On the morning of the opening of the third go-round of opening-round games, all five South American nations are leading their groups at World Cup 2010.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Uruguay is up on goal-difference. Paraguay and Brazil are up by two clear points. Argentina and Chile up by three. All five are clearly favoured to advance to the round of 16.
At a time when the six-team African challenge has all-but-pancaked. Ghana is leading Group D, but is far from safe. Everyone else save Cote D’Ivoire in last place, and Didier Drogba’s Elephants need Portugal to lose to Brazil, and have nine whooping goals worth of goal-difference to overcome. If Ghana falls to Germany, and the Serbs get a result against Los Socceroos, the entire African contingent could be extinct by Friday.
Africa’s woes have been well-discussed by now. But what is up with the South Americans?
Could it really be as simple as they are all well-used to the Southern-Hemisphere winter, and play at high altitude more frequently than their European cousins, who tend – in general – to play less well away from the home continent?
In the tournament’s largely sleepy opening 16 matches, caution ruled. Only Germany consistently dashed forward and tore it up. The South Americans, in general, weren’t that far behind in their desire to run and push the ball, but were largely unable to connect with the enemy net.
The whole tournament changed, I feel, when Brazilian defender Maicon tore home that goal-line screamer to finally breach the North Korean defence. Since then, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina are practically scoring at will. Chile looks very dangerous, and Paraguay are working their butts off to go forward.
And though it’s quite possible Uruguay and Argentina could yet be drawn against each other in the round of 16, a lot of oddity would have to occur for Chile and Brazil to find each other. Which is a windy way of saying we could yet see five South American flags still flying in the quarterfinals!
On the European side of the coin, Germany’s attacking flare fizzled out in their 0-1 loss to Serbia, and Portugal’s seven-goal avalanche against North Korea may or may not actually prove anything. Yes, the PRK held Brazil off the board for 55 minutes. But anytime you do something globally unexpected in the World Cup, the entire world is – of course – watching. That means the Portuguese had several days to gauge the Northerners’ defensive weaknesses, which they had to because this is the group of death, and if they hadn’t ripped the Koreans for seven, it’s still very possible that Cote D’Ivoire would.
Overall, I find the South Americans far more convincing so far. They look brave, clever – and comfortable. That’s a winning combination, and I’m not really seeing it – for any bankable stretch of time – from really any of the European sides thus far.
Onward!