World Cup 2010 Preview - Liverpool Daily Post

Monday, June 7, 2010

WorldCup2010

Your 24-page guide to the greatest show on earthliverpool summer pops festival 2010 0844847161624hrhotline/vipexperience

2 Monday, June 7, 2010

World Cup 2010 Preview

INSIDE YOUR24-PAGE PULL-OUT

Gerrard’s World Cupmemories...................... P4-5

The Carraghercomeback................ P6-7

Mark Lawrenson’sEngland view andpredictions ................ P8

The Everton man withthe whole world on hisshoulders .................. P10-11

Yes – it’s the World Cupwallchart! ............P12-13

Why Argentina canprovide the silverlining....................P14-15

Goodison duo’s grandambitions ............P16-17

Bet on the country’s toptipster Chris Wright to pickyou a World Cupwinnner .................... P18

Meet the stars set tolight up the Africanskies ......................... P19

Find out why FernandoTorres is dreading thesummer ............... P22-23

Football

IanDoyleChief Football Correspondent

open itsSky’s the limit:Constructionwork takesplace on thestunningSoccer Citystadium inJohannesburg,South Africa,the venue forthis year’sWorld Cupfinal

In association with

IT has taken 80 years, but theworld’s greatest celebration of foot-ball finally arrives in the MotherContinent this week.

When the first ball is kicked onFriday at Johannesburg’s vastSoccer City stadium, it won’t justbe a monumental moment forhost nation South Africa.

It will be an historic occasionfor the whole of Africa, the firsttime the continent – which hasnever held an Olympics before –has been entrusted with host-ing a sporting event of suchmagnitude.

Sure, South Africa was thevenue for the Rugby UnionWorld Cup in 1995, the AfricanCup of Nations 12 monthslater and the Cricket WorldCup in 1997.

But nothing willhave truly preparedthe country for thescrutiny it has come

under since FIFA pres-ident Sepp Blatter an-

nounced on May 15 2004 thattheir bid to host the 2010 finals was

successful.Having banished almost 50 years of

Apartheid in the early 1990s, it wasfurther confirmation of the blossom-ing of a free country.

However, not everyone was con-vinced. South Africa has one of thehighest crime rates in the world andthe struggles to contend with suchproblems do not disappear overnight.

Indeed, throughout 2006 and 2007,rumours circulated that the finalscould be moved elsewhere. Somepeople, including Franz Beckenbauer,expressed concern over the planning,organisation and pace of SouthAfrica’s preparations.

For the detractors, January’s ter-rorist attack on the Togo team busahead of the African Cup of Nationsin Angola that left three people deadwas an indication the continent maynot be ready for the World Cup.

FIFA, though, stood firm. And withthe stadiums built, the teams arrivedand the infrastructure largely inplace, the global football jamboreenow prepares to step into the un-known.

Certainly, those lucky enough to betravelling to South Africa will en-counter a World Cup unlike any other,the enthusiasm, colour and noise ofthe sport-mad populace providing aunique backdrop to the tournament.

Having overcome the strike of70,000 construction workers last yearover low pay, the stadiums look im-pressive, from the historic Ellis ParkStadium, the Wembleyesque MosesMabhida Stadium in Durban and the

local stylings of the 91,000-capacitySoccer City in Johannesburg that willhost the opening game and the final.

Organisers will pray mascot Zak-umi is better received than recent in-carnations – does anyone rememberthe preposterous Goleo VI of Ger-many 2006, or the Spheriks of Ato, Kazand Nik from four years earlier? –while the Jabulani football hasalready caused angst.

But for all the talk of breaking newground, the ultimate legacy fromAfrica’s first World Cup will comefrom the action on the field.

Hopes are high, with nearly all ofthe world’s leading players havingqualified and emerged fit from theirdomestic campaigns.

Indeed, the problems that havecursed so many of the expected starperformers this season may turn outto be a blessing, with the likes ofFernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas andSteven Gerrard unburdened by theworries of fatigue that have marredrecent World Cups.

Injury, though, has robbed the tour-nament of Michael Ballack and Mi-chael Essien, while ChampionsLeague winners Esteban Cambiassoand Javier Zanetti haven’t even beenincluded in Argentina’s squad.

Another landmark for the tourna-ment is that it is the first World Cupthat does not include any teams thatare qualifying for the first time, al-though two of the qualifiers – Slov-akia and Serbia – have previously ap-peared only as parts of former com-peting nations.

That duo, though, will not be amonga number of countries to realisticallyfancy their chances, although Braziland Spain are the undoubted pre-tour-nament favourites.

The Samba may be beating to a dif-ferent rhythm these days – don’t ex-pect a repeat of the enthrallingBrazilian sides of 1970 or 1982 – butDunga has fashioned a team difficultto beat and, as demonstrated in lastseason’s Confederations Cup, one thatknows how to win in a competitivesituation.

So too Spain, whose Euro 2008 tri-umph lifted the weight of perennialunderachievers from their shoulders.Vicente del Bosque’s side have, if any-thing, improved since that triumph,and have no obvious weaknesses otherthan the infamous brittle tempera-ment they managed to hold steady twoyears ago.

Italy, though, were poor in theEuropean Championships and willhope Marcello Lippi, back at the helm,can revive the glory of Berlin in 2006.It’s unlikely, though – it was tellingInter Milan won the ChampionsLeague without a single Italian intheir starting line-up.

Lionel Messi’s efforts to cement hisposition as the best player in theworld could well be undermined bythe erratic leadership of DiegoMaradona. That said, if Maradonakeeps his head screwed on and hisnose clean, the pool of talent meansArgentina are serious contenders.

3Monday, June 7, 2010

Get ready to be stung bya swarm of angry bees

World Cup 2010 Preview

prepares tohorizons MESSI, Ronaldo, Torres,

Rooney, Gerrard. Names thatare universally expected to beat the forefront of conversa-tion during the World Cup.

But there is another thatwill have perhaps even great-er dominance.

Vuvuzela.Anyone who

watched lastsummer’s Con-federationsCup in SouthAfrica cannotfail to have no-ticed whatsounded like ahuge swarm of angry bees ac-companying every fixture.

Plastic, a metre long andbrightly coloured, the

vuvuzela has come to symbol-ise the sport in the country.

It hasn’t gone down toowell with the opposition,though. Xabi Alonso was a vo-cal critic of the tuneless trum-pet last year, and former Eng-land skipper Bryan Robson,whose Thailand team lost inSouth Africa during a recentfriendly, reckons it could be-

nefit the hosts.“With that

noise they couldhave an advant-age in theWorld Cup,”says Robson.

“The coachesat the WorldCup are defin-

itely going to have to informtheir players beforehand thatthey will have to communic-ate effectively with each otheron the field. It’s very difficultto get any message to theplayers from the bench.”

No wonder South Africacoach Carlos Alberto Parreirais happy for the vuvuzela tocontinue when the tourna-ment starts.

“We have to reinforce thatadvantage,” he says. “Wewant it louder and louder.”

In a rare outbreak of com-mon sense, FIFA refused to en-tertain requests from TVbroadcasters to ban the noisytrumpet after complaints itdrowned out their comment-ators (not so bad if it’s PeterDrury doing the talking,though).

So, should you get yourhands on a vuvuzela, how doyou play such an implement?

Supplier Boogieblast offersthis advice: “Put your lips in-side the mouthpiece and al-most make a ‘farting’ sound.

“Relax your cheeks and letyour lips vibrate inside themouthpiece. As soon as youget that trumpeting sound,blow harder until you reach aridiculously loud ‘boogyingblast’.”

You have been warned.

by IanDoyle

who will win?Ian Doyle

1. Brazil2. Spain3. England

www.summerpops.com 0844 847 1616

Holland are another danger. 100%during qualifying, coach Bert vanMarwijk has a plethora of attackingoptions to build on their thrillingshowing in Euro 2008.

Elsewhere, Portugal and IvoryCoast will lean heavily on their starplayers Cristiano Ronaldo and DidierDrogba, but the draw means one willalmost certainly be missing from theknockout stages.

Germany can never be ruled out butthe absence of skipper Ballack is ahammer blow to their chances, whileFrance are a team in transition andmay even have a fight to emerge froma group that contains Uruguay, Mex-ico and the host nation.

The open nature of this 19th WorldCup means there is plenty of scope fora surprise or two, with South Korea,Australia and the United States themost likely to ruffle a few feathers.

And what of England? Whisper itquietly, but this is their best chanceof making a lasting impression on aWorld Cup since reaching thesemi-finals in 1990.

The first winter finals sinceArgentina 1978 means theweather will be in their fa-vour, many of their top play-ers are in their prime andwill also have a point toprove after the disap-pointment of Germany2006 and failure to qual-ify for Euro 2008.

While the spotlightwill fall on WayneRooney and StevenGerrard, it’s the im-pact of the supportingcast that will provedecisive, with FrankLampard, Joe Coleand James Milnerlikely to playpivotal roles.

There are wor-ries over the goal-keeping positionand that any in-juries to key play-ers could ruintheir bid. But thesame applies tonearly every oth-er team.

Then there isthe Fabio Capellofactor, the masterItalian coachwhose presencehas given thecountry hope afterthe stupor ofSven-Goran Eriks-son’s farewell andSteve McLaren’s re-grettable tenure.

On July 11, we willdiscover who emergestriumphant. But thecountry of SouthAfrica – and the con-tinent of Africa as awhole – is on thethreshold of an evengreater victory.

A South Africa fan – complete with vuvuzela

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England

World Cup 2010 Group C

DesertFoxeshuntingascalpTHE distance between Alger-ia and South Africa is 6,891kilometres.

But Madjid Bougherraknows, for the people of hishomeland, the World Cupmust have felt like it was amillion miles away at times.

It has been 24 years sincethe north African nation lastgraced the world’s greatestfootball competition, secur-ing their place at this sum-mer’s tournament in Novem-ber 2009 when they beat bit-ter rivals Egypt in a qual-ification tie-breaker.

The Desert Foxes enjoyedback-to-back World Cup cam-paigns in 1982 and 1986, with

their involvement the firsttime around probably bestremembered for their contro-versial exit as West Ger-many and Austria appearedto engineer the result thatwould take them through atthe Africans’ expense.

Since then, it has been along wait to take their placeat the top table.

As far as Bougherra isconcerned, this summer’sjourney to South Africa willbe worth the wait as Algeriaprepare to face Slovenia, theUSA and England, who, inhis opinion, are one of justthree teams capable of claim-ing the silverware.

“For Algeria, the WorldCup is immense because, for24 years, we were not at theWorld Cup,” says theRangers defender.

“You can see everywherethe happiness we give to thecountry. Brazil, Spain andEngland – for me, they arethe three teams who can winthe World Cup.

“It is good to play withplayers such as (Wayne)Rooney, (Steven) Gerrardand (Frank) Lampard. Forall of the Algerian peopleand the team, it’s going to bea good test.

“We play football to playthis game – that’s it.”

Algeria

‘What’sthedifferencethistime?Justoneman..’IanDoyleChief Football Correspondent

IT is the question on the lips of everylong-suffering England supporter.

After the dethronement of 1970, thewilderness years of 1974 and 1978, thedisappointment of 1982, the contro-versy of 1986, the heartbreak of 1990,the embarrassment of 1994, the pen-alty woes of 1998, the free-kick of 2002and the underwhelming showing of2006, those that follow the ThreeLions want to know one thing.

Why should this summer be anydifferent?

During the past four decades, a suc-cession of managers and players havetried but failed to emulate theachievements of Sir Alf Ramsey andhis charges back in 1966.

Disappointment has followed disap-pointment, great expectations swiftlyreplaced by the realisation Englandhad, once again, fallen short when itmattered most.

It was the same story in Germanyfour years ago when the team trav-elled with self-proclaimed hopes ofglory only to slip out with a whimperafter an uninspired campaign.

So, just why should this summer beany different?

Steven Gerrard believes he has theanswer. “For me, the main differenceis the Fabio Capello factor,” says theLiverpool captain.

“Look at how we performed duringqualifying, we got through comfort-ably and we played some good stuffalong the way.

“With Capello, we have a managerwho is right on top of the players,keeping us on our toes. We know wecannot afford to slack off when he isaround. The one thing that he hasdone is instil a winning mentalityinto the players. That has been very

important, and has given us a lot ofconfidence.”

The hype of England’s impressivequalification has been deflated some-what by a series of subsequent in-different friendly performances, butGerrard reveals the squad have inany case been at painsto keep their feetfirmly rooted to theground.

“We aren’t going togo around saying‘we’re going to win theWorld Cup’,” he says.“We have fallen intothat trap before and itputs too much expectation on us.

“But we know we have a chance.The manager won’t let us get affectedby any expectation, and he wants usto play without fear.

“If we can play well, and keepbuilding on our confidence, and getthat little bit of luck on the way thatevery team needs, then we have anopportunity of getting over the pro-

verbial ‘final hurdle’ that has provenso difficult for us in the past.

“The team spirit is certainly high.We know what is expected of us. Theperformances can get better and forme that’s an encouraging sign. But asa squad we know how to win games

now.“We’ve been togeth-

er for a long time. Idon’t think there aretoo many excuses forthis team any more.It’s time to deliver.”

A perennial talkingpoint throughout Ger-rard’s England career

– 80 caps and counting – is where heshould be best employed.

Capello has preferred to use Ger-rard as the answer to his team’s prob-lematic left wing role, but the Liv-erpool man shone when pressed intoa central role in the recent warm-upvictories against Mexico and Japan.

Gerrard has also been used as anattacking foil to Wayne Rooney, but

the player himself believes he can doa job wherever Capello sees fit.

“Everyone knows I always enjoy itwhen I play in the middle,” he says.“I’ve always said that if I make it tothe final squad, then I’m aware themanager is going to want me to playin different roles and I’m happy andready for that.

“Maybe earlier on in my career I’dhave sulked a bit if I was asked toplay in a few different positions. But Ithink now I have the maturity andexperience to know what is best forthe team, and I actually quite likeplaying in different positions.

“It helps me develop as a playerand you learn more about yourselfand opponents when you can see thegame from different perspectives.”

England begin their campaignagainst the United States in Rusten-burg on June 12, after which comegames against Algeria and Slovenia.

And Gerrard says of the Group Copponents: “If we play well I’m con-fident we can beat them, but Iwouldn’t disrespect the other coun-tries and think it’s going to be easy –they will all be tough games.”

The World Cup has not been kindto Gerrard. He was absent in 2002because of a groin injury and misseda penalty in the quarter-finalshoot-out defeat against Portugal fouryears later.

And having just turned 30, the mid-fielder knows time is running out forhim to leave a lasting impact on foot-ball’s biggest tournament.

“Missing a penalty in thequarter-final was the loneliest placein the world and I want to put thatright,” says Gerrard. “It’s bad enoughlosing, but to feel you are responsibleis the worst kind of failure.

“If I want to win the World Cup I’mgoing to need to do it soon. I’m ingood shape and I believe I’ve still gotfive years to fight for the big prizes infootball.

“I don’t know if this will be my lastWorld Cup but I want to give iteverything.”

Madjid Bougherra

who will win?David Prentice

1. Brazil2. Germany3. Spain

A brief historyof the world...

URUGUAY 1930Final: Uruguay 4-2 ArgentinaTop scorer: Guillermo Stábile (Uruguay)8 goals

ITALY 1934Final: Italy 2-1 CzechoslovakiaTop scorer: Oldrich Nejedlý (Czechoslov-akia) 5

FRANCE 1938Final: Italy 4-2 HungaryTop scorer: Leonidas (Brazil) 7

URUGUAY 1950Final: Uruguay 2-1 BrazilTop scorer: Ademir (Brazil) 8

SWITZERLAND 1954Final: West Germany 3-2 HungaryTop scorer: Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) 11

SWEDEN 1958Final: Brazil 5-2 SwedenTop scorer: Just Fontaine (France) 13

CHILE 1962Final: Brazil 3-1 CzechoslovakiaTop scorer: Garrincha (Brazil), Vavá(Brazil), Leonel Sánchez (Chile), Dra anJerkovic (Yugoslavia), Flórián Albert(Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (USSR) 4

ENGLAND 1966Final: England 4-2West GermanyTop scorer: Euse-bio (Portugal) 9

MEXICO 1970Final: Brazil 4-1ItalyTop scorer: GerdMuller (West Ger-many) 10

WEST GERMANY1974Final: West Ger-many 2-1 HollandTop scorer:Grzegorz Lato (Poland) 7

ARGENTINA 1978Final: Argentina 3-1 HollandTop scorer: Mario Kempes (Argentina) 6

SPAIN 1982Final: Italy 3-1 West GermanyTop scorer: Paolo Rossi (Italy) 6

MEXICO 1986Final: Argentina 3-2 West GermanyTop scorer: Gary Lineker (England) 6

ITALY 1990Final: West Germany 1-0 ArgentinaTop scorer: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) 6

USA 1994Final: Brazil 0-0 Italy (Pens: 3-2)Top scorer: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria),Oleg Salenko (Russia) 6

FRANCE 1998Final: France 3-0 BrazilTop scorer: Davor Suker (Croatia) 6

JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA 2002Final: Brazil 2-0 GermanyTop scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) 8

GERMANY 2006Final: Italy 1-1 France (Pens: 5-3)Top scorer: Miroslav Klose (Germany) 5

Steven Gerrard is a big fan of the Fabio factor

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Slovenia

Italy

SmellsliketeamspirittocaptainKorenCAPTAIN Robert Koren isdetermined to help Sloveniaqualify for the knockoutstages in South Africa andbanish the memory of theironly previous World Cup ex-perience.

