7 Countries Most Likely To Win Their FIRST World Cup 

Runner up twice right? They've had some great teams. I was surprised they couldn't win it in the 90s or early 2000s with their Milan stars and Bergkamp and Nistelrooy.

@@gsmarchand runner up 3 times. 1974, 1978 and 2010

@@gsmarchand most runner ups (3) without winning

@@feyenoorden03 Sounds like home town club, just with the national cup. No other team has see the final so often without winning once (4 times) while the record holder has won it almost 30 times ...

Considering 1974 Netherlands was arguably the best team in history, maybe only second to 1970 Brazil, they got really unlucky.

He definitely overthought this list because surely he doesn’t genuinely think there’s a bigger chance Ukraine or Egypt win their first world cup than Croatia or Belgium

ssssshhh, flying under the radar is 1/3 of Croatia's strategy....

Croatia is an aging team that isn’t getting better with a small population

@@exhaustedcoffee2603 we just came 3rd mate. The young ones in the squad will be full of fire in 4 years time.

@@Swwatter what young ones 😂

facts. i frequently travel to mexico and i love to see the passion they have for the sport. they deserve better from their FA

Yes this is the problem it’s so sad there’s nothing we can do about it

Im Mexican and growing up my grandpa would tell me the same story of how corrupted is the Mexican FA specially the TV media that controls it. Tv media and sponsors keep messing up players careers and progress in the league and national team. I admit I’m 27 years old but I’m never going to see my country lift that beautiful title if we keep doing the same no sense but I do leave few hope because of the new generation I hope we can bring a change to Mexico in general

Being Mexican is suffering.

@@user-lt1to1uh1i Almost everything They deleted promotion and relegation to save the money of the first division team owners There is a playoff sistem where even the team at 12 position at the end of the tournament could be champion There are owners with multiple teams There is a betting house that own 2 first division teams There are 2 public tv stations that own first division teams There are almost no chances for young players to make their debut cause any team can start with 8 foreign players and teams rather to buy cheap in south america than actually develop young talent I can go on and on but this are some things that i can remember at this moment

Problem is they and South Korea are very good at developing world class mid fielders but I don't think anyone can name a great striker from either place. To be a world class side you need world class players in every position, Japan can't seem to produce a striker

@@SuperAnimeking100 Son Heung Min

@@Snap_Snippet I love Sonny and I'm a Spurs supporter so I should let you know the man isn't a striker, he's a winger. He may be used as a second striker and I've seen him multiple times in that position when Harry's injured and while he's a world class player it definitely isn't in that position

He put the United States but no japan. The usmnt lost 2-0 to japan and had zero shots on net! LMAO. The Asian bias is real. I’m not calling racism, rather bias. There truly is a bias against Asian football and it’s very sad

@@SuperAnimeking100 He's a striker at times so Son being considered a striker is perfectly ok... you Spurs fans are the whiniest fans ever...always thinking you're going to win it all after a big win and forgetting about the following games to play and only to bottling it at the end...so sad, you will never win. Sonny should get out while he's not too old and play for a real team.

I agree with the list but I would say it is more relevant on the long run. For this World Cup though, out of the first 4 teams you mentioned, Croatia and the Netherlands are in the best form. So for me, it is more likely that Croatia will take this rather than Portugal or Belgium.

@@loudseik9997 I don't think you can put any of these four teams significantly above the others at the moment. Regarding the long run, Netherlands, Croatia, and Portugal have a long history of producing amazing players. Belgium has a golden generation right now that is close to the end of their lifespan, so it will be interesting to see if they can keep it up or decline again.

Agree with top 4. However, after I would look at the countries who are structuring themselves to produce more quality talent over the years. Japan is the biggest example, starting their professional league in the 90s and improving their reputation after each event they play. More population means nothing if there's no incentive to play football, you end up relying on a golden generation. From the top 5 populations, the only with minimal (really minimal) relevance in football is the USA.

@@MrReese Belgium from time to time produces good teams. In the 2002 cup, they almost beat Brazil in the round of 16.

Betis💚

Man City and PSG. Could even happen this year

@@wrestler-kickboxer2524 Yes those are the no-brainers but the other 5 spots should be interesting to fill.

@@soundscape26 arsenal seems like a no brainer, maybe atletico too

@@duyanhng8430 athletico has won the Europa League/Uefa Cup

Yes 100%

I would disagree if they were still in their goth phase, but thankfully they switched back to green.

