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A South American quartet
- Teamwork and technique credited for four-nation foray

Keir Radnedge

This is the first time in World Cup history that four South American nations have reached the quarter-finals. This is a remarkable statistic considering that once upon a time South American nations were more loyal supporters of the tournament than their wishy-washy European cousins.

The present state of affairs here in South Africa is that Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay do not play each other and might even achieve a clean sweep of all the places in the semi-finals. Naturally, European powers such as Germany, Spain and Holland plus last African hope Ghana all hold contrasting opinions.

Yet Conmebol — the South American confederation — is the smallest of world federation Fifa’s six geographical regions with only 10 members and the continent’s success is even more remarkable, considering that Chile lost in the second round “only” to Brazil.

That prompted Nicolas Leoz, president of the South American confederation, to suggest to Fifa president Sepp Blatter that his region deserved to be granted one more slot at the finals in 2014 — over and above the extra place being taken up by the Brazilians as hosts.

Certainly, Leoz can make a strong case — at the expense of either Europe or highly disappointing Africa.

One peculiarity of the twist of South American fate in South Africa is that no one can quite put a finger on the specific reason for the dramatic improvement in results compared with a presence of two nations (predictably Argentina and Brazil) in the quarters in 2006 and one (Brazil, albeit the ultimate winners) in 2002.

Marcelo Bielsa, experienced Argentinian coach of Chile, said he could not explain the sudden change in fortunes. Certainly, the chilly winter climate is not a factor since the vast majority of the South American nations’ players are all with European clubs and are thus well used to similar weather conditions.

However, Gerardo Martino, coach of Paraguay who edged out Japan on penalties, believes South American teams gain an edge from their intense single-league, 10-nation qualifying tournament. Thus they play 18 games compared with European nations who play around 10 each.

Martino believes this instills a higher level of teamwork than is developed among the Europeans in their smaller preliminary groups.

Another theory, supported by World Cup coaching veterans such as Bora Milutinovic, is that the accepted superior technique of South American players has allowed them to adapt better to the new, controversial World Cup football and also to its different, higher bounce at altitude.

Speaking with all the experience of a man who has coached five different nations in the finals, he says: “Every player’s level of achievement starts with his technique. It’s like a normal guy in the workplace. The better you can use your tools, or a computer specialist, whoever, then you have a better chance to be successful.

“At this level of a World Cup, all the players are top players so the difference can be something very small like that. One bounce of the ball, that can be all it takes.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100701/jsp/frontpage/story_12631761.jsp