Lionel Messi and Argentina stood up for South America to end Europe’s 20-year dominance at the FIFA World Cup

From Yokohama to Lusail. Twenty years passed between Ronaldo’s Brazil title in the 2002 World Cup and Lionel Messi’s Argentina in 2022. In between, two decades of European hegemony, which South American football now breaks with the success of the Albiceleste.

In the four World Cups played between 2002 and 2022, the finals had been 100% European, with the only exception being Brazil-2014, in which Germany beat Argentina 1-0.

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In 2006 Italy beat France on penalties, in 2010 Spain won the Netherlands with the ‘Iniestazo’ of extra time and in 2018 Kylian Mbappé’s France defeated Luka Modric’s Croatia in the decisive duel.

In that appointment in Russia, the European dominance had become even more evident with a full set of European semifinalists, after the falls of Brazil and Uruguay in the quarterfinals.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RdVMNyUQgA

The weight of the story

In the history of the soccer World Cups since the inaugural event in 1930, the champions have been divided between the two strongest regions in soccer, South America with 10 titles and Europe with 12. There has never been a finalist who is not from one of those two continents.

South American football can boast, yes, of having the team at the top of the list, Brazil with its five titles (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), but the strength of the European teams had recently changed the trend.

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“South America only has four teams in a World Cup. Having one of four is a great merit,” declared the president of the South American confederation (Conmebol), Alejandro Domínguez, even before the semifinals, during a tribute to Pelé in Doha.

After the final won by Argentina against France on Sunday, Conmebol itself celebrated the victory of La Scaloneta on its social networks with photographs under the hashtag #CreeEnTuContinente.

“Argentina world champion!!! The cry of a continent: the cup returns home, returns to South America!!!”, Conmebol wrote on Twitter.

Mbappé’s ‘boomerang’ prophecy

In May, the French star Kylian Mbappé caused controversy when he said in an interview that South American soccer “is not as advanced” as European soccer and that is why “in the last World Cups it is always the Europeans who win.”

The reactions followed one another for weeks and even months.

The Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez responded by recalling how hard the Conmebol zone qualifiers were, having to play for example at high altitude in Bolivia. “Let him go to Bolivia, Colombia or Ecuador, to see how easy it is,” he said that May on TyC Sports television.

In August, the Brazilian coach Tite had the same answer: “We don’t have Azerbaijan, with all due respect. We don’t have a rival in our qualifying rounds to give you a break”.

Mbappé lost the final against a South American team on Sunday. Before and after the game he was especially whistled by the Argentine fans in Lusail.

The World Cup was not the only fight won by South America over Europe in this 2022, since Argentina beat Italy 3-0 in the Finalissima, the duel at Wembley between the current champions of the Copa América and the Eurocopa.

The Club World Cup, next goal?

The next tournament in which South American and European soccer will compete for the throne is the Club World Cup, which Morocco will host from February 1 to 11.

Before FIFA’s project of a Club World Cup expanded to 32 teams by 2025, the tournament will be played with a classic scheme of seven participants, with a European (Real Madrid) and a South American (Flamengo) directly classified to the semifinals.

Flamengo, champion of the last Copa Libertadores, has the mission of vindicating the football of its continent also in that competition, where the last nine champions were European. To find the last South American winner, you have to go back to 2012, when Corinthians, also a Brazilian, did it.

Will the time have come to confirm a change of cycle there as well? (D)