Is European soccer on decline? Many big names facing elimination in early rounds

[Die_empty]

What are your thoughts on this?

Europe still has the best leagues and players. They produce the best coaches and have the infrastructure and financial support to build formidable teams.

The reason why African and American sides are excelling is that they are improving. Some of these countries have started investing heavily in sports, which has led to the discovery of new talents and improved performance.

[Floxynice]

What are your thoughts on this?

I dont think european football is degrading, i think that other countries are upgrading rapidly relative to them. The low level teams that aren’t taken seriously are the ones that deliver performance and knock the other team out because overconfidence is a very bad emotion in these games and level because one small mistake can lead you being knocked out. So I necessarily don’t believe european team’s have down graded the low level teams have improved and overconfidence is also a factor.

I had a similar conversation with my friend after Germany lost to Paraguay yesterday. I may not be too knowledgeable about sports history, but I am quite aware of the fact that, as far as football is concerned, Germany is one of the countries whose name will always be at the top of the list. Indeed, it is surprising to see these countries with big names leave.

As an African, I wish for African countries to go far in this game. Even with this optimism, I am still surprised by how my brothers from Africa have been able to remain in the game. You are right, teams are improving, and we shouldn't expect their performances to remain the same always.

[Nathrixxx]

Maybe less assume that this year world cup is more concentrating on African countries the most because you will discover that many countries that were not even expected to have gotten to this stage are still yet to be eliminated and are making it to round of 16, but you don't mind me anyway, I'm just joking things could be somehow changing sometimes in an unexpected manner, you only see what happens now we don't know the next that will happen in the future or even before the world cup finals and those that we made it to the last.

[Obim34]

What are your thoughts on this?

Let's take for example, as PSG won the Champions League final against Arsenal, do you assume that the Premier League is taking a decline, before the finals, PSG dealt with one of Premier League big sides, PSG defeated Chelsea in a shameful manner, other La Liga sides also kicked out other Premier Leagues, it still doesn't mean they are better than the Premier League sides.

Football sometimes doesn't favor the best side, it may be a different turn than usual, Ivory Coast kicked out by Norway.

[xLays]

Not really. There are still plenty of teams to consider. England, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium and Spain are all still in the tournament.

Just because your favorite teams, the Netherlands and Germany have been eliminated doesn't automatically mean European football is declining.

Yes, Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, but I don't think another team from South America will win it this time. I'm pretty confident that a European team will be crowned World Cup champions this year.

[Chinesebaby]

Europe had the highest countries that was qualified in this year's FIFA World Cup, amounting to over 16 countries that was qualified from Europe, and right now, for the fact that 6 of its countries have been eliminated. They still have the highest countries still active in the tournament. So for me, I think it is still early to use the phrase that the European team's performance are in decline. Because currently now, and they still have the most brilliant team that have the potential or winning this tournament, with the likes of  France, England, Spain, and Portugal. So in a nutshell, what I think have changed in this year's tournament is the fact that the gap between each continent have been made smaller, whereby any well organized team can beat a traditional giant in this year's FIFA World Cup. As all teams have become unpredictable, which is actually the beauty of this year's tournament.

[dzonikg28]

Italy, Denmark, and Serbia are out of this World Cup. After them, Turkey and the Czech Republic are out of action in group stage games. Their performances were not as expected and last night Germany and the Netherlands also facing surprising eliminations from the round of 32 on penalties.

In upcoming games, a few teams are also going to face possible elimination with this level of performance.
Now, it looks like European soccer is facing serious troubles.

Even there are plenty of teams are still in and have a good chance of winning the title like France, England, and Spain but I started to have a strong feeling like soccer in Europe is facing miserable problems with African countries dominating along with South American countries.
 
What are your thoughts on this?

