‘Asia’s chances of winning the World Cup better than Africa’
changsha (china) — Asia has overtaken Africa and now looks the more likely continent to produce a World Cup-winning team, according to the former England goalkeeper David James.
Speaking at the World Football Forum in Changsha, James said Asia’s financial clout and passion would propel it to the forefront of the game in the coming decades.
“I genuinely think that an Asian country has got a better chance of winning the World Cup than an African one,” the former Liverpool goalkeeper told AFP.
“When I was growing up in the Nineties, it was all about how Africa was going to be the next continent to win the World Cup. I can’t see it.”
James was referring to Brazilian legend Pele’s famous prediction that an African team would win the World Cup before 2000, which turned out to be wide of the mark.
No African team has made it past the quarterfinals, and although Asian sides flopped at the last World Cup in 2014, with none reaching the knock-out rounds, South Korea reached the semis on home soil in 2002.
Currently, Asia’s top-ranked team is Iran at 28, while South Korea, Japan and Australia are the others inside the world’s top 50.
But James, whose CV includes playing for the Indian Super League’s Kerala Blasters, said China and even India — ranked 81st and 100th respectively — could emerge as World Cup contenders.
“I think there’s such fertile soil (in Asia). Maybe the financial aspects of China provide that,” said James, 46, who made 53 England appearances.
“But I think with the enthusiasm for football in India, plus there is obviously a financial potential to back them, I think the opportunity is massive, massive.
“There’s something like twoand-a-half billion people if you take the two countries, it’s a third of the world’s population.”
The World Cup will return to the Asian confederation at Qatar 2022, and China is actively considering a bid to host the tournament, probably in the 2030s.
China has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on foreign players and coaches after an official decree that the country hopes to host and win the World Cup.
But James said he was also optimistic for India, recalling crowds of 50,000 turning up to watch Kerala Blasters. —