Post
Topic
Board Gambling discussion
Re: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread
by
cande86
on 15/07/2025, 13:51:18 UTC
It's true, many great players come from Africa, but no national team has the depth of their squad, with talented players in every position. I think that's why African countries often fail at the World Cup, especially when they reach the knockout stage. According to the FIFA rankings, Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, and Nigeria are currently among the top five African national teams. As we know, these teams boast star players from elite European clubs, but one or two star players aren't enough to lead a team to the World Cup trophy. Morocco journey in the last World Cup was, in my opinion, impressive.
https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/men
Squad depth is indeed an important factor for a national team to compete well in the world cup. Because if a national team has only a few star players, then what happens is that when the player is injured, the team does not have a replacement and it will have a significant impact on the team's performance. Having squad depth also allows the national team to divide their playing proportion, make good rotations, and tactics that can be adjusted to the players. And because of this, the European national teams can compete better, because they not only have squad depth, but also mature tactics and game systems as well as a supportive football infrastructure from the grassroots to the highest level.
I think that African teams soon will have more players available to be called up because more and more players born in Europe by African parents are choosing to represent their parents' national team. This for sure would affect more countries like France, Belgium, England, just to name a few, countries that usually rely a lot on players of African background.
I don't think that kids born in prestigious national teams will choose to play for their parents' national team, with all due respect, it's one thing to play for France and another to play for Mali, mine is just an example but it gives a good idea.