Four of final eight will be from South America

[yisman]

Colossal failure by South America. 3 out of 4 were heavy favorites to win and 2 lost outright and one didn't win in regulation and advanced on pk's. So we have 1 team in the semifinals from South America and 3 from Europe. If this is considered a successful World Cup for South America I would like to know what is considered a failure.

what you completely ignored was that it was a very successful World Cup at the point.

Now it wouldn't be considered one.

I even said as much. I said I thought Europe would win the World Cup, but to that point, South America had vastly outperformed Europe, and no one argued with that except for you, because it was very obviously true.

[Dark Horse]

I even said as much. I said I thought Europe would win the World Cup, but to that point, South America had vastly outperformed Europe, and no one argued with that except for you, because it was very obviously true.

I disagreed as well.

[pavyracer]

what you completely ignored was that it was a very successful World Cup at the point.

Now it wouldn't be considered one.

I even said as much. I said I thought Europe would win the World Cup, but to that point, South America had vastly outperformed Europe, and no one argued with that except for you, because it was very obviously true.

You obviously have no idea how the World Cup works. The first round is the qualification. You get 8 first place teams facing 8 second place teams. The round of 16 most if not all first place teams advance. So the real games start in the quarterfinals where first place teams face each other. And that is when you find out the pretenders from the contenders. You also need to check the pre-World Cup odds. The best 4 Euro teams based on odds to win where Spain, England, Netherlands and Germany. 3 out of 4 made it to semifinals and one didn't because they faced each other earlier in the rounds. So out of the best 4 Euro teams 3 advance to semifinals. For South America the best 2 teams to win based on odds where Brazil & Argentina with Uruguay not even in the picture. Brazil and Argentina didn't make it to semis. Uruguay did. But Uruguay was favored big in both games vs South Korea and Ghana. So they did what was expected based on odds.

[yisman]

You obviously have no idea how the World Cup works.

No, unfortunately, that's what you've displayed in this thread. A complete lack of understanding of a basic statement regarding the tournament, which was obviously accurate if you paid any attention to the tournament.

Apparently you have not. You could just go to fifa.com and educate yourself, but I guess you're too stubborn. Oh well. More entertainment for me.

Feel free to check the performance of South American countries vs. European countries in the group stage.

[pavyracer]

I have been watching the World Cup since 1978 when it was first televised and I missed a handful of games all these years. You need to wait until the quarterfinals until you find out what teams are successful. I dare you to go to Brazil and Argentina and ask any of their fans if they were happy they won first place in group play and lost in the quarterfinals and see what they tell you. You find one Brazilian and one Argentinian that they were happy with their team's performance and I will buy you an airline ticket to visit Rio and Buenos Ayres.

[yisman]

I have been watching the World Cup since 1978 when it was first televised and I missed a handful of games all these years. You need to wait until the quarterfinals until you find out what teams are successful. I dare you to go to Brazil and Argentina and ask any of their fans if they were happy they won first place in group play and lost in the quarterfinals and see what they tell you.

Again, you completely miss the point.

I didn't say South America would end up with the most semifinal teams, or would win the World Cup. I said to that point, they were having the more successful tournament, which was true. Your posts aren't even attempting to argue the point now, so I'll assume you concede. You're now focusing on saying that Brazil and Argentina are unhappy with their performance, which is obviously true, and is also obviously irrelevant.

You find one Brazilian and one Argentinian that they were happy with their team's performance and I will buy you an airline ticket to visit Rio and Buenos Ayres.

Did I say Brazil or Argentina was pleased? They expect to win it all, so how would they be pleased not making the semifinals?

[pavyracer]

It seems that what you consider successful in different than what I consider successful so lets analyze the odds to advance to round of 16. Brazil and Argentina were favored to win the group. Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile where the 2nd favorite to advance in their group. So all 5 advanced. Why is this considered an over-achievement when they did what they were supposed to do based on pre-tourney odds?

These where the odds:

Argentina -220 to win group
Brazil -185 to win group

Paraguay to advance -200
Chile to advance -155
Uruguay to advance -115

No team was even money or better. So why do you say they had more successful World Cup than other continents.

Asia has the best World Cup of all since 2 out of 3 advanced with odds to advance at +250 or better.

[D3 Mighty Ducks]

And then there were 1

[yisman]

It seems that what you consider successful in different than what I consider successful so lets analyze the odds to advance to round of 16. Brazil and Argentina were favored to win the group. Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile where the 2nd favorite to advance in their group. So all 5 advanced. Why is this considered an over-achievement when they did what they were supposed to do based on pre-tourney odds?

These where the odds:

Argentina -220 to win group
Brazil -185 to win group

Paraguay to advance -200
Chile to advance -155
Uruguay to advance -115

No team was even money or better. So why do you say they had more successful World Cup than other continents.

Asia has the best World Cup of all since 2 out of 3 advanced with odds to advance at +250 or better.

Look at what France and Italy were to advance. What happened to them?

[pavyracer]

Look at what France and Italy were to advance. What happened to them?

They were the 5th and 6th best euro team based on odds to win cup. And if you watched the Euro 2008 you should have known they were not in the semifinals. Italy got bounced by another European team so the other team who bounced them over-achieved. The only who really sucked was France. But to have 3 out of 4 teams in the semis tells you a lot about how strong Euro teams are.

2010 3 out of 4 in semis
2006 4 out of 4 in semis
2002 2 out of 4 in semis
1998 3 out of 4 in semis
1994 3 out of 4 in semis
1990 3 out of 4 in semis
1986 3 out of 4 in semis
1982 4 out of 4 in semis

[yisman]

Look at what France and Italy were to advance. What happened to them?

They were the 5th and 6th best euro team based on odds to win cup.

That's irrelevant. You were talking about how South American teams were favored to advance.

France and Italy also were. Why not post the odds?

All the South American teams expected to make it out of the group stage, did.

The same does not hold true for Europe.

Thus, at the point this thread was posted, it was pretty clear that South America was having a better World Cup than Europe.

2006 4 out of 4 in semis
2002 2 out of 4 in semis
1998 3 out of 4 in semis
1994 3 out of 4 in semis
1990 3 out of 4 in semis
1986 3 out of 4 in semis
1982 4 out of 4 in semis

This thread was not about past success. It was about this year's tournament, up until the round of 8 started.

[pavyracer]

Man you are too stubborn. I will say it for the last team as simple as I can. South American teams had a colossal failure by not advancing to the semifinals. No one remembers the group winners of previous World Cups. They don't give trophies for these.

[yisman]

Man you are too stubborn.

You are pretty stubborn yourself. I'm still waiting for those odds you for some reason refuse to post.

I will say it for the last team as simple as I can. South American teams had a colossal failure by not advancing to the semifinals. No one remembers the group winners of previous World Cups. They don't give trophies for these.

Since you still somehow don't get it, I'll repeat it one more time for your benefit:

This thread was not about South American teams making the semis or finals. It was about the early success of South American teams. In fact, if you still haven't noticed, I projected a European final.

If you want to see my full semis projections, here they are, from before the round of 16 began.