WorldCup Football 2014

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WORLD CUP 2014

COLLECTOR’S EDITION

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Nation•Business•Sports•Chill Out

June 2014

Editor’s Note The 2014 FIFA World Cup, one of the biggest sporting events of this year, will be hosted by Brazil from 12th June to 13th July, 2014.

This will be the second time that the Federative Republic of Brazil, the largest country in South America, and the fifth largest in the world, will be hosting the international men’s football tournament, the previous being in 1950.

The 1950 FIFA World Cup finals was played at Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 16 July 1950, when Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1. The result is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in football history, and the term Maracanazo (Portuguese), roughly translated as “The Maracanã Blow” first became synonymous with the match.

Shaking off the horrors of the past, Brazil is all set to receive the 32 qualifying teams and thousands of football fans to twelve of it’s host cities and stadiums spread across the country. From the beaches to the dense jungles, and from unbearable heat to freezing cold, the 8.5 million square kilometres of Brazil offer drastic climate and landscape diversity to the visitors. However, football-art, Samba, Carnival, and the rich, varied, Brazilian delicacies, are sure to keep them in good spirits.

From Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez, Iniesta to Drogba, the demigods of football are to cast a spell on the football lovers around the globe for a month, kick-starting from the 12th of June. The legends of yesteryears, and the crafty coaches who decide on the players and device the strategies, have already expressed their views, concerns and expectations on the 2014 FIFA World cup. Nevertheless, the lowest ranking Australia to the highest ranking Spain will descend on Brazil, where football is a religion more than a sport, in quest of the coveted FIFA World Cup trophy.

Our collector’s edition on 2014 FIFA World Cup integrates interesting information on the host nation, the venues, teams, players and coaches, while taking the readers down memory lane to the history of the World Cup tournaments since 1930.

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PAGES OF FOOTBALLING FACTS AND FEATURES

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Brazil 2014, The Most

www.qimqatar.com

Significant World Cup In Decades

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HAMAD BIN SUHAIM AL THANI

CHAIRMAN ............................................

ADEL ALI BIN ALI

MANAGING DIRECTOR ............................................

IHSAN GHAZAL

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ............................................

EDITORIAL TEAM VINODH K. PISHAROM TASNIM AHMED ............................................

DESIGNER RAVINDRANATH KOONATH ............................................

SOURCE : DPA & FIFA.COM ............................................

SEBASTIAN FEST (DPA)

B

razil 2014 can be summed up in one sentence: it is set to be the most significant football World Cup in decades.

That can also be explained in greater detail: whatever happens from June 12 and, particularly, in the final on July 13 at the legendary Maracana stadium is one of those stories that are expected to mark football-loving imaginations for generations to come.

Will Brazil 2014 be a “landmark World Cup,” like Mexico 1970 was with Pele, like Germany 1974 was with Franz Beckenbauer, and like Mexico 1986 was with Diego Maradona?

Will the final feature a clash between Brazil, in their effort to increase their record to six World Cup titles, and Argentine Lionel Messi, the man who wants to match the World Cup feats of Pele and Maradona so that no one will ever again doubt that he is on a par with them, or even better?

There is arguably no better setting for a World Cup. If the ball were alive – which it is to some extent – and it were looking for peace, calm and happiness, Rio de Janeiro and its beaches on Copacabana or Ipanema would be a great place for it. People there always treat it well, and it could settle down well.

The ball is also well-loved at the Aterro

do Flamengo, a site by the sea that is the epicentre of Rio’s amateur football matches involving the poor, the rich and the middle classes alike.

The Aterro is barely 6 kilometres away from Maracana, which still lies at the site where it was on the final of the 1950 World Cup, even though it is far from being the same stadium. It no longer holds 200,000 spectators but just over 60,000, and it is now a “five-star” venue with all the pros and cons that implies in modern football.

Any Brazilian would say that today’s Maracana has “less of a soul” than it did in 1950, when it broke the heart of the whole nation and increased the self-esteem of their little Uruguayan neighbours to levels that remain unprecedented in the history of sport.

That title is one of two or three key moments in the emergence of Uruguayan identity and, at the same time, one of the greatest frustrations in the history of Brazil, which continues to talk about the “Maracanazo” 64 years later.

“I don’t mean to exaggerate, but for Uruguayans that was the best moment in their 20th century history,” former Brazilian deputy foreign minister Marcos de Azambuja, who attended the match, told dpa.

Times have now changed. The World Cup is no longer broadcast black and White, it is no longer distant, it is no longer exotic. TV screens, computers, tablets and smartphones are set to reflect even its most minute details, which will also be tirelessly debated on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, fascinate half the planet and exhaust the other half.

The candid audience of the mid-20th century is long gone, and a World Cup title no longer consolidates a nation.

Brazil 2014 is set to be extraordinary, but that will be for different reasons.

“This World Cup will be very tough because all world champions are set to play in Brazil,” Bebeto told dpa in an interview, to highlight the presence of Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, France and Spain as participants.

“For me, it will be the toughest of all time,” said the former Brazil striker, who won the USA 1994 World Cup. Even though such teams guarantee a competitive tournament and presumably also good play, the involvement of the eight former champions is hardly the most relevant element in this tournament. Neither is the fact that the 64 matches are set to be played in 12 venues and as many host cities, with both cold temperatures and stifling heat, which is set to happen for the first time in history.

Even the use of technology to help

Any Brazilian would say that today's Maracana has 'less of a soul' than it did in 1950, when it broke the heart of the whole nation.

referees, perhaps an end to decades of “ghost goals,” is not the tournament’s most groundbreaking aspect.

No. The real story lies elsewhere: the key to this World Cup lies in the hands of one country and one player. Between those, there are major candidates to lift the trophy, such as defending champions Spain, Germany or Italy, but the really important story, the latent debate in the minds of millions of football lovers, is this: Brazil vs. Messi, one step up from even the classic Brazil vs. Argentina.

Everything is set to happen in a country that is a continent rather than a nation, a vast space that is in fact a scale version of the world: people of German descent in the south, people whose ancestors were African slaves in the north-east, Asian communities in Sao Paulo. Far inland, there is the Amazon rainforest, the world’s lungs.

In all those places around Brazil there are set to be World Cup matches, including an England-Italy game that will focus global attention on Manaus.

This is set to be a particularly difficult World Cup for European countries. Some rivals see Spain as rather “bourgeois,” others doubt that the powerful Germany can adapt to the heat and the pressure of

Brazilian fans. It also remains to be seen whether the Italy led by coach Cesare Prandelli can bring together their new feature, since they now play well, and their tradition of success. There is the always talented and always troubled France, the historic Uruguay, an England team that is always doubtful and – outside the group of former champions - the Portugal of FIFA World Player of the Year 2013 Cristiano Ronaldo.

All of these, and other teams including the Netherlands, have more or less good reason to dream on. However, Brazil, the country whose residents describe it as “the world’s greatest country,” is now also the country with the greatest dreams.

This is no longer about being a South American giant, because Brazil has worked hard for two decades to consolidate its global position. The country remains inefficient in many ways and unequal to extremes, but it is less so than it used to be, and it has long been moving in the right direction.

If the country works, despite the protests that shook it in June 2013 and which will probably re-emerge during the World Cup, how could its greatest symbol, the national football team coached by Luiz Fe-

lipe Scolari and led on the pitch by the upand-coming Neymar, not deliver?

If they fail to deliver, the main explanation could lie in the massive pressure that rests on the “verdeamarela,” of whom fans demand that it win the longed-for sixth world championship title and forever bury the memories of the 1950 Maracanazo.

“Germany finished third and their fans were waiting for them at the airport,” Jose Ferreira Neto, one of the historic goal scorers of the Brazilian championship, told dpa.

“Not here. If they finish second people might even kill those guys, which is a big mistake, a sign of rudeness,” he said.

In such an excessive, passionate atmosphere, the danger for the hosts lies on a player that some dismiss as cold, even boring outside the pitch, but who brushes off such criticism and amazes the world with every goal he scores, either at Barcelona or in Argentina’s blue-and-white shirt.

If Brazilians’ sometimes naïve joy and Argentines’ sometimes twisted strength come head to head, it will definitely have been Messi’s fault. And if that clash happens at 4 pm on July 13, the final of Brazil 2014 will be mythical – whatever the result.

From 4G To 4K:

Technological Aspects Of Brazil 2014

IGNACIO ENCABO (DPA)

T

echnology is set to be one of the stars at the Brazil 2014 World Cup: it vows to settle ghost goal controversies, connect Brazil to the world, link fans and footballers to each other, offer footage with the greatest quality ever seen at a similar event, and send signals to satellites who can then distribute it around the world.

When the “land of football” host the 1950 World Cup, more than 200,000 people watched the final on site at Maracana. Away from the Rio de Janeiro stadium, however, no one got live TV coverage. The match got to people’s homes later, and in black and white.

Now, 64 years later, everything is set to be different. The new Maracana fits only 73,531 spectators. However, the final is expected to be watched live by close to 1 billion people - on colour TV, and in many cases in high definition.

The World Cup has grown in international significance with every new edition of the event, thanks to the intrinsic power of football and also to the power of technology. Brazil 2014 is set to reach every country, be it through television, the radio or the Internet, in three dimensions (3D), high definition (HD), or “super high” definition.

And there is set to be more: FIFA intends to offer groundbreaking audiovisual coverage of the event, and it is set to record three matches – one in the round of 16, one in the quarter-finals, and the final – in the new 4K format.

The governing body of world football speaks of “a unique, fascinating experience.”

“4K will propel fans around the globe into a whole new viewing dimension, and it marks the dawning of a new era in the broadcasting of sport,” said FIFA’s director of TV Niclas Ericson.

However, the truth is that only very

few people in the world have TV sets which can process a 4K signal. In fact, only very few TV networks would be willing to broadcast in that format at all, since it takes up four times more bandwidth than an HD broadcast and its target audience is tiny: it is perceived as an unviable business.

“It is wonderful. It looks like 3D. They showed it in London 2012, and you saw the sand jump onto your face,” said Malco Falco, a TV director with the Spanish network TVE who already worked in South Africa 2010. “It is very beautiful, but not very realistic at this point.”

A more realistic feature is the use of much-anticipated goal-line technology, through a 14-camera system called upon to end a debate that is almost as old as football itself. This technology, which was tested during last year’s Confederations Cup, is set to make its World Cup debut in Brazil 2014.

World Cup history is full of goals that

The final is expected to be watched live by close to 1 billion people - on colour TV, and in many cases in high definition. were wrongly disallowed and goals that were allowed but should not have been.

The most famous among the latter was the one that gave England the title at the 1966 World Cup. “There was not one single mistake.

It is 100 per cent safe,” Goal Control director Dirk Broichhausen enthusiastically said during the Confederations Cup of the technology his company supplies.

Brazil 2014 stadiums are set to feature more cameras than players: the 14 goal-line technology cameras are to be joined by those used in FIFA broadcasts, those belonging to each TV network, and one that is more agile than all the rest, the so-called “Spidercam.”

The Spidercam – which hangs from 16 wires and moves at very high speed in search for its preys, the players – is set to watch footballers’ movements from above, with impossible angles given that it can rotate 360 degrees around its own axis.

Those who do not get to watch the World Cup live through the Spidercam and company will be able to follow events in Brazil on the interactive platform that FIFA is set to build on its website. FIFA is to offer interviews, live commentary, match videos, immediate 3D images and lots of details about the 32 participants, though it will probably not echo scandals or critical information.

The 12 stadiums that are set to host World Cup matches are to have a 4G connection which allows users to surf the web at high speed. This is a must in the age of smartphones and social networks, although Brazil’s infrastructure problems emerge as a threat for such processes.

Some national team coaches banned their players from using their Facebook and Twitter profiles in South Africa 2010.

Four years later, there is a real social network hype around the world, as a consequence of technological evolution, and the world of football is well aware of that.

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Football In Brazil: A Religion More Than A Sport DIANA RENEE (DPA) RIO DE JANEIRO

“F

ootball is returning home,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said with reference to the 2014 World Cup. Indeed, over the past half a century, Brazil has become a symbol of the world’s most popular sport, thanks to its five World Cup titles and to “jogo bonito,” its trademark beautiful play symbolised by stars like Pele, Garrincha, Romario and Ronaldo.

According to Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, Brazil is the “land of football” because it turned the sport into a “fusion of different civilisation processes.” Had it not been for Brazil’s contribution, he said, football “might be an Anglo-Saxon sport, as are rugby or American football.”

Justification for such official enthusiasm is provided every four years, when the World Cup paralyses the South American giant and turns its 200 million people into passionate fans, tactical experts and merciless critics of the Brazil coach of the day. For this fanatical legion, being runner-up amounts to humiliating defeat.

“Germany finished third and their fans were waiting for them at the airport. Not here. If they finish second people might even kill those guys, which is a big mistake,” Jose Ferreira Neto, one of the historic goalscorers of the Brazilian club Corinthians, told dpa.

According to Neto, that was what happened to members of the Brazil team of 1950, when they were the object of popular disdain after losing to Uruguay the decisive match of the World Cup in what became known as the “Maracanazo.”

“That team was one of the best of all time. Many of them were great players, who unfortunately lost a title,” he said.

When he discussed this issue during an

If the ball were alivewhich it is to some extent-and it were looking for peace, calm and happiness, Rio de Janeiro and its beaches on Copacabana or Ipanema would be a great place for it.

interview with dpa, former Brazilian deputy foreign minister Marcos de Azambuja noted that, for a long time, football was “the only activity that ran across social classes, educational levels, skin colour and regional aspects” in Brazil.

“When the national team enters the pitch, it is the homeland in boots,” the diplomat said.

