Spain & Portugal are such great teams, why have they never won the World Cup?

Question

No, I lied i dunno any language to be frank & how come nice day, its still evening here.

Holland won 1974 world cup, didn't they?

Answer 1

First of all, West Germany won the World Cup in 1974 and Argentina in 1978.
The Netherlands have never won a World Cup.
Here is a list of t he winners:

BRAZIL : 5
ITALY : 4
GERMANY : 3
URUGUAY : 2
ARGENTINE : 2
ENGLAND : 1
FRANCE : 1

Year Winner Score Runner Up Host
1930 Uruguay 4-2 Argentine Uruguay
1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia Italy
1938 Italy 4-2 Hungary France
1950 Uruguay 2-1 Brazil Brazil
1954 Germany 3-2 Hungary Switzerland
1958 Brazil 5-2 Sweden Sweden
1962 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia Chile
1966 England 4-2 Germany England
1970 Brazil 4-1 Italy Mexico
1974 Germany 2-1 Netherlands Germany
1978 Argentine 3-1 Netherlands Argentine
1982 Italy 3-1 Germany Spain
1986 Argentine 3-2 Germany Mexico
1990 Germany 1-0 Argentine Italy
1994 Brazil 3-2 Italy USA
1998 France 3-0 Brazil France
2002 Brazil 2-0 Germany Korea/Japan
2006 Italy 5-3 France Germany

A few things of note:
France and England could only win on their home soil.
The only team to beat the Italians in the Finals is Brazil.
Italy and Brazil have been to the Finals the same number of times.
Italy has never lost to Germany in any World Cup Match. Spain and Portugal have never been to the Finals.

Answer 2

Holland never won a WC! For Spain its because they have this tendency to hype themselves up and then barely qualify, and then under preform when they do qualify. Their current manager is not helping that by leaving out Raul. If they can break that habit they can be one of the best teams in the World. As for Portugal...we have only started to become a note worthy team in the last 6 years or so. We were good in the 60's too but then weren't so good after that until about 2000. We've only been in 4 World Cups, we're pretty new on the scene.

Answer 3

Spain was one of the most entertaining teams to watch (along Argentina) in the 06 world cup. I loved the fact that they used a 4-3-3 formation to destroy other teams, meanwhile other teams where playing with only one forward and like 9 defenders. It pisses me off when a team plays all defensively and doesn't take chances, then goes a long way. Unforunately they fell to France, one of the most defensive teams last year.
Portugal is also a great team, although they palyed with only one forward, I don't think they have a midfielder that isn't an amazing goal scorer: Figo, Ronaldo, Deco, Simao, Maniche.....am I forgetting anybody? Unfortunately they also had to fall to the most defensive team in the tournament.

I guess in soccer if you play it safe, you go a long way, and if you play brilliantly and please your fans, kiss your dreams goodbye.

Italy, my second favorite team, played really defensively last year too and got lucky a few times (Australia game, anyone?), they weren't exciting at all. I expect them to do much better in Euro, even if they don't win.

Germany won 1974. Holland has been in the final a few times but have yet to win.

Answer 4

I think that either of those countries have not won simply because of luck. Look at that awful penalty awarded to France in the World Cup that took them to the finals.

Luck does play a part in sport. Sometimes the bounces go your way and sometimes not.

You cannot say that Portugal and Spain are not great soccer nations. THEY ARE!! I am not Portuguese or Spanish, btw.

Answer 5

Spain has very old internal problem: disunity. Spain consists of some area. One of them is Catalonia, which is very dominant. FYI, Barcelona is Catalonia's representative. Catalonians are very proud of themselves and do not admit that they are Spaniards. That's why matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid are very important for their supporters. Another troubled area is Basque. With such problem, usually their players play with no heart. But it seemed that Luis Aragones managed to solve this problem.

Portugal, just like Spain, have great talents, but oftentimes the federation intervene coach's authority, that's why Portugal's coaches before Scolari couldn't work well. Scolari knew this problem and he acted properly.

Answer 6

portugal is not carried by ronaldo first of all. if they are carried by anything its their outstanding defense and goalkeeping. then u got the outstanding wing play of deco, maniche, quaresma, and tiago. if u think ronaldo is carrying that team you havent seen portugal play. To answer that question the reason why portugal lost to france was a phantom penalty on the best defender in the world ricardo carvalho. As far as euro 2004 well they just choked against greece. up until that time portugal was known for choking.

Answer 7

@shanahan learn to speak English
as for the the question its simple, both team are talented but just havent been able to come together as a team to get far into the WC, last year portugal came close but faltered at the End. i predict big things out of these to SQuads in 2010.
SPAIN 2010 WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS!!!

Answer 8

Spain are a great team at the present and do deserve to win something. Portugal are awful and don't deserve to be carried by Christiano Ronaldo. If you think of their teams at the minute look at a country like Uruguay, they've won the world cup a couple of times, YEARS ago, there not good anymore. In contrast look at the names that play for England, they should be a brilliant team, but they can't string it together on the pitch. In general fella, its the excitement of the day, rarely does what you expect on paper happen straight off.

Answer 9

First of all, The Netherlands never won the world cup but they were close at that time. Spain & Portugal get over-confident sometimes. But remember it depends on how they play...GO NETHERLANDS...maybe sometimes just unlucky.

Answer 10

I am going to use a hockey analogy to answer your question...


Last night the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup... they clearly deserved to win.. they were outstanding... Are a fabulous team..thus the Cup goes home with them... However... this was their first cup...they have not won much since they started... have been pretty much a laughing stock of hockey (this includes their initial name of "Mighty Ducks... after the movie... haha)... but this does not mean that they weren't a great team this year...

Same with Portugal and Spain as great soccer Nations... more difficult for the World Cup because it only comes around every four years, unlike the Stanley Cup.....

You obviously think they are a great Nation otherwise you wouldn't even bother to ask this question....