With Germany 2006 in the oblivion, the international soccer interest is geared toward two continental championships to be played in the next two years and the current 2006/2007 European Champions League. First, Copa America (ex South American Tournament) to be held in Venezuela from June 24th to July 15th, 2007; there are no news on this front, since all 10 South American nations, plus two invitees from other confederations, automatically classify for the championship. Venezuela has made significant progress in the last eight years, so it deserves to be the host of the oldest international competition.

Euro-2008 qualifying rounds started with some incredible results. Germany took off its frustration on minnow San Marino by scoring 13 goals, England had an easy time with Macedonia, while Italy lost 3-1 against France, in a somehow revenge from the WC 2006 Final, but the victory was of little consolation to the French.

Opinions have been raised regarding the degree of competence that several small European nations bring to the qualifying rounds for tournament such as the European and World Cup. It has been suggested that perhaps all these European minnows should hold an elimination round of their own with the winner being drawn into the true qualifying competition. This approach would encourage the generally amateur players from these nations to improve their skills to compete at a higher level.

On the South American front, the main developments have been the appointment of new coaches for Argentina and Brazil. Alfio Basile (nicknamed “Coco”) and Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri better known as “Dunga” have taken the respective positions. For Basile it is his second spell at the helm, and it is expected to be a successful tenure, one that should bring trophies at continental level, qualifying and if not winning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A new era has also started with Carlos Dunga taking over the Brazilian “scratch” and from the beginning he introduced a new approach, which was to call locally based players and some playing in Eastern Europe including Russia for three friendly matches played in Europe. So far the results have been encouraging for they drew 1-1 with Norway, then an astonishing 3-0 victory over bitter rivals Argentina, and a 2-0 win over Wales.
As far as the 2010 World Cup, the host, South Africa has hired Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil in 1994 and 2006, as its head coach in the hope to be built a competitive team not only for the next World Cup but also for the African Nations Cup in 2008. FIFA’s latest ranking places South Africa in the 76th position, very low indeed for a major tournament host; the work Parreira must achieve is short of a miracle for he does not count on a talented pool of players.

Speaking of ranking, FIFA published its September 2006 version, which under a new procedure continues to be a controversial evaluation of the nation’s performance. It curiously places Italy, the current world champion in 5th place, whereas France that lost to the Italians is ranked 2nd. As far as USA, whose national team has not played a single match since the end of Germany 2006, has gone down from 16th to 29th in two months. Mexico has not played a single match either, yet it s ranked 17th.