The Change of World Superpowers Happens Right Now... in Football / in ENGLISH

The Change of World Superpowers Happens Right Now... in Football

As I promised in the last article, I will write a new blog text if Croatia reaches the semifinals or Luis Suarez exceeds my expectations, and that's what happened. The legendary bad guy Luis Suarez played an excellent tournament with a small Uruguay (a country of 3 million people) but could not pass against big France. The French team were better and they have so many talented players to deserve a fight for the title of the World champion.

Luis Suarez

I supported this bad guy of the football World Cups as "Darth Vader of soccer" and I'm glad that he came back to the WC with the very good play.

On the other hand, Croatia has reached the semifinals, YEAAAAAH!

Regardless of the fact that Croatia is a small country too, with only 4 million inhabitants, given the players quality of THIS Croatian national team, led by Modrić from Real and Rakitić from Barcelona, it was not an unbelievable thing to predict. Croatia has already been in the WC semifinals 1998 in France but to go one step further, into the finals of the World Cup would be the greatest achievement in the entire history of Croatian football!

Luka Modrić



Leader of the Croatian national team. Luke organizes the game and pulls almost all the key moves (except those made by his assistant Ivan Rakitić), Luka scores and misses goals. His good or bad moves will probably decide the destiny of Croatia in the semifinals. This is his last chance with the national team, he announced retirement after the World Cup.

Before the World Cup I wrote on this blog my prediction that traditional favourites (Brazil, Spain and others) will disappoint their fans. Correct, although Brazilians did not disappoint with the play and lost only after a magnificent match with Belgium. Spanish and German players completely disappointed, primarily with the lack of fighting spirit and desire to win. Football World Cups always come in the summer, when the best and most expensive players of the World are tired of a long club season, and then we can see who of them has the motive to do something for his country, which will not be paid so much as the regular playing on Sundays for Real Madrid, Bayern or Barcelona.

I also wrote that a finalist would be someone like England or Belgium. It's very likely to happen. I only missed the name of the second finalist. Here I expected Argentina, to be the only one of the traditional favourites. The Argentinians didn't even disappoint with the desire to play and win in this last Lionel Messi attempt to conquer the world Championship, but I was unaware that this squad was so disbalanced by the quality of the attack and the poor defense and midfield. The Argentinian strikers could not score as many goals, as too old and too slow Argentinian defense could receive.

Lionel Messi

one of the football superstars and favourites for the World title, who went home very early from this World Cup.

We all know that on football World Cups there are some countries which are traditional football superpowers. They are always considered as favourites and that at least one of them will always become a winner or quite near the top of the football world. It is the continuity of some power relations in football. Some traditional football favourites can surprisingly lose the match but always one of them will eventually get to the finals and eliminate all those championship surprises that initially shined and tortured the favourites with their excellent play, because the favourites slowly rise their quality of play during the championship. The most obvious example is Italy from 1982, when they played so bad and sterile football at the beginning of the competition, that they didn't even deserve to go through the group phase to the next round, and then the coach changed the main striker. Instead of Causio and Altobelli, he put Paolo Rossi in the field and suddenly every offensive action of Italy became deadly dangerous. (Speaking in military terms, like that he put in the battle instead of outdated, unprecise cannons, the most modern weapon with laser targeting, a weapon that shoots guided missiles – balls directly to the opponent's goal.)

 

Paolo Rossi

Italian striker from the World Cup 1982. He turned upside down the bad, sterile game of Italy and brought then the surprising title of the World champion.

This metaphor with the military weapon is not accidental. Football superpowers can indeed be compared to superpowers in politics (military power) and economics throughout history. The world Cups every 4 years are places where the current state of the top-chart of football superpowers can be seen in the short run. As you can conclude, by reading the history of the world, which countries have been in the long run World superpowers in economics and politics, in which of the past centuries. (however not so exactly as in sport) Of course, some of the largest countries in the World such as China, India and the United States do not have enough natural talents or do not invest so much in football as others, so that they realistically can't become World champions in football. (Likewise, the Europeans can not compete equally with the Chinese in table tennis, nor with the Americans in basketball. It is their "economic niche" for which they specialize.)

As in the history of the past centuries, the relations of power in politics and economics are changing today, just not as quickly as in a fast football game. This "Match of real superpowers" takes much, much longer time than these 90 football minutes, but there is some truth in that saying that football battles today replace war battles in past centuries, just like some ancient Greek ideal of the Olympic games when wars cease to be seen who's the best at sports - fighting and competing of men, but without bloodshed.


 

Antique Olympic games

  time when wars stopped to see who is the best at sports – fighting and competing of men, but without bloodshed.

No matter who you are supporting, this WC in Russia will be remembered for a detail that few people notice. It happened for the first time since 1966 (after 52 years and 13 WC's) that in the first 4 teams there is NOT ANY ONE who was in the top 4 on the previous World Cup.

That was the last time when the CONTINUITY OF THE FAVOURITES was completely broken, and it can be said that it was the last time when the top of the world's football superpowers was completely changed.

1962

1. Brazil

2. Czechoslovakia

3. Chile

4. Yugoslavia

1966

1. England

2. West Germany

3. Portugal

4. USSR

1962

1966 completely different colours than 1962

2014

1. Germany

2. Argentina

3. Netherlands

4. Brazil

2018

(? place) Belgium - (? place) France

(? place) Croatia - (? place) England



2014

2018 completely different colours than 2014

It is interesting to see that it was so long ago that even half of these countries(!) who then (1962 and 1966) were among the top 4 in football, today actually NO LONGER EXIST on the map of Europe :) (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, West Germany and the USSR)

Now, here we are again, in the semifinals no more superpowers, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands (all of them have been in the top 4 so many times) and who knows when in the future of football World Cups such a situation will happen again. As a Croat, I am personally interested that this doesn't happen 4 years later :)


The World Cup in Russia can be watched on the TV or via Internet WiFi connection in our hostel Flores too.

In addition, we have during the days offer of other sports, such as bowling, table tennis and bicycling.
Entries at: www.croatia-tourism-culture.com 
Or on cell phone numbers: + 385 (0) 98475-524, + 385 (0) 99886-3979

I wish you a pleasant view of the World Cup and the successful result of the football team which you support, and after that a nice tourist summer.

hostel Flores is in Žumberak, beautiful nature park of Croatia, and you can book accommodation in the hostel through our website:

www.croatia-tourism-culture.com

as well as through international booking sites

booking.com
airbnb.com
tripadvisor.com

You can also give Your comments and suggestions on my profiles:

Igor Suljagic (@IgorSuljagic) | Twitter

Igor Suljagic Facebook

and
Igor Suljagic Linkedin

As well as in the upper right corner of the article you can share on social media the blog post 
which you liked.