A typically Western, narrow, and insulting take on the source of Croatia's footballing talent.
While the top of Dinamo, Hajduk, and the National Team undoubtedly have graft and corruption, this article neglects the deep wellspring of football history and culture within Croatia and all of the Balkans that extends back beyond Yugoslavia's participation in the first World Cup. With under half of Belgium's population and under a third of their GDP per capita, Croatia's success begins with interest and clubs at the local level. A serious investigation would begin there and would help the author avoid silly statements like, "Croatian soccer is in a state of near permanent chaos." The game itself is alive and well within the country and succeeding at the highest levels of the sport.
4
We now all know the outcome of the game. But let’s take a minute, in the age of Trump, with the endless drumbeat of divisiveness, to revel in the diversity of the Belgian team. Aside from the traditional linguistic differences between the Flemish and the francophones, Belgium’s national team roster includes players of Moroccan, Congolese and other European descents, all playing underneath a common flag. Belgians proudly wear the jerseys of Lukaku and Fellaini under the auspice that ‘we are Belgium’. Regardless of race. Regardless of background. Shared goals count more than superficial differences. Trump’s America should take note.
9
Let’s not forget why there are Belgian players of Congolese descent on the team — they are there as a historical symptom of the brutal occupation of the Congo under King Leopold II.
And let’s not act like America is the only country struggling with diversity issues at the moment — last I checked, Belgium has had some immigrant integration issues of its own.
2
We cannot count out the USA. In the U20 and U17 tournaments the USA has done very well in recent years, reaching the quarterfinals. Youth academies now exist in some MLS teams. This group of young players may get pouched by some big European clubs and gain more expertise. Meanwhile, MLS continues to expand, and attendance records (and $$$) continues to grow. The USA not reaching the World Cup this year is a set back, but the trajectory is still in the right direction.
1
The most important point in this article is the importance of "soccer's open market" in the discovery and development of world class players; NOT fancy academies and expensive coaches. Until the US adopts the universal FIFA standards of solidarity payments to youth clubs and promotion/relegation to financially incentivize small clubs to exist, we will continue to be on the outside looking in.
1
De Bruyne is right, there is no substitute for playing in the World’s most competitive leagues. That’s why small Belgium is not afraid of Brazil or France, their players know and compete against many of these big teams’ players year in and year out. Football (don’t call it soccer!) is huge in Belgium, with at least 2 pitches in every commune, the amount of players per capita make up quite a bit for its small population size. The fantastic national team will in turn inspire even more young players to join a club. Go Belgium!
6
The dichotomy between Belgium and Croatia, as interesting as it presents itself, misses a fundamental point about soccer: its universality; a game that's simple, inexpensive, teachable, fitness dependent and fitness rewarding, gender neutral, and probably most important of all, it's fun. We too often focus on the elite players whose sublime and surpassing skills invite fans to marvel at them and buy the shirts. Soccer as a component of physical education should never be overlooked--not for developing stars, but for developing young bodies and team players.
As football as we know it in the U.S. continues its downward slide toward irrelevance, encouraged by the degeneracy of the NFL and their NCAA enablers, along with CTE inexorably dooming the sport as we know it, where can we find a more promising alternative than soccer? Already, our young male athletes are abandoning football in droves, particularly the better athletes who tend to be more academically inclined. What more do we need as a country than to take soccer seriously where it's going anyway?
5
Don't be too optimistic about the potential for soccer to be different than other sports in the US because the bean-counters in Indianapolis, IN. (the HQ of the NCAA) are already planning to do to soccer what they did to College Basketball and Football.... ($$$$$$$$$$$)
Don't overlook the brain injury potential of ball-heading in soccer.
2
The Belgian national team also improved when it fired its Belgian coach. A collection of excellent individual players learned to work together as a team, thanks to Martinez.
Germany should follow suit and now fire its German coach, Joachim Löw. Word had it that he's thinking of staying on, despite his team's ghastly defeat.
If there are no good German coaches, then do as the Belgians did, and hire a foreign coach!
4
Belgium is following the right model for youth development. Remarkably, the next country to emerge may be England, which has improved its youth training (with help from the Premier League academies) and has enjoyed a fantastic run of youth team results in the last couple of years.
Fortune plays a part as well - Spain had great training, but a core of once in a generation talent in Xavi, Iniesta etc, France was the same with the Zidane group.
Belgium are blessed with DeBruyne, Hazard and Lukaku, and they now have a manager who seems to have worked out how to get the best out of them. Today's game will be fascinating.
9
People often forget that Croatia was once a significant part of Yugoslavia! Historically, Yugoslavia was always a powerhouse on the pitch! Therefore, we shouldn't be surprised of their accomplishment!
15
A combined team of Croatia and Serbia would be incredible.
Politics plays an interesting role in the strength of teams. How good would a UK team by adding Gareth Bale to England's squad? Or how much weaker would Germany be if it were still East vs. West?
1
I REMEMBER THEY BEAT GERMANY 3:0 IN 1998 THEY ARE 1 OF THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD WISH THEY WIN THE WORLD CUP!!!
2
We cannot count out the USA. In the U20 and U17 tournaments the USA has done very well in recent years, reaching the quarterfinals. Youth academies now exist in some MLS teams. This group of young players may get pouched by some big European clubs and gain more expertise. Meanwhile, MLS continues to expand, and attendance records (and $$$) continues to grow. The USA not reaching the World Cup this year is a set back, but the trajectory is still in the right direction.