On a serious note, this World Cup organized in the southern hemisphere has been the tournament of the South Americans till now with four of the five teams making it to the quarterfinals. And even the fifth one—Chile—went out only when it faced fellow South Americans in the pre-quarterfinals. The fall of Europeans can be gauzed by the simple fact that for the first time in history just three European teams have made it to the quarterfinals. All four South American teams may well be sent packing in the next round, but nothing can change the fact that four out of the five teams from the continent made it to the last eight of the tournament featuring 32 countries.
Both the finalists of 2006 failed to make it to the second round in this South African edition. To be honest, neither of them deserved to advance and fittingly finished last in their respective groups. Four-time champion Italy finished fourth in the group that had New Zealand and it wasn’t due to poor luck or brilliance of the opponents but sheer lack of quality on its part. Many critics had grumbled that the Italians didn’t have quality to win even the last World Cup but obdurate coach Marcello Lippi didn’t add value to the victorious team that beat France in final and expected the ageing squad of 2006 to deliver four years later. He was also not helped by the injuries to playmaker Andrea Pirlo and talismanic goalie Gianluigi Buffon.
The less said about the French squad the better. France had quality to at least make it to the quarterfinals if not better but there was distinct lack of harmony among the players and coach Raymond Domenech who helplessly had to see even his reputation of an astrologer take a serious beating. There were already critics who attributed the run to the 2006 final to the leadership of legendary Zinedine Zidane. But the fact that the referee was somehow blinded to notice the hand ball of Thierry Henry that set up the clinching goal against Ireland to book a ticket to South Africa made one believe that he can indeed build the team’s success around the arrangement of stars. But the astrologer in him couldn’t see what was coming as he sowed the seed of discontent in the team stripping widely-respected Henry of captaincy and handing it over to Manchester United left back Patrice Evra leaving several players peeved at being overlooked for the honor.
All four South American teams may well be sent packing in the next round, but nothing can change the fact that four out of the five teams from the continent made it to the last eight of the tournament featuring 32 countries.
The majority of players wanted Henry in the starting line-up and Domenech lost so much of authority that striker Nicolas Anelka lashed at him to shut up when the coach questioned his performance during the halftime of France’s second group match against Mexico which the French eventually lost. When the French Football Federation decided to kick Anelka out of the World Cup Squad, the players refused to train ahead of the last group match against host South Africa, which they went on to lose, and forced the coach to read a statement criticizing the Federation’s decision to oust Anelka on behalf of the players.
Much was made of the comment of former World Cup winning German captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer that England was foolish to not win its group. But the German legend was fair in that winning the group would have given England a relatively easier passage to semifinals leaving it just two wins away from the title. But the disastrous draw against Algeria left England with the unenviable task of getting the better of Germany and then Argentina in successive matches to just reach the last four. Its abject failure against Germany in the pre-quarterfinals was on expected lines but the manner of the knock-out blow was not. Having defended miserably to go 2-0 down in the first half, England bounced back and got one goal through defender Matthew Upson, who was to blame for giving away the opening goal to Miroslav Klose. Frank Lampard then soon smashed the ball across the goal line, in the 10-minute stretch when England managed to compete in the match, but the officials failed to see the goal which almost the whole of the spectators, that included the controversial FIFA President Sepp Blatter, saw.
Many would argue that it was poetic justice for the phantom goal in the 1966 World Cup final between the two countries. But it was not even close enough to be doubtful like the Geoff Hurst strike that bounced off the goal line after smashing the woodwork, which ultimately gave England its only World Cup title. It is futile to ponder on what might have been, but there is no denying the fact that the Lampard goal could have given England the momentum and the young Germans may have cracked under the stress of having let a 2-0 lead slip through their hands. FIFA President Blatter has apologized, probably for the first time in his life, to the England Football Association for the blunder and promised to discuss on the issue of using the goal line technology in future. But even the most hardened of English fans would concede that England did not deserve to reach the quarterfinals on evidence of the performance over four matches.
The quarterfinal lineup has thrown up two mouth-watering clashes with the Germans taking on archrival Argentina and Brazil facing the Netherlands. The Germany-Argentina match would be particularly interesting for the approach that would be employed by the Germans. Germany has traditionally succeeded with its defense-oriented tactic that put premium on grinding out results. But this young German side has passed the ball beautifully and attacked from the beginning. If the Germans persist with this new-found attitude, it would make for a wonderful viewing with Argentina possessing its own share of electric forwards led by Lionel Messi. Argentina has an edge over Germany winning eight of the 18 matches with Germany winning just five and has also won the last match on March 4 this year when Gonzalo Higuain, who currently leads the goalscoring charts in South Africa, scoring the only goal in Munich. But Germany has a 2-1 advantage in five matches in World Cup and had edged Argentina on tie-breakers in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup at home. Their previous two World Cup showdown had come in the finals of 1986 and 1990 with Argentina and Germany winning the respective titles.
Brazil and Holland have also been closely matched historically with the South Americans holding a 3-2 edge in nine matches but they have a 1-1 record in three World Cup matches with Brazil edging the Dutch on penalty shootout in their latest encounter in the 1998 semifinals. The current Dutch players may back themselves on exacting revenge this time around on the back of terrific front trio of Wesley Sneider, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie but it would be tough to down the current Brazilian team that coach Dunga has meticulously built on solid defensive foundation and quick counter-attacks.
Spain looks the best team among the remaining eight and may well win its first World Cup but the burden of history, if not Pele’s curse, may prove its undoing. The fact that no team has ever won the title after losing its first match may also put additional pressure on the Spaniards. The winner of Brazil-Holland tie would be delighted to face either of Uruguay or Ghana in the semifinals but Spain would have a tougher test against Argentina or Germany after facing Paraguay.
Argentina and Brazil are the only countries to win World Cup outside their continent with the latter triumphing on every continent it has been held till date. If one of the three European teams eventually go on to break the duck outside Europe, the purists would at least get to argue that the title was won with flair and not the obdurate European defense.
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