I don’t know about consistently there have been some average ones but definitely have had some of the best ones! 1998 and 2014 world cups were fire!!

They're class... But not better than USA's! ;)

@@Theneckofthrogs well this year the US kits are 💩

well you can have that one this year if you like, since many here shall ignore it's existence anyway just like myself so, help yourself, greeting from germany. 😋

Don't forget the 1998 and 2000 sides (van der Sar, Seedorf, Davids, Overmars, Kluivert, Bergkamp etc.) and 2008-2014 side (Sneijder, Robben, RvP, VdV, RvN etc.).

@@raistormrs yea think its the first WC in my life I won't follow...

The funny thing is in 74, Rob Rensenbrink hits the post in the last minute, if it goes in Holland undoubtedly win it. Not only that Rensenbrink finishes the tournament as top scorer, most likely the player of the tournament as well. He would probably be revered as Hollands greatest, even more than JC.Fine lines I guess!!!

78 I mean not 74!!!

Agree with you. I'm Canadian and all those four teams have been memorable since I've been watching (1982).

Portugal should be the favorites alongside Brazil, Argentina, France... they have one of the best squads in the whole tournament but sadly their coach his holding them back massively, with how badly he makes them play.

I think Croatia has also been very enjoyable for quite some time.

🇺🇲 is also cool to watch

@@I_h8.humanity yeah the USA have got loads of talent and I’m looking forward to seeing how they can do in this World Cup

I wonder why Morocco was not in the list.

My dream is to become powerful enough to effect change and help Nigeria win the world cup

Our nation does this in all aspects, we'd be so much better in everything with proper governance in everything

I honestly believe that the nations that stand a better chance of winning the world first as an African are Nigeria, Ghana and maybe Morocco. This is based on the fact that those nations tend to consistently produce squads that are more balance in terms of talent and their youth national teams also tend to perform well in international competitions.

current Nigeria NT has great players. With the right management, they are easily better than Ghana, but...

As a proud Igbo. I totally understand where you’re coming from. Greed is madness

i will never understand why the us shot themselves in the foot with that system

@@cramyt it's literally the only thing holding the US back

Only thing holding the USA back, pay to play smh

Interesting

@@cramyt because soccer was always an afterthought in the US, it became an upper middle class suburban throw away sport, done for recreation, not for serious competition. I guarantee that if soccer had been the top sport in the US from the beginning (late 1800s), the US would have already won multiple World Cups by now

I think so too and they have a great system to do it eventually

One day many countries will win the world cup, what's your point 🤣🤣

@@krish5445 In nearly a century, only 8 teams won the cup. I don't think it's too far-fetched to say that no, not many new nations will win world cups in the future

@@krish5445 Given an infinite amount of time everything that is possible will happen. That said: Presumably the nation's that already won it will continue to win it and not much more teams will be added to that list.

@@krish5445 Lol!no need to be sarcastic about it.

😆

Chilllll, they ain't ready for the heat bro

@@worstgamer1162 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Don't forget penguinihio in the midfield is very good at passing

🐧🐧

What connection with Brighton?

@@just-give-me-a-handle Brighton have three players from the nation (most of any EPL club ever) in Estupiñan, Caicedo, and Sarmiento! Ecuadorians are very excited and have bonded with Brighton. It’s all fairly new but promising! A fair few of the Brighton fans I’ve seen away have been Ecuador as well.

Ecuador is a$$🤣🤣 no history in south america, and no titles

@@erickc5617 You talk about about the past, but Peru has no future. Ecuador has a golden generation and you have 🗑

@@kushgriffo8221 a golden generation that Peru beat twice in Quito last qualifier for russia and this last one🤣 Also peru has a golden generation coming up again so I would stay 🤫 Juan Pablo Goicochea 17 to Borussia Dortmund Mateo Perez 19 - Bayern Munich Paolo Doneda 16 - A.C Milan huge prospect in Italy Alessandro Burlamaqui 20 - Valencia Spain Kluiverth Aguilar 19 - Manchester City Etc The list goes on

I wonder if Mourinho would be the special one to lead Portugal to further glory 🙂

Fax

People say the same about the coaches of Spain, France, England and so on. This is not a popularity contest. All these coaches know that playing in entertaining fashion will not make them win anything just because of that.

