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New world order? The more things change, the more they stay the same
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) -- One of the most widely held views at the 2002 World Cup was that the finals heralded a shake-up in soccer's world order. South Korea, Senegal, Turkey and the United States all enjoyed fantastic tournaments, leaving in their wake a long line of traditionally successful countries including Italy, France, and Argentina. Yet when the dust settled, the two most consistent teams in the competition's history appeared in Sunday's final and the most successful one -- Brazil -- won for a fifth time. The fact is that there is nothing new about talk of "changing world orders" or that when it comes down to trophy time, the cream rises to the top. The last three tournaments also featured some major shocks as likes of Cameroon, Bulgaria and Croatia upset some of the established big names. But once the dust had settled the finals read as follows: Germany v Argentina, Brazil v Italy, Brazil v France -- hardly a minnows' gallery. SEVENTH FINAL This year Brazil and Germany were both appearing in their seventh final. It seems that if there has been any major shift in the relative strengths, it has been largely in the chasing pack of countries snapping at the heels of their pedigreed betters. The "second tier" group is now enormous, with some countries dropping in and our according to form, and others making a more consistent impact. Only France have made the leap from also-rans to world elite -- and their dismal display here shows that even the World and European champions still lack the consistency of the superpowers. Not enough of the other up-and-coming countries have sustained their challenge for a long enough period to support any claim for a fundamental shift in power. In 1990 Cameroon stunned holders Argentina with a shock first round victory, going on to become the first African team to reach the quarter-finals. Their performance inspired Pele to predict an African team would win the World Cup before the end of the century but only Senegal have managed to match Cameroon since and the semi-finals have remained an Africa-free zone. AFRICAN CHAMPIONS In the three tournaments since 1990 Cameroon have won just one of nine matches, failing to get past the first round, despite arriving at this one as African champions. In 1994 Bulgaria came off a run of 15 World Cup games without a win to sweep into the semi-finals, beating Germany along the way. In 1998 they went out in the first round with just one point and this year they failed to qualify at all. Sweden followed up their 1994 semi-final slot by failing to qualify four years later and Croatia, who were the surprise semi-finalists of 1998, went out in the first round this year. The 2002 quarter-finals featured, for the first time, teams from all five major soccer federations and had the fewest European teams -- four -- since 1970. However, come 2006 in Germany it seems inconceivable that South Korea could repeat their heroics away from home, while Turkey and Senegal will remain outsiders for a return to the last eight. Of all the countries to make inroads, the United States are probably the best-equipped to continue their upward curve. A predominantly young squad have established themselves as the pre-eminent force in the CONCACAF region and with a huge schools soccer program in place and potentially unlimited resources, they could really make a move. U.S. coach Bruce Arena, whose team narrowly lost out in the quarter-finals to Germany despite playing most of the good football, seems to have got it about right. "The soccer world is shrinking but on any given day we can beat anyone," he said. "At the end of the day the Brazils, Germanys, Englands and Italys will always be there and although we still have a way to go, the gap is closing." Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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