Next Sunday at the Lusail Stadium, Argentina will have to overcome two droughts: that of 36 years in which it has not won the World Cup and the two decades in which the American continent has defeated national teams without any of its representatives. European.
And no American team has won soccer’s most important trophy since 2002, when Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the final of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, allowing Europe to assert clear dominance.
The beginning of the domain
Until the Korea-Japan World Cup, Europe and America – more specifically South America – had held the same titles. Since Uruguay’s first cup victory, which they won at home in 1930, they have alternated in their conquests, almost always taking advantage of the home advantage of playing on one continent or another; If someone advanced, it was almost an unwritten rule that they had to be caught in the next edition, and at that very World Cup in 2002, there were eight championships for each continent.
And Brazil won the first edition held outside of these two territories. He counted America’s nine conquests compared to Europe’s eight, but from that moment equality ended and European hegemony began. In Germany 2006, no American team reached the semifinals, so the title fight between Italy and France ended in favor of the Italians.
Four years later it was almost the same, because although Uruguay sneaked into the final, it wasn’t enough and the championship was decided by Spain and the Netherlands in favor of the Iberians. It wasn’t until 2014 in Brazil, when the World Cup organization returned to America, that a South American representative finally returned in the final game with Argentina, but unfortunately Germany won in extra time, becoming the first European to lift the trophy on American soil .
In Russia 2018, this trend continued and four teams from the Old Continent met again in the semi-finals, ending the battle for the crown between France and Croatia, which ended in a resounding victory for the French. In Qatar 2022, Argentina finally managed to advance to the final stages; However, the French team seems to be the rival to beat in this edition.
In 2002, America won nine titles, Europe had eight; Today there are 12 stars on the Old Continent, with the possibility of increasing the number to 13.
A very select list
In these 20 years of hegemony, little has changed about the world champions. Only Spain was able to join this very select list in 2010, while others such as Germany and Italy increased their harvest from three to four crowns, as did France, which achieved its second star and is now aiming for the third. Only missing from this list of the old continent is England, which became champions in 1966 and could boast of having repeated all its monarchs in their heyday.
On the American side, it has become very clear that apart from Brazil (with five titles), Argentina (with two) or Uruguay (also with two), no other team has a chance of fighting for the championship; and in these 20 years only the Albiceleste has managed to reach the final twice.
Qatar is a neutral country where another continental battle is being fought; a favorable place to extend European dominance or begin the American resurgence.
