With so many "more skilled" teams losing to drawing with "less skilled" teams, I thought I would bring the topic up for discussion. IMHO, far too many people focus on skill levels when trying to predict results (for example, France was a huge favorite in Group A). Yet it seems that on the field, team spirit and better fitness often trump superior skill. After all, how many teams other than the USA would have been fit enough to put together a length of the pitch move involving four players in the 91st minute of a match to score the winning goal like they did last night, and how many would have already given up all hope by then?
You always hear US fans chirping about fitness like every other country is just showing up for vacation. Fitness might give you the edge over an Algeria or Slovenia, but last time I checked Brazil, Italy, Germany and Argentina have 14 WC's and it's not because they were the most fit teams. This is football not athletics, and it isn't going to change because of a couple of games at one WC
it's all a matter of degrees. A team with no spirit or organisation, or just plain enthusiasm for the match is pretty much giving away a couple of goals at least from the outset. The skill difference could still be at such a level that allows them to win comfortably. If Brazil went out and were going through the motions, not really bothered, I'd take any half decent team to beat them.
Well obviously all three are vital, if you're missing even just one of those attributes then you're going to struggle. However, if you were to plot it out on a pie chart, skill would definitely come out with the largest percentage. Look at someone like Blanco, one of the most technically gifted players in the world, who, despite being vastly unfit and and at times undedicated, can still shine on the field. It's also fairly obvious that in the lower leagues in football, there are a fair few players who are a damn sight fitter and more dedicated than a lot of players at top tier clubs, but because they don't have the skill level they can never make that step up to the next level.
Considering most players in the WC play top-flight club football, it´s doubtful any are out of shape. France didn´t look any more technical than South Africa, Uruguay or Mexico.
I would say the least important of them is heart. If you have skill you will be good at the start of the game but if you don't have the fitness you will automatically drop in skill level later in the game. So going by that overall skill but fitness complements skill more than heart does.
I think it needs to be understood that the same nations won't always have the most talented squads. France and Italy for example weren't teams with a huge advantage in skill over their competitors, and they have far from their best-ever squads in 2010 in terms of natural talent. Neither were very creative (which is partly to do with skill, partly imagination). I also think belief, confidence and enthusiasm contribute to how much 'heart' a team is deemed to show and these attributes are influenced surely by skills, fitness and team cohesian, plus individual freedom too. Fitness is likely to be fairly equal among modern teams but natural stamina, plus attributes like pace and athleticism that aren't related to skill or technique, can be an advantage throughout a game and maybe more towards the end.