Traditional soccer powers from Europe and South America are back on top and the rest of the world has fallen short.
Four years ago, half of the quarterfinalists at the World Cup were from nations with no history of major soccer success.
Turkey, South Korea, Senegal and the United States gave the tournament a truly global look and two of them made it to the semifinals.
And after some first round upsets this year, unfamiliar faces mixed in with the powerhouses among the last 16 with Australia and Ecuador joining World Cup newcomers Ukraine and Ghana. But of the four, only Ukraine made it to the quarterfinals.
The reality is that, once again, the same names are chasing soccer’s biggest prize.
One of the quarterfinals at this year’s World Cup has three-time champion Germany hosting Argentina, which has won the title twice.
Brazil, a record five-time World Cup winner and also the defending champion, will face 1998 champion France.
Italy, another three-time winner, must get past Ukraine, while 1966 champion England faces Portugal, which is coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the man who led Brazil to its fifth title four years ago.
”The big guys are coming to the quarterfinals. It is getting closer and closer,” Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said.
”It’s getting tougher and tougher. When you come to this moment, you have to put extra and extra and everything into it.”
Six of the eight quarterfinalists have won the title before. Four years ago, that figure was three. Take a look back to other World Cups of the recent past and see the familiar names lining up in the quarterfinals.
At France in 1998, it was Brazil and Argentina against six European teams, including Italy, Germany and the hosts, who won their first title. In the United States four years earlier, Brazil was on its own against seven from Europe but went on to win its fourth title.
Although Cameroon made it to the quarterfinals in 1990, there were six Europeans still in contention and West Germany triumphed.
Before 2002, you have to go back to Mexico in 1986 to find fewer than six teams from Europe in the last eight. It’s not a healthy sign if soccer is to improve its reputation as a true world wide sport.
Maybe on the truly neutral venues of South Korea and Japan, European teams didn’t adjust properly to the climate, time zones of even the food. The Koreans also had home advantage as they went all the way to the semifinals, but that doesn’t explain why Turkey got there, too, and the Americans and Senegalese reached the last
eight. Turkey and Senegal didn’t even qualify this time.
The problem is that Europe, and particularly the big leagues in Spain, Italy, England and Germany, dominate the game. They have the clubs who can pay the top wages and that attracts the biggest names from South America, Asia and Africa. The English Premier League also has seven players from the United States squad that played in the World Cup.
That means national teams in Africa, Asia and North and Central America have to call many of their players back from Europe to play for their countries. When it comes to friendlies, that’s not always possible.
It also gives the Europeans a big advantage.
The entire Italian squad at the World Cup plays in Italy. All but two of England players are in the Premier League and only three Germans will play outside the Bundesliga next season.
Although many of the French players play for clubs in other countries, they are still just a short flight home. The same applies to Spain and Portugal.
The big exceptions are Brazil and Argentina.
The vast majority of their players are in Europe, but at least they play regularly together.
Look at the Brazilian World Cup stars with Real Madrid — Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Robinho and Cicinho plays for Real Madrid, while AC Milan has Dida, Cafu and Kaka.
Argentina has three players from Inter Milan and left three more at home. Of the five Argentina players who are at Spanish club Villarreal, two are here at the World Cup.
While Major League Soccer in the United States is improving steadily and is healthy, soccer in Africa and Asia will never reach any heights because their leagues and clubs will never be able to compete financially with the Europeans and, to a lesser extent, the big South American clubs.
The only way of stopping the trend is to limit the number of overseas players clubs can have on their payrolls. But that would break the strict European laws on free trade and UEFA has already been stung by that.
In the meantime, the likes of South Korea, Japan, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Australia will no doubt be back to Fifa’s big World Cup jamboree.
Once the quarterfinals come around, however, they will be shown the way out. – Sapa-AP