I wanted to create another game thread because I am bored during summer vacation and I thought this would be interesting.

In my European History class this past school year, we had to do a project in which we had to change a moment of European History and analyze what would've happened then and how it would affect the present now. If you want to know, I chose what would've happened if Napoleon had successfully conquered Egypt in the 1800's (I got full marks and if anyone wants to know what I said, I have my paper and would love to share it here).

I really enjoyed this project and I wanted to do something similar like this except with football/soccer.

I want you guys to come up with a "what if scenario" that has happened in football/soccer and give an effect that would've occurred at that instance and the present.

When giving the effects, write it in the sense as if it happened rather than "this would've" or "this could've." Be affirmative and strong with your opinion. Speaking of opinion, this is completely based on what you think would've happened and you may debate about it if you feel like it.

I know my wording was terrible so I'll just provide an example.

Scenario: What would've happened in Asamoah Gyan made the penalty in the 120th minute vs. Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup?

Effect 1: Ghana would move on to the semifinals where they would've played the Netherlands. With the entire continent of Africa behind their back, they are able to send the game to a penalty shootout and win to advance to the finals where they play Spain. In this match, they lose 2-1 but they make history as being the African country hat has made it the farthest in a World Cup. Suarez would've been suspended for the first match of the 2014 World Cup.

Effect 2: Ghana is viewed as a force to be reckoned with in football and they win many Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and their players have the confidence to do good in future tournaments. Kevin Prince Boateng is one of the most stable midfielders, having found a club in the BPL to play after his amazing performances in the semifinals and finals.

Now it is your turn. Be as creative as you want too!

Ghana would have gotten hammered by the Dutch. The Netherlands was so good that year, only reason they didn't win the final was because of Robben's miss.

@SunFlash You do bring up a good point however, I feel like since the entire continent of Africa would be rooting for Ghana, it would make it hard for the Dutch to concentrate or even perform at a high level. Similarly, Ghana has a home court advantage (sort of) so it would be easier. If this happened on any other continent, what you said would've happened for sure.

i think the game would have finished 0-0 and ghana win on penalties.
in the final. ghana would lose 2-1 to spain after scoing the first goal.
the whole of africa would have been proud of them even if they did not win the tournament and ghana would go on to win the africa cup on nations many times and boateng would go to real madrid for a huge fee and flop there.

@liomessi

boateng would go to real madrid for a huge fee and flop there

10 on 10, that actually could have happened. XD

^^^ You guys should come up with your own scenarios and effects. I want to see how interesting things will get. In fact, I'll do another scenario.

Scenario: What if Cristiano Ronaldo signed with Arsenal from Sporting CP instead of Manchester United in 2003?

Effect 1: Ronaldo has trouble making his way into the first team due to high quality players such as Thierry Henry and Bergkamp and him not liking Arsene Wenger. This is also during the unbeaten Arsenal season so Ronaldo is limited to a bench role for about 4-5 years before requesting a transfer elsewhere. He is selected for the Euro 2004 squad, however, he doesn't feature prominently. He is then known as CR9 instead of CR7.

Effect 2: Ronaldo is jumping between teams every 2-3 years, struggling to find a place to call home. Despite this, he is able to become Portugal's lead man but still, they would not be as good and they would get eliminated in Euro 2016. After heavy transfer rumors, Ronaldo returns back to Sporting CP after his contract is over with some random team (idk... maybe Sevilla or AS Monaco lol).

he would sit on the bench for 1 season and then get sold to man city where he will do well for one season and get sold to inter milan and win stay for 2 years, winning the scudettoin his first year and the chapions league in the next. he will then go to real madrid while ibra goes to barca. eventually he will be classed on the same level as let's say robben is now.

Here another scenario, what if Barca would have chose not to recruit Messi as a young player?

Effect: He never leave Argentina in his youth and while he manage to gain a certain reputation in south America, he is unknown in the rest of europe for a while. After ending up in River Plate and playing there for some year, he get an offer to join a BPL team and chose to go. His time in England however is difficult and he get injured far too much to make an impact, he end up going back in Argentina, regaining his form and joining the national team as a sub. Meanwhile Ronaldo win 7 ballon d'or in europe while Iniesta win one in 2010. Ronaldo is also considered the best player of his time and he is loved by nearly all since there is no comparison between him and someone else (who look more humble).

Not much really... The only thing that would have changed would be my intense hate for Suarez. Netherland would have a confortable win against Ghana anyways. Probably Van Bronckhorst wouldn't have scored the best goal in the cup.

