MARTIN SAMUEL: Germany are favourites to beat France and whichever European superpower triumphs, they should hold no inferiority complex about what lies ahead
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There have been four World Cups in South America and each
has been won by a South American team. That is about to change. Not
because a European country is certain to claim the trophy in Brazil. The
hosts and Argentina remain favourites. Yet even if a South American
team is victorious again, the majority of the players will take their
medals back to homes in Europe.
Continental drift gives European elite of Germany, France, Holland and Belgium chance to storm ultimate fortress in Brazil
- The four World Cups held in South America have all been won by a South American team
- Argentina and hosts Brazil are favourites to win this summer's tournament
- Majority of South Americans play club football in Europe
- Germany, France, Holland and Belgium are the four European representatives in the quarter-finals
- Colombia and Costa Rica make up the eight teams left in the competition
There have been four World Cups in South America and each has been won by a South American team. That is about to change.
Not
because a European country is certain to claim the trophy in Brazil.
The hosts and Argentina remain favourites, we know that.
Yet
even if a South American team is victorious again, the majority of the
players will take their medals back to homes in Europe.
VIDEO Scroll down to watch Belgium train as Jan Vertonghen says they can stop Messi
Favourites: Host nation Brazil have regularly been tipped to win the World Cup this summer
Much-fancied: Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria celebrate after Argentina's victory over Switzerland on Tuesday
This is not 1978, when just one of
Argentina’s world champions, Mario Kempes, played outside Argentina.
Kempes, who had been two seasons with Valencia before helping his nation
triumph in Buenos Aires, was the first South American world champion
not to be based in his own country.
At this tournament, it would be
easier to list those that remain. Even Colombia have only three players
in their Liga Postobon, and four who play in Argentina.
Brazil’s
squad contains five players who did not even play what would amount to a
full season in their domestic league before departing - including Hulk,
whose career at home amounts to one game for Vitoria of Salvador in
2004.
So when France and Germany meet tonight in the Maracana Stadium
in Rio de Janeiro, it should be with no inferiority complex about what
lies ahead.
Europe will be guaranteed at least one representative in the semi-finals, perhaps as many as three.
Indeed, the most eye-catching, emphatic performances of the competition so far - Spain 1 Holland 5, Germany 4 Portugal 0, France 5 Switzerland 2 - have come from the Europeans, even if the outstanding individuals - Neymar, Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, Luis Suarez - have been South American.
Indeed, the most eye-catching, emphatic performances of the competition so far - Spain 1 Holland 5, Germany 4 Portugal 0, France 5 Switzerland 2 - have come from the Europeans, even if the outstanding individuals - Neymar, Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, Luis Suarez - have been South American.
High five! Holland's emphatic victory over Spain was one of the outstanding matches of the World Cup so far
VIDEO Team Profile: Netherlands highlights
Progressed: Romelu Lukaku scores against USA to see Belgium make it through to the quarter-finals
Icon: Mario Kempes was the only member of the 1978 Argentina World Cup squad not to play in his homeland
Times have changed. A trip to the southern hemisphere is no
longer so daunting for players who travel in the Champions League on an
almost weekly basis and regularly undertake pre-season or mid-season
trips to distant continents.
In 1930, when the first World Cup was
held in Uruguay, the four European participants, Belgium, France,
Romania and Yugoslavia, all left on the same ship, along with the three
European referees, FIFA president Jules Rimet and what was to become his
trophy.
The hosts won, but it wasn’t a complete disaster for the
European visitors. Yugoslavia beat Brazil and Bolivia, Romania defeated
Peru and France got the better of Mexico. Only Belgium did not record a
victory over a continental rival.
In 1950, when the World Cup came
to Brazil the last time, the prospect of travelling across the Atlantic
was still so alien that Scotland, Turkey, Portugal and France qualified
but chose not to compete. The group stage record of the European clubs
against South and Central American opponents, then, is very creditable:
they lost only two of 10 games, and won six.
Nothing to fear: France have impressed at this summer's tournament having breezed through the group stage
Team effort: Germany have been seen one of the tournament's favourites since before it started
VIDEO Team Profile: Germany highlights
In 1962, in Chile, six
of the eight quarter-finalists were European, even if Brazil defeated
Czechoslovakia in the final. So the idea that it is impossible for a
European country to win on South American soil, while evidence-based to
here, is not unreasonably challenged.
