Certainly one of the stories of this Cup is the apparent demise of the European Soccer super powers. There are 7 European sides in the top 10 rated teams in the world according to FIFA.

their collective record is 3-5-3, so far, and would be much worse without those two wins by the Netherlands.

Eastern europe, africa, asia, and north america appear to have not only caught up with Western Europe, but at the moment surpassed them.

Maybe it is the water

The big european sides in the world cup with a silverstriker analysis so far

Spain - Lose against Switzerland, huge shock but swiss arent a bad side. Still 2 games to play

Germany - Beat australia 4-0 then slip 1-0 to serbia (though ref did help a little bit) - is a young team with a new manager. Could still take the group, we shall see

England - Sorry can't think of anything positive to say

France - Well didnt deserve to be there in the first place after the handball thing against rep of ireland. Anelka sent home and Henry on the bench, this team seems to have hit the self destruct button - might still progress if they beat South Africa

Portugal - Bore draw with Ivory Coast - seemed to have no determination. Will see what they do against Brazil and North Korea (that is the group to watch)

Netherlands - Have won 2 out of 2

Italy - People forget them and i have already forgotten their first result - cant be bothered to look.

Teams i have been impressed by:

Slovenia - 2nd world cup final and smallest country at the world cup (unless i am mistaken). I would love them to progress and their game with the USA was exciting

Serbia - First world cup as an independent nation (2006 were with montengro) and that was an impressive win over germany

yes, the teams from the balkans have been exciting to watch

I imagine the world rankings will go topsy turvy after this is over

Originally posted by Red Night
yes, the teams from the balkans have been exciting to watch

I imagine the world rankings will go topsy turvy after this is over