He noted, however, that football nowadays is no longer as important for Brazilians as it was in 1950.

“Football is the only field in which Brazilians feel like first-world citizens,” prestigious sports commentator Juca Kfouri, who is also a sociologist, told dpa.

Kfouri thinks, however, that it is not true that Brazil is “the land of football.”

“Argentines worship football more than Brazilians. Any opinion poll you run in Brazil on the number of team fans will show that the largest group, with 28 per cent, are people who say they are not interested in football. Then come Flamengo fans, Corinthians fans, and then Sao Paulo fans,” he said.

“That same opinion poll in Argentina would show that the largest group are Boca Juniors fans, the second are River Plate fans, and the third are people who are not interested in football,” Kfouri said.

In any case, with their record five titles, World Cups have become a major passion for Brazilian. That is set to be especially true of Brazil 2014, particularly if the “Selecao” manage to win on home soil their sixth title.

“If Brazil win, the show will not be the tournament itself, but rather the end of the tournament. Because the world would never have seen an explosion of joy like the one they would get to see then,” Azambuja said.

“There would be 200 million people who would be ecstatic, in a state of absolute happiness,” he said.

The Brazil Team Of 1982, The Most Beautiful Team Never To Have Won A World Cup

DIANA RENEE (DPA)

F

or most contemporary Brazilians, the great national football trauma is not the “Maracanazo” of the faraway 1950, but rather the more recent “Sarria stadium tragedy,” Brazil’s 3-2 defeat to Italy in the quarter-finals of the Spain 1982 World Cup. “That was probably the last time I cried about football,” said Brazilian sports reporter Marcelo Barreto, of the channel SporTV. Retired midfielder Paulo Roberto Falcao, one of the stars of a team where Zico, Socrates, Toninho Cerezo and Junior also shone, says the defeat against Italy - who went on to win their third World Cup in Spain - was a fatal blow against “football-art.”

“It was not Brazil who lost. It was football. If we had won that title, that could have meant a change in the way of playing from that moment on,” Falcao, who made up with Zico and Socrates the superstar trio of the Brazil team led by Tele Santana, recently said.

Brazil started that match in the

afternoon of July 5, 1982 in Barcelona as the absolute favourites, and they needed just a draw to go through to the semi-finals.

After beating the Soviet Union (21), Scotland (4-1) and New Zealand (4-0) in their first-round group, they had already beaten their arch-rivals Argentina by a convincing 3-1 in the second round.

Italy, in turn, struggled in their first-round group. They drew their first three matches and, although they beat Argentina 2-1 in the second round, they got to the game against Brazil “very scared.”

“Everyone was talking about Brazil as the champions, we were very scared. They were the champions, and it was up to us to achieve a feat.

But nothing is impossible for Italy,” said the retired keeper Giovanni Galli, who stayed on the bench as a substitute for Dino Zoff in that game.

Italy opened the score just five minutes into the match with a header from Paolo Rossi, but Socrates equalised seven minutes later. In the 25th minute, Rossi again put Italy ahead, but Falcao equalised in the second half.

Brazil’s dream of a fourth World Cup title died 15 minutes before the end of the match, when Rossi completed his hat-trick and sealed Italy’s triumph.

The Guardian defined July 5, 1982 as “the day that a certain naivety in football died.”

Indeed, what hurt Brazilians, more than the end of their Spanish dream, was the defeat of a team that is for sports analysts one of the best in the history of the World Cup. “If you can make an analogy between a football team and a rock band, that team was The Beatles,” Brazilian football commentator Juca Kfouri said.

Francisco Moraes, one Brazil’s iconic football fans, who has attended every Flamengo game even abroad - since 1968 and has travelled to watch Brazil at every World Cup since Mexico 1970, agrees with Kfouri.

Shortly before the start of Brazil’s campaign for their sixth World Cup title, at home in 2014, Moraes shrugged his shoulders over the lack of “genius” in the team coached

by Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“Neymar is a giant. He is Brazil’s best player. But he would not have been in the starting line-up in that World Cup in 1982,” Moraes told dpa.

“Football has changed, and it has changed for the worse,” he said.

"It was not Brazil who lost. It was football. If we had won that title, that could have meant a change in the way of playing from that moment on," Falcao, who made up with Zico and Socrates the superstar trio of the Brazil team led by Tele Santana, recently said.

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Ronaldo can explain in very few words why a World Cup in Brazil is not just like any other World Cup: 'The English invented football, but we turned it into a more exciting sport'.

Ronaldo:

“Messi or Cristiano?

I’d shut my eyes and pick either of the two” SEBASTIAN FEST AND IGNACIO NAYA (DPA)

I

n 1996, Ronaldo overcame the humble La Liga club Compostela to score one of the best goals in history. Eighteen years later, the energy he conveys is very different: the former Brazil striker is heavier and calmer, but his football wisdom remains intact.

His wit and his capacity to be ironic also persist, and, at 37, the former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Milan forward can explain in very few words why a World Cup in Brazil is not just like any other World Cup. “The English invented football, but we turned it into a more exciting sport,” Ronaldo told dpa in an interview in which he analysed the tournament and the rivalry between Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and made it clear that he thinks more and more like a businessman these days. dpa: What does football mean to Brazilians?

Ronaldo: Football is our greatest passion.

Perhaps like

music, but football even more, because we are born and we grow up wanting to become football players. In Brazil, people of all ages live for football and get excited about it. So the English invented it but we turned it into a more exciting sport. dpa: What is special about staging a World Cup in Brazil?

Ronaldo: It’s a great opportunity for the world to enjoy our quality as a country, to enjoy the cities fans are going to visit but also our people, who are so friendly, so happy, despite the problems. dpa: Not once in history has a European team managed to win a World Cup in the Americas. Is there a specific reason for that? Will it happen again in Brazil 2014?

Ronaldo: I think it is quite complicated for a national team to win on a continent that is not its own. That also happens to South American teams that play in Europe. We find it very hard to win. I think Brazil have been the last to win, in Sweden, a long time ago. It’s very difficult to win on a different continent, but that’s not a rule: it’s not true it cannot happen. dpa: Germany were Brazil’s rivals in that final in 2002 which gave you your second World Cup title. What are the differences between that Germany and their current side?

Ronaldo: The Germans are always favourites when you play a World Cup. Particularly when they play Brazil in a final or even earlier, those are always matches where you cannot predict the result. I see Brazil very strong, particularly after the Confed Cup, which they won playing very good football. But I see Germany quite strong too. I think that, along with Spain, those are my three favourites. I think they are going to play the leading roles in this World Cup. dpa: And Argentina’s standard-bearer Lionel Messi?

Ronaldo: Messi has been playing a huge number of games for about five years, as the top star in the world of football. I am sure he is going to play a great World Cup. It is something he is missing, winning a

World Cup. I think it is something that is going to be very difficult here in Brazil, but Argentina have a good team, they have been playing well for some time, so Argentina are also a team that could manage that. dpa: Can you imagine a final Brazil-Argentina?

Ronaldo: That would be spectacular, just like Brazil-Germany. For me, the main thing is for Brazil to play the final, and then whoever the other team is it will be a great show. dpa: What is it that you like best about Messi?

Ronaldo: I really like the way he plays and his overall quality, but above all I like a skill that I found it harder to pull off. I did it, but not very often. And Messi always does it: that is, when he carries the ball very, very close to his feet at high speed.

We know and admire all his other characteristics, like scoring goals or dribbling.

But that ability he has to carry the ball close to his feet fascinates me. dpa: And about your namesake Cristiano Ronaldo?

Ronaldo: Like Messi, he is a very complete player, with a great will to score goals, with his right foot, his left foot, with headers... He helps out quite a bit in defensive tasks.

I think they are both very complete players, it is very hard to find one aspect at which they are not good.

dpa: If you had the chance to grant Brazilian citizenship to either Messi or Cristiano, who would you choose?

Ronaldo: Both. I think I’d shut my eyes and pick either of the two. It doesn’t matter, they are both extraordinary players. dpa: Is Neymar in a position to be Brazil’s great star in the World Cup? Ronaldo: I am sure he is very well-prepared to do that. He is a great quality player, very young, and I’m sure that this time playing at Barcelona ahead of the World Cup will help him get to the World Cup with even more experience and playing better. Just like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar has a lot of quality, particularly considering that he is a bit younger and he has just left Brazil to play in Europe. He is already doing well and I’m sure he will do even better. dpa: Following the Confederations Cup experience, Spain are somewhat concerned about the World Cup. Do the world champions have good reason to hide and preserve their privacy?

Ronaldo: There is nothing here in Brazil that might be a cause for concern for any national team. Brazil is a very calm, peaceful country, so all teams are welcome.

Spain, perhaps because they have been for five

years the world’s best team, are for some fans the team that Brazil need to beat. It is only a sport-related issue. dpa: What is special about Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari?

Ronaldo: He is quite a complete coach, with very clear ideas about football, but above all he is a great manager for groups, people. A group of players is a group with roughly 25 people, and it is not easy to keep it united in search of an objective. I like his group-management features, and above all the way he motivates everyone. dpa: Maracana inevitably brings memories of the “Maracanazo.”

Wouldn’t it be better for the Brazilian national team to have the final at a different stadium?

Ronaldo: I don’t think so. What happened with Brazil and Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup happened many years ago. I had not even been born then. Most people had not been born at that time.

Maracana is our landmark stadium, our most famous stadium, and I think Maracana deserves the World Cup final. Of course, winning it is a different issue.

I hope we can win, so that people are happier. dpa: It is a stadium that lost both spectator capacity and its soul in remodelling...

Ronaldo: I think it remains the same Maracana as always, and above all, it is more beautiful and better prepared to host people. Nowadays football is a very global sport, and most people watch it from home on television. And today’s Maracana is ready to broadcast that show to the whole world.

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Controversial Power In Brazilian Football

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From Havelange To Marin,

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DIANA RENEE (DPA)

B

razilian football officials are for many critics light years away from the free, joyful and creative playing style that is a trademark of the team with a record five World Cup titles.

“It’s a scandal, it’s shameful. It’s very difficult to manage sports in Brazil given the poor quality officials we have,” Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes, who is preparing the city to host the 2014 World Cup final and the 2016 Olympics, recently said.

Many experts and a good portion of Brazilian public opinion think Brazilian football officials are to blame for most of the sport’s problems in the country, from delays

Joao Havelange, who will be 97 by the time the World Cup starts, is the most powerful sports official in Brazilian history.

in World Cup preparations to clubs’ huge debt and the mass departure of players.

The great “villain” in this story is no less than the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), which has for a quarter of a century been commanded by allies of the most powerful sports official in Brazilian history, Joao Havelange.

Havelange, who will be 97 by the time the World Cup starts, has been retired since it became known that he took bribes from the sports marketing firm ISL, which led him to resign as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and also from the honorary presidency of FIFA, an organisation he led 1974-98.

Havelange remains very influential within Brazilian sport, however. This is par-

ticularly the case within the CBF, which has been led by his allies since his then-sonin-law, businessman Ricardo Teixeira, rose to the presidency in 1989.

Teixeira led the CBF with an iron hand till March 2012, when a scandal broke out that also linked him to the ISL bribery case. He cited health problems to resign from the position and also from the World Cup organising committee, and he handed over both jobs to his ally Jose Maria Marin. However, the whirlwind persisted.

Marin, who is in his eighties, was a politician with close ties to the dictatorship that ruled Brazil 1964-85.

Human rights organisations have accused Marin of contributing to the arrest of the journalist Vladimir Herzog,

who was tortured to death in political repression in 1975.

Former Brazil striker Romario, currently a legislator, has become the number-one enemy of the CBF leadership. Romario, one of the country’s greatest football icons, fought hard to get Teixeira to resign, and now he is working to have Marin summoned before Congress to explain his role in Herzog’s arrest and death.

Marin’s presence at the helm of both the CBF and the World Cup organising committee is also uncomfortable for the current Brazilian government.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was herself arrested and tortured during the dictatorship, keeps her distance from the CBF official, resists any attempts

to get the two parties closer to each other, and seeks change in the country’s football structures.

“Despite the five World Cup titles, and despite the fact that football is a great national passion, Brazilian football represents just 2 per cent of gross global (football) sales. English football represents more than 30 per cent, and Spanish football is more than 20 per cent. This is an anomaly that we have to correct,” says Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo.

A change of course is precisely the goal of the group of players who launched in 2013 a movement called Bom Senso FC (Good Sense FC), to demand radical reform in the Brazilian football calendar.

“No one could possibly be against their demands, but

they are facing a conservative reaction from those who are used to having this mediocre public body in charge of the management of Brazilian football,” the prestigious football commentator and sociologist Juca Kfouri told dpa.

For all the pressure, criticism, complaints and government distance, Marin is firm at the helm, and he is aiming to complete his mandate and hand over the job to one of his allies, Marco Polo del Nero.

According to Kfouri, Marin is most likely to attain his goals.

“It will be him, a henchman of the dictatorship, who will sit beside Dilma Rousseff during the World Cup opening ceremony,” Kfouri said.

“Maracanazo,”

Still Alive 64 Years Later SEBASTIAN FEST (DPA)

Y That Uruguayan triumph of July 16, 1950 in Maracana is one of the major feats in sports history, a knife that is still stuck inside Brazil's football-loving heart.

ou get two chances per century, and Brazil already wasted their first: they might stumble again, but no failure would equal the magnitude of the one that is known as the “Maracanazo.”

The 2-1 scored by Alcides Ghiggia in the 79th minute at a Maracana stadium packed with 200,000 people gave the World Cup title to Uruguay instead of Brazil. That Uruguayan triumph of July 16, 1950 is one of the major feats in sports history, a knife that is still stuck inside Brazil’s football-loving heart, and one of the main events in the Uruguayan nation’s 200-year history.

