The Final Sixteen: Continental Drift

Let's look at the continental composition of the final 16 for the last few World Cups 1998-2010:

Continent	1998	2002	2006	2010
Africa	1	1	1	1
Asia	0	2	0	2
Australasia	0	0	1	0
Europe	10	9	10	6
North/Central America	1	2	1	2
South America	4	2	3	5

This year, the number of European teams has been significantly reduced to six: Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, England and newcomers Slovakia. This is thanks to the elimination of Italy and France, as well as the poor performance of Sweden and Croatia, amongst others.
We also see the two Asian sides of Japan and South Korea qualifying just as they did in 2002 on home turf. However, the biggest surprise is that the South American teams are rebuilding their strength: Brazil and Argentina are through as expected, but also Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Ghana are the one African team to make it, having also qualified last year, and the USA and Mexico are the other sides.
There is still a dominance from Europe and South America that suggests the World Cup will not be travelling to a new continent just yet.