Who benefits from globalization? In terms of football development in general, almost every footballing nation that comes later benefits as training methods and operational procedures follow those of foreign coaches and players, as well as expatriate players coming to play in local leagues.
The same applies to national team competitions. Conversely, what benefit do developed countries gain if not the outstanding talents of immigrant backgrounds choosing to play for them? Returning to the 1998 World Cup , the champions France had nearly half of their squad composed of players of foreign origin, with Zidane, from Algeria, being a prime example. This year, Zidane's son, goalkeeper Luca Zidane, lacking the ability to play for France, chose Algeria and suffered the unfortunate fate of having Messi score three goals against him in the opening match. Unlike Luca Zidane, striker Yasim Ayari did not choose Tunisia, his father's homeland, but instead played for his second homeland, Sweden, and he scored a brace in Sweden's 5-1 victory over Tunisia.
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| Vozinha's spectacular save in Cabo Verde's draw against Spain. Photo: AP |
There's no right or wrong choice here; globalization respects individuality, and the result is understandable: players choose where they can develop and flourish their careers. This is why advanced football nations, already strong, become even stronger, drawing talent from other countries. A delicate, hard-to-discuss but very real issue is the national teams of Curacao and Indonesia, often referred to as "Netherlands Two" or "Netherlands Three," even though their naturalization of expatriates is justified. They've even contributed to expanding the way national teams are built in many countries. Before them, many teams used expatriates and achieved resounding success, such as Senegal and Morocco. Most recently, there's the newcomer Cape Verde, a country where the majority of the population lives in North America and Europe rather than within the country itself.
The World Cup is a kaleidoscope of diverse approaches to football. Without a large population or a pool of foreign players, Qatar has built the Aspire Football Academy, selecting young players from many countries for training, naturalization, and securing a legitimate ticket to this year's World Cup, unlike four years ago when they relied on their host status. Without talented players from their homeland playing in Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Uzbekistan have diligently developed school football and youth academies to produce a large pool of quality players for domestic clubs and for talent development in Europe. This is a suitable and fundamental approach that many countries have adopted, including Vietnam.
Following the World Cup ball rolling through the first round and some of the second round matches, viewers shared in the joys and sorrows of each team's fate. We were thrilled to see many Asian teams successfully compete against stronger opponents from other continents. While South Korea and Australia, a newly joined team in the Asian Football Confederation, gained an advantage after a win; and Japan's draw against the Netherlands further solidified their world-class status, Iran, Jordan, and Uzbekistan clearly lagged behind and were at a disadvantage in the competition against stronger teams.
There have been, and will continue to be, surprise wins and surprise losses, but to compete on equal footing with football powerhouses, developing nations still need to overcome a significant gap in skill level. Therefore, a good match, a goal scored, is already an encouraging step forward. Because of this gap, public opinion generally believes that teams like Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, despite their shaky first matches, will still advance from the group stage.
What left the strongest impression after the first round if not Messi's hat-trick and the seven spectacular saves by goalkeeper Vozinha of the Cape Verde national team, helping his team, in their first World Cup appearance, draw 0-0 against top title contender Spain? Old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, genius and ordinary people all had a chance to shine in different ways. That is the beauty of the World Cup.
Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/the-thao/worldcup-2026/khoang-cach-dang-cap-1045183
