It's always seemingly Brasil against the European onslaught. Brasil has gone to the most finals, I think. World Cup powers are Brasil, Argentina, Italy and Germany. England, France, Mexico and Spain (except for this recent stretch) are the perennial underachievers. The Dutch are the perennial bridesmaids. Portugal has always been good but something weird happens in their knockout game. Nigeria and Cameroon have been the African flag bearers, although Ivory Coast and Ghana have been good these last few World Cups. Uruguay is back as the 3rd best South American team. Asian teams recently gave done ok. Surprisingly, El Tri and the US have been flag bearers for this corner of the globe since 1994, although scrappy teams like Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica have played well.
It's the beautiful game indeed...