The elimination of the Netherlands wasn't a big surprise to me.   Everyone who remembers the world cup in Qatar knows that Morocco is not a small football country, but an African powerhouse in football. They beat Portugal and Spain in Qatar and you can do it once and everyone will say it is luck, but if you do it twice and reach the runners-up final for third place, I think there is no luck involved anymore. Morocco was the team with better chances against the Netherlands and their win was not undeserved. It was a convincing performance and that is what I saw coming. The Netherlands were lucky to reach overtime despite the lead they had for so long, but their goalkeeper had one of his best days ever or otherwise it would have been over in regular time.

Now you think Europe is on decline. Do you think that because of France? Spain? England? Portugal?   Some countries are on decline I think, but Europe as a whole still has some of the strongest teams in the world and South America was always among the favorites.

[Churchillvv]

If they can’t dominate in some things why not dominate in areas where it is possible? lol however Morocco has always been a good football nation, so regardless that European countries a declining in this World Cup it does not call for attention except they have been failing over a few World Cup but here it’s just this World Cup and from what’s happening in the world it seem like we are getting surprised in global events maybe a small South American country will win the World Cup not even the big countries op mentioned.

[longyenthanh]

Not really. There are still plenty of teams to consider. England, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium and Spain are all still in the tournament.

Just because your favorite teams, the Netherlands and Germany have been eliminated doesn't automatically mean European football is declining.

Yes, Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, but I don't think another team from South America will win it this time. I'm pretty confident that a European team will be crowned World Cup champions this year.

I'm glad you have such a positive opinion about the standard of European football, because I also believe it's still the highest in the world and that won't change for a long time.

However, when it comes to the favorites for this World Cup, I can only agree with you that Argentina is unlikely to win the championship for a second time. However, as for the favorites, I think it's either France or Morocco.

[CryptoBuds]

Even there are plenty of teams are still in and have a good chance of winning the title like France, England, and Spain but I started to have a strong feeling like soccer in Europe is facing miserable problems with African countries dominating along with South American countries.
 
What are your thoughts on this?

I would not call it a complete collapse of European football.

For me, France, England, Spain are still very strong contender.

Yes I will not deny that field is now almost level. There is also no denying that team outside Europe like Morocco otr Senegal are now playing much more organized and advanced football than before. That is the competition in world stage has increased a lot.

However I consider teams like Germany or Netherlands are losing in knockout stage on tiebreaker as a twist of fate in one match. You can never call it a structural failure at all.

We should not forget that the best football talents in the world still come from Europe 

[Felicity_Tide]

What are your thoughts on this?

Well, first, Italy, Denmark and Serbia never qualified. I guess that was what you meant, but you wrote it differently.
And as for the World cup so far, well I'm not surprised at all. I was actually expecting so many upsets in this year's tournament, and it's already happening. The 2022 WC was an eye opener, after Morocco did the unexpected, by making it to the semi-finals, while setting a new standard for some many countries across other continent outside Europe. They actually made us to understand that major tournaments doesn't have to be about European countries alone. And so far so good, we've seen something far more interesting in this particular one.

And as for the question, the level of football hasn't declined across Europe. I think what we're seeing is the effect of those countries that are awakened to the tactical reality of football, which has made things a bit difficult in general. Although, there are still a decent number of European teams in this competition, so it's not like all European teams are underperforming.

[Moreno233]

Some of the results we have seen in the world cup is far from expectations and on thpse categories, European teams are leading. However,  we are also seeing some European teams coming up even though others are experiencing decline. For instance, Sweden and Norway have become stronger than they used to be and right now any team that faces either of team will sweat to play them. The same can be said about some African teams where Algeria and Tunisia are experiencing decline whereas we are seeing Cape Verde and Ghana coming up. This is just how football is, things change which is the beauty of the game.

[promise444c5]

It shouldn’t be about names after all, the players are responsible for both winning and losing. Country make a wrong selection based on player with names only , team is filled with less quality players and will definitely face disqualification early..