Porrtugal should really appoint Mourinho or Ruben Amorim, when Santos is dropped

@@battistoberhoel8839 Considering that the ones that claim Santos is defensive and outdated also claim the same about Mourinho, I find it hilarious that you suggest him for the job. Amorim is barely starting, has as many success as upsets. Santos is defensive and outdated: wins Euro and Nations League. Southgate is poor: 4th place in WC, 2nd place in Euro. Dechamps is uncompetent: Euro 2nd, WC winner, Nations league winner. I see a pattern here and it does not look good for keyboard/couch coaches. Maybe you should also consider their players' lack of commitement at times, lack of luck at times, and mostly not diminish their opponents merit.

As a dutch person the issue with the netherlands is not their player quality its the general dutch philosophy. We need to win and we need to do it with possesion. When we have less as 70% possesion everybody here considers the match a failure. A lot off coaches who had a great generation that wasn't directly good at possesion play but good in everything else fell for that trap. And thats why even tho the netherlands had so many good players in the history they never where able to bring the cup home. Currently that philosophy is evolving. But most people off the 70s generation (and thus the press as well since that generation reads press stuff the most) is still pursuing that possesion play. When in like 20-30 year that generation mostly goes away then the philosophy will likely change and the netherlands will be able to play a more total football. Till that point we probably have the best shot to win it this year since van gaal the current coach is somebody who has his own plan and completely ignores what everybody says he should do. If we dont bring it home this year then it will not happen till the 70s generation gets a change off heart (wich they wont) or when they are in the minority in like 20 years.

@@jeltevl8868 I’ve never heard of this so thank you for explaining! Speaking of possession statistics, I just read that in the infamous 2014 World Cup semifinal which ended 7-1, Brazil had 51% possession and 18 shots on goal compared to Germany’s 14 shots on goal. Brazil had seven corners to Germany’s five and three offsides to Germany’s zero. During the onslaught of the four goals being scored, the British commentator said Brazil remarkably had 68% possession of the ball at that point in the game. I hope Netherlands figures out the strategy because you’re always a strong side.

Dos Santos... Brasilero Vela... mediocre Chicharito... un tronco que llego al Madrid para vender camisetas Herrera... unos de los weones mas feo del Futbol Mundial. Guardado... se cree la caca y se lo mandan a Guandar todas las noches....!!

who cares

@@kevinaldo69 me

Vela wasn’t on that team in technicality, but he was by far the best player Mexico had at that time

@Kevin we no you are sad but don't show the world

That makes it sound like there are more Mexico fans in the US than there are in Mexico. And maybe it’s true.

@@RRaquello it is. When the USMNT play in those southern cities, even places like Kansas City and Denver it is basically an away game for them.

@@MichaelSnyder1776 I don't think that's a bad thing. Toughens up our guys. They don't have to depend on hysterical home fans to get them up for games.

But would you put moeny on them beating Portugal this year... or even in the next 9 years when their current stars start to retire? I think in the future... Portugal seem more liekly, NL lost their chance it seems when the Mechanical Oranges turned sour in the 80s and late 2010

@@andyelgrand0 If I was a betting man, yes, I absolutely would put money on them outperforming Portugal both in the current world cup and for the next decade (maybe not every time in the next decade, but a majority of the time)

I agree

@@joshualiley When was the last time the Netherlands beat Portugal lol knocked out of Euro 2004 Semis by Portugal, Knocked out of World Cup 2006 by Portugal, Beaten in Group stage of Euro 2012 by PORTUGAL and lost in the Inaugural Nations League Final by WINNERS PORTUGAL..

@@housebeats31 We're not talking about the past, we're talking about the future. The current Dutch team is, IMO, better than the current Portugal team, the stars coming through are much better than the current Portuguese stars coming through, and the Ajax academy is one of the best in the world to keep finding and producing those talents far into the future. Portugal vs Netherlands can be a very back and forth debate, but overall Portugal has never had the ultimate quality to win the world cup whereas the Netherlands has, and I don't expect Portugal to ever have that star power before the Netherlands does, especially without peak Ronaldo. Netherlands last 10 years haven't been great, they're turning things around though.

We deserved to lose though.

That must have been the save of the century that for sure won spain its first ever world cup coz had that been a goal,it would have been a wrap for spain.

