Maximum Optimal
09 Jun 2006, 11:41 PM
Here's the record of European teams against non-European teams in the first round of the last two World Cups.
2002: 12 wins, 7 losses, 8 ties
1998: 11 wins, 4 losses, 11 ties
Note that these results exclude matches involving the actual home countries (France in 1998, Japan and Korea in 2002) since I am interested in home continent as opposed to home country effects.
It will be interesting to see if the 1998 performance is replicated by the Europeans. Already Ecuador has given the non-Euros a quarter of the wins that they got against Euro teams in 1998.
2002: 12 wins, 7 losses, 8 ties
1998: 11 wins, 4 losses, 11 ties
Note that these results exclude matches involving the actual home countries (France in 1998, Japan and Korea in 2002) since I am interested in home continent as opposed to home country effects.
It will be interesting to see if the 1998 performance is replicated by the Europeans. Already Ecuador has given the non-Euros a quarter of the wins that they got against Euro teams in 1998.