Names are made in World Cup so a team should be based on who’s fit for a position and who’s not, there are so many unknowns quality players in different nations.. That’s why it feels like unexpected teams are qualifying by eliminating the know big teams.

It will be another big shock if Sweden eliminates France tonight

[Alphakilo]

Some of the results we have seen in the world cup is far from expectations and on thpse categories, European teams are leading. However,  we are also seeing some European teams coming up even though others are experiencing decline. For instance, Sweden and Norway have become stronger than they used to be and right now any team that faces either of team will sweat to play them. The same can be said about some African teams where Algeria and Tunisia are experiencing decline whereas we are seeing Cape Verde and Ghana coming up. This is just how football is, things change which is the beauty of the game.

I will consider Ghana a better side than Cape Verde because they try to put on a sterling performance anytime they appear in the world cup or even in the African cup of Nation.
However the way the world cup results end for most of these so called big teams is always a consequence of how corruption has entered football and sometimes the coaches have no control over the players or say in the matter of selection without external influence forcing their hand.
Also, the teams that lack less understanding among themselves always fail in execution of their tactics because everyone would want to do more so that they can be the brightest on the team as it is a world event where the media and spotlight is on everyone.

[r_victory]

The matches really haven't been easy for the European teams. England, with a squad considered stronger, drew with Ghana, and Brazil drew with Morocco. In fact, Morocco played exceptionally well against the Netherlands yesterday; they deserved to win in regulation time, but the Dutch goalkeeper wouldn't allow it. 

I’m looking forward to seeing England play the DR Congo. African teams are causing a lot of concern for their opponents.

[EluguHcman]

Even there are plenty of teams are still in and have a good chance of winning the title like France, England, and Spain but I started to have a strong feeling like soccer in Europe is facing miserable problems with African countries dominating along with South American countries.
 
What are your thoughts on this?

Did you expected that so much from the European teams? Sorry if you did as now you are getting the negative feedback from them.  .
Don't feel so jealousy over the unexpected step up of the African teams, I guess those offshore never believed the African teams will posses this far this season which is likely unusual that the multiple teams from that side of the world which seems a mind blowing.  

Hopefully Morocco will bring the trophy home for Africa. Europe may seem far hopeful to succeed the tournament.
This is also the nature of football for you where things falls apart in a state of uncertainty.

[LGD2Business]

First it's football, not soccer. Many European teams are still in the running in this 48 team tournament. 2 of the strongest contenders for the title are the European teams Spain and France. The teams capable of competing with them are Argentina and Brazil. Africa has no chance in the later stages. We can't conclude from this that European football is weak. Argentina and Brazil have always been among the favorites. Aside from them, South America isn't very strong. Uruguay used to be a contender here. On the other hand, Europe always has 4-5 countries competing at the very top. European football is in very good shape. I think at least 2 European teams will make it to the semi final in this tournament.

[Odusko]

How is European soccer on decline, if the best players in the world (no matter their nationality) compete in European leagues? Even if you were right and European players gave up their dominance to those from other continents, European teams, clubs and leagues would be the most valued in the world, and that perception would be very difficult to change.

Ops is referring to Europe current performance in the world cup and not the entire European leagues since most European leagues players are from other regions and at that the real strength f European football should v seen and rated from their current performance in the world cup.

[Moreno233]

Some of these European teams have had their peak moments so you should not be surprised to see the decline. Germany had their peak moment, same did Italy, Spain and even the Netherlands. Brazil faced regression after they dominated the football world for some years, so football does not reside only in one place. Now we have Morocco in their peak, they have to enjoy the moment while it last. Therefore, I don't think we can call this a decline in European football.

[Solodoski]

The countries you made mention of, except for Italy doesn't not have a world cup trophy. The might that has fallen here is Italy while others are trying to fill up space in the world cup. There exit from the competition. However, big European countries are still in the game. France is there, England is there and Spain is also there. Germany surprised me. With the quality they have, they shouldn't be going out now.