With optimism high forthe 2002 tournament in Ja-pan and South Korea, Slov-enia were soon on the planeback to Europe after threesuccessive defeats con-demned them to bottomspot in Group B without asingle point to their name.

The squad was also tornapart with star playerZlatko Zahovic sent homeafter the team’s opening

game following a row withcoach Srecko Katanec.

But midfielder Koren,who helped West Brom topromotion last season, iskeen to stress things are dif-ferent now – both on and offthe pitch.

Slovenia, populated byjust two million people,showed harmonyand belief aplenty asthey shrugged offthe tag of underdogsto qualify for the fi-nals by triumphingon away goals intheir play-off withmighty Russia.

Koren says:

“Eight years after andnobody is thinking toomuch about what happenedin 2002.

“We are playing a differ-ent style. Before we onlyhad one star in the team(Zahovic). But now we tryto play more like a teamand don’t have one star.

“We are very goodfriends and have a goodteam spirit. It’s amassive difference.

“You can’t comparethese two teams, it was a

long time ago whenthat happened.We just want toshow the people

that we are good enoughand can get through thegroup stage.”

To achieve their aimSlovenia must break theirWorld Cup duck and gain awinning start in their open-ing Group C match againstAlgeria on June 13.

A potential qualifying de-cider against USA followsbefore they end the firststage with a clash againstgroup favourites England.

And Koren insists any-thing is possible for MatjazKek’s side.

“We are in the World Cupand we deserve that,” hesays.

Why Johnson’s happy notto be on holiday again

IT is the one sentence thatneatly encapsulates thethoughts of everyone associatedwith Liverpool.

When Glen Johnson wasasked to surmise the re-cently-completed Anfield cam-paign, his response was simple.

“Next season can’t be as bad,surely,” said the right-back.

While Johnson was referringto the injury problems thathampered his debut term sincearriving from Portsmouth for£17million, his words struck auniversal chord at the club.

For the 25-year-old, there isnow thechance to atleast eradic-ate some ofthose memor-ies with atrip to SouthAfrica thissummer.

Certainly,fitness won’tbe a problemjudging byJohnson’sencouragingperform-ances during the warm-up vic-tories against Mexico and Ja-pan, the former of which sawthe Liverpool man break his in-ternational duck with a spec-tacular strike.

And Johnson has an extra in-centive after missing out onEngland’s last World Cup tilt inGermany in 2006.

Having earned his first capthree years earlier, Johnsonlost his place as understudy toGary Neville following a poorperformance against Denmarkin the build-up to the finals.

It meant the defenderwatched England’s disappoint-ing World Cup campaign whileon holiday in Dubai.

Now, however, Johnson isfirmly established as England’sfirst-choice right-back underFabio Capello and is raring tomake amends for missing outlast time.

“I’m pleased with the wayI’ve been playing and I’ve just

got to keep trying to do the jobto the best of my ability,” hesays.

“It was a childhood dream ofmine to play in a World Cup forEngland.

“I didn’t get picked for thelast one and I remember watch-ing the games while I was onholiday in Dubai.

“But I never lost heart. I’vealways been confident in myown ability. When I was out ofthe England squad I just fo-cused on getting my head downand doing the best I could formy club.

“If England came aroundagain I vowed to try to grabthat opportunity.”

Johnsonsuffered adifficult timefor his coun-try last yearwhen a num-ber ofhigh-profilemistakes ledto calls forhim to bedropped.

However,Capelloleaped to thedefence of a

player he regards as “one of thebest right-backs in the world”.

“It’s always nice when a man-ager shows he believes in you –it gives you that extra bit ofconfidence,” says Johnson.

“Fabio is a great managerand a nice man. He’s fantasticwith the lads. He lets everyoneknow when it’s time to knuckledown and get the job done and Ithink the boys have respondedto that. His training regime isspot on and his tactics aresecond to none.

“Fabio tells us regularly thaton our day we can beat anyone.He gets the best out of the boysand has definitely instilled a lotof confidence in the squad. I’vebeen lucky enough to workwith some great managers likeJose Mourinho, HarryRedknapp, Rafa Benitez and Fa-bio.

“They are all very differentand have their own ideas butI’ve learned from them all.”

by IanDoyle

Steven Gerrardis hopeful ofgreater thingsfor Englandthis summer

Johnson in action against Japan


Sat Jun 12: England v US (Rustenburg) ITV 7.30pm, Sun Jun 13: Algeria v Slovenia (Polokwane) BBC 12.30pm, Fri Jun 18: Slovenia vUS (Johannesburg – Ellis Park) BBC 3pm, England v Algeria (Cape Town) ITV 7.30pm, Wed Jun 23: Slovenia v England (Port Elizabeth),US v Algeria (Pretoria) BBC 3pm

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NickSmithComment

Listen to the Kit Kat men, Fabio and cross


MARTIN PETERS perhaps summed itup best when asked why Englandshould get the 2018 World Cup.

“We gave the game to the world,”moaned one of the goalscorers in theonly major final this nation has beenin. “Some countries have had it two orthree times, but we’ve only had itonce.”

Peters is probably right that Eng-land’s turn as a host is long overdue.But the attitude that because the gameoriginated here, the rest of the worldshould show its eternal gratitude andsimply roll over whenever we wantsomething has festered for far toolong.

Let’s hope that 2010 is the year whenit’s finally extinguished.

For too long England has labouredunder the delusion that because it hasthe oldest grounds, the newestgrounds, the best league, the most pas-sionate fans – all theories open to de-bate – it should be leading the worldgame on the pitch too.

Wanting to win and believing youcan win are fine. Feeling you have aright to win is when the rot sets in.

In football you have to earn whatyou get and self-satisfied arrogancegets you nowhere.

As was proven in the excruciatingbuild-up to the last World Cup – we canonly hope the lessons from 2006 havebeen learned.

For years pundits, press men andfans salivated at the thought of thatyear, when Gerrard, Lampard, Terry,Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Beckham andOwen would supposedly be ‘at theirpeak’.

Add in the bonus of the accelerationof Wayne Rooney to world class su-perstar and it was in the bag.

All those players, with varying de-

grees of form, fitness and ill discipline,actually made it to Germany, wherethe greatest show on earth turned intoa non-event for England.

For golden generation read wastedyouth.

But nothing went disastrously,head-scratchingly wrong. If the Eng-land football team was a golfer, goingout on penalties to Portugal in thequarter-final would be going round inpar.

But the collective exasperation insome parts is what happens when youtry to set the bar too high beforeyou’ve even got off the ground.

Sometimes you have to accept thatother countries will have better play-ers and – shock horror – some of thebest in the world don’t even play in thePremier League.

That’s still the case now so there’sno reason to think we should do anybetter this time.

Gerrard and Lampard are now thewrong side of 30, Beckham and Owenlong gone, Terry and Ferdinand un-

England won’t be scared... butwe can compete with anyone

USA

TIM HOWARD has enjoyed revelling inthe role of underdog for much of hisEverton career.

Now the United States goalkeeper isdetermined to pull off another surpriseand ensure World Cup misery for thecountry in which he plies his trade.

When England begin their SouthAfrica campaign, their main task will beto find a way past the Goodisonshot-stopper.

As many a Premier League striker willtestify, it’s no easy task.

It has been an encouraging 12 monthsfor the 31-year-old, who was part of theUSA team that surprised many in lastsummer’s Confederations Cup, wherethey bravely went down 3-2 in the finalto superpowers Brazil after beatingEuropean champions Spain 2-0 in thesemis.

But when he steps out with histeam-mates in Rustenburg on June 12for their Group C opener, Howard doesnot believe Fabio Capello’s side will be“shaking in their boots”.

And having grown accustomed toovercoming the odds at Everton, thatsuits the goalkeeper just fine.

“I think it’s getting better,” says

Howard. “But I don’t think we step onthe field and anyone goes, ‘Ohhh, herecomes the US’.

“We did some really great things lastsummer and we drew against Argentinatwo years ago. But I don’t think peopleare overawed by us.”

Four years ago, Howard could onlylook on from the sidelines as understudyto Kasey Keller as the USA slumped outof the World Cup in the group stages inGermany, a huge disappointment afterreaching the last eight in 2002.

Now, however, the Evertonman is now firmly ensconced asthe first-choice goalkeeper un-der national coach Bob Bradleyhaving established himself as aregular at Goodison after fall-ing out of favour atManchester United.

Howard believes the confid-ence garnered by their Confed-erations Cup run last summerhas given the USA hope ofemerging from a group thatalso contains Algeria and Slov-enia.

“The Confederations Cup gave us con-fidence and belief,” he says. “On thebest days we can arguably competeagainst the best teams in the world. I’mhoping it shows that as a team we’ve

matured, and we saw what it takes toplay against Italy, against Brazil, againstSpain at the highest level every singlematch.

“You’ll never get a run harder thanthat, so it was something that wewill take a lot of confidence from,and hopefully if we are matureenough we’ll use those experi-ences in a positive way.”

While England have won allseven friendly games against theUSA – the most recent of which

was a 2-0 Wembleywin two years – theirtwo competitiveclashes have ended indefeat.

Alexei Lalas inspiredthe States to a 2-0 tri-umph in the US Cup in1993, but the most not-able victory came in the1950 World Cup when

England were stunned1-0.

So can the USA do itagain? “We are hoping so,” saysHoward. The one thing that nightagainst Spain taught us is that anythingcan happen. We almost did it againstBrazil and those experiences have givenus a belief.”

BlameMoyesifUnitedStatestriumph!SHOULD England relive thenightmare of Belo Horizontenext month, then DavidMoyes will have a lot to an-swer for.

As a proud Scot, the Ever-ton manager would no doubttake great delight in seeingthe Auld Enemy tumble to de-feat in their World Cup open-er against the USA.

After all, Moyes will havehelped hone the talents oftwo of the greatest threats to

England progressing to theknockout stages.

Tim Howard’s reputationcontinues to be enhanced,and at the other end of thefield Landon Donovan hasemerged as a genuine talent.

USA captain Donovan madea huge impression after join-ing Everton on a 10-week loanfrom Los Angeles Galaxy inJanuary, adding an extra di-mension to the attack, bag-ging a couple of goals and

earning the instant adorationof the fans.

“My experience puts me ina stronger position for theWorld Cup,” admits Donovan.

“The biggest plus is I nowhave the confidence to playagainst anybody and not fearanyone or team at all.

“My game has improved somuch from playing in Eng-land, but I believe in my abil-ity and what I can do.

“I know what I have to give

and I bring that out ofmyself a lot more often.

“It’s been really greatand I can’t imagine manyplayers in the world, letalone Americans, can saythey have played againstand beaten Chelsea andManchester United in thespace of 10 days. Thathas to be the highlight.

“It’s absolutely im-proved me as a player, it’simpossible not to.”

by IanDoyle

Landon Donovan

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your fingers – it’s your only hope of glorystable, emotionally and physically re-spectively.

And there’s still no world class keep-er. Pepe Reina isn’t even Spain’s firstchoice but you’d have him with hisback to the kicker in a shoot-out beforeyou’d back any of England’s three toperform penalty heroics.

Even Rooney isn’t guaranteed to bea success. Yes, he had a great seasonfor Manchester United but so did Cris-tiano Ronaldo two years ago.

But come Euro 2008 he failed tobuild on the momentum of his 42-goalclub campaign and he was a peripheralfigure in Portugal’s underwhelmingshowing.

But as long as Fabio Capello isaware that everything in the Englishgarden isn’t as rosy as many here be-lieve it to be, there may be some hopeafter all.

The immediate euphoria of Eng-land’s convincing qualification haslong since subsided. All Capello reallydid was turn a team that couldn’t beatCroatia into one that could.

Okay, 9-2 on aggregate over the twoqualifying games was a stunning turn-around and he deserves credit for that.

But it’s what he is paid to do. Hemade the best of the considerable qual-ity he had at his disposal.

Now the real stuff starts and therecent showings in the warm-up gameshardly inspire confidence that thestroll of the qualifying campaign willbe repeated.

So it’s time to be realistic and acceptthat anything England do achieve inSouth Africa will be down to luckrather than ability.

At least the message seems to begetting through to the not exactlyhype-shy chocolate advertisers.

Four years ago, Mars replaced thebrand logo on their bar with the word‘Believe’. Nobody did.

Thankfully, Kit Kat’s marketing menseem to have hit the right note withtheir slogan this time around – Crossyour fingers.

Good advice. Advice we would all –including Capello – do well to heed.

WhyCarragherisgoforinternationalrescue


HIS retirement provoked afurore. His return prompteda frenzy. Now Jamie Car-ragher is intent on send-ing England’s followersfrantic for all the rightreasons this summer.

Of all the players chargedwith ending 44 years of Eng-land hurt, the Liverpoolcentre-back is the one thathas caused the greatest sur-

prise.Small wonder. Carragher had

been retired from internationalfootball for almost three years

when, with England’s defensiveresources stretched by injury, thecall came from Fabio Capellothat his services would be re-quired for the forthcomingWorld Cup.

It was a controversial move,with Carragher having caused aright old rumpus when, afterthe frustration of being continu-ally overlooked led to his inter-

national retirement in 2007, headmitted playing for Liver-pool was more importantthan appearing for his coun-try.

After some deliberation,the Bootle-born defenderaccepted the challenge.Fears Carragher would bejeered on his return in thefriendly against Mexico atWembley last monththankfully proved unfoun-ded.

Now, from being anoutcast, 32-year-old Car-ragher finds himselfemployed in the role aselder statesman, theoldest outfield playerin Capello’s squad forSouth Africa. But, ashe admits, it’s an op-portunity he hadn’teven considered un-

til recently and is proud to be rep-resenting the nation once more.

“It’s not something I havethought about over the last two orthree years,” says Carragher. “Iknow I have been criticised in thepast for saying that Liverpool wasthe most important thing to me butthat’s just the way it is.

“But the World Cup and theChampions League are the twobiggest tournaments you can playin during your career. Also, comingto the end of my career, I am proudof the fact that I have been selectedto go at the age of 32.

“There are not too many playersof my age going. When I was last inthe squad, you had people like Mi-chael Owen, Gary Neville, David

Beckham, Sol Campbell – all vastlyexperienced.

“So that was the strangest thingthis time, finding that I was theoldest outfield player. Do I feel Ihave extra responsibility? Notreally. But if my experience canhelp, that will be fantastic.

“The starting line-up hasn’t ac-tually changed too much from2006. Maybe someone made themistake of calling us the GoldenGeneration and building us up.

“But all these play-ers now have fouryears more experi-ence, are four yearsmore wise and hope-fully that will keep usin good stead. I thinkwe have been bittenthat many times,people don’t want tofall into the same trap again.”

Carragher, along with StevenGerrard and Frank Lampard, missedin the penalty shoot-out againstPortugal in the quarter-final four

years ago having been introducedfrom the bench by then Englandcoach Sven-Goran Eriksson specific-ally to take a spot kick.

The Liverpool man had previ-ously been absent from the 2002World Cup through injury andfailed to see any action in Euro2004 despite being included in thesquad.

But has life with Englandchanged much in his three yearsaway? “It does feel a little bit dif-

ferent,” says Carra-gher. “Most of theplayers are thesame, all the back-room staff, the sec-retaries at the FA.It’s been fine. Theonly difference wasthe change of man-

ager.”That change of manager, with

Capello having replaced SteveMcLaren, was a significant reasonbehind Carragher’s U-turn.

The defender has made no secretof his desire to remain in the gameafter his playing days and is eagerto learn from the Italian.

“It is an experience working withCapello,” says Carragher. “I regardthe two best defenders of all timeas Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.That will be a great education forme over the next weeks. One of themain reasons for coming back wasto work with him.

“You pick up things from every-one. If you go into management,you do what you think is right.”

The likelihood is Carragher’s in-ternational comeback will be brief,with players returning to fitnessafter the tournament.

