Last Monday, September 11, forever historic because of the Pinochet coup in Chile and the attack on the twin towers in New York, Portugal beat Luxembourg bureaucratically 9 to 0. It was not a Saturday morning snack among the office boys but an official Euro 2024 qualifier .which is played in Germany. After the eighth goal, Luxembourg coach Luc Holtz couldn’t stand the humiliation any longer and went to the locker room. Cristiano Ronaldo missed such a dish to increase his tally due to the yellow card received the day before against Slovakia. In the first match, Portugal also won, but only 6-0, at the charming Luxembourg Stadium, with a capacity of 9386 spectators (and it was not full). “Hell double from CR7 and the Portuguese is fighting to be the leader!”, he headlined at the time ESPN on their website.

Portugal scored 15 goals against Luxembourg in two games. It’s hell. What makes the 9-0 scoreline even more terrifying is that up until that point, Luxembourg was second in the group and entering the Euros. The Portuguese national team ranks 9th in the FIFA world rankings, Luxembourg 89th. Group J of the Eurocup qualifiers also includes Slovakia (47th), Bosnia (62nd), Iceland (67th) and Liechtenstein (200th). Portugal leads in this zone with 6 played, 6 won, 24 for and 0 against. In the same competition, Spain beat Georgia 7 to 1 and Cyprus 6 to 0. Super goals are at the door in all groups.

Patriots playoffs

Such are the European qualifications, in general, for the Euro and for the World Championships. We are almost embarrassed to say that South America has 6.5 places for 2026, but Europe easily takes 16 outright places. of Europe, which experienced a fiasco in Qatar. In football, all his teams were disappointed, and even France, which Argentina danced for 80 minutes, although in the end they equalized 3:3. Deschamps wanted to tear up the dressing room in anger for a reason. Nor is Mbappé shy of declaring that “Argentina and Brazil do not play matches at a high level to reach the World Cup. “Football is not as advanced as in Europe.” There are so many places for Europe that it is not unreasonable to think about it: Albania, Kosovo, Estonia could sneak in among those 16 national teams. Mbappé will surely, when he finishes his career, score 80 or 90 goals for European teams. In the same qualifiers for the Euro, he made two against Gibraltar and one against Greece.

Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador

I feel the sound of the ball…

Europe gathers 55 associations, but thirty national teams are ranked between 50th and 208th. These are Andorra, Gibraltar, San Marino, Malta, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Feore Islands, etc. Only six or seven have strong football: France, Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal. And none of them have an excess of fantasy. Italy have gone two World Cups without going to the World Cup, and Germany have been eliminated in the first round two in a row. They all tend to nationalize foreigners due to the lack of players, especially South Americans. Italy will soon nationalize even the prop maker.

The current Brazilian national team has nine top strikers: Neymar, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Richarlison, Gabriel Jesús, Gabriel Martinelli, Lucas Paquetá, Raphinha and Antony. Among the seven strongest formations in Europe, they cannot collect such an endowment. In the last game, Germany put Thomas Müller (34), who also does not have 9, in the center forward position. He does not have much more; The concern is that they will host the European Cup next year, and the idea, as always, is to give a very German, powerful, winning image. Europe equates its minor talent with good preparation, excellent coaches and, above all, media coverage, the glamor of its stadiums. Otherwise, plunged into a deep crisis, German football will change its basic model: no more academicism, more pastures, they say.

Paraguay played probably their best game in recent years against Peru. He buried it from all sides, hit six times in the frame, and the fantastic goalkeeper Lima Gallese prevented at least half a dozen goals. But they barely drew 0:0, five days later Paraguay lost to Venezuela 1:0, that’s how it is on this side of the water, more complicated. Venezuela, who were the youngest in South America all along, would never concede 15 goals to Portugal in two games. We dare to bet that, in Caracas or San Cristóbal, that would make him bite the dust. On the other hand, Uruguay, who made a great impression against Chile, winning 3:1, was defeated in Ecuador 2:1 by a very brave tricolor. We should not be ashamed of 6 and a half quotas. Africa and Asia, who have never won anything, have 9 and 8 respectively. Of course, they have many more member countries and it is only fair that they all have the rights and opportunities to attend the big party, but South America has won 10 world championships, 5 Olympic Games, 16 youth world championships, 6 futsal, 5 beach soccer and, above all, created great artists of this game. The World Cup would not have the same flavor without the participation of Brazil and Argentina. If one of our own is crowned again in 2026, Conmebol should claim at least 7 direct spots for the continent. Or 7 and a half. Deserves.

South America is the world’s largest exporter of soccer players to other continents. Their talents not only supply almost every market on the planet, they shine. In May 2023, Brazil was the first world producer with 1289 players, Argentina third with 905, Colombia sixth with 448, Uruguay thirteenth with 338. Lower, Paraguay 150, Venezuela 112, Ecuador 82, Chile 68, Peru 25 and Bolivia 7. The smallest the football region contributes demographically with 3355 players to the others.

What underlines all these achievements is that South American football is the football with the smallest budget and the least political weight in the FIFA universe. Its ten associations out of 211 branches represent 0.4% of the pie. And in this field we also contribute: João Havelange, the only non-European, was the president who spread the game to all sides, integrated Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, created most tournaments, achieved major sponsorships and took over FIFA from an old villa in Zurich with 11 employees to the current giant with a turnover of billions.

South America was again. And our qualifications are by far the best in the world. (D)