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Minnows may celebrate
As Germany plays host to the greatest footballing spectacle on earth in exactly a fortnight’s time, much talk and speculation is revolving around the potential winner of the trophy.
Perennial favourites Brazil, their South American neighbours Argentina, the hosts, the Dutch Oranje and Italy have all been classified as the teams most likely to walk away with the sport’s ultimate prize come the ninth of July.
But as in every World Cup finals to date there have been surprise packages, teams that have torn the form book to shreds thanks to their giant-killing efforts as exemplified by North Korea’s campaign in 1966, Cameroon’s coming-of-age in 1990 and the Asian co-hosts of the last World Cup, South Korea and Japan.
There definitely will be such a side in Germany and it is likely to come from the following clutch of countries – Sweden, Balkan duo Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro, and one of the tournament’s top eight seeds, Mexico.
Placed in Group B alongside England, Paraguay and minnows Trinidad & Tobago, the Swedes are a competent side able to hold their own against purportedly stronger teams as they did in 2002 coming through unscathed, topping a group that also contained England and Argentina only to fall to Senegal in the Second Round.
The Scandinavians are blessed with an impressive forward-line led by the evergreen veteran, the man who turned the UEFA Champions League final the way of his club, Henrik Larsson, and the 34-year-old is ably assisted by Juventus front-man Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Under the watchful eye of manager Lars Lagerback, this underrated bunch of seasoned professionals are just waiting to upend the opposition beginning with the Trinidadians in their opening encounter in Dortmund before taking on South American outfit Paraguay and ending with the highly anticipated clash with Sven Goran Eriksson’s men in a face-off that could well decide the qualifiers from Group B.
Following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia has emerged as the regional force and an unbeaten qualifying run ensured the Croats a third straight seat at football’s head table, thus strengthening their claim to be the Balkan’s big fish.
A recent warm-up match against Austria reinforced this assertion as they easily came through by a 4-1 margin that included a brace from Werder Bremen striker, Ivan Klasnic.
Manager Zlatko Kranjcar will be heartened by the fact that his squad is firing on all cylinders but more importantly have no injury worries to contend with as they require their best to be available in their first game against defending champions Brazil.
Even a draw against the five-time holders of the trophy would be a positive result and Kranjcar, a former Yugoslavian international, will then train his sights on matches against Japan and Australia in Group F.
Apart from Klasnic, Croatia also boasts the attacking acumen of Dado Prso, and play-maker Niko Kranjcar, who is the gaffer’s son but is in the squad wholly on merit as the younger Kranjcar is arguably Croatia’s brightest young talent in the mould of former heroes such as Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban.
But the Croatian game-plan is built around a defence that stifles the opposition before hitting them on the counter and the back-four is marshalled by the duo of Siena’s Igor Tudor and Robert Kovac, whose brother Niko wears the No. 10 jersey and patrols the middle of the park.
With fathers and sons as well as brothers in the set-up, it is inevitable that there is a familial bond and cordial atmosphere in the Croatian dressing-room and this can only be a plus factor in the heat of battle in Germany.
Croatia’s neighbours and bitter rivals, Serbia and Montenegro, are another side heavily expected to deliver this summer as they are blessed with a nucleus of old hands.
Savo Milosevic, with 97 internationals under his belt, turned out for the then Yugoslavia in France 1998 alongside Inter Milan midfielder, the fiery yet talented Dejan Stankovic.
They will need all their experience to outperform the three other sides in Group C, aptly named the “Group of Death” with Holland, Argentina and African stars Ivory Coast rounding up the bunch.
Coming out trumps in the Europe’s Qualifying Group Seven ahead of Spain shall hold them in good stead when they face their Group C opponents next month.
One plus point is the fact that the side have never lost a World Cup game when Milosevic plays, with their first game in Leipzig’s Zentralstadion against the dangerous Dutchmen, the Serbs and Montenegrins are praying for this amazing record to continue throughout the tourney.
By downplaying his team’s chances in Germany and urging fans not to place too much pressure on the team, manager Ilija Petkovic has created a mood of serenity in what is usually a hotbed for personality clashes and training ground altercations.
Should Serbia and Montenegro end up ahead of either Argentina or the Netherlands, they would more than likely meet Portugal or Mexico in the Round of 16.
The Mexicans have always been at the finals for as long as one can remember with their exploits on home soil in 1986 being their stand-out performance.
El Tricolor under Argentine tactician Ricardo La Volpe have become a tough nut to crack as proven in last summer’s showing at the FIFA Confederations’ Cup where they succumbed to Argentina in the last four on penalty-kicks but not before recording a memorable 1-0 victory over the Brazilians in the earlier stages.
If their last trip to Germany ended in such spectacular fashion, La Volpe must be cautiously confident of his charges repeating their good form in the heart of Europe in the coming weeks.
With only the Portuguese and Iranians posing a threat in the group stage, Barcelona’s Rafael Marquez, Guillermo Franco of Villarreal and Bolton’s Jared Borgetti will be intent on being around for the business end of the competition and a berth in the last eight is not too tall an order for the Latin Americans.
The tourney’s big guns may be grabbing the headlines in the build-up to Germany 2006 but it would be perilous to their title chances for them to ignore this quartet.
Submitted by: Iced
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