The question is whether it remains a trauma for today’s Brazilians, and whether that memory can affect the Brazil 2014 World Cup. Ronaldo, who has won two World Cups wearing Brazil’s shirt, thinks the answer is no.

“I don’t think so. What happened with Brazil and Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup happened many years ago. I had not even been born then. Most people had not been born at that time,” the former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan striker told dpa in an interview.

Other retired footballers, like Bebeto and Jose Ferreira Neto, and prestigious Brazilian football commentator Juca Kfouri all told dpa the same thing: neither of the two former players had been born at that time in 1950, and Kfouri was just 3 months old. So there is no trauma, just the memory of a national team that has won a record five World Cups.

At age 82, Mario Lobo Zagallo, a legend of Brazilian football, somewhat disagrees.

“Of course, 1950 was a very great trauma,” the former player and former coach told dpa. “So much so that when I was Brazil coach in 1970, 1950 was all anyone talked about at the training camp. The players had been 8

in 1950, they had nothing to do with 1950. A heavy atmosphere emerged, an atmosphere that was not good for us.”

Both Brazil and Uruguay will be playing the World Cup that starts on June 12 in Sao Paulo.

The sports clothing company Puma broadcast a TV advert which evokes the memory of “The Ghost of 1950” and takes it to today’s Brazil. Could that story happen again? Worse still, could Brazil lose a final in Rio de Janeiro against their arch-rivals Argentina?

“It would be a very big blow for them, for the second time, in their own country and as hosts, to lose against their arch-enemies,” Mario Kempes, who won the 1978 World Cup with Argentina, told dpa.

Semi-finalists in South Africa 2010, where Brazil did not make it past the quarter-finals, Uruguay got to the 2014 World Cup on the last train, by winning a play-off against Jordan after struggling in the South American qualifiers. Since 1950,

moreover, Uruguay have never again won a World Cup title, while Brazil have won five.

Francisco Moraes, the head of Raca Rubronegro, one of the fan groups for Flamengo, has spent more than 1 million dollars over three decades following his team and the Brazilian national team around the world. According to him, a disaster in the final is simply not possible.

“If Brazil reach the final, they will be the champions. What can indeed happen is for them to lose in the semi-finals or the quarter-finals. That can happen. But they won’t lose at Maracana. They won’t lose,” Moraes told dpa.

Kfouri sees things differently.

“If there is a chance of a new ‘Maracanazo,’ it will happen against Argentina,” he says.

And that, if football logic should prevail in the group round, can only happen in the July 13 final at Maracana.

DIANA RENEE (DPA)

T

here may be many kings around the world, but there is only one called “O Rei.” Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, is a living legend for anyone who loves football, beyond all the controversies he has unleashed throughout his life with his political comments and even his sports-related remarks.

“When he keeps quiet, Pele is a poet,” another Brazilian football icon, the retired striker Romario, once said.

Romario’s by-now-famous comment shows that, at least in his own country, “O Rei” is not an untouchable myth, for all his 1,283 goals and the five

@

global titles he won in his career: three World Cups with Brazil and two Intercontinental Cups with his club, Santos.

His career is indisputable. Aged 73, almost four decades after he retired, he continues to be honoured with tributes, with the honorary FIFA Ballon d’Or that he got in January among the most recent.

“This allows me to complete my trophy mantlepiece,” Pele said when he received the award.

The Ballon d’Or is set to join the 2,300 pieces at the new Pele Museum, which has been built in Santos with the restoration of a 19th-century building in the city’s historic centre.

Architect Ney Caldato, in charge of the museum project, confessed his surprise over how popular Pele remains, even though his career as a footballer took place at a time when the marketing structure that is vital for today’s stars simply did not exist.

“When he goes out onto the street, it is something crazy: scores of people stalk him... And that happens although he is no longer an active player like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. He has a media reach that surprises everyone,” Caldato told dpa.

However, the Brazilian icon is not immune to criticism, mainly over the political positions he has held over the course of his life.

“Pele was one of only a few Brazilian citizens who could have rebelled even against the dictatorship, and he never did,” Brazilian sports commentator Juca Kfouri told dpa.

Indeed, at the same time as footballers like Socrates became critics of the 1964-85 dictatorship, Pele stood up for the lack of direct elections during the military regime, arguing that “the people don’t know how to vote.”

More recently, Pele also caused a stir when he opposed the crowded protests that broke out in Brazil in June 2013, during the Confederations Cup, and called upon fans to “forget all that confusion on the streets” and support the national team.

A few days later, after having reaped abundant criticism, he changed his stance: “I am in favour of the movement, I have always been in favour of the people. The only thing I asked was that people did not boo the national team.”

However, in January, he slammed the protests again.

In April, just two months ahead of the World Cup, the three-time world champion raised eyebrows when he commented on the seven worker deaths in stadium construction for the event.

“That’s life,” he said. “It was an accident, nothing scary.”

Pele is also not “O Rei” when it comes to making football predictions.

Over the past two decades, he has accumulated mistaken predictions about World Cups.

In 1994, for example, he said Colombia – who were eliminated in the group round – were the favourites to win the World Cup in the United States.

In 2002, he predicted a final between Argentina and France and said Brazil would not make it past the first round in South Korea-Japan. Argentina and France were both eliminated in the first round, while the “verdeamarela” won its fifth World Cup title.

Following such mistakes, Pele is now trying to be more cautious in his predictions about the Brazil 2014 World Cup. When reporters insisted, he said that he hopes Brazil will make it to the final and mentioned Spain and Germany as their main rivals. This prompted an ironic reaction from Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“If Pele said Germany are favourites, that increases my confidence in Brazil, because when Pele says something it doesn’t happen,” Scolari said.

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Aged 73, almost four decades after he retired, Pele continues to be honoured with tributes, with the honorary FIFA Ballon d' Or that he got in January among the most recent.

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Pele, a king amid honours and criticism

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World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

Ten Players Who Can Give The World Cup A Twist JOE HART (England): England appears to have found in Joe Hart the solution to their long-standing keeper problems. After their sad experience of the 2010 World Cup, in which they alternated Robert Green and David James in goal, England have found regularity, consistency, and an imposing presence in the Manchester City keeper, the winner of a Premier League title

SHINJI KAGAWA (Japan):

TONI KROOS (Germany): The Bayern Munich midfielder is set to be one of Germany’s main pillars. What emerged as a warning in the 2010 World Cup is now a reality: the new generation of German players have both the ambition and the quality to win the title in Brazil 2014. Kroos, a 24-year-old midfielder who plays like a veteran, will try to lead Germany to a world championship title they have not won since the year he was born.

It may sound strange, but Shinji Kagawa is set to play in Brazil the first World Cup in his career.

The playmaker, aged 21 at the time, was kept off Japan’s squad for South Africa 2010.

He is now set to arrive at the 2014 World Cup with the weight of the whole team on his shoulders.

The Japanese player, with a vision of play that only the elect ever have, has already showcased his quality at Juergen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund and David Moyes’s Manchester United.

JAMES RODRIGUEZ (Colombia): The absense of Radamel Falcao Garcia in Brazil 2014 give James Rodriguez unprecedented weight within the Colombian team. The 22-year-old Monaco midfielder combines explosive play, a touch of cheekiness and great vision. He may take on a leadership role as Colombia return to a World Cup they have not played for 16 years.

NEYMAR (Brazil) The Brazilian striker embodies his country’s hopes to celebrate their first World Cup title on home soil. The 22-year-old player was chosen as the MVP of last year’s Confederations Cup, he was Brazil’s top goal scorer in the tournament and he led the hosts to the title.

The Barcelona forward is cheeky and opportunistic, and he feels very comfortable with the counter-attacking tactics proposed by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

DIEGO COSTA (Spain): The Atletico Madrid striker is set to play the World Cup to fill the only gap that persists within defending world champions Spain: the absence of a reliable goal scorer. The Brazilian-born Costa is likely to be a symbol of effort and character in a World Cup in which Spain are bound to be perceived as public enemy number one by local fans.

ARTURO VIDAL (Chile): The Juventus midfielder appears to have all it takes to lead Chile, along with Alexis Sanchez, to become the most impressive up-and-coming team in Brazil 2014. Vidal, 26, contributes speed, discipline, a touch of the unexpected and excellent shots to the Chilean team. The man that Juventus fans chose as their best player in the 2012-13 season will try to stage an upset in Group B by eliminating one of the two finalists of the 2010 World Cup, either Spain or the Netherlands.

PAUL POGBA (France):

EDEN HAZARD (Belgium):

BRUNO MARTINS INDI (Netherlands): The Feyenoord centre-back could be one of the unexpected stars of the Brazil 2014 World Cup. At the young age of 22, he has already played more than 100 matches at his club and become a pillar of the Netherlands defence under coach Louis van Gaal. He has a good presence on the pitch, he plays like a veteran and he is efficient in commanding defence for a team who are used to attacking constantly.

The Chelsea winger is the natural leader of a generation of Belgian footballers who could make their World Cup breakthrough in Brazil 2014. He combines the technique of a world-class player with a veteran’s vision of play, at the young age of 23. He will try to implement in Brazil everything he has learned under Jose Mourinho this season at Chelsea.

At the young age of 21, Paul Pogba has already made a name for himself in European football, and in Brazil 2014 he is set to have the chance to rise to stardom for good. Barely one year ago, Pogba won the Under-20 World Cup and was chosen as the best player in the tournament.

When someone once tried to label him “the new Patrick Vieira,” he was quick to retort: “I’m a lot more like Pirlo”.

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Brazil, A Country With Every Face In The World such community to this day: their descendants are estimated to make up a “country” of 30 million people.

Then came the Germans, Japanese and Lebanese, whose descendants currently total about 6 million people. Then, in the first half of the 20th century, Jews from various parts of Europe came in to seek refuge from Nazi persecution.

Climate and cultural differences were never big enough to scare off foreigners, and they quickly adapted to their new homeland.

“Here we are not segregated,” Ogawa told dpa in an interview in the Liberdade neighbourhood, which was for decades the home of Sao Paulo’s Japanese community.

DIANA RENEE (DPA)

B

razil is not really like people around the world imagine it. Brazilians are black. And blond, and Asian-looking, and Italian, and also have scores of other such traits. And, unlike in many portions of the United States, for example, they do not separate themselves from each other in ghettos.

“There are no ghettos here. There is no Japanese neighbourhood, no Chinese neighbourhood, no Italian neighbourhood... They have all disappeared. Fences collapsed and we coexist very well,” businessman Akio Ogawa told dpa.

Ogawa is one of the leaders of Brazil’s Japanese community, which currently counts about 1.3 million members.

The racial crucible that is modern-day Brazil dates back to around 1500, with the arrival of Portuguese conquistadors who occupied land previously held exclusively by indigenous communities. Over the next three centuries, the mix was broadened with the presence of Africans that the settlers brought in to work as slaves.

The 17th century Dutch occupation of north-eastern Brazil also left a mark, mainly in Recife, which holds to this day the architectural works of invaders who were expelled in 1654.

The end of slavery in 1888 paved the way for a new wave of immigration, encouraged by the need to replace African manpower with workers willing to work very hard and earn little.

Italians were the first to arrive, and they remain Brazil’s most numerous

There, street lighting is provided by typically Japanese wooden lanterns, and the neighbourhood holds scores of typical restaurants and shops, along with a Buddhist temple. However, most of the descendants of Japanese immigrants no longer live in Liberdade.

“Only a few Japanese continue to live here. They have gone elsewhere, although they come back for holidays,” Ogawa said.

He noted that the same thing happens with neighbourhoods that once held Italian or Jewish immigrants. Ogawa thinks this is because immigrants fully adapted to Brazil and do not need to “protect” themselves in their own neighbourhoods, like New York’s Chinatown and Little Italy.

“In the United States there is segregation. Not here,” he stresses.

“This country welcomed us so well that we have no doubt that we are Brazilians.

Sao Paulo is in fact the seed of peace in the world, and it shows how all peoples can live in harmony in this country,” Ogawa said.

Italians were the first to arrive.

Then came the Germans, Japanese and Lebanese, whose descendants currently total about 6 million people

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World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

The Best Ten Goals In World Cup History

Football is about goals, and World Cups are about putting on a good show. For that reason, remembering the most wonderful goals in the history of the tournament is a luxury any fan would love to indulge in ahead of Brazil 2014

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5

GEORGE HAGI AGAINST COLOMBIA IN USA 1994:

9

Hagi was the face of the best Romania team in World Cup history.

The star midfielder, aged 29 at the time, who led his team to the quarter-finals of the United States 1994, pulled off a masterpiece in the match against Colombia. Hagi’s 30-metre shot was so precise that the ball was almost dead as it entered the goal: it did not spin on its own axis at all.

TEOFILO CUBILLAS AGAINST SCOTLAND IN ARGENTINA 1978: Peru possibly had their best World Cup experience in Argentina 1978.

The gem from that team in that tournament was what many still regard as the best free kick in World Cup history. “When I saw Cubillas’s goal against Scotland, I decided that I wanted to take free kicks too,” Paraguay keeper Jose Luis Felix Chilavert, an expert in such shots, once said.

1994:

4

Al-Owairan was football’s version of what the music industry calls a “one-hit wonder.” In the last match of the group stage in the 1994 World Cup, against Belgium, the Saudi star ran 60 metres to score the best goal in the tournament. The midfielder was dubbed the “Maradona of the Gulf,” and he became the image of brands like Coca-Cola, Toyota and Ford in his country.

