The Decline and Fall of the European Empire?

On Sunday night, a Germany side featuring seven players from a Bayern Munich team that had just contested the Champions League final demolished a ten-man Australia 4-0. Elsewhere, the story for Europe's representatives at the 2010 World Cup has been one of conspicuous failure.

Five days into the tournament, a pattern of under-achievement is beginning to form. It started on Friday evening when France laboured to a desperate draw against an equally mediocre-looking Uruguay. The trend continued through the weekend. England drew with the USA, Greece were soundly beaten by a lively South Korea, and Slovenia scraped a narrow win against Algeria. Yesterday and today brought more of the same, with Serbia, Portugal and the defending champions, Italy, all failing to win.

Only Germany’s emphatic victory and Slovenia’s slim one stand as wins for UEFA members against non-European opponents.

Excuses Wearing Thin

When European teams fail outside their home continent, the weather is often blamed. Yet the South African winter was supposed to suit the European nations. Just before the Brazil versus North Korea match, the temperature was reported as being twenty-six degrees fahrenheit, which is below freezing. If conditions are a factor, perhaps it is the altitude, but it is difficult to argue that Ghana benefited more from the high veld than Serbia, or New Zealand more than Slovakia.

Another common explanation is fatigue at the end of a long, hard European season. This seems a convenient excuse. As noted, Germany’s impressive performance was driven by players who had completed the most gruelling slog possible in club football, reaching the Champions League final. The idea that tiredness is a universal cause for poor results does not hold up, especially when a significant number of players in squads from across the world now play their club football in Europe.

A less palatable theory suggests that the World Cup no longer holds the same appeal for modern players, with club competitions offering bigger prize money and bonuses. This feels insulting to the professionalism of today’s players and their inherent desire to win. To imply they do not want to triumph in the tournament with the biggest global audience in football seems a stretch, but it remains a possibility in the tangled web of speculation.

A Crumbling Pedestal

No European team has ever won the World Cup when it has been held outside of Europe. On current form, that statistic seems unlikely to change this summer. The early results provide ample ammunition for any coach facing a European side in the coming days. Imagine the team talk: “Forget about your inferiority complex. Look at their results. They’re not half as good as they think they are.”

The breadth of this early under-achievement gives pause for thought. Italy, the reigning champions, could not find a way past a Paraguay team that had won just one of its previous eleven World Cup matches against European opposition. Slovakia, playing in their first finals, may have already ruined their chances of progressing by failing to beat a New Zealand side many had written off as cannon fodder before a ball was kicked.

These failures have, ironically, cast England’s performance against the United States in a more favourable light. Predictable hyperventilation has occurred in some corners of the British press following the draw on Saturday night. But a draw between the eighth and fourteenth ranked teams in the world is hardly a shock. Supporters preferring their glass half full might even reflect that England have, after one match, done no worse than France or Italy.

Perhaps the seeds of UEFA’s slow start can be found in a simple sense of overconfidence. The psychological effect on non-European teams could now be profound as they realise the giants may not be so giant after all.