@@BrianStorm742 not really, we had our chances, and we got really unlucky, Stekelenburg would’ve won it for us in penalties

@@mguddeti we had the best chance of the game, but Spain dominated the match from the beginning and got waaaaay more opportunities. Everyone keeps talking about Casillas' toe, but Heitinga's toe prevented an arguably even bigger chance for David Villa. Penalties could have been won by anyone, though there is no doubt Casillas had a better repertoire as a goalie than Stekelenburg. Besides, we should have gotten two straight reds before half time. Circumstances delayed our inevitable fate to the last possible moment, which is why we feel this weird sense of injustice, but the way we played in that final ensured everyone else in the world was rooting for Spain by the 60th minute. It's been 12 years. We HAVE to face this reality.

@@BrianStorm742 Too right 😂😂😂.

Yeah, I'd have Poland over the USA too, its been a developed country for so long and they're hardly getting better, people just don't care about football there

Lmao he put the usa instead of japan on this list when usa got destroyed 2-0 by japan. The Asian bias is real in football and I’ll never understand it, especially when AFC is a tougher confederation overall than concacaf right now.

@@usersixnine347 exactly, they look at the USA and say they're good but who do they have? Mckennie? Lol same as Canada, David and Davis are their only good players and one of them is a refuge which is hardly homegrown talent is it, North America will never be good at football they have other sports they need to worry about

@@andresmcjr what I truly don’t understand is why concacaf is so much more respected than AFC. Because even statistically, they aren’t better than the AFC. The AFC has gone further than concacaf in World Cup. Is it from the flawed fifa rankings? Putting Mexico and USA higher than all afc nations? Well again the rankings are the most bs flawed calculations ever, but even then if I’m not wrong the AVERAGE afc ranking is actually higher than the average concacaf ranking. And the funniest thing is if you pay attention to football matches outside of World Cup countries, 150th ranked Indonesia just beat 80th ranked curaçao twice few months ago. The concacaf gold cups lowest ranked team is also way lower than the lowest ranked Asian cup side. And the Asian cup has 24 teams…Also when speaking of japan, I’m pretty sure they have more players in europe from their NT callup than the usmnt. I don’t mean to make everything about race, but at this point clearly there is something going on because it’s not like concacaf is a world power or anything. People clearly look down on Asians in football, and because concacaf consists of white black and Latin players, they are considered to be higher quality than the AFC despite doing worse, it makes no sense.

@@usersixnine347 I understand bro, be proud of ur people just as I'm proud to be white, and you're correct Asian football is disrespected too much, only reason I could see as to why concacaf and the teams in it are rated/ranked higher is because they play more meaningless friendlies which ups ur rank, but realistically Japan beats the USA any day of the week

Their best chance was in 2018

Their golden generation is getting old now this year is probably their last with a world class squad in a major tournament

Its too late for us 😢

Their golden generation is drying up.

too late for this generation now

And Mexico hasn't gotten revenge against chile with that 7-0 scoreline in 2016

If the desperate and crazy athletic lower class can make it into the youth development over basketball and American football I think we CAN be up there with Netherlands but until then not only a delusional US citizen like me am psycho enough that we have a chance.

Freaking good idea

Great idea. Georgia? Uzbekistan? Vietnam (as a Chinese man you thoroughly deserved to beat China)? Macedonia? Montenegro? Oman? Finland?

@@encorefootball india, Kongo, Gambia

@@encorefootball Mali and Burkina Faso are more likely than those UEFA teams u mentioned imo. The number of slots for CAF (like other continents except the big two) nearly doubles, so chances for a debut team in that zone are much higher than in UEFA.

@@encorefootball UEFA: North Macedonia, Finland and maybe Albania all have reasonably successful teams, that finished top 3, or made the playoffs. All could be dark horses. AFC: Syria, Lebanon, Oman and Vietnam all qualified for the final QR of World Cup last time and depends on how the new era unfolds with Syria, and Vietnam's turn after the supreme Park Hang Seo era, then they can be leading the charge in the continent. India could also hope to make a return, if their reign turns out right and Uzbekistan can return too, if their young gen turns out right. CAF: Maybe Mali who qualified for the final round of WCQF, or Burkina Faso and Gambia who made deep AFCON runs. CONCACAF: All 8 final qualifiers have made the WC before (yes, including El Salvador), so look elsewhere. CONMEBOL: Not like Venezuela is gonna qualify anytime soon, so skip. OFC: Tahiti, maybe? not likely... That's my though so far...

