335: World Cup economic performance progress update
06-27-2010
PropertyInvesting.net
www.google.co.uk 9 am Sunday 27th JuneJust a quick progress update on our World Cup predictions based on economic performance. So far the outcomes have been consistent with the rankings - please review below. No surprise Italy went out. Remember this is an economic performance listing (not a list of the best sides) - so it clearly shows the better performing economic countries tend to do far better. Serbia went out, but unluck for them they were playing Ghana, Germany and Australia, all do very well economically. 
Remember the theory based on historical analogues is that better economic performance feeds into an improved nation psych, belief in winning and team spirit - the feeling of "we can win".
With regret, England looks like going out later today against Germany if our table is correct. Hope this helps if you are a betting person! And all this for free!
Economic Performance Table
1. Germany In (In) (In)
2. Australia Just failed to quality (but playing top 8: Ghana, Germany and Serbia)
3. Brazil In (In) (Out)
4. Holland In (In) (In) (Final)
5. Switzerland Just failed to qualify
6. Serbia Failed (but playing top 8: Ghana, Germany and Australia)
7. Chile In (Out)
8. Ghana In (In) (Out) (very unlucky to be out - after winner hand-balled in last 10 seconds)
9. New Zealand Just failed to qualify (played far better than expected)
10. Denmark Failed
11. South Korea In (Out)
12. France Failed
13. Japan In (Out)
14. Argentina In (In) (Out)
15. South Africa Failed
16. England In (Out) performace as expected
17. Algeria Failed
18. Uruguay In (In) (In) (Out)
19. Paraguay In (In) (Out)
20. USA In (Out)
21. Cameroon Failed
22. Nigeria Failed
23. Slovakia In (but played 20 USA and 17 Algeria)
24. Italy Failed
25. Mexico In (just scraped in)
26. Spain In (In) (In) but playing Portugal No 29)
26. North Korea Failed
27. Honduras Failed
28. Cote de Ivoire Failed
29. Portugal In (but played 28 Cote de Ivoire and 26 North Korea) (OUT)
30. Greece Failed
For full explanation, refer to our Special Report 329 - written just before the tournament started.
Red colour indicates the precieved most miserable failures (tend to bunch down the bottom of list)
England's Failure Analysis
Surrounded by foreign club players: Here's our analysis of why England failed so miserably to perform. The simple fact is that, although the England players are all pretty reasonable player individually and play for top world clubs, they are not actually as good as you might think. When they play for their clubs, they look far better than they actually are because they are surrounded by the very highest quality foreign players in the world. The very best African, Asian, South American and European players - all supplying excellent crosses and passing superbly. The diversity at club level is unique - and when the England players are denuded of their club foreign play-makers, they look like very ordinary players. Arsenal are an interesting example - excellent club side - can anyone name an England player at Arsenal?
Lack of Competition at School: The lack of sporting competition at schools is another underlying cause - probably getting less competitive as years go by. Despite the Olympics being two years away, there is little sign of any real sport playing enthusiasm - we are a bunch of arm-chair commentators. It's hardly like the rough streets of Rio and Lagos where footballers get out of the gettos to earn a living.
National Pschye: Another aspect is national pschye are pride. England football players get paid millions of pounds a year - if they fail at the World Cup, they will still be super wealthy and drive massive Porsche Cheyanne's - their desire to win for the country is probably less than for their club. A classic example is central defense - John Terry is able to come out after all the scandles this year, and speak on behalf of the players even though he isn't even third place choice as Captain - in fact he was sacked as Captain. But he still gets selected because we have no-one else better. And John Terry did not play well at all. We better just get used to the fact England aren't going to win any tournaments. There are too many underlying issues that hold the players back. They do not seem to be comfortable playing as a team at national level together - may be they don't get on with each other or don't respect each other or some other issues - overall, even though individually they are good plays - they cannot play together as a team.
Diversity Lacking: The lack of diversity within the England side is quite staggering - if you do an analysis, every player selected apart from two are from the Liverpool-Manchester or London areas. And unlike the Germans, have you ever seen someone being given English nationality so they can play for England? Many excellent players also choose Scotland, Ireland and Wales over England.
We Did Well All Things Considering! The good news is we qualified and got through to the knock-out stages, and may be we should be commending this? It's not so bad considering the tough season the players have, John Terry's behaviour all year, and the fact the foreign players are not supporting their play anymore.
National Pride and Passion: Regrettably, this seemed to be lacking - it was certainly not easy to spot. But this may have something to do with the individual player's self esteem and self respect being low. Yes, when they are feeling good they can play - e.g. when they are playing at home for their clubs. But go away from home and put them in front of some less forgiving England fans, and it's possible this zaps their self esteem, self belief and then this affects their football. Why was Rooney not able to get one shot on target in four games? Why was Gerrard so ineffectual except for a brief 15 minute spelling during the Slovakia game. Next time they need to put behind them their inflated salaries and egos, play as a team for their nation and play with national passion and pride!
Economically Average: Economically and nationally - we have been worsening in the last ten years with England player lacking pride in their nation in part because it has not been very successful of late. It has not got a winning national mentality - this could change with the new government. It could also be that the media pressure is just too much for the players to handle - giving them the benefit of the doubt. Intense pressure and a fat bank account - not a good combination - and they're probably just glad to get back home to their chavs and start enjoying life again. Every 24 hours in a day away from home was probably lonely - considering they only work 4 hours a day normally and spend the rest of the time relaxing with their wives and kids - it must be a big change.
Some Key Pointers: the underlying cause could be a combination of the follow - the players:
- Miss their foreign club play-makers
- Don't like or respect each other - evidenced by their body language all wrong
- They don't seem to enjoy themselves - evidenced by their body language all wrong
- They have too much money already - any reward is marginal
- There is not enough competition in the team - particularly in central defense
- Miss their wives and kids
- Miss the beer
- Individually they think they are great - and think their club team mates good as well, but they don't think their England team mates are any good
- Don't like the manager and his discipline
- No chance for team building
- All the change in captains has not helped (Beckham, Ferdinand, Terry, Gerrard) - we had 4th choice and he did not play even 25% of what he does for Liverpool?
- Injuries to Beckham, Ferdinand and then Bridge refusing to be involved after spat with Terry was the worst build up we could reasonably have expected
- Green's sacking after the first game un-nerved the team
- How can they respect themselves when they don't respect each other (ref: John Terry)
- Banning ball sports in UK from garage and parks does not help - short-sighted and encourages "couch potatoes"
- Western and northern areas more interested rugby - some other areas more interested in cricket
- Best large clubs buy tend to buy best young foreign talent rather than developing local talent
Bottom line is - three weeks away from the wives, kids, big cars and beer with people they don't like is probably enough to drive half of them up the wall. No wander they want to go back home! They were sober and lonely!
England - we will always be your fans...
(apologies for being so frank - but sometimes - its best to try and get to the route cause - and don't expect any football commentators to mention the above - because they want to keep their jobs!)
World Cup
World Cup South Africa
Brazil World Cup fans - forecast to do better than expected
Brazil Football fans
German Soccer fan
Brazil World Cup fan
World Cup US Soccer Fans
Germany World Cup soccer
Duits Dortmund
Swedish soccer fans
Rooney - England - World Cup striker
England Football - Wayne Rooney
Brazil football fan
South Africa World Cup Football
US Football fans - Texas
Fifa World Cup 2010 draw
Fifa World Cup Nelson Mandela
Madiba
Ronaldo
Messi
Wayne Rooney
Lampard and Ronaldo - Portugal forecast to disappoint, England play average
US fans
Argentinian Fan
England fans
Brazil Soccer Fan