MANUEL NEGRETE AGAINST BULGARIA IN MEXICO 1986:

8

Negrete’s brilliant scissor kick against Bulgaria in the round of 16 of the 1986 World Cup unleashed immense joy among a home crowd who nine months earlier had suffered a devastating quake that killed at least 10,000 people. “I still live off that goal. Kids who did not watch me play know me for that moment. What you do during a World Cup is engraved in everyone’s memory”.

That World Cup marked the birth of one of the two greatest legends in global football history, Pele, as he led Brazil to their first World Cup title when he was only 17. The most beautiful moment in that tournament was his fantastic goal in the final against hosts Sweden, including his move to chip the ball over midfielder Bengt Gustavsson, which was to become a legendary World Cup image

The match between England and Belgium was one of the most emotionally charged in the knock-out stages of the Italy 1990 World Cup. It lasted 120 minutes, Belgium did everything to deserve victory and hit the woodwork twice, but the match was settled with an excellent technical move and a goal from England substitute striker David Platt in the last minute of extra time.

7

3

PELE AGAINST SWEDEN IN SWEDEN 1958:

DAVID PLATT AGAINST BELGIUM IN ITALY 1990:

2

CARECA AGAINST FRANCE IN MEXICO 1986:

Brazil-France is remembered almost unanimously as the best game in the Mexico 1986 World Cup. Two teams who treated the ball very well confronted their styles in a clash that turned out to be epic. Brazil’s goal featured speed, great team play and a fantastic shot. France were to equalise later and went through to the semi-finals in the penalty shootout.

SAEED ALOWAIRAN AGAINST BELGIUM IN USA

CARLOS ALBERTO AGAINST ITALY IN MEXICO 1970:

That Brazil side with five playmakers - Pele, Gerson, Tostao, Rivelino and Jairzinho – has been described as the best team in World Cup history. The 1970 World Cup final against Italy, which the South Americans won 4-1, was the best possible example of such total football, and Carlos Alberto’s goal perfectly summed up the magic in Brazil’s play: patience, quality, intelligence, cover and sacrifice.

6

ESTEBAN CAMBIASSO AGAINST SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO IN GERMANY 2006:

In the 2006 World Cup, Argentina coach Jose Pekerman chose a team that was packed with players who had won youth World Cups with him as coach. Argentina’s masterpiece came in their 6-0 thrashing of Serbia and Montenegro and was scored by one of the team’s pillars, Esteban Cambiasso. Argentina made 25 consecutive passes until the midfielder scored one-onone against the keeper.

1

DIEGO MARADONA AGAINST ENGLAND IN MEXICO 1986:

Diego Maradona’s second goal against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup is the most famous goal in World Cup history.

It is the clearest example of perfection in football so far. “The moment the ball went in, I knew it would be a turning point for Maradona. In fact, I told Diego that afterwards in the showers: ‘That’s it, you have just sat on the same spot as Pele’,” Jorge Valdano recalled.

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Bus, Bicycle Or Motorbike:

The Most Incredible Ways To Get To The World Cup The adventure of making it to Brazil 2014 by land is also causing a stir in Chile, where about 3,200 people are preparing a convoy that they say will be historic.

TOMAS RUDICH (DPA)

B

Permit No. 497/2014

razil is set to be in June the final destination of a crowded pilgrimage: from several corners around South America, thousands of football fans are hoping to make it to the World Cup through the most surprising routes.

Caravans, bicycles, motorbikes, trucks and private cars with trailers or buses shared among friends: the vehicles may vary. But all occupants share the wish of watching a World Cup on site, living that experience with friends and doing it for as little money as possible.

“We live this as the only chance in our lives to go to a World Cup,”

Mariano Cirio, one of the Argentines who hope to take Brazil by storm in June and July, told dpa.

In order to do that, Cirio will not need to book a hotel room or buy expensive plane tickets. His means of transportation and his home for more than a month are set to be a bus that was no longer in use: he and nine of his friends bought and adapted the vehicle to go and cheer for the Argentine national team led by Lionel Messi.

The 1994-model bus, around 12 metres long, used to be operated by privately and used by workers of a steel plant in San Nicolas, about 230 kilometres north-west of Buenos Aires. Now it faces a considerably longer stretch: 2,500 kilometres to get to Rio de Janeiro, and several hundred more to

follow the blue and white team in Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and anywhere else they get to play.

Buying the “colectivo,” as Argentines call buses, cost them 40,000 pesos (about 5,000 dollars at the current exchange rate).

However, that was only the initial investment in an enterprise that started over dinner among friends in February 2012.

“With all the repairs, we have spent close to 300,000 pesos (37,000 dollars) so far. We needed to remove the complete body, change the fuel tank, put in water tanks so we could shower and have waste water. And we had to do gas installations for the stove, the water heater and the heating,” said Cirio, 28, who did a good part of the work himself, along with his

friends.

This is hardly the only experience of this kind in Argentina.

Caravan sales and rentals are booming due to the World Cup, the first such event to be held in South America since 1978.

“We have rented 80 per cent of the motorhomes for the World Cup period. And we expect to reach 100 per cent,” Zulma Miron, the manager of Motorhome Time, one of the top firms in that sector in the area, told dpa.

June and July, in the southern hemisphere’s winter, are usually the firm’s low season, and they usually rent out only about 10 per cent of their vehicles over that period.

The adventure of making it to Brazil 2014 by land is also causing a stir in Chile, where about 3,200 people are preparing a convoy that they say will be historic.

“There will be vehicles of every kind. Motorbikes, cars, motorhomes, caravans, trucks, camper vans. Based on our research, there has never been such a huge convoy for a sports event,” organizer Alberto Schmidt told dpa.

Schmidt, however, thinks the experience goes beyond the realm of sport.

“This is not just about football.

There is a sense of adventure, of crossing South America as if we were settlers going to faraway lands. The idea is to go all together and to live a life experience. That is something that will last forever,” he said.

The convoy, which is set to hold almost 10 per cent of the 30,000 Chileans expected to travel to Brazil for the World Cup and is to leave from Chilean capital Santiago, will have a “pioneering group” that will pick the places where all vehicles can stop overnight.

According to Schmidt, the adventure will cost 3,000-4,000 dollars in a regular car, not counting other sacrifices necessary for the dream of attending a World Cup to come true.

“Many have not gone on holiday in the summer and postponed their holidays for the World Cup, others will directly quit their jobs.

Others spent the money they had saved up for their wedding,” Schmidt said.

“I am lucky to own my firm, so I don’t have to ask anyone for permission. Only my wife. But she is the one who is most excited about the trip,” said the convoy organizer, who owns a firm that designs and builds fair stands.

Thousands of kilometres north of Chile, two daring Ecuadorian cyclists got on the way to Brazil long before anyone else.

With a view to promoting bike use as a means of transportation, the two cyclists launched on March 25 a 6,543-kilometre ride that is set to go through the mountains and the jungle to end on June 25, the day Ecuador are set to play France in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana.

“It is a way to be revolutionary in a society that is living very fast,” said cyclist Ernesto Veintimilla.

On his back, Veintimilla, 32, wears the slogan, “This is my revolution.”

There have also been tragic experiences, including that of Colombian Jorge Pedreros, who died in Lima in early April after being run over as he travelled to the World Cup by bike.

World Cup pilgrimages, in any case, are not exclusively South American. One of the longest is staged by the Brit Hugh Thompson, who is travelling a total of 25,000 kilometres on all continents en route to Rio. Anything is possible, as long as one makes it to Brazil in time for the big global event.

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World Cup 2014

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Spain, The Last Chance For

An Unrepeatable Generation?

ALBERTO BRAVO (DPA)

Iniesta's goal ended decades of bitterness and frustration for Spanish fans. It was the goal that gave Spain their first World Cup title, after only having made it past the quarter-finals on one prior occasion, in 1950.

I

f they win the trophy in Brazil 2014, no one in history will ever have been at Spain’s level, because winning two World Cups and two Euros in a row would be unheard of.

The question is whether the team coached by Vicente del Bosque is in a position to carry out such a feat - whether this is the last chance for an unrepeatable generation or whether that generation no longer stands a chance.

Very few times in sports history has there been an evolution as ferocious as that of the Spanish national football team, which over a period of just six years changed its traditional loser image for that of an implacable winning team.

Everything started in 2008, with Luis Aragones as coach, when they won at the Euro Spain’s first title since the remote continental tournament they won in 1964.

Two years later, they won the World Cup in South Africa, and in 2012 they won another Euro. Spain are now hoping to complete their successful cycle with a second World Cup in succession.

Barely 12 players of that squad that won the Euro six years ago remain with the Spain national team, but they are still its core. These are players with great quality and charisma, like Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas or Xavi Hernandez.

Time pushed out many members of the original squad. Some of them due to their age, as in the case of Carles Puyol. Others due to long injury breaks, as in the case of David Villa. And then there are names who lost their relevance for the team as the years went by, as in the case of Fernando Torres.

However, Del Bosque managed to implement “silent renovation” within the squad, a move as discreet as his own personality, to bring on new players in a way that was barely noticeable.

This was possible because the spine of the group remains firm, even if Spain do at times seem tired.

Del Bosque brought on men like Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Jesus Navas, and many others.

All these players are faithful to the same idea: both attacking and defending with the ball at their feet.

However, doubts emerge, and it is only natural as time goes by: can the core of that generation win another World Cup? Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli shared his

own doubts with dpa.

“Spain are not the same as they were in the last World Cup. The players are now older. I see Spain as more bourgeois. They are finding it hard to react to the little time they have left until the World Cup,” Sampaoli said.

Greece coach Fernando San- tos

Portugal will be a serious contender led by FIFA World Player of the Year 2013 Cristiano Ronaldo at his best.

BEN HAYWARD (DPA)

A

n idol in Madrid and in Manchester, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is much more than that on his native island, Madeira: there, he is a god.

Portugal’s finest footballer is an ubiquitous presence on the Atlantic island. Like a religious relic, his powerful presence can be felt at full force there.

Late last year, the 29-year-old forward opened his own museum in the island’s capital, Funchal. The space, inaugurated amid much fanfare in December on a Sunday 10 days before Christmas, was seen by some as self-centred, even egotistical.

But not on Madeira itself.

There, Ronaldo is a source of local pride, and the museum marked a generous gesture from a man who made it to the very top but never forgot his roots. The Museu CR7 was just Cristiano’s way of giving

something back.

“I’m a proud Portuguese and a proud Madeiran,” Ronaldo told reporters that December day. “So it means a lot to me to open this museum here. It’s a special day and a way of doing something for my people.”

His people. Among them his mother and brother, whose idea it was to create this space in the first place. Some years ago, Ronaldo helped Hugo beat a drug problem by paying for treatment, but he was unable to save his father from alcoholism despite similar and repeated efforts.

“I’m think-

told dpa something similar.

“Some of their players have starttaking a bend. That is normal after six top, years.

Iniesta and Xavi, who

ed top

are two very important players for this team, I won’t say they are playing badly, but they are dropping their level a bit. And that can make the difference,” Santos said.

Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfed, on the other hand, still sees good chances ahead for Spain.

“Spain can do it again. Although at the Confederations Cup they did not play very well, it was also because they were tired, and even so they had the quality to make it to the last four,” Hitzfeld told dpa in an

interview in Brazil.

For many members of Spain’s golden generation, Brazil 2014 will be the last chance to win a major trophy. That is, for example, the case for Xavi.

“I will certainly not make it to the next World Cup,” the Barcelona midfielder said.

“We are really looking forward to competing in Brazil. We hope to do well.”

Such a comment appears to contradict Spain’s curious celebration (was it such a thing at all?) at the last Euro. After a 4-0 win over Italy in the final, they staged on the pitch in Kiev what seemed like a routine ceremony, with Spain’s stars trotting around the grass with their children and other relatives. It looked like an uneventful day, a gathering of retired footballers.

Spain are to get to Brazil with the same core team with which they won the last Euro, but they are all two years older.

That is hardly a minor detail for an ageing squad with players like Casillas, who will

be 33 in Brazil 2014, Xavi Hernandez, 34, and Xabi Alonso, 32.

It is hard to predict the physical condition that some key members of the Spain squad will feature in Brazil. And there is also the issue of whether Del Bosque can deploy in small doses some of his older, yet crucial stars.

The Confederations Cup precedent hardly helps. Spain looked visibly tired as they reached the final, and they comprehensively lost it 3-0 to Brazil.

What Spain are unlikely to drop now, however, is a competitive spirit that allowed them to prevail at their toughest moments. That, along with the last efforts of veteran players of indisputable quality, is what a whole generation is holding on to. They hope to be like a tired, trembling magician who stands before his final number and yet pulls off one last amazing trick: completing a historic cycle of two Euros and two World Cups in succession.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Made In Madeira ing about all the people I love,” Ronaldo added. “Especially my father. I know he is present now and that he’s extremely proud.”

Dinis Aveiro, Ronaldo’s father, died in 2005 from an alcohol-related illness while Ronaldo was at Manchester United, but he played a pivotal part in Cristiano’s career. It was the player’s father who chose the name Ronaldo (after his favourite American actor, Ronald Reagan) and he who took the young Cristiano along to local club Andorinha for his first forays out on the football field.

He never looked back.

“He was something special from the start,” said Ronaldo’s very first coach, Francisco Afonso. “He was small but so determined. He was good with both feet and fast, with good tech-

nique because he never stopped practicing - and he always wanted the ball. Football was everything to him and if he couldn’t play, he was distraught.”

Often, that led to tears.

“If he didn’t get the ball he was very upset,” remembers Ricardo, a team-mate who works at the bar next to Andorinha’s ground. “And when we lost, he cried.”