Croatia has the biggest chance to be the 9th candidate

Hola! As an Australian I would like to let you know that we are further away from winning the World Cup than Greenland! We have similar problems to the USA but a fraction of the population size. We have a relatively easy qualification coefficient but have only just scraped through to the last 2 World Cups. We will be lucky to score a goal at this upcoming World Cup.

Didn’t Karabukspor just dissolve?

NEXTRACKER?!?!?! Yeah maybe, that'll be so cool. Maybe messi as manager of Argentina?

based

Which would add nothing to the now outdated goat debat. But would give him a shot of overtaking Mou as the best Portuguese coach

I doubt it

Ronaldo would be an horrendous coach

if they won it as well, im sure there would be a new interest in football in the country like there has never been before. i'm english so i obviously want us to absolutely smash them in the group stage, but i'd like them to do well. also as an arsenal fan seeing Matt Turner and potentially Aaron Ramsdale in opposing goals would be a great watch, hopefully folarin balogun gets a look in at this world cup too.

Even as little as 5 or 6 years ago if you had told me so many younger American players would be moving to teams in Europe I wouldn't have believed you. Obviously young Americans in European leagues doesn't mean the US is a new power in world soccer or anything, but even teams being interested in them at all shows they see *something* that makes believe US youngsters are worth giving a chance to. It's been quite a change in a relatively short amount of time.

@@BiggieTrismegistus absolutely mate! I would say about 10 years ago just because of the FC Dallas academy, but I completely agree otherwise

@@melodiclogic9904 Given how bad the US has historically been many Americans have a second team they root for. It's usually based on where your family came from. People with Mexcan ancestors follow Mexico; those with Italian ancestry choose Italy. A lot of my family came from England way back in the day so when the US isn't playing I'm an England fan. Thus I hope England can recreate their Euros form on an even bigger stage. I'll be cheering your team on when they aren't playing the US. I'd imagine a good USMNT would become the team other countries love to hate because Americans are really good at a lot of other sports. It seems like the Americans doing well in soccer wouldn't go over too well with the rest of the world. I may be wrong but that's the way I think things might go down. "Who do they think they are? They can't even proid the game by its correct name!"

Leaps and bounds is a massive stretch. Youth development hasn't come far enough

Tristemente, todo lo que dijo es nuestra realidad 😢

Canada has a brighter future than Mexico and better players currently.

Really excited to see CONCACAF competition in the future as an American with Canadian, Mexican, and Central American friends. Especially since the US and Canada are catching up to Mexico. Hopefully we can push each other up and help each other achieve great things on the World Cup stage.

Mexico are the Ireland of football. (Ireland’s rugby team has never got past the first knockout stage of the Rugby World Cup, like Mexico, they’ve also never qualified past the first knockout stage, hence the comparison).

Mexico are not going to get any better than they are and that have failed to be good enough for 80 years. Yes they football crazy but the problem for Mexico is the population is not diverse enough. South America has greater mix of people from Africa, Europe, Arab and indigenous populations, Mexico is basically indigenous people and Spanish descendants. They do not have athleticism to be a top nation. I would say USA and Canada are better long term bets because they are nations with better athletes and diverse. If you look at Europe The big nations there have become more skilful and athlete due to their African immigrant populations like France, England, Holland, Germany, Belgium and Portugal

Netherlands won the euro's once before and there's England that won the world cup once before but never won the euro's

They fumbled 🥲

@@planetarybeat473 did they?

This is why I don't like the 48 teams world cup. it's just making qualifying to the world cup so much easier.

Then again, smaller countries who usually wouldn’t have the opportunity to make the WC may be given a better incentive and better income to improve their performance…We may see some smaller countries develop players they wouldn’t/couldn’t have before.

They should just let it remain at 32.u have to be amongst the 32 best nations in the world to qualify and that's what makes the wcup special.I have a feeling by extending the qualification to 48 teams,it will now dilute the quality of the tournament.What will stop them from extending to 64, a hundred in preceding years and before we know it the whole world will now be participating in the worldcup.This nonsense of expansions and I dono holding the world cup after every 2 years as proposed by imbeciles like Infantino should just stop.

I disagree since that logic applies to everyone

@@samplingmastersxlr8660 It applies to everyone bcuz a 48 nation is a horrid idea, it will take the excitement out of many qualifiers unless it’s the very first rounds of qualification

What is your parameters for you current top 10? Can't be the world rankings since Germany is below Denmark.

