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If Saturday’s rematch between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury is half as good as their first fight, we’re in for another royal rumble. Back in December of 2018, the two undefeated heavyweights went 12 rounds in a split decision draw with Fury arguably outboxing Wilder by landing more punches, but with the Bronze Bomber twice dropping the Gypsy King to the canvas.
They’ll go at it again at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with the WBC heavyweight title on the line — a belt that’s passed through the hands of fighters like Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko and now Wilder.
Now imagine if soccer used an equivalent knockout system to determine a world champion, one that began with the very first international match ever played (England vs. Scotland in 1872) and continued to this day with the holders retaining the belt in the event of a win or draw, or passing it to their vanquishers in the event of a defeat.
You don’t need to imagine anymore because that’s exactly what the Unofficial Football World Championships are. And it’s been a wild ride for the belt of late.
It’s something of a rarity in the competition’s long history, but France actually unified UFWC and World Cup titles back in 2018. The belt was bouncing around South America for a while before Peru headed to Russia as the holders.
But they lost it to Denmark in the group stage, Denmark lost it to Croatia in the Round of 16 and Croatia lost it to France in the World Cup final. It’s since passed from France to the Netherlands (Nations League match) to Germany (Euro 2020 qualifier) and back to the Netherlands (another Euro 2020 qualifier).
Since earning it on Sep. 6, 2019, the Dutch have successfully defended the UFWC title for five straight matches. Northern Ireland came closest during a 0-0 draw in Belfast back in November, but the Oranje are steadily building on an all-time ranking of fourth in the UFWC standings. The nation has contested the belt on 91 occasions and won 56 of them. Only Argentina, England and Scotland (the greatest UFWC participant of them all) have won more.
Standing in the way of the Netherlands reign? Why, that’s the mighty USMNT.
The next scheduled Netherlands fixture is on March 26 against the USMNT at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven. It’s an international break so both sides will be a full-strength as they — probably unknowingly — contest the game’s greatest title.
The USMNT has only had this opportunity on seven other occasions. They’ve won it twice, most recently holding the belt back in June of 1992 after defeating Portugal in a friendly before promptly handing it to Australia. Classic.
The only other time the USMNT has been UFWC holders was following one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history — the 1-0 win over England in Belo Horizonte back in 1950. They then got smacked 5-2 by Chile.
I have calmly and patiently withheld my Gregg Berhalter judgment up until now, but if we don’t take that belt from Ronald Koeman’s men and then subsequently use it to bash Wales over the head with in Cardiff in four days time, then I’m going to riot.
