The Greatest Golden Generations That Never Won a World Cup
A golden generation is exciting for any country as the gifted playing group serves as hope of achieving major success. The expectations can be high and unfortunately the weight of expectation is too great. Let's go through the greatest Golden Generations that have never won a World Cup.
Australia (2005-2015)
Australia waited for 32 years between World Cup appearances, qualifying for the 2006 World Cup following a stunning shootout win over Uruguay in a qualification playoff. Their golden generation included Mark Schwarzer, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Mark Bresciano and Lucas Neill among others.
A stunning 3-1 win over Japan in their opening match of the World Cup and a draw with Croatia would advance to side to the knockout stage. In the round-of-16, Australia had Italy on the ropes following a 50th minute red card to Marco Materazzi. Italy scored a highly controversial penalty in the fifth minute of injury time to snatch a grubby 1-0 win. Australia would also qualify for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups but would fail to make the playoffs as the golden generation began to age and retire.
Ivory Coast (2006-2015)
The Ivory Coast had a star studded lineup during the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Spearheaded by Didier Drogba upfront, the Ivory Coast had a superstar attack that included Gervinho and Salomon Kalou, a worldclass midfield with Yaya Toure and Didier Zokora, and Premier League stars Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Eboué at the back. Even Sven-Göran Eriksson managed the side through the 2010 World Cup.
Ivory Coast never managed to make it past the group stages however they came within seconds of doing so at the 2014 World Cup. A 1-1 draw with Greece would have been good enough to send them through to the round-of-16 but a penalty in the third minute of injury time meant that Greece would leapfrog Ivory Coast after a 2-1 win. The reward … a favourable round-of-16 fixture against Costa Rica.
Portugal (2000-2006)
Portugal have been blessed with one of the best players of all-time since his debut in 2003, Cristiano Ronaldo. A young Ronaldo was surrounded by legends including Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, Joao Pinto and Costinha.
They would reach the World Cup semi-finals in 2006 but have since failed to make it beyond the round-of-16. Pinto would retire from the national team in 2002, Costa in 2004 and Figo in 2006 which ended Portugal's best chance to win the World Cup to date. A new potential golden generation may be forming for Portugal led by Joao Felix.
I'll be back tomorrow with part two of the greatest golden generations.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
I think Ivory Coast was the one that had the most competitive team and could have done much more in a World Cup, unfortunately for them they didn't make it.
Drogba was a tank too, absolute animal. Would love to see 2006 Ivory Coast vs Ghana 2014 teams
Drogba was an animal. I agree. Ivory Coast 2006 vs Senegal 2022
Excellent publication as always, this is my kind of sporting blog to read. Good evening!
Ivory Coast was definitely the best team that never managed to take advantage of so many stars they had together, a pity because it would have been nice to see an African team in the last stages of the World Cup.
Didier Drogba was the best and I barely believe if Ivory coast can produce such a player again
Yes I remember the Australian squad, trained by Guus Hiddink! What a coach!
I think you could write so many great teams that have never won a WC. I am pretty certain you can name almost every team that lost a WC final :D
Great article, I am curious to see what the other teams are :)
Loved Cahill and the Aussie team. So unfortunate they couldn't progress any further
The problem is this is a team sport and not about individuals. The last World Cup with Ronaldo bossing the Portugal team was borderline embarrassing and they would have been a far better team without him.
Fair call. Unfortunate for him individuality will only get you so far
Its very sad that, Portugal never achieved a world title, I wouldnt blame the CR7 for his failure, what he did was great for national and club side, Portuguese team is not that strong to hold the match to win.
Australian soccer team is improving, but its not like the heritage signature play of Latin American action.Maybe next time more advances be there.
Unfortunately Aussie soccer last few years has crippled. It's such a shame we didn't capitalise on that generation any further
Portugal couldn't win it then and we have to really question that because it showed more individuality than team work. It just didn't quite work out for some because they more talents they have, the more difficult it becomes as they all want to stake their claim to the detriment of what's best for the team. Just take a look at Belgium. I was rooting for them in the last World Cup.