But it is one he is determined toenjoy. “Having finished with Eng-land three years ago, I neverthought I would be in this posi-tion,” says the Liverpool man. “Iam glad I am here now, though.”

European Qualifying Group 6 Final TableP W D L F A Pts

ENGLAND ....... 10 9 0 1 34 6 27Ukraine ............ 10 6 3 1 21 6 21Croatia ............. 10 6 2 2 19 13 20Belarus ............ 10 4 1 5 19 14 13Kazakhstan...... 10 2 0 8 11 29 6Andorra............ 10 0 0 10 3 39 0

England’s routeto South AfricaSep 6 08 Andorra (A) 2-0 (J Cole 2)Sep 10 08 Croatia (A) 4-1 (Walcott 3,Rooney)Oct 11 08 Kazakhstan (H) 5-1 (Ferdinand,Kuchma og, Rooney 2, Defoe)Oct 15 08 Belarus (A) 3-1 (Gerrard, Rooney2)Apr 1 09 Ukraine (H) 2-1 (Crouch, Terry)Jun 6 09 Kazakhstan (A) 4-0 (Barry,Heskey, Rooney, Lampard)Jun 10 09 Andorra (H) 6-0 (Rooney 2,Lampard, Defoe 2, Crouch)Sep 9 09 Croatia (H) 5-1 (Lampard 2,Gerrard 2, Rooney)Oct 10 09 Ukraine (A) 0-1Oct 14 09 Belarus (H) 3-0 (Crouch 2,Wright-Phillips)

who will win?James Pearce

1. England2. Spain3. Brazil

Carragher consoles Gerrard in England’s 2006 shoot-out exit



MarkLawrenson

NewBrazil,sameoldstoryI MIGHT have fanciedArgentina for this WorldCup – but sadly for them,they’re not allowed toleave the manager athome.

Diego Maradona isdefinitely the weak linkbut he’s such a powerfulfigure nobody will bestrong enough to under-mine his influence.

It’s not like in Francewhere Raymond Dome-nech is sidelined andplayers like ThierryHenry run the show.

Maradona’s status inArgentina means nobodywill take him on and Ithink a great set of play-ers could be seriouslyhampered, as they wereduring that ridiculousqualifying campaign.

But I do think that theWorld Cup could bedestined for South Amer-ica.

It sounds strange tosay it but if Brazil dowin, it won’t be down tothe quality oftheir footballas much as thephysical side oftheir game.

Thisnew-styleBrazil are ag-gressive, phys-ical and eventheir goalkeep-er Julio Cesaris one of the best in theworld.

It’s the defensive qual-ities that make themsuch a strong outfit now.

Even though they wer-

en’t at anything like fullstrength in the friendlyin Qatar back in Novem-ber, I think Englandwere shocked at just howstrong and powerful theBrazilians are.

When youadd that to thetouch, controland movement,it’s a formid-able prospect.

Of the othercontenders,Spain will be inthere but Ithink you canget at them and

dominate physically.I can’t see where

Italy’s goals will comefrom to defend theircrown, while Hollandare too fragile mentally.

Anotherquarter-finalexit justwillnotcut itENGLAND’S brief for the forthcom-ing World Cup should be simple –nothing less than the semi-finals isgood enough.

This is the best 11 England havehad for a long time. Better than Ger-many in 2006 and better than SouthKorea/Japan in 2002.

The key, of course, will be keeping70 to 80% of the first-choice playersfit.

But if they are then Englandshouldn’t be accepting anything lessthan getting to the last four.

There are no major injuries atthis stage, the climate will be fine –there’s really nothing workingagainst England in the build-up tothis tournament.

For me, it’s just about FabioCapello making sure he gives hisplayers their best chance of success.

And I think he should do this byplaying a 4-2-3-1 formation.

On a bad day England give theball away too much and if you’ve gotstrikers stuck up front then it’s awaste.

So Wayne Rooney can play upfront on his own.

Behind him there would then be acompact unit with plenty of players– Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard,Joe Cole, Aaron Lennon – capable ofmaking things happen and pulling agoal out of the bag.

So you don’t need two centre-for-wards to achieve that.

And if the passing does go astray abit, there are enough bodies in thereto ensure the opposition can be pres-surised and possession can be wonback.

In that system though, I think

Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard haveto be at their best. They are thethree key men.

The question is, if the Plan A fails,does Capello have a Plan B? Orrather, does he have sufficient qual-ity to give him one?

To that end, I was surprised bythe omission of Theo Walcott andDarren Bent.

I think it’s got to the stage nowwhere we struggle to see what EmileHeskey gives England. He was agreat foil for Michael Owen but I

just can’t see him up there withRooney, nor is he someone youthrow on when you need a goal.

So that just doesn’t work for me.And when Walcott hits the heights

he can take teams apart as we saw inCroatia during qualifying.

Maybe he hasn’t done it as oftenas Capello likes but surely he wouldsay the same about ShaunWright-Phillips?

I thought Capello would haveliked to have Walcott, Bent, JermainDefoe and Peter Crouch as his im-pact substitutes. It’s a genuine sur-prise to me that he seems to havelimited his goalscoring options byleaving two of those out.

As for the defence, well the man-ager is an Italian so he’s bound tostock up in that department. Anddon’t forget, in the latter stages youcan win a game 0-0.

So the question for me is, can Eng-land handle tournament football?We know Brazil and Germany can,and France and Spain have alsoproven they have the stomach for itin recent years.

It’s all about character. In a six orseven-game campaign you will havea bad day and it’s how you respondand react to that that can make youstronger as a tournament goes on.

A bit like Italy four years ago afterthey wobbled against Australia inthe second round.

So if England do get to the lastfour, what then? There are plenty ofplayers who have been in Champi-ons League latter stages and knowwhat a semi-final is all about.

It’s time to transfer that to thebiggest stage of all.

Players like Lampard and Gerrard remain the key for England

Who’ll getthroughthe groups?

World Cup 2010 Analysis

GROUP A

France are not the force theywere but will go through, withUruguay my pick to join themas I tend to fancy South Amer-ican qualifiers. Home advant-age will help South Africa butnot enough and Mexicolooked defensively naiveagainst England.

France and Uruguay

GROUP B

I don’t fancy Greece to shockus like they did in Euro 2004 –you can only get away with 27men behind the ball and scor-ing from set-pieces for so long.South Koreans are still raw atthis level.

Argentina and Nigeria

GROUP C

An outstanding group for Eng-land. They get their hardestgame with the USA out of theway first and after that, I don’tsee too many problems foreither of those teams againstAlgeria and Slovenia.

England and USA

GROUP D

Germany won’t slip up and Ifancy Australia’s great teamspirit and determination toedge out Serbia and Ghana.

Germany and Australia

GROUP E

Netherlands will sail throughand I think Samuel Eto’o willgive Cameroon the edge overJapan, who are too inexper-ienced, and Denmark, who arestrong defensively but don’thave the quality.

Netherlands and Cameroon

GROUP F

Forget New Zealand forstarters, and I would give Slov-akia the nod over Paraguay.

Italy and Slovakia

GROUP G

North Korea couldn’t have hada worse draw and I think theGroup Of Death will claim Por-tugal. Ronaldo and Nani theymight have but it’s one tour-nament too far for the likes ofDeco and Carvalho.

Brazil and Ivory Coast

GROUP H

Honduras and Switzerlandcan’t match Chile’s techniqueand steely desire.

Spain and Chile

Maradona

Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH

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1930 – Did not enter1934 – Did not enter1938 – Did not enter1950 – Group stage: Chile 2-0, USA 0-1,Spain 0-11954 – Group stage: Belgium 4-4,Switzerland 2-0. Quarter-final: Uruguay2-41958 – Group stage: USSR 2-2, Brazil0-0, Austria 2-2. Group stage play-off:USSR 0-11962 – Group stage:Hungary 1-2, Argentina3-1, Bulgaria 0-0.Quarter-final: Brazil 1-31966 – Group stage:Uruguay 0-0, France 2-0,Mexico 2-0.Quarter-final:Argentina 1-0.Semi-final: Portugal2-1. Final: WestGermany 4-21970 – Group stage:Czechoslovakia 1-0,Brazil 0-1, Romania 1-0. Quarter-final:West Germany 2-31974 – Did not qualify1978 – Did not qualify

1982 – Group stage:France 3-1,Czechoslovakia 2-0,Kuwait 1-0. Secondround: West Germany0-0, Spain 0-0.1986 – Group stage:Portugal 0-1, Morocco0-0, Poland 3-0. Secondround: Paraguay 3-0.Quarter-final:Argentina 1-21990 – Group stage:

Republic of Ireland 1-1, Holland 0-0,Egypt 1-0. Second round: Belgium 1-0.Quarter-final: Cameroon 3-2.Semi-final: West Germany 1-1 (pens 3-4).Third-place play-off: Italy 1-21994 – Did not qualify1998 – Group stage:Tunisia 2-0, Romania 1-2,Colombia 2-0. Secondround: Argentina 2-2(pens 3-4)2002 – Group stage:Sweden 1-1, Argentina1-0, Nigeria 0-0. Secondround: Denmark 3-0.Quarter-final: Brazil 1-22006 – Group stage:Paraguay 1-0, Trinidadand Tobago 2-0, Sweden2-2. Second round:Ecuador 1-0. Quarter-final: Portugal 0-0(pens 1-3)

Overall record: P55 W25 D17 L13 F74 A47

Balls a handfulwarns SeamanFORMER England number one DavidSeaman believes that the ball beingused at the forthcoming World Cupwill be a “nightmare” for goalkeep-ers to handle.

Critics believe the ball’s weight – itweighs just 440 grams – will make itfly unpredictably through the airwith England keeper David Jamesdescribing the ball as “dreadful”.

“It’s always the same before aWorld Cup or a European Champi-onships, they bring out a new balland it does totally different thingsthan what we’re used to,” says Sea-man.

“The players will have had a bit oftraining with it now but for goal-keepers it’s a nightmare.

“It’s getting lighter and faster andthe swerve it gets is just so unpre-dictable that it is frightening.

“As a goalkeeper you have no ideawhere it’s going to go so it’s going tobe very hard to stop.”

CapelloisrightupRamsey’sstreet–Charlton

Fabio Capello has similar traits to England’s1966 manager Sir Alf Ramsey (inset below)according to World Cup winner Bobby Charlton

bySimonStoneLDPSPORTSCORRESPONDENT

SIR Bobby Charlton believes Eng-land manager Fabio Capello hassimilar characteristics to thosewhich helped Sir Alf Ramsey in-spire England to their 1966 WorldCup success.

Charlton, 72, was a member ofRamsey’s World Cup-winning sidewho claimed their place in historywith a 4-2 extra-time victory in thefinal against West Germany.

England have gone 44 yearssince without claiming a majortrophy, but Charlton is optimisticthey can end that run with Capelloat the helm.

While Charlton does not believeEngland will take the most talen-ted squad to South Africa thissummer, he believes Capello, whohas pledged to stay on until afterEuro 2012, has the uniting influ-ence to turn them into potentialworld beaters.

Asked if he saw the qualities of

Ramsey in Capello, Charlton says:“Yes absolutely.

“That’s the first thing I thoughtof when they were talking aboutwho was going to be the managerand I thought ‘Well, you have toyou have to have someone that canthat can bring all these differentpeople from different clubs play-ing different systems’.

“Bring them all together. That’swhat Alf did.

“At the moment England appearto me to have the right manager.

“He knows how to handle allthese players that are making for-tunes as footballers.

“Somebody has to knit it all to-gether and I think Fabio Capello isa first-class choice as Englandmanager – it’s made for him.

“That’s how good I think he is.”While optimistic, Charlton does

not believe that England are one ofthe most likely nations to lift theWorld Cup trophy in Johannes-burg on July 11, instead pointingto the likes of Argentina, Spain

and Germany as the main con-tenders.

“I think England have got agood manager and I think thatwe’ll do okay,” he adds.

“I’m not getting carried away tosay that we will win it but wecould. But we’re not the favour-ites.

“I think Argentinaare going to be a bigthreat. I say that often– usually every fouryears I think becausethey have a lot of goodplayers.

“I think the Span-ish can win obviouslyand the Germansagain. They (BayernMunich) lost the finalof the ChampionsLeague and I think that mighthave a little effect on them.

“But I think it’s quite open, es-pecially going to a country likeSouth Africa where the pitchesmight not be the beautiful man-

icured pitches that we have here.”Charlton also voiced his con-

cerns about the weight of Englishexpectation on star striker WayneRooney heading into the finals.

The 24-year-old was in ca-reer-best form for ManchesterUnited this season, but Charlton is

fearful that has cre-ated a level of expect-ation among the Eng-lish media and fansthat could overwhelmthe striker.

“I would feel a bitbetter if they didn’tseem to puteverything on hisshoulders,” Charltonadds.

“If suddenly he hasa little a little patch of

bad form or whatever you know Ihope he’s not going to take theblame for everybody that’s in theteam.

“But he’s got great ambition andhe’s not afraid.”

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World Cup 2010 Group A

The World onhis shoulders

Mexico

FrancodictatesMexicobid

Everton’s Steven Pienaar carries the hopes of a nation as the playmaker for hosts South Africa

THOSE England fans whobelieve Sven-Goran Eriks-son failed to get the bestout of the country’s‘Golden Generation’ canchuckle now.

Having been unceremo-niously jettisoned byManchester City, the Swedewas snapped up by Mexicoin the hope that he couldguide them to their fifth

successive World Cup, buthis appointment provedcontroversial.

Defeats against Hondur-as and Jamaica ensuredthat Eriksson was relievedof his duties in February2009 and marked the en-trance of new coach JavierAguirre.

Aguirre instantly turnedto Argentina-born striker

Guillermo Franco, a de-cision which paid immedi-ate dividends.

Franco scored twice insix appearances to helpMexico to qualification.

“The coaching team,Javier and his staff, theyall know me very well andthat’s why I played a bigpart in the qualifying cam-paign,” he says.

Franco (left) andEngland’s Ledley King

Greatest World Cup shocks

PapaDoc,GBHandthearmysergeantUSA 1-0 England (1950)

The original and still thegreatest World Cup shock, andone England will be hoping toavoid in Rustenburg. You knowthe drill – Haiti-born matchwin-ner Joe Gaetjens was later pre-sumed murdered by henchmanof François “Papa Doc” Duva-lier, while the London pressthought the scoreline was atyping error. But were youaware England played in royalblue shirts that day?

North Korea 1-0 Italy (1966)Middlesbrough isn't the most

welcoming of places as Italyfound out when Pak Doo-Ik be-came immortalised by his win-ning strike. After the game,Pak, who was a corporal in theNorth Korean army, was pro-moted sergeant, while Italy ar-rived home to a barrage of to-matoes. Still, that'd be the lastthey'd see of those pesky

Koreans.

South Korea2-1 Italy(2002)

Ahem. Chris-tian Vieri'smissed sitterand FrancescoTotti's red cardfor beingfouled in thepenalty area

left the stage clear for AhnJung-Hwan (left) to net agolden goal winner. Ahn, in-evitably, played for an Italianclub in Perugia, whose presid-ent promptly declared theKorean would never appear forthe club again. He changed hismind the following day,though. Bless.

Argentina 0-1 Cameroon(1990)

Never mind Nery Pumpidofumbling François Omam-Biyik'sheader over the line or the factArgentina were the World Cupholders. What we all remember

from this game is a lung-bust-ing Claudio Caniggia sprintthat, after riding two attemp-ted assaults from opposing de-fenders, was finally ended byBenjamin Massing's GBH.

West Germany 1-2 Algeria(1982)

Lakhdar Belloumi's winnersent Algeria into raptures. Butthe real shock was that WestGermany still later eliminatedthe Africans with a 1-0 winagainst Austria that put bothEuropeansides through.A game thatwas in no waya fix. At all.Honest.

France 0-1Senegal(2002)

Liverpoolfans were de-lighted to seenew signing ElHadji Diouf dancing down thewing and crossing for PapaBouba Diop (pictured) to sendthe reigning champions crum-bling to a stunning defeat inSeoul. If only they knew.

Bulgaria 2-1 Germany (1994)With their country having

failed to qualify, England's sup-porters turned to their secondteam – whoever was playingGermany. And an entire nationchuckledwhen YordanLetchkov'sdiving header(right)dumped theholders out ofthe competi-tion and gaveeveryone afurtherchance to ad-mire BorislavMikhailov'ssuspicious hair and Trifon Ivan-ov's scary beard.

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World Cup 2010 Group A


HE may stand at only five foot seven inchestall, but Steven Pienaar has had little optionbut to acquire some broad shoulders in recenttimes.

