Teams A (Excellent) Brazil- World cup champions. The best team in this tournament Germany- Unexpected run to the final, because of Kahn Senegal- Good performance as a newcomer. Beat France the ex-champions Turkey- Show good teamwork and determination as a team. Good goalkeeper Rutsu B (Very Good) England- Good defence but has over-rated stars Japan- Second timer, good hosts, went into the second round and lose with dignity. Korea- Good athletes but cannot win the games without help from referees Spain- Show that the are not under-performers this time, but lose out due to bad referee decisions USA- Good athletes. Won Mexico and give Germany a scare. C (Good) Belgium- Show determination to win especially when playing with Russia Costa Rica- Give Brazil a good fight despite being a small team Denmark- Win France, but lose badly to England Ecuador- Have win one match being a newcomer Ireland- Give Spain a good fight Mexico- Young team, nice goal when playing with Italy Paraguay- Give Slovenia a good fight and went into second round Sweden- Show good teamwork but play too defensively D (Average) Cameroon- Good athletes, but had no luck Croatia- Win Italy but their fairy tale does not continue, show up its age Italy- Play too defensively, think they can win with 1-0 Portugal- A team with over-rated players that cannot perform except in the match with Poland Russia- Had a good opening game but fade away in the subsequent matches South Africa- Win Slovenia, draw with Paraguay and came in 3rd in the group Uruguay- Play an exciting match with Senegal and give France a good fight E (Poor) Nigeria- Lost two matches but keep England to a goal-less draw Poland- Lost two matches, but give USA a hard fight Tunisia- Lost two matches, but give Belgium a good match F (Fail) Argentina- The most under-performing team. Players are tired and impatient China- Lose all 3 matches and scored no goals France- The biggest joke in this World Cup Saudi Arabia- The worst performing team in this world cup Slovenia- Lose all 3 matches but scored two goals
Cool. But i would swap Ireland and Japan. I thought Ireland were really good in the WC and gave it their all. Japan tried, but weren't very good. Also, I would put Portugal nad Cameroon in the Porr section. Both those teams were expected to get to the quarters/semis and really underachieved.
A great assessment, Kanasai100! Maybe a little harsh on Argentina, but they were expected to win the whole thing, weren't they?
I would exclude the first two World Cups, as most European teams did not compete in 1930. Portugal were the most impressive debutants reaching the semi-finals in 1966. Wales in 1958 reached the quarter finals, losing 1-0 to Brazil (giving them by far their toughest game) even though they were missing their star player John Charles. North Korea also reached the quarter finals in their debut tournament in 1966. I don't really count Croatia, as they were formally part of Yugoslavia, and many of their players had previous World Cup experience.
1934 was in italy; Europe even had a qulifyer for the torunament, and it was the South Americans (Uruguay, Argentina) that either didn't go or sent bad teams. Still the UK teams did not participate, perhaps that's what he meant?