The Qatar World Cup may be the last time Messi and Neymar will play in the World Cup, and whether they can defend the honor of South American football will be one of the biggest highlights of this World Cup.
However, South American teams have been unable to win the World Cup for 20 years. At the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Brazil lifted the Hercules Cup for the fifth time. Since then, the Sambas have always been eliminated by European teams in the knockout rounds.
Brazil lost to France in 2006 and was eliminated by the Netherlands four years later, lost at home to Germany in 2014 and Belgium in 2018.
Argentina was even better against European teams, knocking out Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands all the way to the 2014 World Cup. However, the Blue and White Were eliminated by Germany in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and by France in 2018.
With four rounds left in the South American zone of the World Preliminary Tournament, Brazil and Argentina have locked the World Cup tickets in advance. In the qualifiers, their supremacy remains untouched.
In the World Preliminaries, Brazil remained unbeaten, while for two and a half years, Argentina remained unbeaten and broke the spell of not being able to win the championship, which made them look forward to the World Cup in Qatar.
Such confidence may come from their excellent defense. For a team, winning a championship often depends on defense. Brazil's defense has been excellent since Tite took charge, while Argentina has improved significantly.
Martinez and Romero, who took the position before the Copa America, made up for Argentina's two shortcomings, especially the former. The Argentine media regards Martinez as the only top goalkeeper in Argentine football in the past 20 years, and the famous Diego La torre even voted Villa goalkeeper the best player of the year.
Another reason for South American teams to see hope is Euro 2020, although the game is wonderful, but in this European Championships, there is no really strong team, and Italy, which eventually wins the championship, may not even be able to play in the World Cup.
Euro 2020 gives the impression that European teams are generally strong, but each has its own problems and there are no real champions. Including France, Germany, Italy, England, Belgium, there are 10 teams that have the strength to beat Brazil and Argentina, but they are not absolutely sure.
The third factor is that the Qatar World Cup will be held in November and December, rather than the traditional June and July. This is a huge change, and the most important one is that it takes place in the middle of the season.
In the last 20 years of the World Cup, the biggest problem has been that the players are tired. In argentina, which reached the World Cup final in 2014, for example, Sabella let Messi, Higuain, Aguero and Di Maria play at the same time, scoring more goals but conceding more goals.
In the knockout rounds, Sabella realized that the players' physical strength was not enough to support such tactics, so they switched from attack to defense. In the four knockout games, Argentina played extra time in three games and they scored only 2 goals. Di Maria was injured, Aguero was also affected by injuries, and Messi's performance declined. In the final, Higuain played a single knife, there was a psychological factor, but there was also a physical factor.
At the Qatar World Cup, they finally won't have the same problem, and when the World Cup reaches the final, they are at the peak of their physical fitness.
By the Time at the Qatar World Cup, European teams may be able to perform better than they did at the European Cup. To break the spell of not being able to win the championship for 20 years, South American teams should work harder.