After all, having carried the weight of Ever-ton’s creativity during an outstanding personalcampaign, the midfielder now finds himselfburdened with the hopes of a nation.

As his team’s stellar and most high-profileperformer, all eyes will be on Pienaar whenSouth Africa step out against Mexico in Jo-hannesburg on June 11 to begin the World Cupfinals.

Apprehensive? Perhaps. But Pienaar issimply keen to get the ball rolling.

“I am getting more nervous now,” he admits.“Before, you used to think it was another yearaway but soon it will be there. The closer youget then the more tense you become. But I’mlooking forward to it, I can’t wait.

“It will be a really special moment, not onlyfor the players but for the wholeof South Africa and the whole ofthe continent. It will be a day ofhistory like when Mandelacame out of prison.”

That is no understatement.The opening game will be therealisation of a dream not justfor the player, not just for hiscountry, but for the whole ofAfrica as the continent prepares to host its firstever World Cup finals.

That Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium –which has been revamped to accommodatemore than 90,000 fans for the finals – was thesite of Nelson Mandela’s first speech in the cityfollowing his release from prison further em-phasises the point.

Mandela presented South Africa with therugby union World Cup in Johannesburg in1995 but it would be a huge upset if the coun-try’s football team, known as Bafana Bafana,are similarly successful.

South Africa qualified for the World Cup in1998 and 2002 but have since been in decline,failing to make Germany four years ago andentering the finals with only North Korea be-low them in the FIFA rankings.

Carlos Alberto Parreira, the Brazilian para-chuted back into the role of coach after thefiring of compatriot Joel Santana, faces a dif-ficult task with South Africa also drawnagainst former champions Uruguay andFrance.

There were encouraging signs last summer,however, when Bafana Bafana reached thesemi-finals of World Cup warm-up tournamentthe Confederations Cup before losing to Brazil.

No host nation has ever failed to progressfrom the group stages, and Pienaar is determ-ined that remains the case.

“As a country, we are definitely ready for theworld to come to South Africa, and as a teamwe are ready also,” says the Everton man.

“My view is that we are ranked so low be-cause of one thing – poor results. It’s also agood thing for us. We know a lot of peoplearen’t expecting anything from us. It means wecan go out, enjoy ourselves and make the bestof it.

“There are only three games in the firstround, and we can give 150% in those and makesure our lives depend on them. Then we willtake it from there.

“For us to go to the second round, that iswhat many people hope. I think we can get outof the group. Mexico and Uruguay play quitesimilar to us, only France will be a bit of achallenge.

“The crowd will boost the players and wewill be confident with them behind us.”

With almost 500,000 seats still unsold lessthan a month before the first match, there havebeen suggestions local support for the tour-nament, initially hampered by difficulties ingaining match tickets, will tail off once SouthAfrica are eliminated.

Pienaar, however, allays such fears. “I’m surea lot of people will be disappointed if we don’tqualify for the second round,” he says. “ButSouth Africa is a football crazy country so Idon’t think the stadiums will be empty if SouthAfrica get knocked out early on.

“The people want to see thebest players in the world andthose are coming to SouthAfrica.”

While the global economicdownturn and concerns overhis country’s high crime rateare expected to limit the num-ber of foreign visitors duringthe finals, Pienaar has

launched a staunch defence of his homeland.“People ask me about the crime and I keep

on telling them it is like anywhere in the worldthat if you don’t look out for yourself there canbe problems,” he says. “It’s a beautiful country.And there will be a great atmosphere duringthe World Cup.

“It’s the name of the country that’s at stakeand you just have to hope and wish that it allgoes well.”

Pienaar had first-hand experience during hisupbringing in Johannesburg of the issues thatSouth Africa are striving to address.

“It was very tough to be raised by a singlemother in a gang-infested area,” he says. “But Iwas quite fortunate that I had a really strongmother that believed in us and wanted the bestfor us and made sure we were always indoorsand kept away from the bad stuff.

“Sometimes when I look back, alot of things could have happened ifI was back in South Africa and I’mvery fortunate I’ve had an oppor-tunity to do something with my tal-ent.”

Pienaar now cannot wait tomarch out at the Soccer City sta-dium in Soweto this Friday.

“Not far from where my motherlives you can actually see the sta-dium,” he says. “I used to dream ofplaying in the old stadium, so toplay in this new one... that issomething.”

Hungry Cisse fit to make up forlost time after finals misery

PETER CROUCH, HarryKewell and Emile Heskeyare among the surpris-ingly lengthy list offormer Liverpool strikerswho will be displayingtheir wares in SouthAfrica this summer.

But there is anotherforward with Anfieldconnections that fewwould have expected tosee at the World Cup.

With a penalty in theChampions League final,two goals in the UEFASuper Cup and anotherstrike in the FA Cup final,Djibril Cisse played a ma-jor role in the success ofRafael Benitez’s first twoseasons in charge at Liv-erpool.

Yet within days ofhelping the Anfield out-fit see off West HamUnited at the MillenniumStadium, the poor for-tune that has doggedCisse throughout his ca-reer reared its head onceagain.

Having suffered a sick-ening double fracture atBlackburn Rovers in2004, Cisse’s hopes of ap-pearing in the 2006World Cup were dashedwhen he suffered anoth-er broken leg in France’sfinal warm-up friendlyagainst China.

“The doctors think mybones aren’t flexibleenough,” he says. “In-stead of absorbing theshock, they break. It’s

painful. I setalarms off whenI go through air-port metal de-tectors!”

Cisse left Liv-erpool and, after

spells at Marseille andSunderland during whichhe missed out on Euro2008, the forward endedup at Panathinaikos.

Since then, he hastaken Greece by storm.“Not many people ratedmy chances, but here Iam today,” he says. “I’mhappy with my choice.”

Indeed, top scorer inGreece this season, hecan also point proudly towinner’s medals in boththe league and cup, aswell as a return of 29goals in 47 outings.

It earned Cisse a sur-prise international recallagainst Spain in Marchafter two years in thewilderness, and now theformer Liverpool manhas been preferred byoutgoing France coachRaymond Domenech toReal Madrid’s big-moneysigning Karim Benzema.

And Cisse says: “I’m afirm believer in myWorld Cup chances.

“If you judge me bymy displays on the pitchalone, I think I’ve doneenough. I’ll do whateverDomenech asks of me.

“He knows I’m hungry.If I only get to play forfive minutes, I’ll give ab-solutely everything forthose five minutes. Heknows as well that astriker needs confidence.You get it by scoringgoals and that’s whatI’ve done this season.”

While France havewhat appears a simpleprogress to the knockoutstages – South Africa,Mexico and Uruguayhold no fears – theirstruggle in reaching thefinals makes it unlikelythey can replicate theirrunners-up finish of fouryears ago.

who will win?Christopher Beesley

1. Spain2. Brazil3. England

South Africa

Uruguay

AceForlanservesupUruguaythreatIF things had panned out alittle differently, Liverpooland Fulham would havecontested the EuropaLeague final and Diego For-lan would now be preparingfor Wimbledon.

Instead, the prolific At-letico Madrid striker isheading to South Africa asone of the most fearedgoalscorers on the planet

with a European medalsafely tucked in his backpocket.

At one point he did notlook destined for a career infootball at all as tennis viedfor his attention as a young-ster – resulting in him noteven taking up football ser-iously until the age of 16.

“My father was a foot-baller so it was better for

me to play football,” saysForlan junior.

Considering the way hiscareer has blossomed in thelast few years, he can havefew complaints about thechoice he made.

Forlan netted in both legsof the Europa Leaguesemi-final with Liverpool toput Atletico through to thefinal against Fulham,

where his two goals earnedthe Spaniards a 2-1 victoryin Hamburg.

“I’ve spent a lot of time inEurope and I’ve gainedmuch more experience inthe process,” says Forlan

“I think I’ve become abetter player since then.”

Now Forlan will be hop-ing his goals can help Ur-uguay.

France’s former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisseclutches the broken leg he suffered in afriendly with China that ended his World Cupdreams in 2006

by IanDoyle

Soccer Citystadium inJohannesburg

France


Fri Jun 11: South Africa v Mexico (Johannesburg – Soccer City) ITV 3pm, Uruguay v France (CapeTown) BBC 7.30pm, Wed Jun 16: South Africa v Uruguay (Pretoria) BBC 7.30pm, Thu Jun 17:France v Mexico (Polokwane) BBC 7.30pm, Tue Jun 22: Mexico v Uruguay (Rustenburg), France vSouth Africa (Bloemfontein) ITV 3pm

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GROUP BSat June 12 12.30 Nelson Mandela Stadium

Sat June 12 15.00 Ellis Park Stadium

Thur June 17 12.30 Soccer City Stadium

Thur June 22 19.30 Durban Stadium

Thur June 22 19.30 Peter Mokaba Stadium

GROUP C

SOUTH KOREA

ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA

GREECE

NIGERIA

GREECE

GREECE

NIGERIA

SOUTH KOREA

NIGERIA

SOUTH KOREA

ARGENTINA

V

V

V

V

V

V

GROUP D

GROUP AFri June 11 15.00 Soccer City Stadium

Fri June 11 19.30 Green Point Stadium

Wed June 16 19.30 Lotus Verfsfld Stadium

Thurs June 17 19.30 Peter Mokaba Stadium

Thurs June 22 15.00 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Thurs June 22 15.00 Free State Stadium

SOUTH AFRICA

URUGUAY

SOUTH AFRICA

FRANCE

MEXICO

FRANCE

MEXICO

FRANCE

URUGUAY

MEXICO

URUGUAY

SOUTH AFRICA

V

V

V

V

V

V

Sat June 12 19.30 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Sun June 13 12.30 Peter Mokaba Stadium

Fri June 18 15.00 Ellis Park Stadium

Fri June 18 19.30 Green Point Stadium

Wed June 23 15.00 Nelson Mandela Stadium

Wed June 23 15.00 Loftus Versfeld Stadium

ENGLAND

ALGERIA

SLOVENIA

ENGLAND

SLOVENIA

UNITED STATES

UNITED STATES

SLOVENIA

UNITED STATES

ALGERIA

ENGLAND

ALGERIA

V

V

V

V

V

V

Sun June 13 15.00 Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Sun June 13 19.30 Durban Stadium

Fri June 18 12.30 Nelson Mandela Stadium

Sat June 19 15.00 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Wed June 23 19.30 Soccer City Stadium

Wed June 23 19.30 Mbombela Stadium

SERBIA

GERMANY

GERMANY

GHANA

GHANA

AUSTRALIA

GHANA

AUSTRALIA

SERBIA

AUSTRALIA

GERMANY

SERBIA

V

V

V

V

V

V

WORLD CUP FINASunday July 11 19.30 Soccer City S

WINNER GAME 61 WINNER GAMEV

NAMIBIA

GAME 49 Sat June 26 15.00 Nelson Mandela Stadium

WINNER GROUP A

WINNER GROUP B

WINNER GROUP C

WINNER GROUP D

WINNER GROUP E

WINNER GROUP F

WINNER GROUP G

WINNER GROUP H

RUNNER UP GROUP B

RUNNER UP GROUP A

RUNNER UP GROUP D

RUNNER UP GROUP C

RUNNER UP GROUP F

RUNNER UP GROUP G

RUNNER UP GROUP H

RUNNER UP GROUP G

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

V

GAME 52 Sun June 27 15.00 Soccer City Stadium

GAME 50 Sat June 26 19.30 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

GAME 51 Sun June 27 15.00 Free State Stadium

GAME 53 Mon June 28 15.00 Durban Stadium

GAME55 Tue June29 15.00 Loftus Versfeld Stadium

GAME 54 Mon June 28 19.30 Ellis Park Stadium

GAME 56 Tue June 29 19.30 Green Point Stadium

Round of 16

BOTSWANA

Quarter FinGAME 58 Fri July 2 19.30 Soc

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

V

V

V

V

GAME 59 Sat July 3 19.30 Gre

GAME 57 Fri July 2 15.00 Nelson Ma

GAME 60 Sat July 3 15.00 Free S

WINNER GAME 49

WINNER GAME 52

WINNER GAME 53

WINNER GAME 55

Thur June 17 15.00 Free State Stadium

GROUP E

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Johannesburg

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Pretoria

Polokwane

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4

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LOFTUS VERSFELD STADIUMPretoria Cap: 51,762

ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUMPhokeng Cap: 44,530

SOCCER CITY STADIUMJohannesburg Cap: 94,700

ELLIS PARK STADIUMPolokwane Cap: 46,000

FREE STATE STADIUMBloemfontein Cap: 48,000

MOSES MABHIDA STADIUMDurban Cap: 70,000

NELSON MANDELA STADIUMPort Elizabeth Cap: 50,000

GREEN POINT STADIUMCape Town Cap: 70,000

Semi FinalsGAME 61 Fri July 2 19.30 Soccer City Stadium

WINNER GAME 58

WINNER GAME 59

WINNER GAME 57

WINNER GAME 60

V

VGAME 62 Sat July 3 19.30 Green Point Stadium

GROUP HWed June 16 12.30 Mbombela Stadium

Wed June 16 15.00 Durban Stadium

Mon June 21 15.00 Nelson Mandela Stadium

Mon June 21 19.30 Ellis Park Stadium

Fri June 25 19.30 Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Fri June 25 19.30 Free State Stadium

HONDURAS

SPAIN

CHILE

SPAIN

CHILE

SWITZERLAND

CHILE

SWITZERLAND

SWITZERLAND

HONDURAS

SPAIN

HONDURAS

V

V

V

V

V

V

GROUP E

GROUP F

GROUP G

Mon June 14 12.30 Soccer City Stadium

Mon June 14 15.00 Free State Stadium

Sat June 19 12.30 Durban Stadium

Sat June 19 19.30 Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Thur June 24 19.30 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Thur June 24 19.30 Green Point Stadium

NETHERLANDS

JAPAN

NETHERLANDS

CAMEROON

DENMARK

CAMEROON

DENMARK

CAMEROON

JAPAN

DENMARK

JAPAN

NETHERLANDS

V

V

V

V

V

V

Mon June 14 19.30 Green Point Stadium

Tue June 15 12.30 Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Sun June 20 12.30 Free State Stadium

Sun June 20 15.00 Mbombela Stadium

Thur June 24 15.00 Ellis Park Stadium

Thur June 24 15.00 Peter Mokaba Stadium

ITALY

NEW ZEALAND

SLOVAKIA

ITALY

SLOVAKIA

PARAGUAY

PARAGUAY

SLOVAKIA

PARAGUAY

NEW ZEALAND

ITALY

NEW ZEALAND

V

V

V

V

V

V

Tue June 15 15.00 Nelson Mandela Stadium

Tue June 15 19.30 Ellis Park Stadium

Sun June 20 19.30 Soccer City Stadium

Mon June 21 12.30 Green Point Stadium

Fri June 25 15.00 Durban Stadium

Fri June 25 15.00 Mbombela Stadium

IVORY COAST

BRAZIL

BRAZIL

PORTUGAL

PORTUGAL

NORTH KOREA

PORTUGAL

NORTH KOREA

IVORY COAST

NORTH KOREA

BRAZIL

IVORY COAST

V

V

V

V

V

V

Third PlaceSat July 10 19.30 Nelson Mandela Stadium

LOSER GAME 61 LOSER GAME 62V

ALStadium

ME 62

nalsoccer City Stadium

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R GAME 54

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andela Stadium

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In association withWorld Cup 2010 Group B

Nigeria

Greece

Argentina

byNeil JonesLDPSPORTSCORRESPONDENT

WHEN Liverpool supporters tire of thehype and expectation placed upon Eng-land’s shoulders at this summer’sWorld Cup, where can they turn for analternative team to support?

Many will see Spain, featuringFernando Torres, Pepe Reina and theiraesthetically-pleasing style of play, asthe ideal ‘second team’.

But what about Argentina – tradi-tionally a rival of the English, but nowa team housing two of Liverpool’sfinest?

Both Javier Mascherano and MaxiRodriguez, despite problematic starts,enjoyed stellar campaigns at Anfieldthis season.

Both will be key next season if Liv-erpool are to recover from the disap-pointment of 2009-10.

Mascherano turns 26 just four daysbefore Argentina’s opening Group Bgame with Nigeria in Johannesburg onJune 12, but it feels as if he has beenaround a lot longer.

Named as captain by DiegoMaradona in one of the maverickcoach’s more sensible moves, the mid-fielder is set to be one of the key play-ers for his country this summer. In aside containing Lionel Messi, CarlosTevez and Sergio Aguero, that is someachievement.

Rafael Benitez, not one prone tobouts of hyperbole, believes Mascher-ano deserves to be mentioned in thevery top bracket of midfield players.

