Sunday, July 04, 2010

Europe rules!!!

I have myself before talked about how this was in fact the worse tournament for European teams ever, as only three European sides made it to the quarterfinals. But the fact is that now, in the semifinals, all European sides advanced, easily pushing aside the South American sides that had been so talked about. Uruguay is the only non-European side in the tournament and I don't believe that they would have been there had they played any European side on their way to the semifinal (South Corea and Ghana would also have been swept aside by any European team). '
Truth is that European teams simply had an awful draw, running into each other in the last-16, but that they could plausibly have been in all the semifinal matches like it was in 2006!
Although three European giants, France, England and Italy performed poorly, the fact remains that Europe is the center of the world when it comes to football: the European championships are small world cups, and all the best football and players converges to the European leagues. When non-European players return to play for their home countries it is European styles and cultures they take with them, more so than they are giving it to European football!
In footballing terms, Europe rules the world, and it is perhaps also symbolic that the first World Cup on African soil will also be the first which is won by a European team outside Europe (no, Uruguay does not stand a chance), since Europeans brought football to Africa, and in spite of its popularity on the continent, football is as European as any other of the imperialist exports of the old continent.
In any case, no doubt that Europe rules the football world, and that this will continue for many years!

3 comments:

El Erik said...

And may I add that I think Africa, Asia and South America/North America should return one spot in the world cup each to European countries: so, Honduras, North Corea and Nigeria would have been replaced by quality sides from Europe....

JamesR said...

It's certainly true that European football has shone towards the end, but it's definitely the case that in the early stages the South American sides looked far more technically gifted. Really interesting to see the how non-European sides go from here.

Alexi said...

The European football games are so much more interesting - less dramatics and more just playing...can be like watching two different games.