CAPE TOWN,  (Reuters) – The World Cup pendulum has swung back in Europe’s favour after the South American teams collectively lost their nerve in the quarter-finals. Only a few days ago, pundits were trying to work out why the South Americans were so dominant in South Africa after four of the continent’s five teams made it through to the quarter-finals, against three out of 13 European sides.
Now, the talk is of what went wrong after three of them — including favourites Brazil and Argentina—were knocked out, leaving tiny Uruguay as the region’s only hope
One explanation may be that the teams simply could not handle the pressure which is arguably greater than for their European counterparts.
Former Brazil forward Tostao implied that, in Brazil’s case at least, four years was too long to spend working towards a one month-long tournament.
“It doesn’t make good sense to define concepts and plan the future because of a tournament which lasts only seven games and includes four knockout ties,” he wrote in the Folha de Sao Paulo.
“It is right that the whole of Brazil stops for a sporting event, as if it were a struggle for national sovereignty?”
Brazil, who took an early lead against Netherlands, went to pieces after the Dutch equalised out of the blue early in the second half, completely losing their composure and collapsing to a 2-1 defeat.
The Brazilian meltdown was partly a reflection on coach Dunga who, instead of providing a calming influence, was a picture of uncontrolled rage as he ranted against refereeing decisions from the touchline.
Argentina, beaten 4-0 by Germany, never recovered from conceding an early goal. Their play was rushed and panicky and they disintegrated completely in the last half hour.
Like Brazil, the Argentines had an inexperienced and temperamental coach in Diego Maradona when they could have done with a leader with a cool head.
VERBAL EXCHANGE
Maradona’s pre-match verbal exchange with Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger may have been entertaining but it might have added to the pressure on his own players.
Uruguay, on the other hand, had the composed, unflappable Oscar Tabarez on the touchline.
Paraguay were rank outsiders against Spain but, even then, the pressure was too much for striker Oscar Cardozo who has been happily putting away penalties all season for Benfica in the Portuguese Super League but missed one which would have given his team a 1-0 lead on Saturday night.
Most of Paraguay’s players will now have to wait another four years for a chance to appear on the world stage. Their Spanish opponents, on the other hand, will be at the centre of attention in two months when the next Champions League gets under way.
Another problem is that none of the four South American quarter-finalists have a player to orchestrate the midfield.
Brazil have stopped producing such players almost completely and the only one who has emerged recently, Santos midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso, was considered too young and inexperienced to merit a place.
Argentina’s most distinguished exponent of the role, Juan Roman Riquelme, quit the national team last year over differences with Maradona.
Juan Sebastian Veron had pulled the strings for Argentine in two of their first-round games but was surprisingly ignored by Maradona for the knockout stages.
Paraguay have never managed to find a replacement for Roberto Acuna, who quit international football following the last World Cup.
Their defensive approach got them to the quarter-finals for the first time but, against European champions Spain, they needed something extra which they were unable to produce.