“He is captain of Argentina, one ofthe best teams in the world, so if yousay to me ‘How many?’ I would saythere are four or five players at thislevel in the world and he is one ofthem,” says Benitez. “He’s a playerevery manager would like to have intheir team.”

Fortunately for Liverpool, and forArgentina, they have him.

Having bounced back from a curi-ously disappointing start to his careerin English football with West HamUnited, Mascherano has blossomedfrom a promising talent into a bonafide star. In a position pioneered byFrenchman Claude Makelele, Mascher-ano is now the benchmark for defens-ive midfield play.

Argentina are well fancied this sum-mer, with most identifying Barcelonasuperstar Messi as the key componentof Maradona’s plans. Not that thecoach agrees with this, of course.

“I say Mascherano and 10 more,” isthe 1986 World Cup winner’s responseto being asked who is Argentina’s mostimportant player. “After him you haveCarlos Tevez or Lionel Messi. Mascher-ano is much more important thanMessi.”

Praise indeed. And Maradona ratesMascherano so highly, he has seen fitto leave out the likes of Fernando

Gago, Esteban Cambiasso and JavierZanetti from his final squad.

Mascherano admits to feeling great-er strain now he is captain but is con-fident he can maintain his form longenough to help his nation to a glorioussummer.

“As captain you feel a more generalpressure of the team, rather than justas an individual,” he says. “I havelearned a lot very quickly from beingcaptain of the national team and it hasmade me a better player and a strongerperson.

“But I don’t think any player canstop and say ‘This is my best form’.The day you say that, you are finishedas a player because nobody is com-plete.

“I’m not going to win any personalawards because of the position I playin and the way I play. I just try to dowhat I do well and help the team, that’sall.

“Every morning when I get up Iknow I’ve got to give my all to keep onprogressing. Only after your careerhas finished can you look back and

Yakubu and Yobo leadthe charge to provePele was right after all

IT may be 10 years late, butPele’s famous predictionthat an African side wouldwin the World Cup by 2000has been revived.

As football’s biggesttournament enters the con-tinent for the first timeever this summer, theBrazilian legend will have akeen eye on Africa’s con-tenders, waiting for achance to say “I told youso”.

At the head of thatqueue will beNigeria, coachedby experiencedSwede Lars La-gerback and fea-turing Evertonstars JosephYobo and Yak-ubu.

Lagerback is anewcomer tothe job, havingonly taken overfrom ShaibuAmodu in Febru-ary, but is con-fident that side can spring asurprise or two.

“Nigeria have a greatchance to do well at theWorld Cup,” he says. “Evenwhen I coached a smallcountry like Sweden, I havealways had the ambitionand belief that we could dowell and win matches.”

For Yakubu, the trip toSouth Africa represents achance to rediscover theform that made him worth£11.25million to Evertonback in 2007. Goodisonmanager David Moyes hasbeen frustrated by thestriker’s struggle for fit-ness, but believes that once‘The Yak’ gets going, he will

take some stopping.“He has had a difficult

year with his Achilles in-jury,” says Moyes “It hasbeen tough for him. Tohave a ruptured Achillestendon like David Beckhamhas is a really bad injuryand to get back is hard.”

And for Yobo, the needto find his form is equallypressing. The defenderstarred the last time Niger-ia qualified for a WorldCup, back in 2002 and hisperformances then pavedthe way for his move toGoodison. This time

around, Yobomay need anoth-er good summerto secure hisEverton future.

And the29-year-old is rel-ishing the pro-spect of a WorldCup on his homecontinent, espe-cially if he getsthe chance tomark LionelMessi when hisside meet Argen-

tina in Johannesburg onJune 12.

“Messi is unbelievableand just seems to get bet-ter and better,” says Yobo.“Every time he’s on the ballyou know something is go-ing to happen. He deservesto be the world’s best.

“It’s very special in Africabecause it is bringing outAfrica as a continent – es-pecially South Africa thehost country.

“It’s a great opportunityand we want to make surethis time – we don’t knowwhen an African countrywill next host – we showhow good African teamsare, especially Nigeria.”

CultKyrgiakosacutaboveforGreece

FOR Sotirios Kyrgiakos, ithas been a whirlwind sea-son.

From apparently windingdown his career with AEKAthens, the mane-haired de-fender has risen to Liver-pool cult-hero status amid atroubled season at Anfield.Now he is looking to shineas Greece participate in

their first World Cup finalsfor 16 years.

Having missed out with aknee injury in 2004 as OttoRehaggel’s men defied allexpectations to clinchtheir maiden interna-tional triumph at theEuropean Champion-ships, Kyrgiakos is setto anchor the Greekbackline in South Africain a group containing,

among others, fellow Mer-seyside stars Javier

Mascherano, MaxiRodriguez and Yakubu.

“I have been pleasedwith my form,” hesays. “I have a goodrelationship with thefans and I can see that

they like me because Igive everything for theclub when I play.

“Some of my

team-mates have told methat I have become a favour-ite among the fans and I amproud of that because it isimportant for a player to beremembered in a positiveway once he has gone.

“But this isn’t the time toreflect. After the summer Iwill analyse the season be-cause I have the World Cupwith Greece – providing Iam fit, of course!”

byNeil Jones

Nigeria's Yakubu

byNeil Jones

Sat Jun 12: South Korea v Greece (Port Elizabeth) ITV 12.30pm, Argentina v Nigeria(Johannesburg – Ellis Park) BBC 3pm, Thu Jun 17: Argentina v South Korea (Johannesburg –Soccer City) ITV 12.30pm, Greece v Nigeria (Bloemfontein) BBC 3pm, Tue Jun 22: Nigeria vSouth Korea (Durban), Greece v Argentina (Polokwane) BBC 7.30pm

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World Cup 2010 Group B

Plaques,punchesandpenalties

Italy 4-3 West Germany(1970)

The semi-final dubbed the‘Match of the Century’. Fivegoals were scored in extra time– the only time this hashappened in the World Cup –as the players tired in the Mex-ican heat. So good was thisgame, there is a plaque com-memorating it in front of theAzteca Stadium.

West Germany3-3 France(1982)

Anothersemi-final, an-other thriller.France sur-rendered a 3-1extra-time leadto ultimatelylose the WorldCup’s first-everpenalty

shoot-out, but the abidingmemory was an unconsciousPatrick Battiston leaving thefield on a stretcher minus twoteeth after being brutallydecked by Harald Schumacher.Goal kick, said the referee.

Italy 3-2 Brazil (1982)A scintillating Brazil side

were huge favourites, but over-confidence and a hat-trick by

Paolo Rossi (left)ent them crash-ing out. WhenBobby Charlton,summarising fortelevision, wastold to cut shorthis post-matchassessment forthe news, he re-sponded: “Butthis is thenews!”

England 4-2 West Germany(1966)

You didn’t think we’d missthis one out, did you? Geoff

Hurst’s hat-trick, WolfgangWeber’s injury-time equaliser,Bobby Moore’s pass, KennethWolsten-holme’s com-mentary,Nobby Stiles’sjig. Oh, and itdefinitelycrossed theline.

Austria 7-5Switzerland(1954)

The mostgoals everscored in aWorld Cup game. HostsSwitzerland raced into a 3-0lead inside 19 minutes, but 20minutes later Austria were win-ning 5-4 and stayed ahead toreach the semi-finals. The ref-eree was a Scot called CharlieFaultless – which is more thancan be said for the defending.

West Germany 3-2 Hungary(1954)

The Miracle of Berne. Hun-gary had swept all before themen route to the final, includingan 8-3 group thrashing of asecond-string West Germanyside. The MightyMagyars dulywent 2-0 up butWest Germanyfought back andHelmut Rahnnetted a latewinner.

Brazil 4-1 Italy(1970)

The greatestWorld Cup teamput on a suit-ably great display in the final.Jairzinho (right) became thefirst and so far only player toscore in every match in a finalsbut the most memorable goalcame from Carlos Alberto, whocapped a superb team move.

Greatest World Cup games

South Korea

point out the best moments and theworst moments, otherwise you canlose focus and a determination tobecome better.”

For Maxi Rodriguez, things are alittle bit different.

The winger wasseemingly headingdown a careercul-de-sac before Liv-erpool stepped in andoffered him thechance to move to An-field back in January,but after a strongshowing at theback-end of the season, the29-year-old survived Maradona’s culland will be hoping for a chance to

shine in South Africa, as he did fouryears ago in Germany.

The former Atletico Madrid manalready has plenty of fans on Mer-seyside, with both Dirk Kuyt andSammy Lee praising his attitude,

and Liverpool skip-per Steven Gerrardsaying: “Maxi is afantastic player. He’sgot good movementand as a footballerit’s a pleasure to playwith good players,and that’s what Maxiis. He’s a fantastic

player.”This summer, both Mascherano

and Maxi will be looking to follow in

the footsteps of their coach by liftingthe biggest prize of all.

Argentina have been handed afriendly-looking draw, with Greece,Nigeria and South Korea joiningthem in Group B, and Mascherano isconfident his side can shrug asidetheir recent inconsistencies at WorldCups – they are yet to reach asemi-final since 1990 – and, perhaps,go all the way.

“We have some great players whoare in fantastic form and the chal-lenge for us is to reproduce that forthe national team, which issomething we didn’t do in the qual-ifiers,” he says. “It’s a big challengeto be captain as you have to be ableto rise to the occasion.”

Alternativemedicine to

the hypeoverdose

who will win?Nick Smith

1. Spain2. Brazil3. Argentina

Koreanswon’tParkingroupPARK JI-SUNG insists SouthKorea are best placed to carrythe fight for Asia at this sum-mer’s World Cup.

Semi-finalists on home soilin 2002, South Korea areslowly making an impressionon foreign fields too.

Led by Park, their playersare gaining more experiencein European leagues and areregarded as one of the mostprogressive sides outside the

traditional European-SouthAmerican axis.

Drawn in a group contain-ing Argentina, Nigeria andGreece, Park and histeam-mates have genuine am-bitions of reaching the knock-out stage.

“If one of the Asian teamsget through the group stage,that would be regarded as asuccess in Asia,” said Park.

“I hope it will be us be-

cause I truly believe we arethe best team in Asia.

“It helps us that moreKorean players are in Europe.

“Before, we didn’t have anyexperience outside our owncountry.

“Now quite a few playersare getting experience in dif-ferent parts of the world. Itmakes us more confident toplay against African orEuropean teams.”Ji-Sung Park

Maxi Rodriguez takes on Philip Lahm and MichaelBallack in Germany in 2006; (main pic) Liverpooland Argentina team-mate Javier Mascherano


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World Cup 2010 Group D

Australia

Serbia Ghana

Vidic itches for ‘Death’ reckoning It’s Ghana be tough nowNEMANJA VIDIC has anunderstandable despera-tion to be involved in the2010 World Cup after in-jury denied him thechance to participatefour years ago.

But luck was not onSerbia’s side in the drawwhen they were dumpedin a ’Group of Death’.

Little wonder Vidic iseager for Serbia to getoff to a fast start thistime around.

“It is very importantto start well,” says theManchester United man.

“We had a problem

with injuries last time.We were in a difficultgroup to start with andit just didn’t go well.

“Obviously it is noteasy this time either butI don’t think we shouldcomplain. We have someplayers who are at goodteams in Europe.”

Serbia’s strength hasbeen evident for sometime now. In topping aqualifying group thatcontained France, theygave notice they will notbe an easy touch, helpedby new Liverpool strikerMilan Jovanovic.

GHANA coach MilovanRajevac is still coming toterms with news that hisstar player Michael Essienwill not be fit in time forthe World Cup.

The Chelsea midfielderwas ruled out of the finalsin South Africa after itwas discovered that a kneeinjury suffered at theAfrican Nations Cup inJanuary is taking longerto heal than initially an-ticipated.

His absence is a majorblow for the Black Starsand their Serb coach, whosays: “I am really disap-

pointed that Michael Essi-en will not be at the WorldCup.

“He is an importantplayer on and off the field.

“Essien brings lots ofadvantages. He brings somany things to the teamand always gives us op-tions.

“I hope and believe thatthe other players wouldgive off their best.

“We want to achievewith this team and mustwork hard.

“We will focus on thetask ahead and hope wehave a good World Cup.”

Keeper worryis Low blowfor Germany

GERMANY head to the 2010 World Cupas one of the favourites but withdoubts still lingering over the positionthey used to be able to rely on morethan any.

Rene Adler was set to be JoachimLow’s first-choice goalkeeper in SouthAfrica this summer but will now missthe tournament as he needs surgery ona broken rib.

Either Schalke’s Manuel Neuer orWerder Bremen’s Tim Wiese will behanded the gloves and there is a no-ticeable lack of experience among thepair, which Low will be hoping doesnot prove a problem.

Neither has ever played a compet-itive match for Germany, and onlyWiese has played European footballthis term, in the Europa League.

Robert Enke of Han-nover may haveheaded to SouthAfrica as Germany’snumber one, but hecommitted suicide lastNovember after along battle with de-pression in an incidentwhich cast a shadowover the whole Ger-man season.

Things are alsolooking far from rosy for Germany atthe other end of the pitch, withMiroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski des-perately short of goals this season,while Mario Gomez has hardly set theworld alight in his first campaign atBayern Munich.

Germany, though, are blessed withseveral young attacking midfielders.Bayern duo Thomas Muller and ToniKroos and Werder Bremen’s Mesut Ozilwill be among the best young playersat the tournament.

But there is the absence of injuredMichael Ballack to contend with and atough first-round challenge.

“It’s far from being an easy group,”says Podolski. “The first job is to standyour ground against all these teams.

“There are no easy opponents thesedays. But I’m convinced that if we playto our potential, we’ll qualify from ourgroup and could go far.”

Germany

TIM CAHILL will have to go someto better his impact at the lastWorld Cup. But then the Evertonman and his Australianteam-mates have made a habit ofdefying expectation.

Cahill’s name will forever beetched in the Socceroos historybooks after four years ago becom-ing the first player to score for hiscountry at the World Cup.

Having failed to find the net intheir previous finals appearancein 1974, Australia were seeminglyon their way to defeat in theiropener against Japan in 2006when Cahill emerged from thebench to score twice in the finalsix minutes and help turn a 1-0reverse into a 3-1 triumph.

It was, of course, no surprise toEverton supporters, with Cahill’sreputation as the man for the bigoccasion earning him the nick-

name ‘Johnny on the spot’ fromGoodison manager David Moyes.

That Cahill was involved inthose finals in Germany at all wastestament to his drive and determ-ination having suffered knee lig-ament damage barely two monthsearlier.

Now, though, the midfielder isfree from injury and bolstered byfour goals in his final sevengames for Everton this season.

“I know I was lucky to play inthe last World Cup,” admitsCahill. “Basically, I did my pos-terior (knee ligament) and thephysio said I had no chance. I waslucky that with good strappingand good physio they got me outthere.

“But now I’m going to a WorldCup fully fit. It’s the opportunityof a lifetime to make somethingspecial for Australia.”

Cahill’s importance to the Aus-tralian set-up under coach PimVerbeek has risen given the re-tirement of Mark Viduka and in-

jury problems of Harry Kewell.But far from being fazed by the

extra responsibility, the30-year-old simply takes it in hisstride.

“I just take it as a compliment,”says Cahill. “I wouldn’t be part ofAustralia’s World Cup squad if Iwasn’t playing great domesticallyand internation-ally.

“Australia needsleaders and thereare a lot of leadersin this team. Ifthat is passed onto me then I acceptit because it’s a re-sponsibility we de-serve because we play at some ofthe biggest clubs in the world.

“There are expectations on ourshoulders and without beingoverly confident, you have to tryand fulfil people’s dreams.”

There is no doubt the Socceroosface a tough challenge to reachthe knockout stages again after

being drawn alongside Germany,Serbia and Ghana.

Along with Cahill, the likes ofHarry Kewell, Lucas Neill, BrettEmerton, Vince Grella, CraigMoore and Mark Schwarzer willonce again spearhead the team’scharge but, with all past their30th birthday, the fear is that

while Verbeek’stroops have fouryears more exper-ience they are alsofour years slower.

Cahill, though,expects Australia’sfitness to proveone of their strongpoints.

“We have to concentrate on be-ing one of the fittest teams in thecompetition because after 80minutes is when I feel a lot of thefootball’s going to be won,” hesays.

“We’ve got that in abundanceand the main focal point is keep-ing the majority of the team fit.”

