There’s players who would trade a champions league trophy for a Copa libertadores trophy

I feel that European dominance in the present world cup era stems from the fact that European clubs are buying S. American players at much younger ages. South Soccer is a lot more physical, with incredible flair, culture, and incredible attacks. I feel that with S. American players moving to Europe at much younger ages than before, this leads to somewhat of a dissonance at a national team level. European soccer is a lot more fundamental and possessive, with S. American players and stars being raised into this system at much younger ages, they kinda assimilate into European soccer. Neymar still has flair to him but the same flair he displayed as a young teen in Brazilian league soccer? Not at all. Two decades ago was much different, CONMEBOL stars developed in South America well between 18-23 before being sold to European clubs; but now they’re going at much younger ages. Endrick Felipe, a Brazilian wonderkid, was just signed by Real Madrid; that kid is 16. When you’re signed between the ages of 8-16 to play in Europe through the UEFA youth structure, it’s completely different from the CONMEBOL youth structure. The 2002 Brazilian World Cup winning team still had a majority of it’s players playing in Brazil. I believe there is a soccer IQ dissonance occuring amongst CONMEBOL teams at the national team level, players raised through UEFA are out of touch with their CONMEBOL roots. S. American soccer is beautiful too, it’s the reason I love the sport as a Honduran/Salvadoran national team fan. You can actually see this in the CONCACAF with Mexican, US, and now Canadian national team stars; they lack the grit that CONCACAF requires. US and Canadian players were the first to complain about pitches outside of the US and Canada, players like Landon Donovan & Cuauhtemoc weren’t shocked by these things because they were CONCACAF raised

I don’t know what CONMEBOL soccer has to do to adapt, to combat this European dominance but i think they have the right idea in wanting to collaborate with CONCACAF more. If they help grow the soccer IQ and advancement within the CONCACAF region, there is a potential to have a more competitive relationship between CONMEBOL teams against CONCACAF ones, to combat falling behind the European dominance. That &/or find national team coaches that bridge the gap between that discrepancy taking place between CONMEBOL players that are UEFA raised.

But i can tell you i am very much tired of seeing European countries dominate the WC, there must be a way for CONMEBOL to show themselves. One of my favorite stories is reading about the 30s Uruguayan national teams. They have 4 stars on their Jerseys (which should be honored and not removed) because they are technically the first team in World Cup history to 3-peat. FIFA was under the IOC, prior to 1930, and the Summer Olympics for soccer was considered the World Cup back then. During 1924-1928 FIFA began planning the World Cup and seceding from the IOC, they started keeping tally of the World Cups title holders from 1924. The Uruguay national team showed up to the 1924 Olympics without any $, they slept on park benches; held exhibitions to raise money. They won the gold in 24’ then in 28’ and were awarded as the first host of the inaugural 1930 World Cup, and then won it! They were also the first national team to have black players back then, one of which was their star, José Leandro Andrade. The only reason Brazil began allowing black players to play was because it was in response to Uruguay. Oh and another thing, the 1924 Olympics was Uruguay’s debut on an international tournament level, and they won it undefeated.

I hope Messi wins all of Latin America is on Argentina’s side!