[Text/Observer Network columnist Li Tianhao]
As Europe's five major leagues pour into more and more Middle Eastern consortia, the center of gravity of European football is shifting. However, in the eyes of many fans, no matter how rich the Middle Easterners are, their own football is the same thing.
However, when Saudi Arabia won 2-1 against Argentina on November 22, perhaps we need to re-understand football in this land. After all, this World Cup is precisely held in Qatar, the home of the Middle East.
Basic facts of the Middle East team: There are world-class stars & tournaments that have reached the last 4
In this World Cup, we can see five Middle Eastern teams: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Morocco and Tunisia.
Historically, Saudi Arabia and Morocco have reached the knockout stages of the World Cup. In particular, the latter was the first African team in history to reach the World Cup main stage, and in 1986 became the first African team to win the top spot in the World Cup group stage.
Saudi Arabia also reached the round of 16 of the World Cup in 1994 and has had five Asian footballers of the year in its history. Ovilan of Belgium, who scored four goals in a row at the 1994 World Cup, was nicknamed the Asian Maradona.
Saudi soccer was not only at the 1994 World Cup, they also won the Confederations Cup runner-up in 1992, when the team eliminated the North American champions of the United States to reach the final, but unfortunately lost to the Copa America champions Argentina.
Although Iran has never reached the World Cup knockout round, there is no shortage of famous players in history. Top star Ali Dei is the first Asian player to play in the Champions League and the first Asian player to score in the Champions League. Before being overtaken by Cristiano Ronaldo, Ali Daiyi had set an all-time national team record of 109 goals.
In addition to the five teams that reached the World Cup, the Middle East has many familiar names.
In its history, he has reached the final of the African Cup of Nations 9 times, won the championship 7 times (the first in African history), and completed the triple crown of the African Cup between 2006 and 2010, and Egypt can be called the king of Africa.
Salah, the team's number one star, has won the Premier League Golden Boot three times in five years, twice reached the top 5 of the Ballon d'Or, and is also one of the best stars in the Premier League and even world football today.
Salah. Image source: IC Photo
Another inspirational name is Iraq, who came out of the war and reached the top four of the Olympic Games in 2004, setting off a wave of Asian football in the World Series.
Then in 2007, under legendary centre Eunice, the Iraqis won the Asian Cup with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia.
There is also a very attractive country in the Middle East - Israel, but their combat effectiveness on the football field is relatively average, and it is not up or down in Europe. Austria has been beaten 5-2 and 4-2 in both the World and European Qualifiers, but also lost to Slovenia and Scotland, often with scores close and one goal decides.
Obviously, in Israel, the most talented people have more career options, and football is not what they most look forward to.
Other teams in the Middle East, such as Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, are also familiar old rivals to Chinese fans, and any one of them has memories that make the national football team look back
The rise of Qatari football: Asian Cup won after scoring 19 goals and conceding one
As the host of this World Cup, the history of Qatari football is also a special taste.
The country did not declare independence until 1971, with an area of just 11,000 square kilometers and a total population of 2.94 million, but only 15% of Qatari citizens.
At the turn of the century, Qatar's population was less than 600,000.
(Image from the Internet, data source - World Bank)
The population is insufficient, and the standard of football is naturally not too high. However, in the 80s, as oil and gas resources allowed the country's economy to take off, the Qatari team, which spent a lot of money to hire famous coaches, also changed its bones.
The Asian qualifiers of the 1990 World Cup in Italy were unforgettable "black three minutes" for countless old Chinese fans. It is precisely Qatar that sent this scene. They scored two goals in three minutes to defeat the national football team 2-1 to finish third in Asia (top 2 qualified), but they were still one step away from the World Cup.
Eight years later, in the round of 10 of the World Cup in France, Qatar, which once again met the national football team, decisively changed coaches in the first 4 games, drew 1 and lost 3 games, and achieved 3 consecutive wins, but unfortunately lost 0-1 to Saudi Arabia in the last game, and once again passed by the World Cup main match.
Black 3 minutes for the 1989 national football team
In 2003, Qatar, which had too much money to spend, but was always so close and far away from the World Cup, invited the famous coach Trusier and drew up a planned list of hundreds of players.
The coach, who has traveled far and wide, wants to use his network to find suitable players to naturalize throughout the Europa League. According to the rules at that time, as long as the players did not play for the senior national team, there was a possibility of moving to other teams.
However, the Qataris took a step too big, and negotiated three Bundesliga players, including the Bundesliga golden boot Elton, by clearly marking the price.
When Qatar announced in March 2004 that Elton and the other three had successfully naturalized and would be able to play in one month, FIFA took action.
Because Trussière's plan, not only Elton, but also Italian star Di Canio, Bundesliga Bremen's champion central defender Ismail, etc., as many as 15 stars who play in Europe's five major leagues.
