Instances when the best team didn't win the le that year (WC, Euro ,CL, etc..)

[spursistan]

Examples..

1982 WC Brazil

2010 WC Netherlands > Spain IMO..

2004 Euro Portugal >>> Greek Bus

2016 Euro Germany

2012 CL Bayern = Madrid = Barca >>>> Chelsea


Any Copa examples?

[apalisoc_9]

None of these teams were ever the best team or better team.

More talented sure, but a team that plays uts system be it parking the bus etc is a well constrcuted team. A well oiled machine albeit some of them might be against the spirit ofnthe game ( greece)

Still soccer is one if not the only sport where a significantly inferior team in talent can win a tournament as opposed to just a game.

[velik_m]

2010 WC Netherlands > Spain IMO..

Nope. Spain 2008-2012 was number one team in the world and it wasn't even close.

2004 Euro Portugal >>> Greek Bus

Greeks beat Portugal twice on their own turf! How many games would they have to play to prove they were better?

2016 Euro Germany

Germans got too full of themselves. 2016 should be an opportunity to reflect on their play and make some changes. Instead they embarrassed themselves in this WC.

2012 CL Bayern = Madrid = Barca >>>> Chelsea

Chelsea always had talented teams, they almost never were able to put it all together though. 2012 just happened to be their year.

[DAF86]

Meh, highly subjective, tbh. Spain was clearly the best NT in the World in 2010 though.

[resistanze]

Spain's dominance is 3 straight tournaments in that period just reinforces the point they were the best tbh

Chelsea 2012 and Portugal 2016 are definitely examples of flukiness though. Especially Portugal (Chelsea had talent and 2 legs to prove themselves).

[Canyonero]

Every Argentina team since '93 tbh

[spursistan]

Spain scraped a bunch of 1-0 and lost to a Swiss team and people talk about dominance..

I'm glad I actually watched those games and not just looked at their roster They were pretty underwhelming throughout all that tournament including the Final...

[apalisoc_9]

Spain scraped a bunch of 1-0 and lost to a Swiss team and people talk about dominance..

I'm glad I actually watched those games and not just looked at their roster They were pretty underwhelming throughout all that tournament including the Final...

Spain 08-12 is the most dominant tiki taka possession ball of all time. Ofcourse they gonna win 1-0 or whatever. Thats tiki taka

[Spurtacular]

I'd say quite often the clear cut favorite doesn't win the WC. 2010 and 2014 is the first time I had seen the truly best teams win the WC back to back.

[dfens]

Spain scraped a bunch of 1-0 and lost to a Swiss team and people talk about dominance..

I'm glad I actually watched those games and not just looked at their roster They were pretty underwhelming throughout all that tournament including the Final...

son those 1-0 felt like 6-0s. We were on the receiving end in '10 and when these s scored everybody knew it was OVER. That's tactics tbh, nobody had an answer for that midfield and they choked out teams like a ing python .. probably the strongest offensive&pressing midfield in the history of football. Everybody got lucky in '10 when del bosque screwed their tactics and then xavi went tosb and the dominance ship sailed.

[Phenomanul]

son those 1-0 felt like 6-0s. We were on the receiving end in '10 and when these s scored everybody knew it was OVER. That's tactics tbh, nobody had an answer for that midfield and they choked out teams like a ing python .. probably the strongest offensive&pressing midfield in the history of football. Everybody got lucky in '10 when del bosque screwed their tactics and then xavi went tosb and the dominance ship sailed.

Xavi Hernández / Andrés Iniesta / Xabi Alonso / Cesc Fàbregas / David Silva

Is truly a historic... one of the best mid-fields ever... The engine of that squad.

Throw in Sergio Busquets, Jesús Navas, and Juan Mata and it shows you how deep they were at that position.

[dfens]

Xavi Hernández / Andrés Iniesta / Xabi Alonso / Cesc Fàbregas / David Silva

Is truly a historic... one of the best mid-fields ever... The engine of that squad.

Throw in Sergio Busquets, Jesús Navas, and Juan Mata and it shows you how deep they were at that position.

I think most people don't realize how dominant that midfield really was. They won euro-wc-euro without a real striker (villa is a 2nd striker, liverpol torres llorente ) which is just
Also their ELO is just . They forced a massive re-evaluation of tactics world wide, which gave us the wide 3 offenses you see today, very few teams ever force such changes.
They even won the final despite the ref allowing the netherlands (who btw were stacked) to foul the out of them, which shows an impressive control of the game, especially for medium physicality team.

Best team I've seen on the pitch for me, the level of control over their matches was just scary. Other teams are more star studded ('02 brasil) but not as good at actually controlling games (e.g. vs turkey, vs england).
Spain '10 is a true monument to tactical cynicism :
- play open vs them and they'll cut your midfield up and produce chance after chance and win
- play defensive vs them and they press you opponent for a mistake, capitalize, then just exhaust you by moving the ball.

[Spurtacular]

2010 Netherlands didn't seem to think Spain were better. Their tactics were based on fouls, not transition. But I do think as the game wore on, it was to Netherlands advantage b/c Spain lacked finishing that Netherlands had. It's a shame they had that foolish turnover to give up the winner.