@Tuanis In my opinion, had Ghana scored the penalty, Suarez would still be hated due to his controversial bites and incident with Evra, but nobody would bring up the fact that he is hated because he used his hands to stop the ball. Anyone in that instance would've done the same. Similarly, I don't necessarily think people hate Suarez as much for using his hands but rather, his celebration following Gyan's miss.

Here is another one:

Scenario: What if Lewandowski had signed with Blackburn Rovers if it weren't for the Icelandic volcanic eruptions?

Effect 1: He is their lead striker and put up a decent amount of goals but since he is virtually unknown to other clubs, nobody knows about his full potential.

Effect 2: He is selected for Poland's Euro 2016 squad but is put to a bench role and rarely sees active minutes. His potential is never reached and his records with Bayern and Dortmund cease to exist.

He would have played great there and earned top scorer in the championship and blackburn would get promoted to the premier league.
He would then move to a mid table english team and finish in the top 4 and then move to atletico madrid and play great there and not leave for a few seasons and then move to the premier lawague. He would ened up on the same level as diego costsa

Love this thread, so imaginative! Here's a scenario:

What if Oliver Kahn hadn't made those inhumanly brilliant saves in the WC2002 Quarterfinal against USA?

Effect: USA would have reached the semifinals to face Korea. They had already drawn with Korea earlier in the tournament, this time they would have won and reached the finals against Brazil. They would have lost the finals, but this would have been an incredible result for USA, a team which had been ranked last in the WC 4 years back. This would have propelled MLS to new heights and more and more players around the world would have joined MLS earlier in their careers. Europe's world domination on domestic football would have been broken and the Club World Cup would become bigger than the UEFA Champions League.

Ha yeah I read about it in my college paper. FastEssay helped me a lot. Actually I've been trying to open my own alternative school but rules aren't that simple. So for now I'm just studying and hoping for the best

Great one.

Netherlands would have still won easily against Ghana that year despite the whole continent is behine them, so what, the whole stadium is the max effect.

Now this one is interesting:
- What if there was no SHOES flied from Sir Alex to David Beckham (ofc that wasn't the only reason), and he stayed. What would happen to the 2 legends Beckham and Ronaldo7. Would he go to Arsenal and indeed be benched, because without Sir Alex's guidance I dont think he would be the Ronaldo today.

What if Greece wasn't humiliated by Faroe Islands in the Euro qualifiers?

Claudio Rainieri would not be sacked and shamed by Greece,
would not have ended up at Leicester
Jamie Vardy would not have broken a record with his 11 game goal scoring run.
Leicester would not have won the cup
Tottenham probably would have.... or arsenal!!!

What if Liverpool had not won the Champions League in 2005?

Immediate effect: they would not have made it back the next year despite being 5th, Everton would have taken their place in the following season and probably not achieved a whole lot.

Longer-term effect: the Top 4 Era might have never truly cemented, with only a solid Top 3 instead, and a revolving door of competing teams. Mourinho might have won more domestic cups, with Chelsea having bought Gerrard, and Jamie Carragher would not be a pundit, since he would have won Fu.ck All without Stevie.

What if Mansour had not bought Manchester City?

Immediate effect: the shaking of the Top 4 would not have taken place, with United and Arsenal both keeping stars like Tevez and Adebayor, and Manchester would continue to be utterly red.

Longer-term effect: clubs like Arsenal would have kept Clichy, Nasri, Sagna, and would probably have done better in Europe than they managed to. Gems like Aguero and Kompany would likely have gone to teams like United or Chelsea, who would probably have each won another title. In addition, Tottenham would have qualified for the CL for the last 6 years in a row.

What if Higuain or Palacio scored in WC 2014 final from their easy chances ?

...... if you know what I mean.

What if Laporta took Beckham instead of Ronaldinho ? Since Ronaldinho was second transfer option ?

Barça would have stayed out of top 4, no sportive rise, no financial rise, no fanbase rise.... Messi wouldn’t have had Ronaldinho as mentor. Henry would have gone to Madrid or another club instead.....
Espagnol derby would have been an even game lol...( I can troll them nobody is around lolz )

What if Marco Van Basten didn’t had his injury that stopped his career at 24 yo ? Or Phenomeno ?

Top 5 best in History and probably GOAT for Phenomeno. Best Brazilian of all time already dribbling machine...

@tiki Didn't even knew Beckham was considered by Barca before they ended up signing Ronaldinho. Thing could have been so different so easily. Still, its an interesting thought. Thanks for the share.

Yep Beckham rejected Barça, the rest is History...

@tiki I guess Barca can consider themselve lucky in a way. :P Not saying Beckham wasn't a good player, just, Ronaldinho fitted Barca way better imo.