South American duo seek to end Europe's modern hegemony

It's been two decades since it was asserted that poverty and dictatorships were indispensable ingredients in producing great footballers. Since then, the World Cup has been the preserve of first-world countries in the European Union. In the past 20 years, Italy, Spain, Germany and France have won the tournament.

Argentina are the defending champions of South America. France are struggling to find their form. Italy are not even going to the World Cup for the second time. Spain are an intriguing proposition. The Dutch are participating in their first World cup since 2014. They have done a full circuit of their managerial roster and Louis Van Gaal is back in charge again. Argentina are threatening a world record. They are playing in the 2014 World Championship.

Brazil are playing in Qatar. They lost to Belgium in the 2018 World Cup quarter-final. Since 2006, they have played five knockout World Cups, winning all of them. In 2002, 12 of Brazil's 23-man squad was home-based. Now, only three of the squad are domestically based. Europe no longer wants the best players from the Brazilian championship. The model is to sell promises to Europe at 18 and invest in players at 19 and 20. Brazil has a bigger population than Europe. The big Brazilian clubs can assemble better teams. European clubs want the players with the most promises.

Vickery believes Lionel Messi's focus on the national team has changed for the better. Vickery reckons Brazil are the favourites for this year's World Cup. He would rather have Brazil's defensive unit than Argentina's. The Rio-based expert reckon Brazil will be at full-stretch in the knockout stage. Brazil and Argentina are both considered favourites. They are also the first and second favourites in their respective betting markets. For Brazil, the tag may be merited this time around, after so many recent failures.

"There are two causes for concern about the team's performance in the upcoming World Cup. They have trained for this eventuality but training is one thing, the game is another."

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