One fact that is going to be trotted out time and again by pundits looking at the World Cup is the climate. More specifically the climate as it relates to European teams.
These wise sages will remind you that no European team has won the World Cup in South America. Cast your mind back to South Africa 2010 and remember that these same wise sages were who confidently bashed the chances of eventual winners Spain because no European team had won it outside of Europe.
The lack of European winners means little in the modern era. Elite players today are far different animals than they in Mexico 1986 the last time it was held in Central or Southern America. Simply put they will all be orders of magnitude fitter in 2014 than they were in 1986.
On top of this medical science and the facilities available to players no means that recovery times are much quicker now. I don't know where the European teams stayed and trained in 1986 but you can be sure that the things have improved since then. Germany for instance are staying custom built training base specially located to reduce travelling times to and from matches.
The climate no longer delivers quite the same 'home' advantage to teams from the 'Americas' as it once did.
Source: DSG
