Agreed. Although, European teams generally don't live up to expectations (or just find the competition more difficult to overcome) when playing in a World Cup outside of Europe.
South Africa disproved that theory for the European teams that could avoid self implosion unfortunately for the French that doesn't seem possible
I wouldn't say it "disproved that theory" -- I would say it provided a counter-example and warranted the "generally" qualifier as was used in the initial statement. Is it fair to say that European national teams tend to do better (overall) in WCs played on their own continent? Will be interesting to see what happens in 2014, and beyond of course. For a WC finals taking place in Brazil, I tend to think a team like Uruguay might feel more at-home and preform better than would a (very talented) team like France. (With potential self-inflicted team implosions not withstanding, of course.)
The top 3 Euros did fairly well. Well only the Dutch and Spain did well. Germany had 2 GOOD wins, 2 losses, and 3 mediocre games. Only 6 of 12 or 13 Euros made it past the group stage. I suspect that is probably their worst rate of advancement ever. France is looking very good. Of course, being in a group with Spain, they could easily finish second and lose the playoff.
Would be interesting to get the rates (and/or associated data) of every WC finals tournament for the UEFA nations. I'd guess that those WCs played outside of Europe tend to have most of their lower advancement (and "overall tournament success") rates. agreed.
It is true that France has eliminated Brazil from the World Cup three times. But if wikipedia is right, Brazil and France have played 15 times: 6 French wins, 5 Brazilian wins, 4 draws. That's hardly one sided.
Of course that's what really matters, but it isn't the same as saying "Brazil never fares well against France."
... 2011 Friendly: France 1-0 Brazil 2006 World Cup: France 1-0 Brazil 2004 Friendly: France 0-0 Brazil 2001 Confederations Cup: France 2-1 Brazil 1998 World Cup: France 3-0 Brazil 1997 Friendly: France 1-1 Brazil 1992 Friendly: France 0-2 Brazil 1986 World Cup: France 1-1 Brazil, Brazil eliminated on PKs Hasn't been since 1992 that Brazil has found success against the French, and if it wasnt for 92, it would've been 1986...
france has how many world cup titles and at home, like england has one at home i'd rather be brasil than either of those pretenders
Of course, who's to say that the CONMEBOL teams won't fail to show up for "their" World Cup the same way that the African teams (except Ghana) fell on their face in 2010... nothing's guaranteed right now.
Well, Paraguay and Chile have lost a lot of steam. Colombia has become a world power, and Ecuador has improved significantly. Also, Peru and Venezuela have improved but probably not enough to qualify. If the South American representatives are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador, I expect them not to do as well as last time around. Chile may not get out of group, their defending is sub-par. Same for Uruguay, with an aging team. Ecuador also is not very likely to make it out of group. So we may see only three of them in the R16 and only 2 in the QFs. Which would be a much weaker showing than last time around.
south africa did not have real africa weather..it was winter there.. brasil will have brasilian summer. so euros will be crying and sweating a lot
Like South Africa, Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it'll be winter there too. Some of the host cities are near the equator, so they'll be warmer, but most places the weather will be quite mild.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/vacationclimatology/monthly/BRXX0201 rio's winter weather makes euro summer weather pale, still think usa will be better adapted than most other
The average July high in Rio is virtually the same as in Paris. Though I suppose the difference is when they play in Europe, the games are at night whereas the Brazil games will be played in the afternoon. Still it won't be nearly as bad as when the US hosted in 1994. Brazil won that, but 7 of 8 quarterfinalists were from Europe, so I wouldn't expect European teams to just wilt in the heat.
more humid in rio, and it's winter for rio compared to summer for europe i suppose eoru teams have a few weeks to acclimate, usa can do texas or florida and be just fine stari g time in brasil...noon late afternnon and 9pm??