Why is Europe taking over the World Cup?

St. Petersburg For coach and former trumpet player Oscar Tabarez, this cannot be called a story. Don't ask me something that's self-aware. I think there are other things worth commenting on”- he said after the loss of “La Celeste” in round 1/16 to France.

The Brazilian journalist's question was about what went wrong with South American football.

Why has the continent that has produced Peles and Mess, kgarra charrúa of Uruguay and '%joga bonito (the beautiful game) of Brazil, and since 2002, had won a world more than Europe is now trying to rebuild to high levels? Why are European teams on the verge of a fourth consecutive world title, something that is unprecedented?

Tabarez pointed out exactly, that Brazil was still in play and insisted:” We cannot take today's match as a reference point”. But hours later, Brazil was defeated by Belgium, a small European nation whose best performance in a world was fourth place in the 1986 tournament.

The big picture, for those looking for one, was well recovered by the Spanish daily “Diario AS”. A few days after her first page proclaimed with sadness “El Fin De Una Generacion”-end of a Spanish football generation ʹ daily “AS” echoed the stable hegemony. Red Furea's “has left the world. But Europe remained dominant”.

“The World Cup is again European. Yes, Europe is represented by more teams than the other five federations. But the scale of its progress and success is higher than 43.75 per cent of the accession among 32 finalists.

During the last 4 world, 16 European countries have progressed to the group stage. The 2002 World won by Brazil seemed to represent a turning point as the tournament took off at the new football borders of Japan and South Korea.

The title protection for France began with a loss to Senegal, a debuter from Africa. Seven non-European countries qualified for the 1/16 round. And the quarterfinals included Korea, Senegal and the United States. Looks like the old world order was on the verge of collapse.

But in retrospect, it could be said that 2002 was an exception.

Europe regained control, with Brazil or Argentina's random threats to its dominance. Could be luck. That doesn't mean anything. It may be a temporary trend that will inevitably fade or change.

Or this may be the result of a real evolution in sports, an almost permanent monopoly on balance from the European continent, which has come from various factors, such as recruiting and moving players, developing youth and sports science, finance and marketing, or even training and tactics.

Clubs, leagues and best players are in Europe, whether they were born there or not. And now even the best national teams. The latest story certainly suggests that the global game, now being reformed by money, and the power that flows to a small number of leagues and clubs. At its height, football is more elite than ever before, even as the base of this sport expands. The global demand to see better television teams has significantly increased the cost of television rights and funding fees. Only in 2016-17, the 20 clubs of the English Premier League posted $6 billion in revenue. This does not include money from continental competitions.

U n The EFA estimated that the League of Champions, Europe League of Leagues and Super Cups will generate the next $3.8 billion. According to Deloitte, the top 20 football clubs in Europe won over $9 billion in the 2016-2017 season.

The last time a non-European club was involved in 30 top-income Deloitte clubs was 2014 (the Brazilian city of Corinth in 2014). Much of that money is spent on things that improve local football, from sports education to technology and nutrition.

Fans in North and South America, Africa and Asia want to see Barcelona play with Manchester City, and the flow of money from their television networks and corporate partners basically empty their pockets for European football, causing players to develop even better from their clubs.

Wealth in general is probably another contributing factor. Of the planet's 30 largest nations in terms of GDP, 14 are European. Latin America, the only region that can currently challenge Europe's hegemony in football, especially for the number of talents, can be represented by 3 countries. According to the population, the main Latin American country in 2017 was Chile, with 56 talents.

Meanwhile, major talents from outside Europe, especially from Latin America and Africa, are discovered, recruited, and contracts signed at an ever younger age. Although European nations make up less than half of the World Cup, about 74 percent of the players playing in the world are part of European clubs.

Another potential influence is the tactic and style of the game, which in a World Cup can leave traces, and for which European nationals are more cautious. In short, the defence structure is perhaps easier to implement in a few weeks of training with the national team than complex patterns of attack, or revealing individual skills during the game.

Unlike the Spanish tiki-taca once, ball ownership has not necessarily been useful this year in Russia. By “TruMedia Networks”, the first 6 teams in this world's average ball possession have already gone home. Interestingly, Croatia, England, France and Belgium are ranked 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Latin American teams have more than time in ball ownership than European teams averaged (53 to 50 percent), since Brazil won the 1994 world. And European teams seem to be more comfortable with this. During the last 10 worlds, 10 European teams have passed their group, with less than 45 percent of their ball ownership.

By comparison, the American-Latin teams have managed in only 2 cases. In short, apart from the legendary history of Spain of 2010, it will be difficult to show or dominate the game, it can certainly be the way to the World Cup trophy. This tournament is just as likely to reward open football.