Such was the influence of the young Cristiano that in one match, it was his hat-trick that swept Andorinha to a 3-0 lead at the interval. An injury late in the half, however, meant he had to leave and was carted off to hospital. When Ronaldo returned later, he learned to his horror that in his absence, Andorinha had lost the game 4-3.

All of this was taking place up in the mountains, not far from where Ronaldo grew up in a poor neighbourhood, Santo Antonio.

There, his mother Dolores worked as a cook and his father earned a humble living as a municipal gar-

dener.

News travelled of Ronaldo’s performances, and he was soon spotted by Madeira’s biggest team, Nacional. At 12 years old, he was set to sign official terms, but a Madeiran magistrate named Joao Marques de Freitas contacted Sporting scout Aurelio Pereira to discuss a possible trial for Ronaldo on the mainland.

“He was very, very small - very slight and fragile,” he said. “I got in touch with the man who was in charge of Sporting’s scouting and I told him: ‘There is a kid who they say is extremely good.’ But he said: ‘That’s very young,’ and he told me we couldn’t send a boy that young to Lisbon.

“So I spoke to Cristiano’s mother, who was a very humble and very poor person. And she authorised it. So we got him a return ticket to Lisbon and Cristiano went with a sign around his neck made of cardboard, with his name on it to identify himself.”

Pereira was there to meet him, and he was instantly impressed.

However, those early days proved difficult.

“When Ronaldo arrived in Lisbon he was only 12 and had a very hard time,” the scout said. “He cried a lot at the beginning. He had left his native land, his family, and came to a distant, large, cosmopolitan city, in a harsh environment. It was hard for him.”

But he persisted and is now not only Portugal’s all-time top goal scorer, but a two-time Ballon d’Or winner and perhaps the finest footballer the country has ever produced.

Madeira, an Atlantic archipelago with a population of just 267,000, had never had a player in the Portuguese national team before. Now, they boast the country’s captain, the very man upon whom a nation’s hopes rest at the Brazil 2014 World Cup in June and July.

No wonder they are proud.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

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16

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

This match schedule is based on Qatar Standard Time (UTC/GMT+03)

GROUP B

GROUP A 12 JUNE • 11:00 PM

BRAZIL

VS

13 JUNE • 10:00 PM

CROATIA

SPAIN

13 JUNE • 7:00 PM

MEXICO

VS

VS

CAMEROON

CHILE

CAMEROON

VS

CROATIA

23 JUNE • 11:00 PM

CAMEROON

VS

ROUND 16

ROUND 16

GAME 49

GAME 51

MEXICO

19 JUNE • 1:00 AM

28 JUNE • 7:00 PM

SPAIN

29 JUNE • 7:00 PM

1A

1B

2B

2A

VS

MEXICO

QUARTER FINAL 1 GAME 57

QUARTER FINAL 3 GAME 59

NETHERLANDS

W49

W51

W50

W52

VS

JAPAN

VS

ROUND 16

ROUND 16

28 JUNE • 11:00 PM

29 JUNE • 11:00 PM

GAME 52

GAME 50

1C

1D

2D

2C

ENGLAND

VS

URUGUAY ITALY ITALY

COLOMBIA

SEMI FINAL

IVORY COAST

COSTA RICA

FINAL

13 JULY • 10:00 PM W61

W58

ECUADOR

HONDURAS

VS

25 JUNE • 11:00 PM

HONDURAS

VS

ROUND 16

ROUND 16

GAME 55

GAME 53

1E

30 JUNE • 7:00 PM

1 JULY • 7:00 PM

1F

VS

2F

2E

QUARTER FINAL 2 GAME 58

QUARTER FINAL 4 GAME 60

VS

23 JUNE • 1:00 AM

UNITED STATES

VS

PORTUGAL

26 JUNE • 7:00 PM

UNITED STATES

VS

GERMANY

26 JUNE • 7:00 PM

PORTUGAL

VS

GHANA

VS

BOSNIA

VS

NIGERIA

VS

IRAN

22 JUNE • 1:00 AM

BOSNIA

W53

W55

W54

W56

VS

BOSNIA

VS

ARGENTINA

VS

IRAN

GROUP H BELGIUM

UNITED STATES GHANA

9 JULY • 11:00 PM

5 JULY • 7:00 PM

PORTUGAL

ROUND 16

ROUND 16

30 JUNE • 11:00 PM

1 JULY • 11:00 PM

GAME 54

21 JUNE • 10:00 PM

GERMANY

ENGLAND

17 JUNE • 7:00 PM

17 JUNE • 1:00 AM VS

VS

25 JUNE • 7:00 PM

FRANCE

16 JUNE • 7:00 PM

GHANA

ARGENTINA

NIGERIA

GROUP G VS

URUGUAY

25 JUNE • 7:00 PM

SWITZERLAND

4 JULY • 7:00 PM

GERMANY

VS

21 JUNE • 7:00 PM

NIGERIA

25 JUNE • 11:00 PM

ECUADOR

COSTA RICA

W59

IRAN

FRANCE ECUADOR

VS

16 JUNE • 10:00 PM

HONDURAS

21 JUNE • 1:00 AM

GAME 62

ARGENTINA

20 JUNE • 10:00 PM VS

ENGLAND

16 JUNE • 1:00 AM

15 JUNE • 10:00 PM

SWITZERLAND

VS

GROUP F

15 JUNE • 7:00 PM

VS

ITALY

W60

W62

GROUP E

FRANCE

VS

24 JUNE • 7:00 PM

8 JULY • 11:00 PM

VS

COSTA RICA

24 JUNE • 7:00 PM

W57

SWITZERLAND

VS

GAME 56

1G

1H

2H

2G

VS

ALGERIA

18 JUNE • 1:00 AM

RUSSIA

VS

SOUTH KOREA

22 JUNE • 7:00 PM

BELGIUM

VS

RUSSIA

22 JUNE • 10:00 PM

SOUTH KOREA

VS

ALGERIA

26 JUNE • 11:00 PM

SOUTH KOREA

VS

BELGIUM

26 JUNE • 11:00 PM

ALGERIA

VS

RUSSIA

SEMI FINAL

GAME 61

VS

CHILE

20 JUNE • 7:00 PM

24 JUNE • 11:00 PM

GREECE

VS

19 JUNE • 10:00 PM

24 JUNE • 11:00 PM

JAPAN

SPAIN

15 JUNE • 1:00 AM

IVORY COAST GREECE

VS

14 JUNE • 10:00 PM

URUGUAY

JAPAN

20 JUNE • 1:00 AM

NETHERLANDS

GROUP D

GREECE

19 JUNE • 7:00 PM

COLOMBIA

VS

5 JULY • 11:00 PM

15 JUNE • 4:00 AM VS

CHILE

23 JUNE • 7:00 PM

14 JUNE • 7:00 PM

IVORY COAST

VS

23 JUNE • 7:00 PM

AUSTRALIA

GROUP C VS

AUSTRALIA

18 JUNE • 7:00 PM

AUSTRALIA

BRAZIL

4 JULY • 11:00 PM

COLOMBIA

VS

18 JUNE • 10:00 PM

23 JUNE • 11:00 PM

CROATIA

NETHERLANDS

14 JUNE • 1:00 AM

17 JUNE • 10:00 PM

BRAZIL

VS

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

Shinji Kagawa, Even Better Than Pokemon BEN HAYWARD (DPA)

I

n an era when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have taken superstardom to another level, it takes something special to outdo them.

But for Japan, a country that loves its superheroes, Shinji Kagawa is such a star that one fan page on Facebook describes him as: “the best thing to come out of Japan since Pokemon”.

At 25, the midfielder who shone for Borussia Dortmund before securing a move to Manchester United two seasons ago is coming into his prime and a nation’s hopes lie in large part on his shoulders.

Nimble, smart with the ball and versatile enough to play on either wing, Kagawa is at his best in the centre of midfield, especially in the hole behind the strikers.

With a turn of pace that helps him ghost through to join an attack, Kagawa’s ability to thread the perfect pass his strikers marks him out above most others, that illusion of looking like he has more time on the ball than the rest.

It was that ability that made him such a fan favourite in Dortmund, where his manager, Jurgen Klopp, was so enamoured by his

midfielder that when he signed for Manchester United, the emotions came out.

“Central midfield is Shinji’s best role,” Klopp said. “He’s an offensive midfielder with one of the best noses for goal I ever saw.

“But for most Japanese people it means more to play for Man United than Dortmund. We cried for 20 minutes, in each other’s’ arms, when he left.”

Delivering on the big stage is not something that is likely to frighten him, as his record of 17 goals in 54 appearances for Japan would suggest.

But though Kagawa is well used to having the eyes of a nation on him, it should be remembered that when Japan arrive in Brazil in June, he will be making his World Cup finals debut.

“You can face a lot of different conditions at the World Cup,” Kagawa said, taking the pressure off himself and sharing the burden with his team-mates. “Regardless of which players are available you have to play well as a team.”

It used to be said that Premier League teams signed players from Japan as part of a cynical plot to boost shirt sales.

But while Kagawa’s shirt was

the third-best selling in the Premier League in the 201213, his ability on the pitch is not in question, even if he has been used sparingly by United this season.

When he has played, he’s generally found himself on the left, not his best position but one that he plays for his country and one that he still feels he should be able to influence the game from.

“I played behind the main striker at Dortmund but I usually play on the left with Japan, and I also took this role at Cerezo Osaka,” Kagawa said earlier this season.

“I have some experience out wide but I think I should be flexible enough to play in a number of roles, so I’m a more attractive player to the team and can contribute even more.

“Every day I’m learning how to trouble my opponents on the left, how best to cause them problems with my movement, but I’d still like to be capable of taking up more positions.”

“When your team-mates and man-

agers gush about your ability, you must be doing something right.

“He’s a talented player, he likes to get on the ball and keep it simple,” United striker Wayne Rooney said.

“He’s very effective on the ball.

It’s great to have that sort of player in the team.”

17

The playmaker, aged 21 at the time, was kept off Japan’s squad for South Africa 2010. He is now set to arrive at the 2014 World Cup with the weight of the whole team on his shoulders.

18

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

From Hot To Cold, From The Beach To The Jungle:

The Brazilian Challenge

The tour around the World Cup's Brazil is set to end almost 3,000 kilometres away from where it started, in Rio de Janeiro.

DIANA RENEE

F

rom the beach to the jungle, from unbearable heat to intense cold: with 12 host cities and stadiums, the Brazil 2014 World Cup will force teams and fans to travel huge distances in a country with a surface of 8.5 million square kilometres and drastic climate and landscape changes.

A lot of the travelling will necessarily have to be done by plane. To travel by land the 4,563 kilometres between the southernmost host city, Porto Alegre, and the northernmost, Manaus, would take at least 53 hours.

The World Cup’s gigantic dimensions have always prompted criticism in Brazil, and they continue to do so.

“In my opinion, there should be only six host cities for a World Cup in our country,” retired footballer Jose Ferreira Neto, one of the most outspoken voices of the TV channel Band Sports, told dpa.

“It should be played in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Porto Alegre and Salvador. The other host cities were chosen for political reasons. You cannot have a World Cup in Brasilia, or in Manaus, which have no top-tier teams. With six host cities, a lot less money would have been spent and the rest could have been devoted to expanding the subway, hotels and many other things,” Neto said.

Whatever he says, the World Cup is set to be played in 12 cities, and Manaus will be one of them. Located in the middle of the world’s largest tropical rainforest reserve, Amazonia, it is the most controversial of the 12 host cities.

Heat is its major problem: with humidity always above 80 per cent, the real feel temperature can easily get close to 40 or 50 degrees Celsius, even in winter.

“Manaus is something scary. It is not a place to host a major sports event,” Juca Kfouri, one of Brazil’s most reputable sports journalists, told dpa.

Brazil invested around 250 million dollars to rebuild an old stadium that was built in 1970 and turn it into the Arena Amazonia, with room for 47,000 spectators, which is set to host among others the classic Italy-England.

It will also be “summer” on the beaches of the four host cities in north-eastern Brazil: Natal, Fortaleza, Recife and Salvador. There, the winter means frequent heavy rains, but not cold weather, with temperatures usually around 20-30 degrees Celsius in June and July.

Almost 2,400 kilometres away from Manaus, Fortaleza is known for the beauty of its warm sea. It is set to host the World Cup at the Castelao, a stadium that was built in 1973

Brasilia, the capital, is known for its modernity.

and was revamped through works that expanded its capacity to 67,000.

Natal, 425 kilometres east of Fortaleza, built for the World Cup a new stadium, the Arena das Dunas. Its undulating shape, in line with its name, refers to the sand dunes that the constant wind forms on the beaches of the so-called “City of the Sun.” From Natal, a 282-kilometre coastal drive passing by some of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches leads to Recife, with its shark-infested ocean. The city is known as “Brazil’s Venice” for its many canals and bridges to connect neighbourhoods, a legacy of 17th century Dutch settlers.

A new stadium, the Arena Pernambuco, has been built to host the World Cup in Sao Lourenco da Mata, in Recife’s poor suburbs, in an effort by the authorities to improve the living standards of the region’s residents.

A 839-kilometre trip south leads to north-eastern Brazil’s best-known tourist destination, the historic Salvador, which was once the country’s first capital city and is now the centre of Afro-Brazilian culture: the descendants of African slaves make up close to 60 per cent of the population.

Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, made the most of the World Cup to rebuild from its foundations Fonte Nova stadium, which was demolished in 2007 after a portion of its stands crashed down and killed seven fans.

The new Arena Fonte Nova stadium was built in its place, with a capacity for 50,000 people. It is set to host six World Cup matches, including one quarter-final

and two classics: Spain-Netherlands and Germany-Portugal.

