re: France

quote:

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Wha? It's a known fact that France mines African countries for iron ore, gold, and soccer talent.

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That's not really accurate. The current iteration of the French team only Evra is born outside the country. In earlier iterations the players were either from French territories, France itself, or were born abroad and moved to France at a young age. The fact remains that French team in your picture had five of the best players to ever play the game, in Henry, Makelele, Zidane, Thuram and Vieira. The French youth system was responsible for developing those talents, and are responsible for stocking the national teams of numerous Francophone countries in Africa. The French youth system is one of the best in the world. On par with the Germans and the Spanish.