough to build your team. It's also a cheaper approach than the expensive mega leagues approach adopted by KSA.

You have to tip your hat to Morocco for what they achieved at a fraction of the cost of what middle eastern nations are trying to do. Of course, some of this diaspora talent will end up playing for their host nation (Lamine Yamal, case in point) but enough will turn up for their ancestral nation to create a proper team.

I'm not saying the KSA league won't eventually work, but Morocco's route is proving to be smarter.

Luckily KSA has scaled down the massive investments in the domestic league in the past 2-3 years. Which I am happy about.

It was good for tourism exposure (which is now one of the world's largest sectors and booming), no doubt the likes of C. Ronaldo (most followed person on social media - which says all about the state of our present world, lol) have helped with this.

But the problem I see, exemplified with our World Cup squad is, that some of the best individual players (IMO) are not even part of the World Cup squad or barely playing because they are not playing enough for their club teams so lesser players (who play more regularly) are now playing. I don't think that helps the team at all. Our 2022 squad was much better and played much better for instance. I don't think that this is a coincidence.

Some interesting articles that talk more in detail about the Moroccan approach:

https://www.fifa.com/en/news/articles/reasons-behind-the-revolution-of-moroccan-football

Inside Morocco’s football revolution: The academy producing AFCON stars

As Morocco prepare to host the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2025, the story dominating the national mood is not simply the search for a long-awaited continental title.

www.cafonline.com

A topic from Reddit as well:

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Anyway ending it here as I have some things to do. Nice chat as usual.

 

[Master Chief]

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[hasssanali8998]

Strangely, their women's team is excellent and has won a world cup.

And the women's world cup is very competitive among numerous nations.

I don't know why they can't translate at least some of that success to the men's team.

USA men's team is nowhere near as successful as their women's team but at least is now regularly making world cups.

Edit: my mistake...China has been runner up once in the women's world cup. Never actually won it.

womens wc is weird

because most countries dont focus on it its relatively easy to get a good team if u spend soem money

NK has one of the best womens team beacuse they found this out and spent money on it
they have won 2 wc iirc

 

[Master Chief]

Great effort from Kanani! Needed an excellent save from Courtois.

Hope Iran can spring a surprise today.

 

[_Arabia_]

Great effort from Kanani! Needed an excellent save from Courtois.

Hope Iran can spring a surprise today.

Belgium is far weaker than Spain for instance and Iran is not a bad team so they could get a surprise result. After all you have had quite a few shock results in this World Cup so far.

I think that their circumstances could also be a positive for them in terms of the motivational factor and off-pitch factors. It is hard to quantify such an element and how much extra this could give the players.

I for sure know that I would be playing with a chip on my shoulder and I would give a bit extra of myself.

Is this Taremi an Iranian Arab (could look like one and he is from Southern Iran)? I remember that Iran always used to have a few Iranian Arabs in their team. Not sure if they have any nowadays.

 

[Master Chief]

Taremi!!!!

 

[Master Chief]

Oh no. Offside.

Iran are up for this definitely.