A two-hour flight – across about 1,060 kilometres – takes the visitor from Brazil’s first capital to its current capital, Brasilia. It holds the majestic Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha, with a capacity for 71,000 spectators, which Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo compared to the Roman Colosseum.

To the west, more than 800 kilometres separate the political centre of Brazil from the geographical centre of South America, Cuiaba. The city is home to the Arena Pantanal, named after a nearby nature reserve which is one of the world’s richest in terms of biodiversity.

If anyone misses the cold by then, they had better fly south. In Curitiba, some 1,300 kilometres away from Cuiaba, and in Porto Alegre, 400 kilometres further still, the average temperature in June and July is 10-15 degrees Celsius, and it is not rare for it to drop below zero.

In Porto Alegre, Internacional Porto Alegre, one of the most powerful teams in Brazilian football, invested 138 million dollars to rebuild Beira-Rio stadium and adapt it to FIFA’s requirements.

Curitiba, regarded as one of the Brazilian cities with the best quality of life, gave the World Cup the Arena da Baixada, the result of works to revamp the stadium of the club Atletico Paranaense which ended several months late.

Heading north once again, a 338-kilometre drive from Curitiba along the road

BR-116 leads to Sao Paulo, a chaotic industrial metropolis of 11 million people with a huge cultural scene and an almost permanent traffic jam.

A poor neighbourhood of Brazil’s richest city, Itaquera, now holds the Arena Corinthians, set to host the World Cup’s opening game between Brazil and Croatia and the future home of the favourite club of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, an avid football fan.

The trip continues to the state of Minas Gerais, one of the richest in Brazil. Its capital, Belo Horizonte, invested 340 million dollars to revamp the traditional stadium Mineirao, with a capacity for 64,500 spectators, which is to host six World Cup matches including a semi-final.

The tour around the World Cup’s Brazil is set to end almost 3,000 kilometres away from where it started, in Rio de Janeiro.

The mythical Maracana is set to host the final before 76,000 spectators anxious to leave behind the trauma of the 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in the decisive match of the 1950 World Cup, at the same site.

Following works that cost 330 million dollars, the current Maracana has little in common with the stadium that brought around 200,000 people together to watch that match 64 years ago.

Although it still has the oval form that has always been its trademark, although it is now beautiful, comfortable and modern, not everyone likes the new Maracana: many think it has lost “its soul.”

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

19

Mario Zagallo: “The Brazil Of 1970 Can Never Be Compared To Any Other”

Zagallo won the World Cup twice (1958 and 1962) as a player, once as a coach (1970), and another time as an assistant coach (1994).

IGNACIO NAYA (DPA)

N

o one else knows the Brazilian national football team like Mario Lobo Zagallo: a world champion both as player and as coach, the “Old Wolf” thinks no Brazil team can ever be compared with the one that won the 1970 World Cup, and he notes that fitness has become more important than technique in contemporary football.

“The Brazilian national team of 1970 is unforgettable,” the 82-year-old former coach of that legendary team led by Pele told dpa. “That can never be compared to other national teams.”

Zagallo won the World Cup twice (1958 and 1962) as a player, once as a coach (1970), and another time as an assistant coach (1994). Besides, he was part of Brazil’s technical staff in 1998 and 2006. dpa: What is your first memory of the World Cup? Zagallo: I first watched the World Cup in 1950. I was a soldier, I was doing my military service, dressed in green fatigues, helmet, baton, boots and everything else. There was massive excitement when the two teams went out onto the pitch at Maracaná. Two hundred thousand people waving little white handkerchiefs, cheering for the Brazilian team, which was the clear favourite.

Unfortunately things did not go well, we lost, and the little white

handkerchiefs became one big white sheet to wipe the tears over Brazil’s defeat against Uruguay in the final. dpa: You later won four World Cup titles, as a player and as a coach.

Zagallo: And I was runner-up in 1998, when Ronaldo had a major physical problem. He did play (the final), but the whole national team was traumatised. dpa: What happened ahead of that final?

Zagallo: After lunch, Ronaldo had a problem in his room at the training camp. His tongue rolled up. I did not think he would be able to play, so much so that I was going to field... - I can’t even remember the name of the player - to play in his position. At the time of the match, Ronaldo arrived from hospital without a problem, he had been subjected to every test and they found nothing, and he begged me for the love of god not to leave him out. It wasn’t a technical problem, it was a physical problem.

He said: “Zagallo, I’m coming back from a French hospital. I have the results in my favour.

Please don’t keep me out of this final.” I had a medical department, they said nothing, and I had to make a decision. Today I wouldn’t have acted any differently: I would again field Ronaldo, because what happened in that match was a generalised trauma affecting all the players and all the technical staff, there is no doubt about that. I have to congratulate France for the exceptional player they had, Zidane, who for me was phe-

nomenal. Today, I continue to insist that defeat had nothing to do with Ronaldo, but rather with apathy on the day of the match because of Ronaldo’s problem. dpa: Was the “Maracanazo” of 1950 also a great trauma?

Zagallo: Yes, of course, 1950 was a very great trauma, so much so that when I was Brazil coach in 1970, 1950 was all anyone talked about at the training camp. The players had been 8 in 1950, they had nothing to do with 1950. A heavy atmosphere emerged, an atmosphere that was not good for us. So much so that, in the first half, Uruguay scored the first goal and we managed to equalise 44 minutes into the first half. I was already thinking of making changes when Clodoaldo scored the equaliser. I changed nothing, it was rather a psychological problem. And we were a different team in the second half. dpa: What was the best Brazil team you ever saw?

Zagallo: The 1970 World Cup is indisputable, and it was shown in colour. Because the other great Brazilian national team was that of 1958, but in 1958 television was black-and-white. It did not have the same expression as in 1970. dpa: Who are your favourites for 2014?

Zagallo: All World Cup champions will be playing, so I think we can see great football. I will say Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain and Italy. Five countries.

Let’s see if I’m right or not.

20

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

Recife: Brazil’s

Shark-Infested “Venice”

K

nown as “Brazil’s Venice,” Recife is the second most important city in north-eastern Brazil, after Salvador, and it gets its nickname from the six rivers and more than 60 canals that separate its neighbourhoods connected by bridges.

Unlike other metropolis along Brazil’s coastline, in Recife it is rivers - not the sea that are at the centre of urban life. And there is a good reason for that: for all their beauty, the city’s beaches hold great danger, as shown by frequent shark attacks.

Local authorities recommend that beachgoers do not head out onto the sea beyond the reefs that make natural warm-water pools the sharks usually stay away from.

The historic centre of Recife still shows traces of a 17th-century Dutch occupation, including a synagogue that is the oldest in Latin America.

After the Portuguese expelled Dutch in-

vaders and set up Inquisition courts, many Jews left Recife, and some of them opted to travel north to found New Amsterdam, present-day New York.

Just seven kilometres away from Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, visitors will find Olinda. Unesco has declared this historic town with colourful buildings, surrounded by a turquoise sea, a World Heritage Site.

A 40-kilometre trip down the coast takes the traveller to Cabo de Santo Agostinho, which geologists regard as the point where Africa and South America broke off from each other.

Football is a great passion in Recife. The city’s 1.5 million residents look forward to the four World Cup group-round matches that are set to be played at the Arena Pernambuco, the new stadium that has been built in the poorer suburbs, with a capacity for 46,000 spectators.

The Arena Pernambuco has been built in the poorer suburbs with a capacity for 46,000 spectators.

Sao Paulo: World City And World Cup Gate To Brazil

Rio De Janeiro, Everyone’s Dream Destination The city's major change ahead of the World Cup has been modernizing Maracana, the stadium that also host the 1950 World Cup final.

T

eams, tourists, reporters, fans: anyone going to Brazil for the World Cup hopes to make it to Rio de Janeiro, which is nicknamed the “wonderful city” for its natural beauty and holds Maracana stadium, the venue for the final.

Stuck between the ocean and the mountains, Rio is both a 6-million metropolis – Brazil’s second-largest city, after Sao Paulo – and a pleasant seaside resort with 16 kilometres of beaches on which people do anything, from sports of every kind to just basking on the sand drinking coconut water, beer or “caipirinha.”

Rio is, above all, a hedonistic city that cultivates joy in every possible way. Music is everywhere, even – mainly – on the streets, in a city that holds two of the world’s best-known postcard images: Sugarloaf Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado Mountain.

M

odern, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, avant-garde: these are some of the adjectives that have been used to describe the metropolis of Sao Paulo, the concrete and neon-light gate through which the World Cup is set to enter Brazil, over its 459-year history.

Close to 1.5 million tourists are expected to visit the city for the event, which is set to start on June 12 at Itaquerao stadium, the new home of the club Corinthians, with a game between Brazil and Croatia. When they arrive through either of the city’s main airports - Guarulhos and Congonhas, - fans will find a real concrete jungle which almost literally holds the whole world inside it.

Immigrants from more than 70 nations generated the mix of cultures, art forms and religions that South America’s largest city currently holds. The city, with its almost permanent drizzle, has a place for almost any group.

“This teaches us how all people can live in harmony in this country,” Akio Ogawa, a member of Sao Paulo’s Japanese-Brazilian community, told dpa on the main street of the Liberdade neighbourhood.

Described as the “global food capital,” Sao Paulo has over 12,000 restaurants, 4,000 bakeries and countless bars, cafes, pubs and beer halls.

Museums, theatres, shows and exhibitions, shopping, luxury: there is nothing missing in Brazil’s gigantic city, the one most present in At night, “cariocas” (as Rio residents are known) head off the country’s music and poetry, and probaplans to to the bars in Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon or in the bly also the most polluted, amid terrible Bohemian neighbourhood Lapa, or they attend the samba prepare Rio traffic with millions of vehicles. shows which attract tourists to Pedra do Sal, an old port for the World Six World Cup games are set to be warehouse where African slaves used to meet after work Cup and the played at the new Itaquerao, whose to sing and dance, now regarded as the birthplace of Bra- Games. construction cost an estimated The city’s major 425.5 million dollars. zil’s most famous rhythm. change ahead of the With a capacity for 69,160 Since 2009, when Rio was chosen to host the 2016 World Cup has been spectators and a floor area of Olympics, the city has been enduring feverish construction, 189,000 square metres, the with a view to revamping the port area, building new ho- modernising Maracana, Arena Corinthians hontels, modernising the precarious facilities at Tom Jobim in- the stadium that also host ours the modern, sothe 1950 World Cup final.

It ternational airport, and above all improving urban mobility phisticated city where was then that Brazilians sufthrough a new subway line. it is located with its fered their worst sports tragestate-of-the-art deThe works made traffic jams even more of a nightmare dy, by losing 2-1 to Uruguay in a sign, luxury facilifor locals, and they also threaten to displace thousands of match that went down in history as ties and a special residents of the city’s “favelas” (slums), the “Maracanazo.” cooling system who are being relocated that keeps the Although the stadium kept the oval to make room temperature shape that made it world-famous, for on the grass everything inside it has changed, and at 23-25 denostalgic fans stress that the Maracana grees Celsius. “has lost its soul.”

Instead of the 200,000 people it fit in the past, it now holds only 78,000 spectators, who will have a good view of the pitch anywhere they are. The stadium has all it takes to comfortably follow seven World Cup games, including the final on July 13.

World Cup 2014

Cuiaba:

South America’s Warm Geodesic Centre

JUNE 2014

The Arena Pantanal, with a capacity for 46,300 spectators, was built in Cuiaba to host four World Cup games.

I

ntense heat all year round makes residents of Cuiaba claim that it is possible to fry an egg on the tarmac.

The city is regarded as the geodesic centre of South America, since it lies 2,000 kilometres away from both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and it has been built in a continental depression where temperatures almost constantly remain around 30 degrees Celsius, even during the winter months.

Precisely due to the heat, Cuiaba has an intense nightlife, especially on the streets around Popular

Square, which are full of bars and restaurants featuring both regional cuisine and international favourites including Italian, Japanese and Mexican food. The city’s youth gather around that area.

The capital of the centre-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is also the “gate of entry” to two of Brazil’s main biomes.

Cuiaba is about 130 kilometres away from the tropical rainforest, and it is near Chapada dos Guimaraes, a small town in the savannah that is particularly beautiful for its rivers and gorgeous waterfalls -

21

487 of them.

Besides, less than 100 kilometres away from Cuiaba lies one of Brazil’s most impressive environmental reserves, the Pantanal, which is one of the world’s most biologically diverse sites: 650 bird species and 124 mammals have already been identified there, along with a large number of fish and reptiles.

The 150,000-square-kilometre reserve inspired the name of the stadium that was built in Cuiaba to host four World Cup games: the Arena Pantanal, with a capacity for 46,300 spectators.

Salvador:

A Portion Of Black Africa And Portuguese Memories In Brazil Memories

B

e it for the colourful architecture that decorates its cityscape, the religious syncretism that links the austere Christian god with a joyful crowd of Afro divinities, the exuberant aromas that float in its hot, salty air, or the rhythms that can be heard in every corner: Salvador is the place where Africa, Portugal and Brazil tell their rich and also tragic - brotherhood story.

The picturesque capital of the state of Bahia, in north-eastern Brazil, right on the Atlantic ocean, is set to host six World Cup games at the remodelled Fonte Nova stadium.

The sports event is to provide an excellent opportunity for time travel. Visitors can dive into the clash that the Portuguese, the area’s indigenous peoples and communities of African descent engaged in five centuries ago, which gave rise to the ethnic and cultural diversity that is a trademark of

Brazil.

History is alive in Salvador. One can see it on the streets of the city’s historic centre, where the Pelourinho neighbourhood keeps within its baroque buildings heroic fights for freedom as well as darker pages in the history of the South American country, including brutal torture of black slaves.

