Comments on: World Cup: Europe In Decline While South America Shines http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/06/22/world-cup-europe-in-decline-while-south-america-shines/ News, Politics, And Opinion From Around The Globe Sun, 13 May 2012 17:05:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Oliver http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/06/22/world-cup-europe-in-decline-while-south-america-shines/comment-page-1/#comment-7529 Oliver Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:05:32 +0000 http://newsjunkiepost.com/?p=21152#comment-7529 I'm not sure where Gilbert Mercier gets his "conventional wisdom" from, but it's certainly not from major international tournaments. Rule #1 of international tournaments is "Don't judge teams based on the group phase". First, except sometimes for the last game of group phase, winning isn't necessarily mandatory. The classic example is the Italians in the 80s who drew three times in group phase and went on to win the tournament. The characteristics of the group phase leads to some teams not really focussing on winning the match at that stage. Second, it's a loooooong tournament. Teams who shoot their wad in the group phase have been known to quickly drop out in the knockout phase. Playing a marvelous match in the group phase more often than not is worth nothing towards the title. Both factors come together in so-called tournament teams, like all too often the Germans (but the Italians have done it quite often, too), that is, teams that play better and better the longer the tournament goes on. They will often stumble through group phase but once every match counts, they start to focus better and better and play all the better the more they see the cup within reach. It is especially telling that Gilbert Mercier mentions the Netherlands. The Netherlands were THE star of the group phase in the last UEFA Championship. Come the knock-out phase, they fizzled and went out. Conversely the Germans, runner-up in their group, went on to the finals. Likewise, his comments of the French speak of a lack of actual knowledge of the topic at hand. Rather, he abuses the World Cup for another jab at an alleged French tendency to surrender. Had he actually bothered to look at the last UEFA championship, there would have been precisely ZERO surprise at the French performance, it being the logical continuation of what happened there. Unfortunately, there are few real surprises in the article, and a lot of testimony of talking about a topic one isn't really familiar with... I’m not sure where Gilbert Mercier gets his “conventional wisdom” from, but it’s certainly not from major international tournaments. Rule #1 of international tournaments is “Don’t judge teams based on the group phase”. First, except sometimes for the last game of group phase, winning isn’t necessarily mandatory. The classic example is the Italians in the 80s who drew three times in group phase and went on to win the tournament. The characteristics of the group phase leads to some teams not really focussing on winning the match at that stage.
Second, it’s a loooooong tournament. Teams who shoot their wad in the group phase have been known to quickly drop out in the knockout phase. Playing a marvelous match in the group phase more often than not is worth nothing towards the title.
Both factors come together in so-called tournament teams, like all too often the Germans (but the Italians have done it quite often, too), that is, teams that play better and better the longer the tournament goes on. They will often stumble through group phase but once every match counts, they start to focus better and better and play all the better the more they see the cup within reach.

It is especially telling that Gilbert Mercier mentions the Netherlands. The Netherlands were THE star of the group phase in the last UEFA Championship. Come the knock-out phase, they fizzled and went out. Conversely the Germans, runner-up in their group, went on to the finals. Likewise, his comments of the French speak of a lack of actual knowledge of the topic at hand. Rather, he abuses the World Cup for another jab at an alleged French tendency to surrender. Had he actually bothered to look at the last UEFA championship, there would have been precisely ZERO surprise at the French performance, it being the logical continuation of what happened there.

Unfortunately, there are few real surprises in the article, and a lot of testimony of talking about a topic one isn’t really familiar with…

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