Khaberni - The prediction made by Argentine legend Carlos Bilardo half a century ago has resurfaced, sparking a wide wave of interaction ahead of the historic match between Morocco and Argentina in the Youth World Cup final.
The match between Morocco and Argentina is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning Monday at the "Julio Martínez Prádanos" stadium in Santiago, the capital of Chile.
Bilardo, the coach who led the Argentine team to victory in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, predicted in the mid-1970s that the future of global football would belong to the continent of Africa in general, adding that Morocco would lead the scene.
Social media users circulated an old clip of Bilardo, known as "the Doctor," confidently saying during a television interview: "I said it in 1975 when we went to participate in the Mohammed V Cup in Morocco: here (in Morocco) is the future of football. Not in Europe, not in South America, nor even in Asia."
Now 87 years old, Bilardo continued his explanation: "In Africa, people still play the game. Here (in Buenos Aires) you walk the streets and you don't find anyone playing football. In the countryside, yes, but if you go to Italy, in Rome or Milan or Florence, you find no one playing. And in Germany, in Cologne or Munich... also no one plays. There is no place."
The Argentine legend concluded his remarks, highlighted by the Spanish newspaper "Marca," stating, "On the contrary, in Africa, football is played everywhere. They have strong countries like Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Morocco, where the game is played with love and passion. And that's good because they have the skill."
Bilardo's statements seem difficult to verify especially since they were made 50 years ago, but with the Moroccan team having finished fourth at the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the Moroccan Olympic team winning a historic Olympic medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and today, with Morocco, the strongest candidate to represent that African vision, reaching its first final in the history of the Youth World Cup, questions arise: Will "the Doctor's" prediction come true at the expense of Argentina itself?
Or will "Albiceleste" rewrite history and prove that the future of football is still being made in Latin American countries, particularly in Argentina.
