There was a time not so long ago where a victory against a side of the likes of; Italy, France, Spain or England from an underdog nation would raise eyebrows across the whole world wide soccer community. France and Italy in the last world cup in 2006 were the two finalist nations, both these teams disposed of every team trying to end their winning streak, and as for Spain, well they were the victors of the Euro 2008 and an extremely feared side to play against. England's problem is that their goal keeper's are all seem to have a severe case of the buttery fingers, but that aside all of England's out field players are exceptional when they play at club level and when they bring that to the international stage they usually don't lose.
Four years later and these teams mysteriously are a shadow of their former glory as their getting their asses handed to them by lesser nations. I'm sure im not the only one sitting at home watching these sides play thinking to my self that if I were the coach of that team, and I had all the raw soccer talent at my disposal, that I could surely make something spectular happen. Although most of the teams have picked themselves up from there crash landing of a start in South Africa, France seem to be the only side to have taken on some irreprable damage.
France this year is a side that I'm particularly dissapointed with. As a passionate soccer fan the French national over the years have a been a team that have produced some of the best soccer I have ever seen and as a result I'm a fan of many of the team's players. However this World Cup France, considering the kind of fire power they have, have been the worst team in the competition im my opinion. The team has failed to pick up a victory in all the games they played, and the sides they have played havn't exactly been teams with as talented squad nted as France's. They drew with Uragauy, lost to Mexico and the biggest shock of all, they lost to South Africa.
I'm not a fan of the French national team, I'm a fan of the amazing way they play the beautiful game, or at least they used to play it. I just hoping that they can re-group, fire their current coach and start playing the way everyone knows they can.
I read an article that reminded me of your post recently. It focuses more on how the U.S. is making its way into the international soccer elite and less on the fall of other traditional powerhouses, but I thought you mind find it interesting. Here's the link:
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