The Decline of Europe?

With the second round of group games almost behind us, Portugal was disappointing in its one game, England even more so in its two, Germany was great against Australia but poor against Serbia, Spain is pointless, and Italy was held to ties against Paraguay and New Zealand, after falling behind in each contest. And that's not to mention poor France, whose single point in two games doesn't even begin to capture the evident insanity in ranks of the defending runner-up. Of the powers, only the Netherlands have shown up basically in form for each match. This is the continent that produced every one of the semifinalists in 2006, and has accounted for more than half of the World Cup champions. The chances are overwhelming of the above will right the ship and the final four in South Africa will have at least one traditional European power, but it's not been a strong start for the best of the Old Continent.