Our football governing body is very corrupt at least to forge ahead

@Deez Nhutz still means a lot in the history books bro Having someone like osimhen be the second African to win a balon d’or will be massive not only as a motivation for Nigerian kids but for African kids too

Never going to happen 😂

Good luck to you my friend! I wish you the best in your football career!

@Deez Nhutz I agree with you! Journalists shouldn't decide the winners, leave it to the coaches and players to decide! 🤠

I am shocked he put in Egypt instead of us. Our domestic league is miles better than Egypt's, and we have far more representation in European leagues. Our league dominates Africa, and we have many players in each top European league. I am honestly confused as to what Egypt is doing in the list.

@@younusbendame742 and what's even more frustrating is that he mainly uses population as an indicator of a potential world cup triumph

​@@adbaz455 Yes... one should be able to see from past years that population does not have a correlation with success in the world cup. lol

@@younusbendame742 yes for sure considering the depth of top players many having great seasons behind and ahead of them

Morocco is trash. Win an Afcon 1st

And Croatia.

Portugal just appointed Martinez, ec Belgium coach 😂😂

Portugal didn't produce Roberto Martínez, he's Spanish.

@@steelydanlover1972 Yea but they have produced some decent managers, Mourinho is the obvious one. definitely more than Belgium.

It was definitely a penalty.

Mexico hasn’t beat us since 2019, I wouldn’t say 5 years winless vs USA is out of the “spell” 😂

you certainly meant the anime right 😂👍🏼

agreed. they’re also just fun to watch and have a fresh and unique style and passion

Danmark is a dark horse that must be written off at teams own peril.

yup

While I agree, the US will probability ein the WC in the next few decades, at this point their are ridiculously overestimated. The team consists of Pulisic, Reyna and 20 NPCs.

@@gandalf_thegrey Weston Mckennie, Sergino Dest, Tyler Adams, Brendan Aaranson, Matt Turner and a few others are all talented youngsters playing in Europe's top leagues. The USA has some quality players all in their teens or early 20s. They'll only get better by the time they host the world cup in 2026. In Qatar, they have a decent chance of getting to the Round of 16.

@@areebsiddiqui758 Croatia has better talents but not mentioned…

@@gandalf_thegrey I disagree. I think the U.S. can win it in 2026. Besides Pulisic and Reyna, they have players with really high ceilings such as Dest, McKennie, Aaronson, Musah and Weah. They’ll be even better when they host at home.

@@vivelafrance6357 You gotta be high as fuck if you really think the USA has any chance of winning the next world cup

Desperdicada no comando do Santos

e o Cristiano tem que bancar... o gajo tem razão

These european countries, with the best facilities possible, are competing at the same level as third world countries with barely functioning footballing infrastructure. It is much harder for a country like Denmark to imrpove their national team than Mexico, and Mexico are already in the knock out stages consistently. Even Brazil has a third world level football federation. If other continents get their shit together we would need a EU federational team to compete with the big global nations. Football was not a professional game 100 years ago, in 10-15 world cups we could see european nations erradicated from the later stages of the WC with some good management from the African and American federations.

You pointed most of what i was about to write. I'd like to add that criteria seems to be different in many cases. Nigeria or Egypt team are nowhere near the standards needed to even compeete at high level, and Nigeria infrastructure is negligable - as evidence by most good players coming from Europe. So this means their inclusion calculates 30-50 years in the future. Same video, Belgium is dissregarded because of aging squad? Ukraine added because of Shakhtar getting a point with Real, while Club Brugge qualifiyng from their CL group without conceeding is not considered? If population is a factor, why don't Russia or China feature? Massive countries with infrastructure needed to make the step up. In reality, any of the notable inclusions is far more likely to win a WC than 5 of the video, with Portugal and Netherlands being only objective inclusions.

@@vinkobarisic253 Denmark needs the stars to align to win the WC, Nigeria needs better infrastructure. I'm betting my money on the one that is possible to control every time. I do get your point with China though, if they got the hosting rights they would most likely be able to brute force in the same way they did in the 2008 olympics.

I can't imagine many fans supporting an EU federation team lol apart from the bureaucrats sitting in Brussels and Strasbourg

Also he included Ukraine even though they were knocked out by Wales

They have more depth than Belgium and many of these players will be around for next two world cups

The golden generation of Belgium is already drying up, while Portugal has several years left and upcoming talent to take the spot. Santos and Ronaldo are indeed holding Portugal back at this point.

