Tradition Vs. Underdogs

" Form is temporary ,
Class is permanent "

Over the years we have witnessed that powerhouses like Brazil and Germany have risen to the occasion irrespective of their form or performance in the qualifying rounds. So what is it that makes them rise to the occasion each and every time while teams like Spain and Netherlands who could win the world cup every time on paper, are consistently inconsistent when it comes to the big stage !!

Is it true that tradition and past winning habits overpower current form and skill??
Classic case in point bieng the 2002 World Cup , where both Brazil and Germany struggled to qualify for the world cup but reached the finals easily!!
or the bizzare 1954 World Cup final , when Hungary destroyed all the big teams including Germany in the initial stages only to lose to them in finals.
Or the Liverpool.F.C managing to win a trophy every year.Damn they won UCL in 2005 out of nowhere !!


Photo(above) :
The winning brazil team in 2002 (Top) ; The winning Liverpool team in 2005 (just above)

But there has been hope off late with Greece winning the Euro 2004 and a string of underdogs or title pretenders as we call them winning UCL or reaching the finals in the past years. F.C.Porto winning it in 2004 !!


Photo : The winning Greece team with Euro 2004 trophy. (above)

With 2 days left before the action begins , we can oly make predictions right now whether this would be the year of underdogs or traditional powerhouses would rise to the occasion again !!