Youth or Experience?


Argentina were the oldest squad at this years World Cup and the final pitted them against one of the youngest squads.  Indeed 7 of the German squad weren't even born the last time that Germany won the World Cup in 1990 - including the goal scorer tonight Goetze and Schurle who set up the goal.  Argentina had 8 players over 30 on their squad to Germany's 3.  Maybe it was the toll of a long tournament on the old tired legs of the Argentinians, especially considering that they had one day less rest than the Germans.  But in the end youth won out over experience.

 Or did it?

 If you look a little deeper Germany's youthful team have experience way beyond their years.  They are the fourth most capped squad in the tournament.  Young players like Muller not only have seen it all before but excelled - young Muller (only 24) was involved in 2010 when Germany beat Argentina 4-0 in the World Cup and he also was the top scorer in that tournament.  Youth and experience are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

 Also as an advantage to Germany is their strong domestic league.  With the German league this time out able to supply 16 of the National Team squad, compare that with only 3 Argentinians playing their club football in Argentina.  Argentina's squad is drawn from all over with 7 in Italy, 4 in Spain, 3 in England, 3 in Portugal, 2 in France and 1 in Mexico.

 The combination of youth, experience and national structure put the Germans in good standing.

 But what if Argentina's late chance went in?  Then what of youth, experience and domestic league?  I would be pointing out that although the English premier league provided 114 players  (next best ITA - 82 players, GER 76 players) for the World Cup, the quality does not seem to have rubbed off on their National side.  Ghana the youngest team fell in the Round of 16.  Only Germany in the top 10 youngest squads made the semi-finals but both Brazil and Argentina in the top ten oldest squads made it as far.  Experience is always not a guarantee of quality either, with Spain the most experienced squad with a total of 1392 caps between the 23 squad members were the first team sent home.  With Uruguay (1149 caps) and Honduras(1078) caps being sent home not far behind them.

 Two tables below with full listing of squads ranked by age, and then ranked by caps (a pretty good approximation for experience although 1078 caps playing for Honduras in poor quality competition and friendlies does not compare in terms of the experience you would gain from 971 total caps playing at the top end of World Football with Germany).
Average ageSquad players over 30Under 24Born since last German WC title (1990)Born since Argentina last WC title (1986)
Ghana25.54112919
Nigeria25.735131217
Belgium26.0617617
Switzerland26.17410914
Germany26.2939716
Korea Republic26.318317
Australia26.4749816
Netherlands26.57710714
England26.67510713
Algeria26.748514
Cameroon26.768612
France26.9449515
Bosnia and Herzegovina27.1649411
Croatia27.2966611
Japan27.3357213
Mexico27.3668415
Colombia27.5726515
Russia27.5887513
Costa Rica27.7186411
Ecuador27.8965213
USA27.9187513
CÃÝte d'Ivoire27.9375512
Italy28.0177512
Chile28.173212
Spain28.3673211
Brazil28.4683312
Iran28.6114212
Greece28.674412
Portugal28.639339
Uruguay28.657449
Honduras28.677439
Argentina29.038109

World Cup 2014 Squad Average ages.  Finalists highlighted.


teamcaps
Spain1392
Uruguay1149
Honduras1078
Germany971
Japan929
Mexico923
Croatia908
Greece892
CÃÝte d'Ivoire883
Ecuador878
Portugal860
USA816
Chile805
Costa Rica793
Italy755
Belgium749
Argentina743
Switzerland741
Ghana702
Cameroon693
Iran689
Brazil682
Netherlands660
England657
Colombia652
Nigeria633
Russia623
Korea Republic607
Bosnia and Herzegovina606
France491
Australia409
Algeria381

Total Squad Caps.  Finalists highlighted.


 

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