If successful, the Qatari All-Stars will become an invincible presence in Asia.
In order to restrict Qatar, Blatter, then president of FIFA, specifically changed the relevant provisions, subviding it into naturalized and non-naturalized by blood required to reside in the country for more than 2 years (and later revised to 5 years).
Seeing that the road to fame was blocked, the Qatari king launched a 30 billion euro elite academy program in a fit of anger.
Qatar Elite Academy
By setting up a naturalization selection camp in Africa, arrange well-known scouts to go to Arabia and Africa, select good seedlings of U12, and then select talents from one of them to send back to Asbar Academy in Qatar.
In the first seven years, the total number of young players hired by Qatar alone reached 3.5 million, exceeding the total population of the Qatari country.
In the local Asbeir College, there are 6 teams such as U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, and U18. Each team has 11 coaches and at least 5 staff members, and the supporting resources can be comparable to the first team of the five major leagues.
In the Asian Cup on home soil, Qatar won all seven games (including victories over Japan and South Korea), scoring 19 goals and conceding only one.
Of the 23 players on this championship team, 21 are from Asbeir Academy. The huge investment of the past has laid the way for Qatar to evolve into an Asian powerhouse.
Middle East football development strategy: naturalization/immigration return + youth training
In the Middle East, football development is mainly divided into three models: one is Tunisia, North Africa, which relies on European football to establish a system for cultivating talents; Another representative figure is Saudi Arabia, which has invested heavily in training a group of youth talents; The third mode is naturalization.
Qatar is a combination of naturalization and youth training, and a more luxurious sunny road.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia, which defeated Argentina, once fell to the bottom and missed the World Cup for 2 consecutive years, so they started Saudi Arabia's "2022 plan".
The government has invested heavily in the formation of three teams of U10, U12 and U14, with a total of 450 people, and selected the best 18 young players for key training.
After the success of the first "trials", Saudi Arabia began to start this model throughout the country, and all levels of the echelon invited Spanish coaches to lead the team.
At the same time, in the domestic league, the Saudi Football Association has increased the number of foreign players to 8, and even arranged 7 foreign players to play in a single game, so as to enhance the competitiveness of the league and ensure the growth of a group of elite local players.
Back in 2016, the president of the Saudi Football Association proudly said that the young Saudi Arabs who will shine in the 2022 World Cup are in place, and all they need is time to prove how good their talent is.
This victory over Argentina did have a lot of accidents, but the individual ability of the Saudi players was still convincing. When it comes to playing against and competing with the technique at their feet, they are really not afraid of Argentina's big stars.
22 November 2022, the first round of Group C of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Argentina vs Saudi Arabia. Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Owes jumped up to pick up the ball. Image source: IC Photo
For many countries in the Middle East, their problem is insufficient population, which is also related to war.
Those who left the land because of the war in the early years also have the opportunity to return to their descendants.
In the case of Palestine, they have an immigrant area in Chile, which allows the national team to naturalize several South American players and make the fighting power soar.
In the Chilean First Division, there is even a club called Palestinian, which they also call the "second Palestinian national team." ”
In this World Qualifier, Palestine once won at home to Uzbekistan and forced Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, inexperience, will also lose away to Singapore and Yemen, with great ups and downs, but it is expected to grow into a dark horse in Asian football in the future.
Qatar is hiring from the Arab region of Africa, but more African children aspire to become citizens of France or other EU countries.
But these young African-descendants, in the context of not seeing the selection of European national teams, will also consider returning to their "home countries" and getting the opportunity to appear in major competitions, especially the World Cup.
The province of Seine-Saint-Denis in the Paris region has a special significance in African countries, and despite its reputation for rampant crime, it is still one of the best cradles of football talent.
Countless descendants of immigrants from Africa grew up here, and their parents hoped that their children could change their lives because of football. Countless African children practice the court there.
ESPN writer Simon Cooper once said that the region has produced "more football talent than Asia, Africa and North America combined."
For Morocco, their talent comes not only from France, but also from Belgium and the Netherlands. In the middle of the last century, a large number of Moroccans were integrated into Belgium, and a large number of contract laborers were sent there, resulting in even a large number of African settlements in Belgium.
In the current Moroccan squad, there are four internationals from Belgium. However, the team's most famous Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech played for the Dutch Under-19 and U21 national teams, but he chose his home country as an adult, which once caused an earthquake in Dutch football.
Some of them, not without the strength to gain a foothold in the European national team, still choose to "return". In the words of Amrabat, who has played for many years in La Liga: Playing for the Moroccan national team gives me the opportunity to make a deeper connection with my parents' past.
The Middle East has created their economic advantages due to its special geographical environment. The turbulent situation in some countries will make this nation fortitious and courageous.
There are local tyrants and fighters, they are all working hard for their dreams, whether it is to find fun in football, or to make football a spiritual sustenance and the best means to lead them out of difficulties.
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