If Australia do progress to theknockout stages, they could face atie with England. And who wouldbet against Cahill and co defyingconvention then once again?

by IanDoyle

Golden boy

Cahill iscongratulated afterscoring againstJapan in 2006

Joachim Low

who will win?Phil Kirkbride

1. Brazil2. Argentina3. Spain

Sun Jun 13: Serbia v Ghana (Pretoria) ITV 3pm, Germany v Australia (Durban) ITV 7.30pm, Fri Jun18: Germany v Serbia (Port Elizabeth) BBC 12.30pm, Sat Jun 19: Ghana v Australia (Rustenburg)BBC 3pm, Wed Jun 23: Australia v Serbia (Nelspruit), Ghana v Germany (Johannesburg – SoccerCity) ITV 7.30pm

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Holland Cameroon

Japan

World Cup 2010 Group E

Bassong: Axewasn’t wrongSEBASTIEN BASSONG admits it hurthim to miss the African Nations Cup buthe is hoping the decision to stay with hisclub helps him secure a place for theworld’s biggest tournament.

Bassong’s omission from Cameroon’ssquad raised eyebrows after a big-moneymove from Newcastle in the summer and

a solid start to his Tottenhamcareer.

However, there was a theorybehind the selection, as Paul LeGuen explained to hiscentre-back. Keeping him atWhite Hart Lane meant a run ofgames for Harry Redknapp’sside rather than warming thebench in Angola.

“Of course, it hurt that Ididn’t go to the African NationsCup,” Bassong admits.

“I was talking with Harry (Redknapp)and Paul Le Guen, and he took his de-cision. He had his own reasons that heexplained to me.

“If I went to the African Nations Cup Iwouldn’t be playing so he thought it wasbetter for me to stay at Tottenham tocompete for my place here and help themstay in the top four.

“I don’t know if Harry spoke to himbut it was a good thing, maybe the bestthing for the club but not for Cameroon.”

Not Endo the worldTHE World Cup often represents the pin-nacle of a footballer’s career but for Yas-uhito Endo that dream was soured some-what in 2006 when he was confined to thebench for all of Japan’s three groupgames.

However, he now looks set to be anintegral part of Japan’s challenge inSouth Africa this summer.

In the intervening four years, Endohas become the heartbeat of a GambaOsaka side that won the 2008 AsianChampions League.

He has also established himself in thenational team under Takeshi Okada.

“My only regret from the 2006 tour-nament was that our team and I myselfcouldn’t get through the group stage,”says Endo. “Because I couldn’t play therein 2006, however, I have worked harderon developing my game. So, it turned outto be good for me, I suppose.”

Can Agger do well? Yes, says fan Laudrup

TO many Liverpool fans of a cer-tain vintage, Michael Laudrup willalways be regarded as the onethat got away.

But the Danish legend is con-vinced Anfield is now the home ofone of his country’s most pre-cious talents.

While Laudrup’s move toLiverpool fell through in1983, 23 years later DanielAgger successfully made theswitch and has over-come injury problemsto emerge as one ofthe key membersof Rafael Ben-itez’s team.

Agger will form the heartbeatof Denmark’s defence at the WorldCup having helped guide MortenOlsen’s side beyond Portugal andrivals Sweden to qualify top oftheir European group with justone defeat from 10 matches.

And Laudrup believes Agger’sexperience and influence will

prove crucial.“I coached him at Brondby

when I was manager a fewyears ago,” he says. “He camedirectly from the youth team

and you could see rightfrom the beginning thathe had great potential.

“I wasn’t surprisedwhen he went to Liv-erpool.

“If he can stay fit

then I think he can definitely beone of the best central defendersin the game. Liverpool have hadmany great defenders in the past.Daniel is a very good player and ifhe can play at a high level in thenext few years, then maybe youwill be talking about him in thesame breath.”

With Denmark having failed toqualify for the World Cup in 2006and Euro 2008, this is Agger’s firstchance to make an impression ona major international tournament.

And Laudrup adds: “He’s hugelyimportant. The main players arepeople like Thomas Sorensen, Ag-ger and Christian Poulsen. If theyare fit then Denmark will have agood chance of progressing to thelatter stages.”

Denmark

Heitinga’sconfidenceinDutch courage

SebastienBassong

by IanDoyle

by IanDoyle


WHEN it comes to the World Cup, Hollandhave all too often been to squad unity whatEngland are to penalty-taking.

Rarely a tournament goes by withoutstories emerging from inside the Dutchcamp of a simmering discontent thatthreatens to undermine the undoubtedtalent at the country’s disposal.

John Heitinga, though, is convincedthere will be no such problems whenHolland aim for glory in South Africathis summer.

Bert van Marwijk’s side will beregarded as dangerous outsidersafter romping through theirEuropean qualifying group, securing a100% record while ending the hopes of Scot-land and Norway.

And Heitinga, who enjoyed an excellentdebut season for Everton since arrivingfrom Atletico Madrid last August, believesthis group of players has learned from themistakes of past Holland squads.

“We want to keep everything within fourwalls but in previous tournaments there’salways been something,” he says. “In thelast one (at Euro 2008) a player’s wife (Khal-id Boulahrouz) was pregnant and the babydied.

“But we’ve played together with the sameteam and when there’s a disappointmentwe’re better equipped to handle it. For theteam it’s how strong you are for the games.

“It’s better all the faces are staring in onedirection for the tournament because youonly have one chance every four years towin the title.”

Hopes are high within the Dutch camp ofa successful tournament, with the advant-age they arrive in South Africa without theburden of pressure heaped on their nearrivals.

“With the squad we have I hope we canwin it, but it’s difficult,” says Heitinga.“That’s our goal though. Now we have had(Robin) van Persie injured, so we will seehow he recovers. But we still have a goodteam, with people like (Wesley) Schneiderand (Rafael) van der Vaart, and a lot of the

players are 26, 27 or 28, when they should beat their peak. Hopefully we can show theworld we are the best.

“There is more pressure in England thanin Holland. Holland’s a small country and

for many years England – looking at theplayers they have – usually could win

the tournament.“But there’s been a lot of pressure

on the English team for manyyears.”

Having been drawn alongsideDenmark, Cameroon and Japanin the group stages, Holland willfancy their chances to progressdeeper into the tournament.

That said, the Dutch haveflattered to deceive in recent World Cups.They failed to qualify in 2002 and, withHeitinga in the team, reached only the last16 four years ago in Germany before beingdumped out in a brutal game against Por-tugal.

It was a similar story in the EuropeanChampionships two years ago, when a scin-tillating display in the group stages came toa shuddering halt with defeat in thequarter-finals to Russia.

“Two years ago we were in with Italy,France and Romania and played well,” saysHeitinga. “Then, after the group stage, welost to Russia, so it’s hard.

“I would first like us to win the groupstage but then there are so many big teamsyou could face like Brazil, Argentina andEngland.

There is a strong Merseyside presence inthe Dutch squad, with Heitinga joined byLiverpool duo Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel.

Kuyt has been a mainstay of the Hollandteam since making his debut in 2004 butBabel’s place was in doubt until an im-proved second half of the campaign at An-field bolstered his claims.

And Heitinga believes his season in thePremier League has proven the ideal pre-paration for South Africa.

“My time with Everton has prepared mewell as some of the top players in the WorldCup play in the Premier League,” he says.

“It is good for a defender to play againstthe likes of Rooney and Drogba.”

Holland’s John Heitinga

Mon Jun 14: Holland v Denmark (Johannesburg– Soccer City) ITV 12.30pm, Japan v Cameroon(Bloemfontein) BBC 3pm, Sat Jun 19: Holland vJapan (Durban) ITV 12.30pm, Cameroon vDenmark (Pretoria) ITV 7.30pm, Thu June 24:Denmark v Japan (Rustenburg), Cameroon vHolland (Cape Town) BBC 7.30pm

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World Cup 2010 Betting and TV Guide

One Lineker isplenty, thanks

Sambastars looksettolightupAfricanskies

ONE recent survey reckoned 71%of football fans in Liverpool wouldrather our two Premier Leagueclubs succeed than England liftthe World Cup.

It makes you wonder how theycame about the figure and why itwas so low.

The rest of the country and thebookmakers think England have areal chance of glory in SouthAfrica, but they are not good valueat a mere 6-1 to end 44 years ofhurt despite boasting the mercur-ial Scouse duo of Steven Gerrardand Wayne Rooney.

So unless you are a patrioticpunter who can only back hishomeland, on Merseyside it’s bestto get your Samba on your feetand cash in on yet another WorldCup set to be played out to asamba beat.

The Latin triumvirate of Brazil,Spain and Argentina appear themost likely to light up the SouthAfrican skies and the five-timechampions can make it six in Jo-hannesburg next month.

Brazil may not be as irresistibleas their 1970 version, as flamboy-ant as the 1982 vintage, or haveone of the greatest goalscorers thegame has ever seen like in 2002,but they have gelled into an all-round team under coach Dungacapable of going all the way.

They are similar to the side inwhich their coach excelled andcaptained to World Cup glory in1994. They have top-class attackingtalent in Luis Fabiano, Robinhoand Kaka. But it is as much thesolid base provided by Inter Milantriumvirate – keeper Julio Cesar,Lucio and Maicon fresh from theirtreble-winning exploits inEuropean club football – that

makes them the team to beat.Added to this the fact that

Brazilian football and footballerslive and breathe the World Cup aswell as being the only side to winthe trophy outside their own con-tinent (Sweden 58, USA 94 and Ja-pan and South Korea 2002) theylook the best betting option.

Brazil must progress from theobligatory ‘Group Of Death’ (Por-tugal, Ivory Coast and also NorthKorea – well, they are rumoured to

have nuclear weapons). But it willonly make them battle-hardenedfor the knockout phase and givethem confidence of taking gold.

European champions Spain gotthe monkey of perennial losers offtheir back two years ago and aresure to have a real crack at thefirst World crown.

But with injury concerns overthe likes of Fernando Torres andCesc Fabregas and the task of liv-ing up to the tag of favourites,they may just fall short. That said,reaching the dream final for neut-rals against Brazil is a very realprospect.

Argentina qualified by the skin

of their teeth and have had manyproblems under the nation’s chieffootballing hero Diego Maradona.

But like when the Maradona-in-spired Argentina landed thetrophy in 1986, they have the bestplayer in the world in their ranksin Lionel Messi.

If he plays as he has for Bar-celona and is helped by the likes ofInter Milan hero Diego Milito,Manchester City’s Carlos Tevezand Liverpool stars JavierMascherano and Maxi Rodriguez,Argentina could easily put theirtroubles behind them.

And what of England? A run tothe quarter-finals and typical exit?I would bet on it.

As Brazil are likely to go farLuis Fabiano could easily emulatepast Brazil Golden Boot winnersLeonidas Da Silva, Ademir, Gar-rincha and Vava and most re-cently the mighty Ronaldo in 2002.

Fabiano has a great strike ratefor his country with 25 goals inonly 36 appearances, and wasBrazil’s top scorer in qualifying.He scored 21 in 34 games forSevilla and is bound to be amongthe goals. With North Korea upfirst, he has a big chance to get offto a flying start in the top scoringstakes.

Argentina’s two strikers CarlosTevez and Diego Milito have beenin fine form this season. While itis hard to know whether both willplay every game, at odds of 33-1and 40-1 they look decent each wayvalue against their South Amer-ican rival. Tevez may be Argen-tina’s penalty taker as well.

Of the eight groups there areusually one or two that are notwon by the favourites.

Most in danger look to beFrance in Group B and Uruguaycould be the value to pip them totop spot. The South Americanscan start as they mean to go onand shock a French side in atransitional period with a win onthe opening day.

Portugal, to my mind, appearthe most likely big gun to fall bythe wayside early on. In withBrazil and Ivory Coast, defeat bythe latter in the opening matchcould be the start of the end ofCristiano Ronaldo and co.

Luis Fabiano can help fire Brazil to a World Cup victory

Your World Cup best bets

ChrisWrightLDP SPORTS STAFF

HERE are the stand-outs betsfor the World Cup in SouthAfrica.

Winners: Brazil to win theWorld Cup (5-1 Blue Square,bet365, Paddy Power), Argentinato win the World Cup each-way(15-2 Coral).

Finalists: Brazil-Spain final(11-1 William Hill, bet365, PaddyPower), Brazil-Argentina final(20-1 Stan James, Blue Square,bet365, Paddy Power)

Top scorers: Luis Fabiano (12-1Ladbrokes, William Hill, StanJames, bet365, Boylesports, PaddyPower) to be tournament topscorer each-way. Other alternat-ives Carlos Tevez (40-1 most firms)

and Diego Milito (33-1 most firms)each way.

World Cup winner/top scoredouble: Luis Fabiano (25-1 Wil-liam Hill, bet365, Skybet, Boyles-ports)

England: To go out in thequarter-finals (7-2 Sportingbet),Peter Crouch to be England’s topscorer (9-1 William Hill, StanJames, Blue Square, Betfred).

Group stages: Uruguay to topGroup A (7-2 most firms); Uruguayto beat France in their openingmatch (3-1 bet365, Victor Chand-ler); Portugal not to qualify forknockout stages (7-5 bwin.com);Tim Cahill to be Australia’s topscorer (7-2 William Hill, Betfred).

THE World Cup is the pinnacle offootball, representing the very bestof the beautiful game.

So who better to analyse such lu-minaries than James Corden andDanielle Bux?

Yes, it’s that time when televisioncompanies take leave of their sensesand attempt to make football moreaccessible to the masses who tune inonce every four years in the hopeEngland might actually score a pen-alty or two.

And, when it comes to gimmicks,ITV once again lead the way. JamesCorden’s World Cup Live will followevery evening match shown on thechannel, a show featuring a “WorldCup legend” (their words, not ours),a celebrity guest... and the host pre-sumably laughing a lot at his ownjokes.

Corden will also have his very ownhuman World Cup wallchart. We can-not wait.

Still, if that wasn’t enough, the re-cently hitched DanielleLineker will give GMTVher “unique” – ie rub-bish – guide to the tour-nament with topics asinsightful as thesquad’s suits and treat-ment regimes.

Keen not to be leftbehind, the BBC intendsto introduce a “3D mat-

rix-style device” called Libero thatwill generate virtual camera imagesto back up key talking points.

However, it will still not help ex-plain the “pure” co-commentary ofchief-stater-of-the-obvious MarkBright, who will be joined by MickMcCarthy, Martin Keown and ourvery own Mark Lawrenson.

With Adrian Chiles having defec-ted to help host ITV’s coverage, theBBC have promoted Colin Murray tohighlights duty.

The Beeb’s commentary team com-prises Guy Mowbray, JonathanPearce, Steve Wilson, Simon Brother-ton and Steve Bower. Where’s JohnMotson, we hear you ask? Fear not.Motty will be present every day onthe BBC website.

Those worried about the invasionof foreigners in the Premier Leaguewill be shaking their head at theline-up of pundits on either channel.

ITV have Patrick Vieria, Marcel De-sailly, Edgar Davids, Francois Pienaar– no relation to Steven – and tokenEnglishman Kevin Keegan.

At least the BBC will be led by theusual line-up of Gary Lineker, AlanShearer and Lee Dixon, with GordonStrachan providing the laughs, HarryRedknapp the prerequisite Cockneyelement and Roy Hodgson thespeech impediment.

But with Jürgen Klinsmann, Clar-ence Seedorf and Emmanuel Ade-bayor throwing in their oar, it won’tbe entirely biased.

Over on Radio 5 Live, 250 hours ofprogramming will include expertpunditry from Everton manager Dav-id Moyes, Graham Taylor, RobbieSavage and Chris Waddle. DannyMills will also be on air.

Throw in the interweb, the iPlayer,the red button and looking throughthe round window, it will be almostimpossible to avoid the tournamentover the next few weeks.

You might want to give MrsLineker a miss though, like.

In association with

James Corden

Ian Doyleon the box

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World Cup 2010 Analysis

Watchoutforthosestars inthemakingPELE, Geoff Hurst, Johan Cruyff,Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane.

All names synonymous with onething.

The World Cup.The greatest football tournament

on the planet.For any footballer, the idea of mak-

ing your name on the biggest stage ofall is uniquely appealing.

It is where good players becomehousehold names, almost overnight.

So, who will write their name in-delibly into the minds of the world inSouth Africa this summer?

Here are nine names you mightjust be hearing a little bit more aboutover the next few weeks.

Diego Milito (Argentina)Not content with scoring the goals

which clinched the Italian league andcup double for Inter Milan, Milito il-luminated the Champions League finalin Madrid last month with a pair ofsublime finishes to sink Bayern Munichand seal an unprecedented treble forJose Mourinho’s men. The 30-year-oldhas struggled to nail down a startingrole in the Argentine national team, butsurely coach Diego Maradona can’t ig-nore a man who has had a season likehis?

