While we in Europe celebrate our championships, it's worth bearing in mind that, the World Cup aside, there is another international competition, one which we tend not to hear too much about on this side of the planet, the South American Championships. I ask Bellos how this compares with what we're seeing from Portugal:

'There is no comparison. The South American championship – the Copa America – is almost an afterthought. The major countries like Brazil do not send full-strength teams. Part of the problem this year is that the World Cup qualifiers are already underway in South America and so the best players are saving themselves for those games. The leagues in South America are impoverished since almost all the best players play in Europe'.

At the last World Cup, the Spanish team suffered the ignominy of defeat to South Korea, while the French were knocked out in the opening phase (which featured a victory for Senegal over their former colonial masters). As we get swept along by the excitement of Euro 2004, it's important to bear in mind that as good as this competition is, it's not the ultimate judge of quality. I ask Bellos how he thinks the top teams from Europe would fare against Brazil:

'When they’re not on form, anyone can beat Brazil. I think any of the top ten teams in the world could beat any of the other top ten teams in the world – there’s not much in it. All the best players play in one of three national leagues and so everyone knows each other’s strengths'.

For the moment, European teams are focussed on beating one another. Already we've seen that anything can happen in this unpredictable arena; prices offered by bookmakers only reflect the amount of money taken on certain teams. On the basis of what a British tabloid called 'two minutes of madness', France have been installed 9/4 favourites, while England have gone out in the betting to 8/1. As in 1992, when Denmark astonished everyone by beating Germany, it might be worth taking a punt on a hitherto less fancied nation… for instance, Sweden.

Futebol – The Alex Bellos Site