Certainly, the Germans, who
have not failed to make it beyond the World Cup’s group stage since
1938, looked very at home at their Rio de Janeiro hotel base on Thursday. A
viral illness had affected a number of the squad, but those who were
fit and able happily bathed in the sun by the swimming pool, signing
autographs, posing for photographs and looking very relaxed.
Bastian
Schweinsteiger went for a walk along the beachfront alone and returned
surrounded by an excited mob. There were screams and squeals from
supporters kept behind barriers every time a player made an appearance
on his balcony. The player waved, the fans squealed some more, and some
held up perfectly inscribed pieces of card, explaining why they needed
a T-shirt signed.
Very ordered autograph hunters, the Germans. None
of this chasing Mesut Ozil down the road shouting, ‘Oi mate’. They
would have an Arsenal replica shirt, with his name on the back, plus a
legible, formal, written request clearly displayed and a black marker
pen ready. It was almost as if, instinctively, they knew the drill.
Being German, they probably did.
Settled: Germany have made themselves at home at their Rio De Janeiro base this summer
Considering the envy for this German team in England, there is a surprising swirl of dissent around
Joachim Low and his selections. There is criticism of his back four,
which amounts to a quartet of centre-halves, and fury that this means
he now plays Philipp Lahm in midfield, echoing his new role under Pep
Guardiola at Bayern Munich.
Further negative Catalan influence is seen
in Low’s preference for a false nine, with the squad’s only striker,
Miroslav Klose, on the bench. Fine when putting four past Portugal, less
so when taken to extra time by Algeria.
Certainly, Lahm will have
his work cut out on Friday night, up against arguably the most powerful central
midfielder in the competition, Paul Pogba of France. Comparisons with
Patrick Vieira now seem very apposite, although in time the Arsenal man
thinks they will come to flatter him. He feels Pogba is more capable of
changing games going forward, and is probably right.
Even so,
Germany remain narrow favourites.
‘We have big ambitions, more than ever
now we are in the last eight,’ said Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle.
‘When you
come to a World Cup with Germany, you are expected to win it.’ Ozil was
in agreement.
‘We would be legends as the first European team to win in
South America,’ he added. 'We can beat anyone on our day.’
Star man: France midfielder Paul Pogba has been compared to compatriot Patrick Vieira
VIDEO Team Profile: France highlights
IIt will
be hot at the Maracana, 30 degrees, but there was a heatwave in Germany
in the 2006 World Cup, too. Certainly the climate hasn’t been the killer
of European ambitions that many suspected. Manaus was difficult, but
when England played Uruguay in Sao Paulo, for instance, the temperature
was more conducive to a European team than a South American one.
Germany
think the debilitating bug may have been caused by a sudden drop in
temperature in miserable Porto Alegre, having got used to the sunshine
of Recife. Given the vast travelling distances involved, jetlag seems
more of an issue than sunstroke right now.
How great a part will be
played by continental allegiance, though, remains to be seen. Does the
fact that Brazil and Argentina have almost as many players who are based
in Europe - 18 and 19 respectively - as either Germany, France, Holland
or Belgium mean South America’s advantage on their own continent is at
an end?
The locals even have a name for the Brazilians who play
abroad - estrangeiros, they call them. Foreigners. Of the four still
based in Brazil, two are the reserve goalkeepers, Jefferson and Victor.
The first-choice goalkeeper, Julio Cesar, now plays for Toronto.
Strangers: Brazilians who play in Europe, like goalkeeper Julio Cesar, are called foreigners by fans
Maybe
that is why the Brazilian national anthem is sung with such passion and
conviction by the team, some with tears running down their cheeks.
Exiles are often the ones who most crave emotional connection with the
homeland. Low, Germany’s coach, even believes this is a potent force
that makes the South Americans harder to beat.
‘They are all at home
here, but it is not just about that,’ he said. ‘The South Americans,
even the Central Americans, want to show their class on their home
continent. They want to show the world “This is where we come from”.
They will do whatever is necessary to satisfy the fans and the nation.
They are strong teams anyway, so with that, it is no surprise to me
that they play well. You can feel that emotion.’
For a while, though,
the Maracana Stadium will echo to old world rivalries tomorrow, but
estrangeiros await the winner in the semi-final. That will decide what
matters in Brazil: where you’re from, or where you’re at.
The ice men cometh! Germany prepare with bowls of freezing water in their dressing room as players cool off from searing heat
Germany's players won't be feeling the heat ahead of their
quarter final tie with France - their dressing room preparations will
provide quite the opposite effect, in fact.
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