Winning the most prestigious tournament for your country can transform you from a footballer into a national hero overnight. Teams that have done it in the past are considered as the teams of legends. It requires versatility, character, and talent to get there. As FIFA World Cup 2018 reaches its quarter-finals stage, let us look at an analysis of what common ingredient the previous three champions had that helped them clinch the ultimate glory.
2006 – Italy
Italy was one of the superpowers of world football when they went on to win their fourth world cup title 12 years back. On their road to glory, they went on to beat giants like Germany and France. The Italian squad that did it was full of players who played for AC Milan and Juventus. Milan played the UEFA Champions League final in 2003, 2005, and 2007, while Juventus were the runner-ups in 2003 and dominated Serie A. These world cup winners played together at club level.
2010 – Spain
That Spanish squad could be thought of as one of the best international teams ever. They brought the beautiful passing game to life and dominated world football for more than four years. It’s interesting to notice that 8 out of 11 regular starters were from Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. That was the period when FC Barcelona was ruling European club football. These players later went on to be regarded as footballing legends. The names include the like of Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, and Busquets.
2014 – Germany
Germany winning the world cup four years back was no surprise to anyone. They had a squad that was efficient in all the departments. Again, almost all of the regulars who played in 2014 were either from Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund. Bayern have been dominating German football for ages, and are quite lethal at European level as well. Dortmund’s success story between the years 2009-2013 is nothing new for us. The team was full of champions who had already faced the heat of winning big silverware.
Unlike the previous three tournaments, there is no team with such a combination of players this time. The tournament is wide open, and no one can predict who is going to get there. Who would have thought that one of the teams between Croatia, Sweden, Russia, and England would go on to play the finals? Germany and Brazil were the hot favourites when the tournament started. This has been a tournament of the underdogs so far, and like always, this game has amazed us all yet again.
Comments
- Advertisement -
