Are the Minnows the real Champions of the World Cup?

Now don't get me wrong, England were shambolic on Friday and I was crying into my beer after their night’s dismal performance. However after seeing Italy draw and Germany, France and Spain losing to smaller, lesser known teams it occurred to me that the so called minnows are on the rise.

A possible explanation is that some of the coaches from the smaller teams are from europe and have at some point managed in the european bigger leagues. Additionally some of the players are now playing in the leagues across Europe. Indeed half of the Algerian team were born in France and play their club football in the French league.

Another factor is the role of the multi million pound Champions League and how it has affected world football. As the prestige and status that is associated with winning this competition seems to have taken some of the gloss off taking part in the World cup.

Players like Nicolas Anelka actively seek to move to top European clubs just so they can take part in the Champions League. Yet when it comes to performing for their country in the world cup they seem to fail miserably.

Take England for example the last time we did well in the world cup was in 1990 a time when the Champions League was called the European cup and 'The Premier League' had yet to be established. Foreign players were virtually non-existent and English clubs were banned from playing in Europe due to trouble with fans.

Therefore Italia ‘90 was an exciting opportunity for the English players to play on the world stage and prove themselves amongst the world’s elite. They certainly achieved this by reaching the semi-finals and finishing 3rd overall with Gary linker taking the golden boot. This was England’s best ever World cup performance since 1966

Fast forward 20 years and the Champions League is in full flow, world class international players like Messi, Ronaldo & Kaka are playing against each other every week. Thus the World Cup is no longer the only place where football superstars can meet and play against each other.

Here in England ‘The Barclays Premier League’ has been well established and top players from all over the world are making big money moves to play in the world’s most famous league. An impact of this is that England players are now mixing it with the big stars and have become international superstars in their own right despite not having any form of international success since 1966

For the minnows however, who’s players don’t have the opportunity to play in the Champions League, they now have their chance to play against the best. Just like England did 20 years ago on that warm summer’s night in Turin.



The 'minnows' of Switzerland celebrate their goal against Spain