😂😂😂

Colombia?????

Norway, what are you talking about. Can you please name any of their players except haaland and odegaard?

Norway? Not a chance. The only players they got are Haaland and Odegaard. Their whole team is no where near good enough.

Norway isnt even close to being the best chance for a World Cup in Scandinavia. Denmarks team and youth devolopment seems waaay better than the norwegian one. Haaland is amazing though. Him on the Danish side would be a very mean side to go up against.

I love Haaland but there’s no way he can single handedly win Norway the World Cup...

@@matejmamba2546 Hansen, Larsen and Olsen, easy! I probably just named one third of their team! If any Norwegian is reading this. I apologize for the joke. I know Elabdellaoui and Elyounoussi.

200k per week for hot youngster J Lingz 🤣

Nah, it should be Belgium instead of USA, Mexico or Ghana. The biggest candidates are Netherlands, Portugal and Belgium.

@@deandoesstuff3371 USA absolutely deserves to be here

​@@xavier1752 You're right, but not instead of Belgium imo.

If soccer/football were always the USA's top sport, and everyone grew up playing it, the USA would have already won multiple World Cups. The USA's best athletes would adapt to the soccer playing physique. It would also be like basketball and American football are now; you wouldn’t have this pay to play thing that made the sport upper middle class. And no one is saying Lebron James would be like Messi. But there are tons of people like Steph Curry or Chris Paul, but mostly guys who we have never heard of, who would be amazing soccer/football players. Also there would be a ton of like 5’8-6’0 guys who were too small to play in the NBA who if they grew up in a soccer playing nation would have been star soccer/football players. The US would have players like Paul Pogba and Harry Kane, and in a nation of 330 million if soccer/football were always the USA's top sport and we understood how to develop players properly, they’d have technical players. The French/English example I think is the best if soccer were our top sport; the USA would have players that are generally more physical than the Spanish, but who are still extremely skillful, except even more quality players because our population is over twice as large and England and France combined. The US would also have a very good league if soccer were always the top sport in the US. I do not know whether it would be the best league in the world, top 3 or top 5, but my guess is it would be at least as good as Serie A/Bundesliga (I will estimate on the low end for the league just for argument's sake). If soccer were always the top sport in the US, the US team would be made up of players in top european leagues and top players in one of the top leagues in the world (the US league). Even when England were in their recent low ebb (about 2008-2016), they had players who were starters and bagging goals on decent Premier League teams. Even at a low ebb for the US, the US would have the same thing. So to recap, if soccer were always the top sport in the US, Lebron James and Kevin Durant wouldn’t be our top soccer players. But Steph Curry might be, and most likely guys who are 5’8-6’0 who maybe were lower college level players but who were more suited for soccer would be our top players. Remember how big a country we are. If soccer were always our top sport, even if we weren’t the most efficient in producing players, our WORST World Cup team would be better than what our team’s level will be in 2026. So we’d be among the favorites every World Cup. And if I were to say the US would win 4-6 World Cups in this scenario, it would be the US would win like 2-3 by 1970 and 2-3 between 1970 and now. Seems reasonable to me

@@xavier1752 hahahahaha

Those names sound made up, I almost didn’t believe you 😂

Xavi Simmons is overrated.

@@kris5885 Hahaha. To be fair, these names are a bit weird for Dutch people as well haha.

@@naj_z wauter and simons are real Dutch. Names

Brobery is horrible

Maybe the Genes/ DNA makeup was a factor in past. Watching Japan 🇯🇵 beat USA 🇺🇸 in friendly last month, it was very clear that team has been together for years and works very well together. Opposed to countries just calling up their “ best players”,and in some cases over the years the same core of players do become a proper team longer they’re together, basically growing up together after starting at young ages. Plus Sports Science and technology nowadays, an area I know Japan 🇯🇵 leads the way with, or has some of the best technology to use. But most importantly,the solidarity of a team, even if lacking superstars & most talented players that other countries have, it’s a team sport and with most games played in a pragmatic approach. Unless you advance and play USA 🇺🇸, I wish you best of luck. But my underdog pick, don’t even know if they count as underdog status because they are so good, is Denmark 🇩🇰. I think they make Semifinals , maybe final? I’m typing this before he reveals his number 1 , so wonder if he is thinking same as me?

I honestly don't believe its a case of height that affects Japan. Its probably the lack of footballers in top level leagues in Europe that affects the team.

