From being a stroll in the park for South America’s teams at the ongoing 19th Fifa World Cup in South Africa — as many as four of them having qualified for the quarterfinals — it has all gone horribly wrong. While not many will shed tears for Paraguay’s elimination, the defeats handed out to Brazil and Argentina by Holland and Germany respectively have come like a kick in the stomach to the Latin style and flair that these two teams in particular espouse. That leaves Uruguay as the only side to keep the flag flying from a continent that has produced nine champions from the previous 18 editions of the World Cup, and is in itself a comment on how much and how quickly the game is evolving and changing. Argentina’s loss is particularly painful simply because of the ease with which Joachim Loew’s men dismantled their challenge. Four goals in a quarterfinal encounter is a scoreline expected when two completely mismatched teams meet, but that was not the case here. On the day, the Germans were the far fitter, far better prepared side on the park, representing the value of meticulous planning and focused attention to detail going into every match. After the first phase of the tournament, there were signs to suggest that teams from Europe were up against it. Defending champions Italy and 2006 runners-up France never even made it out of the group league stage of the tournament and in the round of 16, England followed them home. Between them, the three have won the World Cup six times and it seemed that the colour, riotous noise and fervour of the South African fans — even the outrageously loud drone of the vuvuzela — was proving too much for them to handle. In contrast, the teams from Latin America had thrived, having sent six teams into the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, four of them were left standing, but in the blink of an eye that has changed completely. Holland pulled the trigger first, subduing Brazil’s hard-charging style with an display that negated coach Carlos Dunga’s attempt to impose European efficiency on a team that believes in style first and last. Diego Maradona’s Argentina fared even worse, meticulously picked apart by a German side that had an answer to every question that Lionel Messi and Company could pose for them while Spain outduelled plucky little Paraguay in a game dominated by shredded nerves.
The Europeans thus look poised to add to the nine titles they have won at the World Cup so far. This will also level the score between Europe and South America on neutral soil. Eight years ago, Brazil won the first World Cup to be played outside of Europe or the Americas when they emerged champions at the tournament co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. This time, between them, Spain, Germany and Holland look set to repay the compliment as they have emerged as the three most dangerous teams at the business end of the tournament in South Africa. Germany and Spain were jolted once each in the league stage, the former losing to Serbia and Spain starting out on the wrong foot with defeat at Switzerland’s hands, but have improved almost match by match subsequently. Holland, on the other hand, seem to have set aside the mental fragility that has dogged their World Cup campaigns of the past that saw them implode despite playing some gorgeous football in 1974 and 1978. But this has been a tournament of massive upsets already and so many teams that had looked untouchable already having taken the flight home — England and Portugal to name just two — that still more seismic shocks may very well lie ahead in the four matches that remain, the two semifinals, the third-place playoff and the final next Sunday.