There's certainly lot of interesting ways to put these stats. It all comes down to the fact that it's not just about regular home field advantage with the crowds and whatnot. The differences in climate is huge here.
Yeah, these stats are fun but they don't really tell the tale. Done with work early tonight and watching the Bosnia/Nigeria game, so I just want to spit some soccer history at y'all if anyone's interested ...
1930: Uruguay ... Uruguay was the first powerhouse in South American soccer ... they won the Olympics in 1924/1928 and a couple of Copa Americas in the 20's. They were really skillful and really violent and they probably would have won the 1934 World Cup had they gone to it (boycotted because a bunch of European teams wouldn't come to their WC in 1930).
1930's Austria ... never quite got it together in the World Cup because of Nazi era politics, they were passing machines (played kinda like Spain does today). It's widely believed they lost the WC semfinal to Germany on purpose / under threat of reprisal. Matthias Sindelar was their best player and he was awesome but history has mostly forgotten him for whatever reason. He refused to play for the pan-German team and he and his girlfriend died mysteriously.
1930's Italy ... Vittorio Pozzo's wikipedia picture of him scowling is perfect. Tactical genius and disciplinarian, his marching orders from Mussolini in 1934 were "win or else" and he did so. Only coach to ever win 2 World Cups, Italy weren't pretty but they were tough and well-organized. Giuseppe Meazza was the star of the team and the stadium in the San Siro district of Milan that AC and Inter share is named after him.
1950's Hungary ... Hungary beat England 6-3 at Wembley and 7-1 in Budapest, which finally banished the idea that England were the world's best at soccer. Hungary were big and strong and fast and skillful and arguably the best team to never win the World Cup. They were unbeaten for like 6 years until they lost the 1954 final to West Germany. The team broke up after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and they've never really recovered. Ferenc Puskas, Nandor Hidegkuti and Giula Grosics were all world-class, but this was pre-Champions League and they didn't win the World Cup, so it's mostly forgotten.
1970's Holland ... coach Rinus Michels and player Johan Cruyff evolved / invented the idea of "Total Football" with Ajax/Holland where movement and possession really came to the fore. Ajax won 3 Champions Leagues and Holland were WC finalists in 1974 and 1978 with largely the same core of players. Cruyff then went to Barcelona and helped set up the same system / philosophy, which, eventually, led to the modern Barca / Spain teams built on passing and possession.
1970's Poland ... Old timers will tell you that Poland (not Germany, not Holland) were the best team at the 1974 World Cup. They were super-fast and aggressive and scored goals like it was going out of style. Their semifinal (against Germany) shouldn't have taken place because the field was a swamp after a big rainstorm but it was (cue conspiracy theories) and the Polish style couldn't adapt to the wet field. Gregorz Lato might be the best striker you've never heard of.
1982 Brazil ... Another "arguably the best team to ever not win the World Cup" they lost to an opportunistic / lucky Italy team. Middle-aged Brazilians will swear that Zico is the most skillful player the country has ever produced, and I'll swear that their midfielder Socrates was a one-of-a-kind destroyer/playmaker/scorer.
For all the "home country / home continent advantage" talk, 1930 Uruguay, 1934 Italy, 1938 Italy, 1958 Brazil, 1970 Brazil, 2002 Brazil and 2010 Spain were so good that they would have won home / away / on the moon. They basically just beat the brakes of everyone and won the title with room to spare.
