Talk:South American nations at the FIFA World Cup

This article needs to be more Wikipedia-like

I note and realise that this article reflects considerable work and research on the topic. I feel something of a "mean bad guy" for bringing this up, but in my opinion, this article is a long way from meeting many Wikipedia criteria. The first of these is that until this edit on 9 March 2014, the article's Talk page (this page) appears to just be a snapshot copy of the article itself. I'll keep that snapshot below for now, merely to document the "strangeness".

Warning: I will be bringing this article to the attention of Wikipedia's Neutral point of view Noticeboard. I am fairly certain that most people (including South Americans) will recognize at least some bias in the content and terminology used by the article.

I am not suggesting speedy or leisurely deletion, because I think this topic and its neutral documentation is interesting. There are similar articles created by the same editor for five of the six confederations of FIFA (UEFA in Europe are the exception).

As this articles new "self-designated mean guy", I'll enumerate some of the areas of concern I have regarding this article, regarding its lack of conformance with Wikipedia policy, guidelines, and style. I will try to give one example of each concern. That should not be interpreted to mean only instance of each concern exists.

Invalid Talk page content

• The Talk page appears to be identical to a previous version of the article itself (perhaps its initial snapshot).
  

Example: the rest of this page after my comment here.

Violates: Neutral point of view

• This article does not conform to Wikipedia's Neutral point of view policy (in full: WP:NPOV):
  

Example (from section 1978: The first Argentina World Cup title):

They won 6-0 but there were dark rumours that Peru, who had an Argentine-born goalkeeper, had thrown the game. There are several allegations that the government of Argentina struck a deal with the government of Peru that ensured Argentina would proceed to the final. The deal allegedly encompassed delivery of a large grain shipment to Peru by Argentina and the unfreezing of a Peruvian bank account that was held by the Argentine Central Bank. In exchange, the Peruvian team had to allow Argentina to win in their second-round match with a margin that was large enough to go the next round. That margin was four goals. - the cites source is unviewable without a subscription. If there really are several allegations, pick one that can be viewed.

Violates; Verifiability

• This article does not conform with Wikipedia's Verifiability policy (in full: WP:VERIFY).
  

Example: The first reference. It isn't actually a reference, but an explanatory footnote. No source is provided at all.

Violates: Reliable sources

• This article exhibits many contraventions of Wikipedia policy on citing reliable sources (in full: WP:SOURCES).
  

Example: The only source cited in the section: 1996: Search for the guilty violates WP:NOENG (the cited Spanish language source even maintains an English language version). The source does not corroborate the article's claim. I am not authoritatively knowledgeable, but it does appear to be a canonical example of both WP:NOTRELIABLE and WP:EXCEPTIONAL as well as obviously not WP:NPOV. I could find no external review or even acknowledgement of the existence of the cited source (Todos Mundiales of Argentina).

Not written in fluent English

• This article is not written in grammatically correct English. Any article of mine in a language other than English would be much worse than this, but my point is: I don't do that. The article is readable, but needs significant corrections to its English, particularly regarding word order within a sentence.
  

Example: (from the section: 1930s: The inaugural FIFA World Cup, Uruguay's triumph):

So many teams from the South America continent never involved in the Fifa World Cup. (no verb)

The only required component in every English sentence is a verb. or as my English teacher at school would write: "No sentences without verbs."

Unsuitable article title

• The article title does not adequately convey the content.
  

Example: South American nations at the FIFA World Cup

This article isn't just a list, it evaluates their performance at each World Cup.

Unsuitable lead

• The article lead is inadequate.
  

Example (in its entirety: Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every South American country, and 9 members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) have competed at the sport's biggest event - the men's FIFA World Cup.

It doesn't describe the article's subsequent content at all.

Erroneous section titles

• Section titles contain errors.
  

Example 1: 1930s: The inaugural FIFA World Cup, Uruguay's triumph
suggests that the section would cover the World Cups held in 1930, 1934, and 1938. It only covers the first of those. 1934 and 1938 are covered by the ensuing section.

Example 2: 1986: The second Argentina's Word Cup title
"Word Cup"?

Self-contradictory

• Inconsistent information.
  

Example: Section: 1954: Postponed dreams indicates that Uruguay lost the 3rd/4th place playoff to Austria. The next section: 1958-1962: Brazilian domination. 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile indicates that Austria are appearing for the first time since 1934.

All of the preceding (and just the following title) were posted by ChrisJBenson (talk) 15:14, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

The remainder of this page was the Talk page content before 9 March 2014 (an apparent snapshot of the article)

Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every South American country, and 9 members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) have competed at the sport's biggest event - the men's FIFA World Cup.