1. You’re blaming short genes in a sport where short players like lionel Messi is considered to be the greatest of all time. You’re blaming Asian genetics in a sport where the Japanese womens team has won the women’s World Cup and reached multiple finals. I’d understand if it was basketball to be honest, it’s a sport where you’re shooting a ball into an area in the air, height is one of if not the biggest parts of the game. It’s also a sport mainly dominated by black people. But football? Don’t make excuses for your inferiority complex. Japan hasn’t reached the level of the top simply because there are better countries. Yet they are still better than the overwhelming majority of the football world. So why aren’t they on this list? Because 2. HITC Sevens and many of the football world have a bias against Asian football, whether intentionally racist or not. It’s laughable how japan destroys the US 2-0 yet they are on this list but not japan. The US has zero shots on net against Japan lmao

@@chrisfrank2664 except japan did not simply beat the US only from teamwork and working well together. The Japanese national team literally has better players overall than the US. I’m pretty sure Japan has more players playing in europe on their NT than the us does lmao..not to mention (and yes this is arguable) I really think if there would be without foreign players in the MLS even the j league would be a better league. I think the US is definitely overrated but even more so is how underrated japan is. The disrespect and bias towards Asians and the AFC in football is absolutely real, and it is absolutely mind boggling how the US and Mexico is ranked above every single AFC side. Also the AFC has gone further in the World Cup than CONCACAF has..

@@usersixnine347 I thought this was where I wrote about it, but It must have been somewhere else. But I specifically wrote how the asian players are really good, and hopefully if Japan and Korea advance to knockout stages and upset a few bigger name countries, more attention will be on them leading to more of them being signed across Europe and the world. Even in MLS! Which by the way, making a point about Japan/Asian countries & their players being perceived a certain way, but then saying the opposite about USA, Mexico, & Canada ( have to include them now) is hypocritical. If the Premier League didn't have any foreign players you think it would be as good? It certainly wouldn't be making Billions from TV rights in other countries, and wouldn't have interest if just English/British players. Watch some of the MLS playoffs as season is almost over, with open mind, and then come back and tell me it hasn't improved drastically in past 15 years. Judging players based on what continent they play is really judgmental. I don't watch much soccer from South America so I can't say who is better or not. Its ok to admit you don't know much about an area of the world, No One Knows Everything! And maybe Japan does have better players? The US team is so young we get to find out who will be on the team. Turner ( GK for Arsenal) is 27 i think , and if they include him Tim Ream, Captain at Fulham is near or just above 30. We need a couple veterans, even if only for presence with the team in practice and all they do together.

Well Denmark isn’t either. Very weird list. Denmark and Croatia would beat the US and Nigeria with ease

He doesn't want to trigger his non-European audience

@MattyBRaps400 that makes no sense. The only team that can actually win it is Portugal, but Croatia and Denmark has a bigger chance than Nigeria and USA and some of the other teams. Croatia past their peak? So is the Netherlands if you use that logic

He just wanted to please his american viewers, this is indeed a bad list

Croatia have 2 medals from last 6 World cups and they only recently started investing money in football. Huge talent in that small country.

Fr it's easily the best African country

The current team is aging and heavily reliant on foreign born players that weren't good enough to play for their nations of birth.

Well Canada is strong right now, but their youth teams are horrible... their U20 recently lost to Cuba. They need to shore up their academy systems because right now their long term prospects look rough

Canada isn't the future of CONCACAF. Canada has a golden generation right now and then they'll fade into obscurity for another 40 years. The future of CONCACAF is Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti - all of which are mostly hindered by corruption and poor government. But if they ever get their self-governance straightened out, each could be as good as minor European nations like Sweden, Denmark, Greece or Austria. Consider the overall trajectory that Costa Rica is on now that their governance isn't completely corrupt, and their per capita income is increasing. We could have five to eight teams that good in CONCACAF within 20-30 years.

*some*. The amount of games being played in the US is a total insult for the actual mexicans

But they should also play away games, go to copa America, friendlies in Europe, etc. And the worst problem of the US based friendlies is that the quality of the visitor teams is usually very low, with B, C teams, or very low ranked teams. This is obviously just about the business: bad teams charge less, and also you ensure your team looks better in the field, it's just fan service. But terrible for your teams preparation for serious tournaments, which you already are not participating in most of them (copa America, Eurocup, confederations cup does no exist anymore)