Every soccer fan has a favorite World Cup team. Mine might surprise you.

In this episode I am revealing my favorite soccer nation at the 2026 World Cup — the Netherlands — and going deep on the philosophy that made me fall in love with them in the first place.

We are talking about Johan Cruyff. 1974. Total Football. The most revolutionary system the sport has ever seen — played by a team that should have won it all and came up just short in the final.

Cruyff never got his World Cup trophy. And as a student of this game that still bothers me. Because what he showed the world in 1974 was pure genius. Every player in every position. Fluid, intelligent, creative soccer that nobody had ever seen before and nobody has fully replicated since.

But here is what is remarkable — that philosophy did not die with that loss. It went on to influence every great coach that came after. Guardiola. Klopp. The entire Barcelona dynasty. All of it has DNA from what Cruyff built with the Netherlands.

As a youth soccer coach and GSI founder Total Football speaks to me on every level. Intelligence over athleticism. Creativity over rigidity. Collective effort over individual glory. That is what I try to build in my players every single day.

Today the Netherlands does not dominate the way they used to. The world has caught up and Week 1 of this World Cup already proved it. But that DNA is still there. That identity is still alive.

Their only World Cup final appearance ended in a loss to Spain in 2010. Still waiting on that trophy.

Maybe 2026 is the year.

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