The Final: Spain v Italy
Sam, I will concede my ground here because I didn't know that there was no Olympic football in 1932 so Uruguay could not defend the trophy. That would have been 3 Olympics and probably a feat that no modern side could match.
We would then have to decide if pre-1950s football has the same competitive value as football in 1954-2012, which is subjective. I don't think one could dispute that Germany's three World Cups in that era beats Italy, Uruguay and Argentina irrespective of the continental trophies, which may be a red herring either way because Euros and Copa Americas simply were not in the same conversation as World Cups until the 1980s, and since the 80s there's no doubt that South America except Brazil has underachieved in the WC.
Sam, I will concede my ground here because I didn't know that there was no Olympic football in 1932 so Uruguay could not defend the trophy. That would have been 3 Olympics and probably a feat that no modern side could match.
We would then have to decide if pre-1950s football has the same competitive value as football in 1954-2012, which is subjective. I don't think one could dispute that Germany's three World Cups in that era beats Italy, Uruguay and Argentina irrespective of the continental trophies, which may be a red herring either way because Euros and Copa Americas simply were not in the same conversation as World Cups until the 1980s, and since the 80s there's no doubt that South America except Brazil has underachieved in the WC.
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