It must be a record. Of the 13 UEFA sides at the World Cup, (who themselves make almost half of the World Cup field) over half of them have failed to make it out of the group stage!

Of those, only Netherlands, Belgium and France can say they made it through comfortably, while Greece and Switzerland (despite the latter being aided of a laughably lopsided draw thanks to the skewed ranking system) had to leave it late to get through after earlier pantsings.

The Germans I watched their Ghana match with were relieved to secure a late draw to say the least, and nobody could possibly say their three points were assured over the full 90 minutes against the US in their 1-0 win.

All the rest are headed home: Russia deservedly so after tonight's limp performance against against Algeria I just witnessed here in St. Petersburg, following their inability to recover from Akinfeev's fail against Korea. Croatia, to be fair, had a very tough group, but they were the only European team, so in some people's minds they surely should have been favourites, right?

Bosnia also failed to qualify in a group with only non-European competition, and Portugal, who only just got a late draw against the US, are going home while the latter nation derided as "thinking soccer is just the thing you pick your daughter up from" is still in Brazil.

As for England, Spain and Italy: :lol:

With the growing economies and middle classes in the populous developing world, and the professionalism of football along with it, could 2014 be the year they look back on as the beginning of a new era?

Edited by paladisious: 27/6/2014 08:31:22 AM