Why are big guns misfiring?

Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN International. He will regularly contribute Postcards from South Korea to CNNSI.com during the World Cup.

"The soccer world is shrinking," so said U.S. coach Bruce Arena before his team qualified for the second phase of the World Cup for the first time in eight years -- a sensational victory over Portugal and a spirited draw with co-host South Korea having dimmed the memory of a dismal performance at France '98, where the Americans finished with the worst record in the tournament.

But while Arena's team has undoubtedly risen from the ashes, is his assessment about the closing of the gap between the world's top teams and the traditional lesser lights valid?

Well, at the time of writing, the evidence suggests that the big guns are faltering.

World champions France departed ignominiously, goalless, pointless and dubbed even by their own people as a team that's too old and too complacent. Former world champions Argentina soon followed suit after arriving at the tournament tipped as future champions.

The Italians advanced by the skin of their teeth, courtesy of Alex Del Piero's late strike against Mexico. And Portugal's departure was confirmed by a 1-0 loss to the rampant Red Devils of South Korea in their final group game.

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In addition, the CONCACAF region -- which many, myself included, had called one of the weakest regions in world soccer -- has the U.S. and Mexico through to Round 2, while Costa Rica just missed out after a promising run, when they were stopped in their tracks by Brazil. All of which makes it hard to argue against the claim that the chasm has narrowed, at least at these finals.

That said, football is a game of extremes in which any team can be made to look bad by any other on any given day. So any talk of a shift in the balance of power has to be tempered by the fact that tomorrow, the day after, or in the next major tournament, the rising stars could easily be stopped in their tracks.

Credit where credit's due, though. The underdogs do seem to be having their day at the moment at this World Cup, with the Round of 16 featuring a host of former bit-part players on the world stage, including Paraguay, Turkey, Senegal, South Korea, the U.S. and Mexico.

So, what might be the reason for this apparent about-face?

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, whose English double-winners could almost double for the French national team so crammed is it with Gallic superstars, has laid part of the blame on the long and demanding seasons many of the top players face with their club sides.

Intense domestic league and cup competitions allied to equally -- if not more -- competitive European campaigns in the interminable Champions League and UEFA Cup, have, according to quotes attributed to Wenger, left the players drained and in no fit mental or physical state to do justice to their national teams.

Is this a valid excuse? Well, it is true that many of the world's top players ply their trade in Europe. And it's equally true that there's a heightened level of competition for teams from the traditional "Big Four" leagues in Spain, Italy, England and Germany. But, of course, that's why these players are paid the big bucks -- because they have the skills, stamina and, presumably, the mental toughness to cope with all the demands.

Besides, even if the intensity of competition among Europe's elite clubs is on a different plane, an assumption with which I know many people disagree, I doubt there's a player at this World Cup who doesn't feel he gives 100 percent for his club, wherever he plays.

So why wouldn't the mental and physical strain be the same for everyone?

Another reason put forward for the supposed decline of the major nations is that their leagues are too international. In England, for example, the Premier League is chock full of overseas players. In fact, at clubs like Chelsea it's a case of "spot the Englishman."

The result, so the argument goes, is that home players miss out on the big match experience that they once acquired domestically and therefore find it harder to step up to the big stage at international level.

Does that argument have any validity? I believe it might. But as it primarily applies to England, it wouldn't explain why France struggled so badly, or why Spain, which has its fair share of imports at club level, is doing so well.

Whatever the reason, the bottom line at this World Cup is that no team can afford to take anything for granted. The old cliché that there are no easy games in international football, which cautious coaches have been using for at least 30 years, at last seems to be becoming a reality.

Only seven nations have ever won the World Cup, and that may not change this year. But the fact that the big boys have cause to be rattled is making for a much more interesting tournament so far than we might have expected.

 

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