This kind of reasoning is one of the most irrational and ignorant ways to argue about football, because it ignores one fundamental fact: different generations produce different outcomes, even when the country’s name remains the same.
Argentina had gone 12 years without winning a major trophy before Messi made his senior debut. So did Argentina suddenly become an easier team to win trophies with simply because Messi played for them? Obviously not. The country didn’t change, but the quality of the generation, the players, the coaches, the competition, and the circumstances did.
By the same logic, Uruguay has two World Cups, yet they haven’t come close to winning another World Cup for 76 years, and their last Copa America title was 15 years ago. Does having a historically successful national team automatically make it easy to win trophies with them? Of course not.
So suggesting that winning four trophies with Argentina is inherently easier than winning three with Portugal simply because the country is Argentina is an incredibly shallow argument. Trophies aren’t won because of the name on the shirt or the country’s historical reputation. They are won based on the quality of the generation you play with, the strength of the opposition, the coach, the circumstances, and what actually happens in the tournament.
If you want to compare how difficult an achievement was, compare the teams, generations, tournaments, opponents, and circumstances during the periods in which the players actually played—not the trophy count as if every version of a national team is identical to the one that existed 10 or 20 years earlier.
🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Football icon David Silva 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 — after 3 years 🇪🇸✨
After three years away from professional football, David Silva is 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 at the age of 40! 🤯🔥
The Manchester City and Spain legend has joined Hong Kong Premier League side Supreme Sha Tin on a short-term deal 🇭🇰
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𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 🪄🥹