Pedro (Spain)Scoring in six different competitions in

one season is a pretty impressiveachievement. To do it aged 22 for Bar-celona in your first full senior campaignis even more special. Pedro is the lateststar to emerge from the Catalan side’s

fabled ‘Cantera’, following in the foot-steps of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and LionelMessi. Operating anywhere across theforward line, he picked up 23 goals –more than record signing ZlatanIbrahimovic – in a record-breaking sea-son for Pep Guardiola’s side, and hasbarged his way into Vicente Del Bosque’ssquad.

Luis Suarez (Uruguay)Uruguay may not be well fancied in

South Africa but few sides can boastsuch a prolific front line. Never mindcompatriot Diego Forlan, Suarez hastorn up the goalscoring record book thisseason, shining in an Ajax side com-mitted almost exclusively to attack. With49 goals in all competitions, he isEurope’s top scorer. Quick and strong,with good movement and immaculatetechnique, Suarez looks the completepackage.

Alexis Sanchez (Chile)Under the wily Argentine Marcelo

Bielsa, Chile could well be a dark horsethis summer. Their group, containingSpain, Switzerland and Honduras, is ne-gotiable. And if they do succeed, thenthe likelihood is that the 21-year-oldSanchez will figure prominently. Alreadypretty well-travelled despite his tenderyears, the winger-cum-forward is settledin Italy with Udinese. Quick, two-footedand precociously gifted, the former RiverPlate man has a huge future ahead ofhim. Starting in South Africa.

Mesut Ozil (Germany)Germans eh? All power, discipline and

rigid efficiency, right? Not exactly. A newgeneration of technical, speedy players isemerging in the Bundesliga, and leadingthe way is the supremely talented Ozil.

The 21-year-old has flourished at WerderBremen after stepping into the void leftby the departure of Brazilian star Diego,and is now widely considered to be oneof German football’s biggest stars. Anold-school dribbler who is maturing fast,Ozil will carry plenty of responsibility onhis shoulders this summer, especiallyafter skipper Michael Ballack was ruledout with injury.

Yoann Gourcuff (France)While the days of Zinedine Zidane,

Patrick Vieira and co are gone, the pres-ence of Yoann Gourcuff offers amplehope for the future for France. The23-year-old Bordeaux star is a playmakerin the Zidane mould, and has emergedas the driving force – surpassing eventhe lauded Franck Ribery – for RaymondDomenech’s inconsistent side. Can shootfrom range with either foot, and pos-sesses a calmness and a sense of balance

of which even ‘Zizou’ would be proud.

Gervinho (Ivory Coast)His first name might be Gervais, but

Ivory Coast’s latest striking sensation isno laughing matter – for defenders atleast. The 23-year-old has shone inFrance for the past three years, first at LeMans and now at Lille. Powerful andpacy, Gervinho has added goals to hisgame, and offers genuine versatilityacross the forward line. Ivory Coast areprobably the best-equipped of all theAfrican nations at the tournament, andit’s because of the likes of him.

Maicon (Brazil)The muscular defender has come into

his own since joining Inter from Monacoin 2006, and the fact that he is chosenbefore Dani Alves for Brazil says enough.His forward raids can pin back even themost daring of wide men, his athleticismmeans getting the better of him de-

fensively is a tall order, and has enjoyeda glorious campaign at club level. AWorld Cup win would make things justabout perfect.

James Milner (England)It is testament to his development

that James Milner will be England’s mostsought-after player this summer. Afterbursting on to the scene as a 16-year-oldat Leeds United, the versatile midfielderhad made steady but unspectacular pro-gress into his early-20s. But over the past18 months, the boy has become a man.Milner spent much of this season as acentral midfielder after a career spentlargely on the wings, and he has blos-somed. Two footed and with energy,drive and maturity in all that he does,the 24-year-old has played his way intoFabio Capello’s plans with typical hu-mility, and is edging ever nearer to astarting berth.

byNeil Jones

Hangon..didn’theusedtoplayforus?

FROM Laurie Hughes andAlex Parker, through RayWilson and Roger Hunt, andnow Steven Gerrard andTim Cahill, Merseyside hasalways had a strong pres-ence at the World Cup.

But this summer therepromises to be a host offormer Liverpool and Ever-ton players lighting up thetournament, with 19 formerMerseyside-based playersset to feature.

The England squad alonehouses four, with formerLiverpool stars DavidJames, Peter Crouch, Steph-en Warnock and Emile Hes-key along with WayneRooney, once of Everton per-suasion.

France are next on thelist. While most will in-stantly think of formerstrikers Nicolas Anelka andDjibril Cisse, few will re-member the third ex-Liver-pool man – Alou Diarra.

Spain, too, have strongLiverpool connections. Vi-cente del Bosque will callupon Xabi Alonso and Al-varo Arbeloa, both of whomleft Anfield for Real Madrida year ago.

Australia are anotherwith a pair of former Mer-seysiders, with HarryKewell and Lucas Neillappearing in red andblue respectively.

Only one other na-tion houses twoformer players, al-

though Everton fans wouldprobably prefer not to admitit. Morten Olsen’s Denmarkselection has a blue edge toit, with both Lars Jacobsenand Per Kroldrup amongthe 23. Between them theymade just six league appear-ances at Goodison, withEverton fans hard pushed torecognise either.

They will recogniseLandon Donovan though.The 28-year-old is USA’s cap-tain and all-time record

goalscorer, and became afirm favourite during atwo-month loan spell atGoodison earlier thisyear.

Which leaves the rest,and there are one or

two Merseysideblasts from thepast lurking

among the so-called lessernations. Rigobert Song, onceof Liverpool, will be appear-ing in his fourth World Cupfinals with Cameroon thissummer, while winger Mark‘Speedy’ Gonzalez will makehis debut with Chile.

Philippe Senderos failedto make much of an impactduring a loan spell at Ever-ton this season, but willplay for Switzerland thissummer, and England couldwell run into former Liver-pool defender Carl Medjaniwhen they take on Algeriain their Group B clash.

Medjani, like Diarra,failed to make a senior ap-pearance during three yearsat the club, but will now dosomething Ian Rush andNeville Southall never could– play at the World Cup.

byNeil Jones

Diego Milito Pedro

Alexis SanchezLuis Suarez

Mesut Ozil Yoann Gourcuff

Gervinho Maicon

Xabi Alonso


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World Cup 2010 Group F

ChampionsItalywon’tjustpay LipserviceiTALY go into the World Cupbuoyed by the positive vibes thathave returned with coach Mar-cello Lippi.

The veteran tactician steppeddown after leading the Italians toWorld Cup glory in 2006, but be-came coach again following theAzzurri’s weak performance atEuro 2008 under the charge ofRoberto Donadoni.

“I felt a certain debt towards theItalian Federation,” says Lippi.“And turning down other offers inorder to return was a way for meto pay that debt.

“I came back to win, to enjoythe same sensations once more,the feelings of triumph but also ofthe unity and cohesion of thewhole group.”

The debt Lippi felt is due to theItalian Federation never waveringin its commitment to him whenhis son was under scrutiny for hisrole with a sports agency ownedby the son of disgraced former Ju-ventus general manager LucianoMoggi.

However, Lippi has faced signi-ficant challenges since returningto the helm.

With players of the calibre ofFrancesco Totti and AlessandroNesta retiring from internationalduty since the success in Ger-many four years ago, and otherslike Alessandro Del Piero andMarco Materazzi reaching the lat-ter stages of their career, Lippi hasbeen forced to look for new talent.

“We still have a group of playerswho won the World Cup four yearsago and we need to build on thatstrength,” says Lippi. “But noteveryone will continue. Thisgroup needs to be integrated, theright balance has to be found.”

Two reasons why there is somuch optimism about Italy’s

chances have been the play ofFiorentina forward Alberto Gil-ardino and Udinese striker Ant-onio Di Natale.

Both players have stood out intheir respective teams and havebeen rewarded for their impress-ive campaigns with spots in thenational side.

Moreover, World Cup winnerGilardino appears to have redis-covered his touch in front of goal.

Since moving to Fiorentinafrom AC Milan two years ago, Gil-ardino has gone from strength tostrength – he netted against Liv-erpool in the Champions Leagueat Anfield – and become one of

highest-rated forwards in Italy.Gilardino finished as the

Azzurri’s top scorer in qualifyingwith four goals, including ahat-trick in a 3-2 triumph overCyprus.

Therefore, unlike the previoustwo tournaments, the Azzurri willnot have to rely on one player toprovide the firepower up front.

Defence has traditionally beentheir strongest weapon and it re-mains so with just seven goalsconceded in qualifying.

The midfield remains largelyunchanged. Daniele De Rossi ofRoma, Gennaro Gattuso and An-drea Pirlo have all been included

in the squad but there is no placefor Simone Perotta.

Lippi fully expects to have astrong team in all areas.

“We will try to play an aggress-ive, expansive and resourcefulgame,” he says. “A great sideneeds to be able to do everything,attack and defend.”

One bonus is the players will bewell rested since all but one Itali-an club this year failed to reachthe quarter-final stages of anyEuropean club competitions. OnlyInter Milan reached the last eightof the Champions League.

Injuries should also not be a bigfactor.

Buffon has fully recovered froma knee injury and striker Vin-cenzo Iaquinta will be fit.

Since taking over the team,Lippi believes he has seen a vastimprovement in a squad thattopped Group Eight of its WorldCup qualifying campaign with asix-point advantage over the Re-public of Ireland, with seven winsand three draws.

“My national team does nothave any weaknesses,” he says.“We are preparing to win anotherWorld Cup.”

Lippi will be hoping to follow inthe footsteps of legendary coachVittorio Pozzo, who led theAzzurri to consecutive World Cuptriumphs in 1934 and 1938.

One thing Italy and Lippi havein their favour is that they knowwhat it takes to go all the way in atournament.

“Experience can be useful be-cause now we know the conditionsand how much consistency andunity is needed to win,” saysLippi.

Whether Italy are past theirbest, though, remains to be seen.

Whole world in his hands: Marcello Lippi with cup in 2006

SkrteleagerforadreamcomebackSLOVAKIA make their long-awaitedWorld Cup debut in their own rightthis summer – and Martin Skrtel isdetermined to mark the occasionwith his presence.

The centre-back has not played forLiverpool since fracturing a metatars-al in the Europa League victory atUnirea Urziceni in February.

However, Skrtel was on the benchfor the final game of the season atHull City having worked hard to re-cover his fitness.

And now the defender is con-vinced he willbe available forSlovakia’s open-ing Group Fclash againstNew Zealand.

“It is a proudmoment for mycountry to havequalified and Ihope to be therewith them,”says Skrtel.

“It has been avery frustratingtime for me be-

ing injured and not being availablefor Liverpool.

“I’ve had great support from themedical staff at Liverpool and myfamily, so I will do everything I canto be fit for the World Cup.

“It’s a big thing for Slovakia tohave qualified for our first finals. It’sa dream for everyone to get to SouthAfrica. Now we have to show whatwe are all about and give our best.”

Indeed, there is every chance ofSlovakia – for whom Everton-boundJan Mucha is the first-choice goal-keeper – making an impact after afavourable draw pitched them along-side Paraguay and New Zealand inwhat is likely to boil down to a racefor second place behind Italy.

byCindyGarcia-BennettLDPSPORTSCORRESPONDENT

Italy

Cruzatbeckandcall

Rory’s all rightfor All Whites

Slovakia

New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND are heading to theWorld Cup this summer for the firstsince 1982 and the squad have highhopes of progressing past the initialgroup stage.

The All Whites secured their qual-ification last November after regis-tering a 1-0 victory over Bahrain in aplay-off with a goal courtesy of Ply-mouth striker Rory Fallon.

“It was surreal,” says Fallon. “Myphone was red-hot and the gamewas shown over and over again onTV. I think to play in the World Cupwould put me top of the family peck-ing order.

“Nobody can take away from methe fact that I got the goal that tookNew Zealand to the World Cup.

“Of course people will say we haveno chance but it’s a brilliant groupfor us. Nothing is impossible and Ibelieve we can finish second.

“Italy have already won the groupso the battle is for second place. I’mcertainly not saying we will beatItaly, but we’ve got a very goodchance against the other two.”

ROQUE SANTA CRUZ and hiswife are known as Paraguay’sequivalent to ‘Posh and Becks’with the amount of gossip columninches they generate but there hewill be hoping the similaritiesend.

For while David Beckham willfeel his injury nightmare evenmore keenly as he is forced towatch the World Cup from thesidelines, Santa Cruz will be hop-ing this summer signals anend to his problems.

The Manchester City for-ward has made not muchmore than a handful of ap-pearances this season follow-ing his £17.5million movefrom Blackburn buthe is still set tospearhead theParaguay attack, es-pecially in the ab-

sence of star striker SalvadorCabanas, Paraguay’s topgoalscorer during the qualifierswho was left clinging to life afterhe was shot in the head while in abar in Mexico City.

“Paraguay have always had areputation in South America forhaving one of the strongest de-fences on the continent,” saysSanta Cruz, who is playing in histhird World Cup.

“But lately we’ve also becomeknown for our attacking qual-ities.

“This combination willmake us hard to beat. We arehopeful of going further than

the round of 16 for thefirst time.

“This is a greatchance to show theworld how muchwe’ve improved.”

Paraguay

Martin Skrtel

In association with

Mon Jun 14: Italy v Paraguay (Cape Town) BBC 7.30pm, Tue Jun 15: New Zealand v Slovakia (Rustenburg) BBC 12.30pm,Sun Jun 20: Slovakia v Paraguay (Bloemfontein) BBC 12.30pm, Italy v New Zealand (Nelspruit) ITV 3pm, Thu Jun 24:Slovakia v Italy (Johannesburg – Ellis Park), Paraguay v New Zealand (Polokwane) ITV 3pm

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World Cup 2010 Group G

Brazil

Ivory Coast

Why Drogba will not beCoasting in South Africa

North Korea

Korea to go nuclearNORTH KOREA became household namesin 1966 with an epic run to the World Cupquarter-finals and reached South Africawith an equally incident-packed qual-ifying campaign.

It took a mammoth campaignspanning 20 months and 16games, including four con-troversial clashes withneighbours South Korea.

North Korea haven’t beenin the finals since shocking Italy44 years ago, and it will be an even greatersurprise if they gain even a point this timearound.

But with so little known about the squad,it will be intriguing to discover how theyfare against such lofty opposition.

Things could get Messi for Ronaldo this summer

IT seems almost crazy tosuggest it, but CristianoRonaldo heads to this sum-mer’s World Cup with apoint to prove.

The 25-year-old is un-questionably one of thefinest players on the plan-et and has quickly settledinto life at Real Madrid fol-lowing his world record£80million move fromManchester United.

The problem, however,

is not Ronaldo’s own form,but rather that of Bar-celona’s Lionel Messi, theman who stole the Por-tuguese’s crown as WorldPlayer of the Year in 2009and appears the hot fa-vourite to retain the titlethis year.

As you might expect,Ronaldo is not lacking inconfidence.

When questioned on hisaspirations for football’s

showpiece event, he re-sponds: “Above all to ar-rive in my best form. I planto have a great WorldCup.”

Pressed on whether thetournament could be re-membered as his WorldCup, Ronaldo adds: “I hopeso, yes. I will go there withthis attitude and doeverything I can to takePortugal as far as pos-sible.”

Portugal

Ojeitobrasileiro...athingofthepast?OVER the course of an illustrious,record-breaking history, one date re-mains painfully etched on to thepsyche of Brazilian football.

The fall-out from defeat by Italy atthe 1982 World Cup in Spain provedto be a turning point for the Selecao,inducing a gradual evolution frompoetry to pragmatism culminating inDunga’s current unappetising blendof physical prowess and tactical aus-terity.

Tele Santana’s side illuminated the1982 competition with a brand of foot-ball even more magicalthan their 1970 trophy-win-ning counterparts.

Yet their failure to pro-gress beyond thesecond-round group stage– when they needed only adraw – shocked them totheir core as Italy, spear-headed by master poacherPaolo Rossi, dumped themunceremoniously out andon to a plane home.

Fast-forward 28 yearsand the legacy of that heartbreaking3-2 defeat is plain to see. The bewitch-ing rhythm of the samba beat hasbecome more of a monotonous hum-drum as flair has given way to ef-ficiency.

Excitement is more subdued thanfor many a year owing to the fug ofdiscontent surrounding the nationalside’s style, or lack of it. But in truththe Selecao have nev-er been better placedto take the honours.

Dunga’s practicalapproach is epitom-ised by his choice ofpersonnel. GilbertoSilva, effectivelyscrapped by Arsenaltwo years ago, re-mains as midfield linchpin. JulioBaptista, another former Gunner, is akey man for his physical prowessrather than his often-disappointingfootballing performance.

Goalkeeper Julio Cesar, centre-halfLucio and right-back Maicon are re-garded by many as the world’s finestin their position.

