A Continent That Beat the Heat

EW YORK -- You can take soccer out of Europe -- you even can put the World Cup in the United States, of all places -- but apparently you can't take the Europeans out of soccer. Going into the World Cup's quarterfinals this weekend, seven of the eight remaining teams are European, Brazil being the only exception. This, despite pre-tournament talk that the champion, in 13 of 14 previous World Cups, came from the same continent that hosted the event. Again, Brazil was the only exception, winning the 1958 title in Sweden.This, despite pre-tournament concerns that the U.S. summer climate would be unduly demanding on the Europeans, supposedly accustomed to cooler temperatures and less humidity. Sure enough, the Swedes said it was just too hot to play their best in 90-degree temperatures after a tie with Cameroon, prompting Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph-Antoine Bell to note that he, and many of his fellow African players, played professionally in Europe and therefore had no weather advantage.Sweden won, moving on to Sunday's match with Romania at Stanford Stadium. Cameroon, meanwhile, has gone home. The Germans got used to the heat, too, apparently following German Coach Berti Vogts' suggestion: "Standing still in this heat would be torture. The players need to move, to create a bit of a draft." On Sunday, the Germans will try to create a draft against Bulgaria at Giants Stadium. Saturday's games feature Italy against Spain, two of the warmer European countries, at Foxboro Stadium, and the cool Netherlands against the hot Brazilians at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It should be noted that Europe, from whence soccer sprang originally, had a numbers advantage from the start, providing 13 of the World Cup's 24 participating teams. And with the two pre-Cup favorites -- Brazil at 3-1 and Germany at 7-2 -- on course for a championship showdown, form could hold in the end. Argentina, which had gone to three of the last four title games, was expected to still be around, but the loss of Diego Maradona to a positive drug test and of Claudio Cannigia to a torn bicep muscle did not help, especially against the fast, well-drilled Romanians. Colombia, which had come into the Cup as the hottest team in the world, figured to last a lot longer than its loss to the United States and first-round elimination. Nigeria, the emerging power from Africa, was two minutes away from the quarterfinals until Italy revived itself. Even Mexico might have gotten past Bulgaria with a little more attention to offense in the second half.