With 50 kilometres of golden beaches and water that maintains an average temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, Brazil’s first capital is an excellent gate of entry into the idiosyncrasy of the World Cup host.

Visitors will probably leave the city, a land of contagious faith and superstition, with a “fitinha,” a little ribbon dedicated to the Lord of Bomfim, around their wrists. The ribbon may serve to make a wish that is to come true when it breaks off, or simply to take away a tangible memory of Brazil’s African-Iberian city.

Natal got a new stadium, the Arena das Dunas, which is set to host four group-round matches with a capacity for 45,000 spectators.

Salvador is set to host six World Cup games at the remodelled Fonte Nova stadium.

Natal: “Sun City” Amid

Beaches And War Memories

L

ocated in Brazil’s north-easternmost tip, Natal was once on the US list of the world’s four most strategically important places, along with the Suez Canal, the Bosphorus and the Gibraltar Straits.

That was during World War II, when the capital of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte was home to a maintenance base for US planes headed for combat.

The former base has since been turned into Augusto Severo international airport.

War memories have long been erased from the minds of most of the 800,000 residents of the socalled “Sun City,” whose proximity to the Equator makes sunny days last up to 15 hours while constant winds only rarely allow the temperature to rise above 30 degrees Celsius.

Natal is one of Brazil’s most important tourist destinations. It

hosts around 2 million visitors per year, many of them foreigners.

Its main attraction are sand dune beaches such as Ponta Negra and Artists’ Beach, and the impressive cliffs of Pipa Beach, in the town of Tambau do Sul, 85 kilometres away from Natal.

The city has a second pride and joy: the ancient cashew tree of Parnamirim, 25 kilometres away from Natal, which is listed with Guinness World Records. The treetop, which continues to grow and bear fruit, currently covers a surface of 8,400 square metres, equivalent to a full football pitch.

Ahead of the World Cup, a new airport was built in Sao Goncalo do Amarante, 40 kilometres away from Natal, and the city also got a new stadium, the Arena das Dunas, which is set to host four group-round matches with a capacity for 45,000 spectators.

22

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

Curitiba:

A Beautiful, Green, First-World City In Southern Brazil

L

ocated at an altitude of almost 1,000 metres and about 110 kilometres inland from the Atlantic, Curitiba, a city where it rains at least for a few minutes every day, owes its beauty much less to nature than to the hard work of thousands of Germans, Polish, Ukrainian and Italian immigrants who boost its population during the 19th century.

The capital of the state of Parana, which is set to host four World Cup games at the stadium Arena da Baixada, is the closest to a “first-world” city that Brazil has to offer.

Its urban planning has been optimized in recent decades through a Master Plan that turned it into one of the cities

with the best quality of life in the country, the one with the largest green area per person – about 50 square metres – and one of the cleanest in South America.

The star of Curitiba’s urban planning is the city’s public transport system, which was both carefully planned and efficiently implemented to become a model programme.

The modernistic, entrepreneurial profile of the wealthiest state capital in southern Brazil is in stark contrast with delays in construction of the Arena da Baixada, which led FIFA to threaten to withdraw Curitiba from the list of Brazil’s World Cup host cities.

However, works were inten-

sified, and the rebuilt Curitiba stadium, with its 41,456 seats, is finally set to host its assigned games in the major sports event.

The World Cup is set to take place in Curitiba’s relatively harsh winter, when temperatures can drop to 6 degrees Celsius.

Tourists should be able to forget the cold, however, by enjoying the architectural beauty and the cultural wealth of a city that has brought together the past and the present through the restoration of historic buildings.

In many cases, particularly at the heart of the city, on the Largo da Ordem, old houses are now home to modern, sophisticated exhibitions and artistic expressions from Brazil and the world at large.

Brasilia:

A Colossal Work Of Art Turned Into A City The Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha, with a capacity for 70,064 people, is the city's latest architectural gem, allows for rainwater harvesting and reuse, as well as for the generation and use of solar energy.

E

The stadium Arena da Baixada is set to host four World Cup games.

verything in young Brasilia is in some way colossal, futuristic and magnificent.

Designed by the architects Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa, the Brazilian capital is a haven of art and modernity that was built at the heart of the country, and it transcends all definitions of the word city.

The latest structure to confirm the trend is the Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha. With a capacity for 70,064 people, the stadium, which cost 666.3 million dollars and is the city’s latest architectural gem, allows for rainwater harvesting and reuse, as well as for the generation and use of solar energy.

This is the most environmentally-friendly of Brazil’s World Cup stadiums, but it lacks one key element: a top-flight club.

“You cannot have a World Cup in Brasilia, because there is no team there,” retired footballer Neto, currently a TV commentator, told dpa. “The decision was based more on political factors than on common sense.”

However, the new temple of football in Brasilia is just one of the beautiful buildings around the city, where one can go sailing and practice other water sports even though it is located on a semi-desert plateau about 1,200 kilometres away from the Atlantic.

Its creators let the city be embellished by the not-very-credible artificial Lake Paranoa, which is crossed by Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, a wonder of modern architecture whose asymmetric arches illuminate the water at night.

This amazing yet artificial city is best enjoyed through a visit to the post-modern Praca dos Tres Poderes, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Nation’s Pantheon and the JK Memorial, a tribute to former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek. It was he who made possible the dream of building from scratch an aseptic, bureaucratic capital, which over little more than 50 years has acquired a soul of its own.

Porto Alegre: A “European” Enclave In Brazil’s Far South

Tourists will be arriving in the home city of Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho to attend the games at the Estadio Beira Rio.

P

orto Alegre, Brazil’s southernmost state capital, holds a striking mix of traditions linked to the European cultures that marked its history and a picturesque regional folklore.

This part of the South American giant is European and very “gaucho,” all at once.

Cultural diversity, which started when the Portuguese founded the city in 1772, is what visitors will find in Porto Alegre’s characteristic cuisine, art and customs when they arrive in June for the four World Cup matches at Beira Rio stadium.

If there is one trademark habit in Porto Alegre, it is “chimarrao,” mate, an infusion that is drunk from a calabash gourd with a metal straw and is also typical of nearby Argentina and Uruguay but not of most of Brazil.

This hot drink will be especially welcome to face the city’s humid climate at the time of the World Cup, the local winter, when temper-

atures range from minus 2 to plus 20 degrees Celsius.

Porto Alegre’s cuisine features coal-roasted beef with the area’s well-known wines, as well as dishes that are typical of each of the cultures that shaped the original “gaucho” styke: African, Polish, Lebanese, Italian, and Portuguese.

The landscape of this city of 1.5 million people is marked by Lake Guaiba and its spectacular sunsets. This winter, however, Lake Guaiba will need to share its privileged position with the remodeled stadium of local club Internacional, with a capacity for 48,849 people.

Tourists will be arriving in the home city of Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho to attend the games Australia-Netherlands, South Korea-Algeria and Nigeria-Argentina, as well as a round-of-16 match.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

23

Belo Horizonte: A Curvy City With An Attractive Cuisine

B Manaus:

elo Horizonte stands out for its winding curves, harmonious architecture and havens of nature, but this city that the UN declared the metropolis with the highest quality of life index in Latin America is attractive mainly based on its flavours.

Visitors are fascinated by its peculiar, multifaceted cuisine, its intense flavours, its exotic scents and an exuberant mix of tropical fruit and traditional recipes, both local and from around the world.

It is no wonder that the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants counts close to 12,000 such businesses in Brazil’s third-largest city, behind Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, whose traditional cheese, the renowned “Queijo de Minas,” has been distinguished as part of Brazil’s cultural heritage.

In fact, it is the bar and restaurant sector in the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, a city of 2.5 million people, that is best prepared to host the close to 500,000 tourists it expects during the

World Cup. With taste as a guide, the Mercado Central is a must-see, as a spot that brings together food, history and folklore. This market offers a concentration of scents and tastes that are typical of Belo Horizonte and radically different from anything one might find anywhere else in the world, along with local crafts, music and the work of street artists.

The city, which stands at an altitude of 850 metres, owes its mild climate to the Serra do Curral, a mountain range that frames Belo Horizonte and shields it from the wind and other phenomena.

During the World Cup, it is set to host six matches at the revamped yet classic Mineirao stadium, with a capacity for 62,547 spectators.

At that time, Belo Horizonte is expected to have average temperatures of around 18 degrees Celsius, which in an essentially dry climate promise visitors a very pleasant stay.

The Environment And History United In The Tropical Rainforest Manaus remodeled an old football stadium to make the new Arena Amazonia, with a capacity for 44,000 people, which is set to host four group-round games including ItalyEngland.

M

anaus, at the heart of the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, welcomes about 700,000 tourists per year, many of them Europeans, who look forward to seeing up-close the world’s largest tropical forest reserve.

However, there is a lot more to the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas than just the jungle. In 1890-1910, Manaus was probably Brazil’s wealthiest city, thanks to rubber exports that made new millionaires and unleashed a feverish construction of palaces, casinos and hotels in the art-deco or neoclassical styles to justify the city’s nickname, the “Paris of the tropics.”

The Amazon Theatre stands out among the monuments that are the legacy of that brief age of wealth. The theatre has been the object of a long restoration process, including its dome made of 36,000 decorated ceramic tiles that were imported from Germany. Nowadays, this is one of Brazil’s most important venues for classical music, with an orchestra that features mostly Eastern European musicians.

Manaus, a city of almost 2 million people, offers plenty of options for ecotourism, such as a tour through the rainforest along the Rio Negro – which was discovered in 1542 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana, - Ponta Negra river beach, or the view out onto Anavilhanas archipelago, about 13 kilometres away from the city centre, with its more than 400 small islands.

What visitors will most likely find hard to bear in Manaus is the heat. Due to its closeness to the Equator and to a humidity that can top 90 per cent, it is not unusual for the real feel temperature in the city to get close to 50 degrees Celsius.

Ahead of the World Cup, Manaus remodeled an old football stadium to make the new Arena Amazonia, with a capacity for 44,000 people, which is set to host four group-round games including Italy-England.

Belo Horizonte is set to host six matches at the revamped yet classic Mineirao stadium, with a capacity for 62,547 spectators.

Fortaleza: Europe’s Gate Of Entry To Brazil’s North-East Memories

Local authorities modernized the old Castelao stadium, which is now set to host six matches.

N

amed with reference to a military fortress built during the 17th century Dutch occupation, Fortaleza is the preferred destination for European tourists keen to enjoy the beautiful beaches of north-eastern Brazil.

The capital of the state of Ceara is the Brazilian city that is closest to Europe: it lies just over 5,600 kilometres away from Lisbon.

The best of Fortaleza is not within the city itself, but rather in its surroundings. An example are the beaches in Cumbuco just 29 kilometres away, where one can ride a buggy amid sand

dunes or take kite surfing lessons - and Canoa Quebrada - about 160 kilometres away, where reddish cliffs are in beautiful contrast to the white sand and the green sea.

However, Fortaleza also has its own attractions, like Praia do Futuro, with its restaurants featuring local specialties – crab, shrimp, and lobster, – and the Mercado Central, a large shopping centre where visitors can buy embroidered lingerie and colourful hammocks, the bestknown local handcrafted products.

In the evening, the Centro Cultural Dragao do Mar is a must, with its bars, restaurants,

museums, cinemas and theatres, as well as a planetarium.

Crime is currently the main problem for this metropolis of 3.7 million people, which has seen a dramatic increase in violence over the past decade. This has led Brazilian federal authorities to include the city in a plan to improve public safety in the urban areas worst affected by crime.

Ahead of the World Cup, local authorities modernized the old Castelao stadium, which is now set to host six matches – four in the group round, one in the round of 16, and a quarter-final – with a capacity for 65,000 people.

24

World Cup 2014

SPAIN

JUNE 2014

FIFA RANKING 1

B GROUP

Spain, The Team Who Have Forgotten The Meaning Of Failure Spain face a galactic challenge: adding another trophy to their historic string of two Euros and a World Cup. Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Nigeria 1999 (Winners), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Barcelona 1992 (Winners)

Vicente del Bosque guided Spain to a world record 29 consecutive competitive wins which began with a 2-0 win in the 2010 World Cup group stage match against Honduras and continued through Euro 2012, until Brazil’s Confederations Cup final victory in June 2013.

Former stars: Luis Suarez, Emilio Butragueno, Fernando Hierro

He is a pragmatic coach who tweaks his formation to suit his players’ strengths.

Coach: Vicente del Bosque

ALBERTO BRAVO (DPA)

F T

hough there is no doubt that Spain’s embarrassment of midfield riches, featuring the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Xabi Alonso, has been integral to their major trophy triumphs, La Selección are strong across the board.

The men in red have a phalanx of very reliable keepers to call on, headed by Iker Casillas, while Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique have consolidated their positions as the leaders of a defence in which leftback Jordi Alba has gone from strength to strength. Ramos and Alba are also a threat in the opposing box, and in recent times have made goalscoring contributions that have been almost as decisive as those of the front men.

With both David Villa and Fernando Torres struggling to find their touch, Pedro has distinguished himself as an attacking spearhead, ably supported by Cesc Fabregas.

ailure? What is that? Defending champions Spain, with a playing style that is admired around the world, are set to arrive in Brazil with a view to winning their fourth consecutive major title, very far from the frustrations that marked their football for decades.

Before the crucial year 2008, Spain had accumulated a long record of failure and disappointment, possibly unfit for a country with a massive football tradition. At that time, fans supported a club first, and the national team second. The Euro 1964 title was only a black-and-white memory, and a whole generation of fans had never seen Spain win anything.

