rumor has it that nelson mandela might surface tomorrow
I think France is fucked anyway but if that happens that place is going to be nuts!
i completely agree. the euro sides are looking disjointed this year and france has it worse than anyone.
there's this theory as to why the central and south american clubs are doing really well and europe is struggling. it's all really a matter of chemistry and focus. the south americans tend to have more nationalist focus than the europeans due to the clusterfuck that is the pro league landscape in europe. you've got so many "big leagues" whether its the premiership, serie A or the bundesliga in such a constricted continent that players are shuffled around the same way they're shuffled around here in the states in any of our major leagues. these are superstars that are progressively losing their national loyalties and are instead soccer mercenaries. there's another very unique system in place in euro leagues: loan. you can loan a player out to another club midseason (usually in another league). after the loan is over, the player returns to his club. loyalty to club? loyalty to profession? no wonder loyalty to nation is lost somewhere in there...
in south america, however, most players are unable to leave their nation to play ball in europe unless they're outright godly (your messi's and kaka's) so they end up playing in their own leagues. even those who play in europe have a stronger sense of nationalistic pride. europe has, over the past decade or so, effectively stressed a union of sorts that has blurred some lines (at least psychologically) that once existed before... lines between france and england, spain and portugal, that used to actually get teams really pumped up to play with pride and their best. but these are now full of filthy rich superstars that would rather ensure they're able to continue earning paychecks for man u than in group stage.
what you get is france and england, all star teams chock full of badasses playing well short of badass. italy is waiting to play an important game (wtf?).
maybe the euro sides that are left in contention (i'm talking to you, italia and england) decide they have important games to play and show up big.