GREAT LEAGUES, BAD TEAMS: England, Spain & Italy

Spain, Italy and England, the three countries with the best leagues, are out of the World Cup. The three countries with leagues that have more players taking part in Brazil 2014 than any other, incapable of even getting past the first stage.

Three footballing superpowers, with six World Cups between them, now the very image of decrepitude and failure. A crammed calendar, poor preparation, battle-weary players, the end of a generation, or maybe just a lack of the football fundamentals.

Many factors, together with the climate and playing times, which could explain the three horror stories that these three countries have experienced in Brazil. The Spain, Italy and England national teams are made up of players that nearly all play either in the leagues of their own countries or in those of the other two.


There are only five players that do not of the 69 players that Prandelli, Hodgson and Del Bosque chose to play in Brazil 2014. For Spain, there is Javi Martínez, who plays for the Bundesliga's Bayern; for England, there is Forster, Celtic's keeper up in Scotland; in Italy, we have Verrati, Motta and Sirigu, all of them plying their trade at Paris Saint Germain.

The surprise at such an early elimination is bigger if we consider that the three national teams are the three most highly valued in the world. They are the three most powerful, but also, together with the Bundesliga, the ones that right now have more players than any other in Brazil. Of the 736 players taking part, 120 play in England's Premier League, 82 in Italy's Serie A and 63 in Spain's la Liga.