By Adrian Meredith
VICTORIA, Australia
(TheSportsNext) August 2, 2012: Not too long ago, Soccer was known as a niche sport. As
at the 1980s, soccer was really only seriously played in Western Europe and
South America. The same countries competed for top spot all of the time: Brazil
and Argentina from South America versus Germany and England from Europe.
Occasionally Uruguay from South America won it while France from Europe was
also known to win it. But that was it. Everyone else didn't take it
particularly seriously. It was played to some extent in other countries but
never with the same degree of seriousness.