If the 2002 World Cup was notable for its unpredictable results and the emergence of fresh faces, then consider the 2006 version a return to normalcy. The tournament has come back to one of its homes — four years ago it was held in Asia for the first time — and soccer's traditional powers again are dominant.
When the quarterfinals begin on Friday, six of the teams will be chasing a second, or third, or fourth, or sixth championship. Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina, Italy and England all own at least one trophy. Only one other country, Uruguay, has ever won the World Cup, and it did not qualify for the tournament.
"The bigger guys are coming to the quarterfinals," Brazil Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said in Dortmund on Tuesday. "It's getting closer and closer. It's getting tougher and tougher. You have to put everything you have into it, otherwise you will not reach the semifinals, you will not reach the finals."
Four years ago in South Korea and Japan, the tournament featured first-round upsets and surprising knockout-round pairings (like Senegal-Turkey in the quarterfinals or South Korea-Germany in the semifinals).
The quarterfinalists were drawn from five continents (Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa). Half of the teams came from countries with scant World Cup success (Turkey, South Korea, Senegal and the United States). And although the championship game was played between Brazil and Germany, the tournament was hailed as a sign of global growth, an indication that smaller countries were catching up to the traditional powers.
Now, it appears as if 2002 was an anomaly. This time around, a scoreless draw between Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago counted as one of the few first-round upsets. No Asian team reached the round of 16, and only one team from Africa did (Ghana). Ecuador and Australia advanced out of group play for the first time ever, bringing a little novelty to the knockout stages, but both were eliminated over the weekend.
Six teams from Europe and two from South America make up the quarterfinalists. Two of the quarterfinals are rematches of championship games: Brazil-France (1998) and Germany-Argentina (1986 and 1990).
Historically, European teams have dominated World Cups played in Europe. Of the nine tournaments previously held on European soil, eight have been won by European teams; Brazil's victory in Sweden in 1958 is the lone exception. At least six European teams have reached the quarterfinal stage in every World Cup played in Europe, save for 1966 in England, when five did.
"Host-country status is without doubt an advantage," FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in an interview posted on FIFA's World Cup Web site. "In Germany, the Europeans have shone again. In addition, a lot of the traditionally dominant teams arrived in a weakened state in 2002. You have to take that into consideration as well. This time, we're seeing quality play from players who came here fresh. They're in good shape."
And several of them have thrived at this level in the past. Forward Thierry Henry, midfielder Patrick Viera and captain Zinedine Zidane — all members of the 1998 champion — are responsible for five of France's six goals in Germany. Forward Ronaldo, winner of the Golden Boot as the tournament's leading scorer in 2002, has scored three goals for Brazil, which has won a record 11 consecutive World Cup games.
Three of the eight coaches already have raised the World Cup trophy as champion; Parreira coached Brazil to the title in 1994, Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari did the same in 2002 (and has won a record 11 consecutive World Cup matches) and Germany's Juergen Klinsmann was a striker on West Germany's 1990 winning side.
Portugal and Ukraine, the other two quarterfinalists, don't rank among soccer's traditional powerhouses, but neither one is a complete surprise. The Portuguese, who finished third in 1966, were runners-up at Euro 2004. Ukraine is appearing in its first World Cup as an independent nation, but it used to produce players who starred for the Soviet Union.
Ukraine may have the shortest history, but it has one of the biggest stars left in the tournament, forward Andriy Shevchenko, who was named Europe's player of the year in 2004 and scored more than 100 goals in Italy's Serie A with AC Milan.
"It should be easier for us because nobody will expect us to win. We've done well to have got this far," Shevchenko told the Associated Press. "There are no more expectations on us. We are liberated and unburdened."