Gone is the reliance on misfiringsuperstar enigmas such as Adrianoand Ronaldinho, replaced by a teamethic centred on efficiency, ruthless-ness and tactical savvy.

Where once there was Socratesnow sit Gilberto and Felipe Melo, ul-tra-conservative holding midfielders.

There remains a capacity for flair,with Kaka first choice as playmaker

and Robinho still af-forded a creative birthbehind consistentgoal-getter Luis Fabi-ano.

However, put simply,if Brazil are to win thisWorld Cup, they willwin it on the break.The counter-attack is

king, with swashbuckling full-backs arespectful nod to the tradition of ‘ojeito brasileiro’, the Brazilian way.

“Since the last World Cup whenDunga started, we have adjustedourselves to achieve our results aswell as adjusting the style of playingaccording to the situation we face,”Gilberto admits.

“All the team are working so hard

and with the way we are playing wehave got the confidence of Brazilianpeople again.”

There were the customary blips inqualification – a few disappointinghome draws, defeat at altitude inBolivia – but while rivals Argentinascraped in by the skin of their teeth,Brazil kept their composure to topthe standings by a point.

“Qualification in South America isalways going to be very difficult,”adds Gilberto.

“And at the time we didn’t under-stand the pressure on Dunga. Weturned things around because of ourcommitment to our country.

“We want to win things, for us andfor the people of our country.”

Dunga has so far confounded hismany critics by getting results.

Ultimately, though, even glory inSouth Africa would still leave manyto accuse him of betraying ‘o jeitobrasileiro’.

DidierDrogba

Socrates celebrates his goal against Italy with Junior, Falcao andZico but Brazil coach Dunga (inset) is out to avoid a 1982 repeat

CHELSEA striker Didier Drogbawill go into this summer’s WorldCup knowing that life is muchmore important than football.

The Ivory Coast are in a dif-ficult group with North Korea,Portugal and Brazil but Drogba isstill haunted by the sights he wit-nessed as they progressed to thefinals in South Africa.

Drogba scored two goals asIvory Coast beat Malawi 5-0 in agame that was still staged follow-ing the tragedy at the 45,000-ca-pacity Felix Houphouet-BoignyStadium.

Nineteen people, including twochildren, died and more than 130spectators were injured whenpart of a wall collapsed as tick-etless fans stormed one of the en-trances.

“I am disappointed by whathappened, it is hard to take,” saysDrogba.

“Football is nothing. You aretalking about the deaths of 19people. When things like that hap-pen it makes you realise howmuch people care about theircountry and their team. Peace tothem. It is sad.”

Drogba and his team-mates willhope for better than in Germanyfour years ago, when after anoth-

er tough draw they went homeafter the first round.

Drogba says: “I am very happyindeed because Ivory Coast is go-ing to the World Cup for thesecond time.”

Drogba will be ably assisted inSouth Africa by Chelseateam-mate Salomon Kalou, whohas grown in stature in a seasonthat has seenChelsea win thedomesticdouble.

Kalou, 24,has enjoyedhis fourthseason atChelsea.

“Everytime I havethe chance towork withhim I listen towhat he has to say– he is very im-portant to me,”says Kalou.

“Whenyou’re talkingabout strikersin the gametoday, Didieris one of thebest.”

Ronaldo

who will win?Chris Wright

1. Brazil2. Spain3. Argentina


DidierDrogba

Tue Jun 15: Ivory Coast v Portugal (Port Elizabeth) ITV 3pm, Brazil v N Korea(Johannesburg – Ellis Park) ITV 7.30pm, Sun Jun 20: Brazil v Ivory Coast (Johannesburg –Soccer City) BBC 7.30pm, Mon Jun 21: Portugal v N Korea (Cape Town) BBC 12.30pm, FriJun 25: Portugal v Brazil (Durban), N Korea v Ivory Coast (Nelspruit) BBC 3pm


World Cup 2010 Group H

30questions totackle just for fun(onlyWorld Cup quiz

Honduras

1. How many countries participatedin the first World Cup finals compet-ition in 1930?

2. Which country were beaten final-ists in 1930?

3. Which country hosted and even-tually won the 1934 competition?

4. Which Caribbean team made theironly appearance to date at the 1938finals?

5. What significant role did English-man George Reader play at the 1950tournament?

6. Which South American countryknocked England out of the 1954tournament at the quarter-finalstage?

7. Name the Frenchman whose 13goals at the 1958 tournament re-mains the most scored in a World Cupfinals tournament.

8. Which Liverpool player made threeappearances for England at the 1958tournament?

9. Name the Everton defender whorepresented Scotland at the 1958World Cup finals.

10. Name England's headcoach at the 1962 tourna-ment.

11. What was the uniquefact about Englishcentre-forward GerryHitchens at the 1962 tour-nament?

12. Three stadiums whichhosted matches at the 1966 WorldCup finals no longer exist – namethem.

13. Name the three countries whoEngland faced in the group stages atthe 1966 World Cup finals.

14. Which striker skippered Germanyagainst England in the 1966 WorldCup final?

15. Who netted West Germany's win-ning goal against England in their

quarter-final clash in the 1970tournament?

16. The 1970 tournament fea-tured which colourful foot-balling first?

17. What was midfielder Jur-gen Sparwasser's famouscontribution to the 1974World Cup finals in West Ger-

many?

18. Who were Africa's only repres-entatives at the 1974 tournament?

19. Name Scotland's manager at the1974 World Cup finals.

20. For what moment of great indi-vidual skill was Sweden's Gunnar Ols-

Chile

Alexis happyto be in crewALEXIS SANCHEZ has greatexpectations heading into hisfirst World Cup this summer.

The “wonder boy”, as he isknown in South America, wasa pivotal player for Chile asthey earned their ticket forthe first time since 1998.

The Udinese forward scoredthree goals while providingnumerous assists in qualify-ing to help Chile book a placein South Africa.

“For any player it is adream to play for the nationalteam,” says Sanchez, who at21 has scored nine goals in 24appearances for Chile. “It’s allthe more amazing to be able totake part in a World Cup.”

His performances have ledsome to compare him toBrazil’s AC Milan forward Al-exandre Pato.

He says: “Do I feel like Patoof Milan? I don’t like compar-isons, I am only Alexis.”

In the meantime, Sanchez isjust focusing on getting there.

“I want to be one of the bestplayers in the world,” he says.

“I know I have to work hardand I’ve no fear of doing so.”

Guevara ready fora new revolutionHONDURAS needed a lateUSA goal against Costa Ricato qualify for their first finalsin 28 years.

Yet if the manner of theirqualification was a trifle for-tuitous there is more hiddendepth than befits a “happy tobe here” outfit.

Tottenham’s Wilson Pala-cios and Wigan duo HendryThomas and Maynor Figueroaare the key names of a teamskippered by former MLSplaymaker Amado Guevara.

“On the pitch we’ll be 11against 11 and the team thatdoes things better will be theone that settles the match,”says Guevara.

Reina refusesto pull hispunches again

ANYONE who has seenthe no-nonsense styleof Pepe Reina on thefield will know the Liv-erpool goalkeeper isnot someone to betrifled with.

So when storiesemerged from insidethe Spanish camp of abust up between Reinaand Victor Valdes, fewwould have exchangedplaces with the Bar-celona man.

However, rumours ofa bad relationshipbetween the goalkeep-ing rivals were quicklydispelled by Spain cap-tain Carles Puyol.

“Outside, a lot ofthings can be said thatwe can’t control, but in-side our dressing roomwe are all together,”says Puyol. “They havea good relationship andthere is no problem.”

Reina could be for-given for feeling a bitedgy. Despite an out-standing season per-sonally, in which hewas regarded by manyas Liverpool’s player ofthe year and won theGolden Gloves awardfor a fourth time, theAnfield outfit missedout on ChampionsLeague qualification.

And at internationallevel, the outstandingReina has the misfor-tune to have the samenationality as the sim-ilarly excellent IkerCasillas.

“It would be great towin the World Cup, butit definitely wouldn’tmake up for this seasonwith Liverpool,” saysReina. “To win a Premi-er League title with Liv-erpool would be amaz-ing.”

Torres thereluctantfavouriteIanDoyle

Question 15

THERE was a time not too longago when England and Spainfound themselves constantly re-garded in the same bracket at in-ternational level.

Mention the phrase ‘great un-derachievers at major tourna-ments’ during much of the last 40years, and it’s a fair bet the namesof those two countries will haveinstantly sprung to mind.

Not any more. While Englandcontinue to deceive and disappoint,Spain finally banished their hoo-doo by ending 44 years without atrophy when lifting the EuropeanChampionships two years ago.

That the triumph was achievedwhile sticking firmly to their foot-balling principles has made Vi-cente del Bosque’s side favourites,alongside Brazil, to claim glory inSouth Africa this summer.

However, with such successcomes great expectation,something that sits uneasily on theshoulders of Liverpool strikerFernando Torres, the man whosegoal against Germany won theEuro 2008 final for his country.

“We are considered as one of thefavourites, which is to be expec-ted,” says Torres. “But I recallback in 2004 when everyone inSpain said we were favourites forthe European Championships inPortugal and it was the same forthe World Cup in Germany.

“We hadn’t won any trophies,and we were not seen as favouriteselsewhere. In Spain we think thateverything revolves around us andthat we are always favourites.

“We are now considered by oth-ers as one of the candidates, andwe can’t escape that favourites tag.We don’t like being considered asfavourites for the title but itssomething we have to live with.

“We feel it’s our chance and wewant to take advantage of it. Wefeel it’s our turn and we want tocontinue to make history.”

Spain have never won the WorldCup – indeed, their best finish offourth place came 60 years ago inBrazil – but having lost just one oftheir last 46 games, a nation mostcertainly expects.

Coping with such pressure,though, has too often proven their

downfall, most notably when theywilted in the spotlight as hostsback in 1982.

There is a reminder of that tour-nament this time around with delBosque’s side drawn in the samegroup as Honduras, who held theSpaniards to a shock 1-1 draw 28years ago.

With Chile and Switzerlandmaking up the remainder of GroupH, Spain should face a straightfor-ward passage to the knockoutstages where more testing chal-lenges await.

But a wary Torres says: “On pa-per it’s an easy group, but still it’sa World Cup and we don’t wantany problems. We have the exper-ience of what happened to us at theConfederations Cup, but I thinkthat we should qualify from ourgroup without too many problems.

“The matches should serve aspreparation for the knockoutstages. But people have forgottenwhat happened to us against USAat the Confederations Cup. Theyweren’t given a chance, but theyqualified from their group andwent on to beat us.”

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World Cup 2010 Group H

Switzerland

son the unwitting fall-guy in a matchagainst Holland in the 1974 tourna-ment?

21. Which country remainedundefeated in the 1978 WorldCup finals but did not win thetournament?

22. Which Dutchman wasinches away from winningHolland its first World Cupwhen his late effort struck thewoodwork in the 1978 finalagainst Argentina?

23. After how many seconds did Eng-land's Bryan Robson famously open

the scoring against France in a groupgame in the 1982 tournament?

24. Which Bournemouthstriker, signed fromTranmere Rovers, madethree appearances forNorthern Ireland in the1986 World Cup finals inMexico?

25. Which African countrymade their first appear-ance for 56 years at the1990 tournament in Italy?

26. Liverpool and Everton each sup-plied one player for Scotland’s squad

at the 1990 World Cup finals – namethem.

27. A dog wearing a red, white andblue football kit, what was the nameof the official mascot at the 1994World Cup finals in the USA?

28. Which squad number did MichaelOwen wear for England in the 1998tournament in France?

29. Name the Italian defender whoskippered his country to World Cupfinal glory in 2006.

30. Which South African city will hostthis summer's World Cup final on July11?

ANSWERS:1.13;2.Argentina;3.Italy;4.Cuba;5.HewastherefereeforthefinalbetweenBrazilandUruguay;6.Uruguay;7.JustFontaine;8.AlanA’Court;9.AlexParker;10.WalterWinterbottom;11.HewastheonlymemberofthesquadwhoplayedforaclubsideoutsideEngland(InterMilan);12.WhiteCityStadium,London;AyresomePark,Middlesbrough;RokerPark,Sunderland;13.Uruguay,Mexico,France;14.UweSeeler;15.GerdMuller;16.Firstuseofredandyellowcards;17.His77thminutegoalforEastGermanydefeatedhostsWestGermany1-0inagroupmatch;18.Zaire;19.WillieOrmond;20.HollandlegendJohanCruyffexecutedhisfamous‘CruyffTurn’togetpasttheSwedishright-back;21.Brazil;22.RobRensenbrink;23.27;24.ColinClarke;25.Egypt;26.GaryGillespieandStuartMcCall;27.Striker;28.20;29.FabioCannavaro;30.Johannesburg

if yourmemory isanygood, that is!)World Cup quiz

FernandoTorres

Question 28

The USA, of course, inflictedSpain’s only competitive defeatsince being eliminated by Francein the second round of the WorldCup four years ago with a sur-prise 1-0 triumph in the semi-fi-nals of last year’s ConfederationsCup.

It was a reminder Spain can-not rest on their laurels this sum-mer, although the memory of pre-vious World Cup surrendersagainst the likes of Paraguay,Northern Ireland and Nigeriawill no doubt further focus themind.

“We learned a lot at the WorldCup in Germany,” says Torres,who is confident he has fully re-covered from the knee operationthat prematurely ended his An-field campaign in April.

“We were on a learning curveand had developed a style, but weprobably lacked maturity andFrance swept past us.

“They had plenty of self-belief,they believed that we could beatanyone, that their time had come,and they had to make the most ofthe opportunity. And that’s ex-actly what they did. They lost inthe final but at least they werethere. As for Spain, we laid thefoundations and created an iden-tity between 2006 and 2008, a style

which is still very strong today.“We won the EuropeanChampionships and real-

ised that we could besuccessful playing

how we wanted to

play the game. We just neededself-belief. Right now we have toenjoy ourselves and to also try tomake the most of this opportun-ity.”

Despite his magnificent scor-ing record for Liverpool, and thatEuro 2008 winner, Torres has notfound goals as easy to come byfor his country as strike partnerDavid Villa.

But of feeling any pressure tobe the tournament’s leadingscorer, the 26-year-old adds: “No,but I know that, along with Villa,I’m lucky enough to be one of thestrikers in a team that are amongthe favourites, and that bringscertain privileges.”

Torres is joined in the Spainsquad by Liverpool team-matePepe Reina and former Anfieldfavourites Alvaro Arbeloa andXabi Alonso.

And the striker believes thecountry where he plies his tradecould prove a threat to hopes ofglory inSouthAfrica.

“Eng-land willbe a toughteam toface, andBrazil arealways upthere or thereabouts,” saysTorres. “Argentina haven’t beenplaying well, but they are alwaysin with a shout.

“The big teams will make itthough to the final stages. If Eng-land can overcome their mentalbarrier then Spain versus Eng-land would be the perfect WorldCup final.

“People say that Spain havethe best starting XI in the worldbut when you look at England onpaper, they have the secondstrongest XI in the world.

“In John Terry and Rio Ferdin-and they have two of the bestdefenders. Stevie Gerrard is thegreatest central midfielder on theplanet and Wayne Rooney is oneof the in-form players in footballalong with Lionel Messi. All theyneed to do now is break the men-tal barrier of going out at thequarter-final stage creates.”

As Spain and Torres haveshown, it can be done.

who will win?David Randles

1. Argentina2. Brazil3. Spain

Can Swissroll on forseconds?SWITZERLAND striker ErenDerdiyok believes his sidehave the quality to reach thelast 16 of the World Cup.

With European championsSpain expected to top Group Hand Honduras widely anticip-ated to be the whipping boys,it looks like a straight fightbetween Switzerland andChile for second place.

And Bayer Leverkusen manDerdiyok feels confident histeam-mates have the quality toprogress.

“I believe very much thatwe will qualify for the last 16,even though the group is very,very difficult for a small foot-ball country like Switzer-land,” he says.

“We are never favourites,but we can be giant-killers.”

Switzerland’s World Cup re-cord is less than inspiring andthis will be only the third timesince 1966 – and the ninthtime overall – they have com-peted.

Their two appearances inrecent times, in the UnitedStates in 1994 and Germany in2006, saw them reach thesecond round, most notablylast time around when theytopped a group which in-cluded France.

That time, under popularcoach Kobi Kuhn, they wentout of the tournament withouthaving conceded a goal.

And they have high hopes ofagain making it into theknockout stages with formerBayern Munich boss OttmarHitzfeld at the helm.

“We are very determined,”said Derdiyok. “We will pre-pare very seriously inSwitzerland and in SouthAfrica and do everything toplay as good a tournament aspossible.”

Not bad for a country thatstarted their qualificationcampaign with a home defeatto Luxembourg.


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