Football requires a combination of speed, disciplined teamwork, and artistry. Africans, Germanics, and Latins all consistently do well on it. East Asian teams tend to have the second factor down, the Japanese do at any rate, but the first and probably the third will always be a stumbling block for them.

East Asians – the Japanese being the exception to the rule – do not excel at disciplined teamwork. I don’t know why Westerners assume that this is their strength, because there is no compelling evidence of it on the ground in China. Or the Koreas for that matter. As for the Japanese, I don’t think it comes as naturally to them as it does to Germans, but they make up for it in effort and a very strict shame-based social code of conduct.

East Asians are extraordinarily prone to cheating each other, pulling rank, abusing power, ignoring rule of law, etc.

Africans, for their part, couldn’t hope to compete without European coaches. And even then it’s only their physical talent that makes them somewhat competitive.