Then, along came Luis Aragones, who died in early 2014, to change the dynamics. After failing at the Germany 2006 World Cup, Aragones insisted on staying on as Spain coach, against the majority view among fans and the media.

Time would eventually prove him right.

The day came when Aragones decided to break all pre-set structures and found a solution to the problem: getting the most out of a generation of players whose key names shared several peculiarities. Those players were all short, moved fantastically on the pitch and had amazing technical quality. Boosting ball possession was the next step.

That was how Spain won the Euro in Austria-Switzerland. They did so with a style that got the team back to its roots, mixed in a few of the teachings of global football giants Brazil and the Netherlands, and added an original touch. All that was implemented by a brave coach and an amazing generation of players.

Aragones knew how to

Key Player : Andres Iniesta

make the most of keeper Iker Casillas’s reactions, Carles Puyol’s fierceness, Sergio Ramos’s versatility, Xabi Alonso’s brains, Sergio Busquets’s tactical rigour, Andres Iniesta’s technique and Xavi Hernandez’s almost electronic talent.

After that Euro, Aragones left the job and was succeeded by Vicente del Bosque, who took to the limit his trademark coherence and his apparent absence of an ego: he declined style changes and simply looked for solutions as concrete problems arose for the Spain team. He solved them well enough to win the 2010 World Cup and the Euro 2012.

Now, in Brazil, Spain face a galactic challenge: adding another trophy to their historic string of two Euros and a World Cup. This may well be the last chance for an extraordinary generation that has already dropped a few names, including Puyol’s. In his search for solutions to concrete problems, particularly the lack of a reliable striker, Del Bosque found a new, original approach: using the ball not just in attack, but also in defence.

It is no secret that Spain developed an inimitable style based on ball possession, but they challenged football theory by using the ball for defensive tasks too. They even played some matches without a single pure striker. “With 10 midfielders we would be even better,” Del Bosque told dpa in an interview in 2013.

That explains what happened in the last two tournaments that Del Bosque’s team has won, the 2010 World Cup and the Euro 2012, where they exploited ball possession to the full.

“The goal is not to change anything at all. Our football is based on possession, it is attack-oriented, it seeks to have the ball more than our rivals. We also have extraordinary figures in terms of defence, and that’s not bad: football is about attacking and defending,” Del Bosque said to define Spain’s style.

A striking detail emerged on September 11, 2012, during a World Cup qualifying game. Spain barely managed to win 1-0 in Georgia, but they attained a record 80-per-cent ball possession. They held the ball for 72 minutes, that is.

The Euro 2012 delivered another interesting detail: Spain only conceded one goal over the course of the whole tournament. Before playing their best match at the event, a 4-0 thrashing of Italy in the final, they needed the penalty shootout to get past Portugal in the semi-finals, after being held to a goal-less draw until the end of extra time.

Spain are set to arrive in Brazil with the same basic team they fielded at the Euro, although all their players will be two years older. That is hardly a minor detail for an ageing squad with players like Casillas, who will be 33 in Brazil 2014, Xavi Hernandez, 34, and Xabi Alonso, 32. Brazilian-born striker Diego Costa has now joined the team. Will that be enough to give the defending champions a new boost?

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

GERMANY

FIFA RANKING 2

25

G GROUP

Germany, In Search Of A Title To Crown Their Revolution In and out of Germany, the feeling is that Loew's men get to Brazil at just the right stage in a long maturing phase.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Switzerland 1954, Germany 1974, Italy 1990 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Australia 1981 (Winners) Former stars: Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Lothar Matthaus.

PABLO SANGUINETTI

(DPA)

G

ermany are set to go through a historic turning-point at the Brazil 2014 World Cup: Joachim Loew’s team, one of the favourites to lift the trophy, stands before the chance to crown the ongoing revolution in German football with the only thing they currently lack, a title.

And yet a new disappointment would risk ending the change altogether.

“Being world champions would be the best. This young team is yet to fulfil its potential,” Loew told dpa in an interview.

The 54-year-old coach promised to field an “absolutely competitive” team in Brazil, although he stressed that there is never “a guarantee” that one will win a World Cup title.

In and out of Germany, the feeling is that Loew’s men get to Brazil at just the right stage in a long maturing phase. They combine the experience of players like Philipp Lahm with the cheeky youth of Mario Goetze.

Team pillars like Manuel Neuer, Mesut Oezil and Bastian Schweinsteiger have both experience and ambition.

The 2014

World Cup is also the first major tournament since German football regained its European and international weight, a process that had the all-German 2013 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund as an eloquent symbol.

The face of that process is Loew himself. The coach got to the German national team 10 years ago, first in 2004, as an assistant to head coach Juergen Klinsmann, and two years later as his successor.

“When I took the job, I took it upon myself to transform the team,” he once admitted.

Over the following years, the extent of that transformation became clear.

Loew understood that the traditional heavy-weight, group-based play that had given Germany three World Cup titles (1954, 1974 and 1990) was obsolete. Without ruling out such values, he lightened them up with younger talent, a passing style more like Spain’s, a taste for more ball possession and more transition midfield players.

The new Germany impressed fans and officials alike – Loew’s contract was extended until 2016, - but they are yet to win an international title. They stopped half-way in the 2010 World Cup and the Euros in 2008 and 2012, three tournaments that were all won by the dominant Spain. Germany’s last major trophy dates back to the Euro 1996.

“Logically, winning a title is immensely important for the coach, the team and the federation,” Loew said ahead of Brazil 2014. “That is what we aspire to. We are preparing ourselves in

a way that, we think, will allow us to be in a position to win a title.”

An almost perfect qualifying stage backs up the coach’s remarks. Germany are, along with hosts Brazil, Argentina and defending champions Spain, among the candidates to reach the final on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.

Their long route is set to start in Group G, one of the most difficult in the tournament. Germany are set to star in two of the most emotionally charged moments in the group stage, when they play Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and the United States now coached by Loew’s mentor Klinsmann. The other member of the group is Ghana.

The Germans know that they will also be facing rivals off the pitch. The heat, an enthusiastic crowd, and travel through the world’s fifth-largest country appear to crash head-on with the traditional German obsession with foresight.

“It will be almost impossible to win the World Cup,” Germany manager Oliver Bierhoff warned, based on all that.

In his surprising exclusion of Germany from the candidates to lift the trophy, Bierhoff recalled that no European team has ever won a World Cup in the Americas.

German media talk about a “hot” tournament, and Loew, who has stressed that one should understand and enjoy Brazil, also mentions almost ancestral fears.

“This World Cup will probably surpass anything we have

experienced in the past few years. I have been in Brazil twice, and I have seen the brutal force there is in the country when it comes to football,” he said.

In that context, it is hardly surprising that Germany have built their own housing complex in a 15,000-square-metre space, to house their players and technical staff. They believed that the available hotels did not meet their requirements.

The hosts of Brazil 2014 did not like the construction of the so-called “Campo Bahia,” north of Porto Seguro, and felt that the Germans were snubbing the country’s facilities.

However, the project reflects the seriousness with which Germany are approaching a World Cup in which what is at stake is not just a title, but rather a whole decade of a historic football revolution

K

eeper Manuel Neuer is the undisputed No1, while many experts believe he is the real deal, equipped not only to follow in the footsteps of Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, but also to develop into one of the best in the world. Full-back Philipp Lahm and schemer Bastian Schweinsteiger earned their international spurs long ago: each has reached 100 caps but is still at their peak.

The next generation appears immensely promising too. Former Real Madrid starlet Mesut Ozil, who now laces his boots at Arsenal was just 21 when he thrilled the crowds at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and is a gifted creative player with passing ability to match the best in the world. Up front, Thomas Muller won the adidas Golden Boot and was named Best Young Player at the 2010 finals, while youngsters Marco Reus, Andre Schurrle, Toni Kroos and Mario Gotze keep getting better and better.

KEY PLAYER : THOMAS MULLER

COACH: JOACHIM LOW A lover of tactical details and a keen researcher of play, Joachim Löw was a striker and played in the Bundesliga, but the greatest moment in his football career came in 2006, when he became Germany coach.

He knew the demands of the position, because he had been number two to his predecessor, Klinsmann, since 2004. Both men staged a revolution in the “Mannschaft,” and it is no longer that team in which strength, will and aerial ability were once paramount.

26

World Cup 2014

BRAZIL

JUNE 2014

FIFA RANKING 3

A GROUP

Neymar, Scolari And The Fans: Brazil’s Weapons, Short Of Stars Scolari is looking for a middle-ground formula so Brazil can replicate their success of the 2013 Confederations Cup.

Scolari has deployed a number of different formations throughout his career, preferring a 3-4-1-2 at the 2002 World Cup with Brazil, a 4-2-3-1 while at Portugal and a 4-3-3 at Chelsea. Scolari is happy to prioritise winning at the expense of attractive football and is a firm believer of two tough-tackling central midfielders.

Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari

PABLO SANGUINETTI

S

triker Neymar is already being hailed as a man capable of playing a key role for the fivetime world champions come Brazil 2014. Currently among the supporting cast in attack is Barcelona’s Dani Alves, who is a lung-bursting presence on the flank. Between the sticks, veteran goalkeeper Julio Cesar exudes confidence and security to the rest of the backline.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Sweden 1958, Chile 1962, Mexico 1970, USA 1994, Korea/Japan 2002 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Mexico 1983, USSR 1985, Australia 1993, UAE 2003 (Winners), FIFA U-17 World Cup Egypt 1997, New Zealand 1999, Finland 2003 (Winners), FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1997, Germany 2005, South Africa 2009 (Winners) Former stars: Garrincha, Pele, Ronaldo

Key Player : Neymar

T

(DPA)

he “jogo bonito” (beautiful play) that was made famous

by Pele and company is now little more than a memory, but that does not mean that Brazil play ugly these days.

With a rising star like Neymar, a winning coach like Luiz Felipe Scolari, and powerful, loyal fans, the Brazil team of 2014 hopes to be able to end a 12-year drought by lifting at home their longedfor sixth World Cup title.

Ahead of the World Cup, “Felipao” banks on collective play and on the motivating effects of the mass presence of home fans during matches, to compensate for the lack of a constellation of great footballers like the one he led to the title in South Korea-Japan 2002.

In the process, Scolari also hopes to erase for good the memories of the worst trauma in the sports history of the “land of football”: the “Maracanazo”, when the verdeamarela lost to Uruguay the decisive match of Brazil 1950 in Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium.

Former Brazil striker Denilson, who was part of the 2002 World Cup squad, thinks the Brazilian national team is learning not to depend on decisive talent.

“Brazil have always had players who did whatever they wanted in personal runs,” the former Betis player told dpa in an interview. “We had very good times in 2002 with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho Gaucho, and Rivaldo. We always had more than one player who could pull off a personal run. Today we have Neymar. But maybe we are learning to play better as a group.”

Team play became more important when the stars that Denilson admired failed in their attempt to win Brazil’s sixth World Cup title in Germany 2006, with a defeat to France in the quarter-finals.

In South Africa 2010, coach Carlos Dunga opted for almost-military discipline and for “results-oriented football,” with winning as the overriding goal above pleasing the fans. That did not work out either: Brazil were eliminated by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Now, Scolari is looking for a middle-ground formula so Brazil can replicate their success of the 2013 Confederations Cup. Boosted by the home crowd at Maracana, Brazil comprehensively beat world champions Spain 3-0 in the final, to claim their first title in four years.

“I have no doubt that, following what they did at the Confederations Cup, the Brazilian national team caused fear around the world.

Spain are to this day trying to understand what happened at Maracana,” prestigious Brazilian football commentator Juca Kfouri told dpa.

According to Kfouri, Scolari’s main weapon is his ability to motivate players.

“Above all, he’s a psychologist, a motivator.

And, in a short tournament, a motivator often achieves better results than a great theorist,” Kfouri said.

Edmilson, who won the 2002 World Cup with Scolari as coach, agrees. “He may not be a great coach tactically, but he handles the group very well. And (Brazil technical director Carlos) Parreira has achieved a lot with all his tactical and technical knowledge. They complement each other well,” Edmilson said.

Scolari has remained loyal to his beliefs, and he made up a squad of players he can trust and motivate.

His tactics rely on a solid defence led by two

veterans - captain Thiago Silva and right back Dani Alves – which also features two younger players, defender David Luiz and disciplined midfielder Luiz Gustavo.

With such a structure, Scolari hopes to give more freedom to attacking players, and to make the most of Neymar’s talent and of the skills of midfielders Paulinho, Oscar and Bernard, a recipe that worked well at the Confederations Cup. The “Scolari formula” is far from commanding universal support, however. “I think he is a coach who is behind the times from a tactical point of view,” retired striker Jose Ferreira Neto told dpa in an interview. Neto is nostalgic for “jogo bonito” and thinks that ideal style is currently best exemplified by Germany.

“I have no doubt that Brazilian football does need to go back to thinking as the Germans think today,” said Neto, who is now an explosive TV commentator in Brazil.

For now, the only Brazilian who is fully confident that Brazil will win their home World Cup is Scolari himself. Although he says there are “at least eight candidates to win the title” in Brazil 2014, he stresses that he is “increasingly convinced” that Brazil will get to celebrate their sixth World Cup title on July 13.

“We have the fans, our 12th player. We have a competitive, quality team and, with the support of the fans, we will always be better,” he argued.

Could that amount to overconfidence?

“It will not be that hard to win,” Scolari said in the run-up to the World Cup. When asked what would happen if Brazil do not in fact manage to win, “Felipao” smiled and answered half joking, half seriously.

“I’ll go into exile. The Kuwaiti Embassy is quite close by.”

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

PORTUGAL

FIFA RANKING 4

27

G GROUP

Portugal use a 4-3-3 tactic, with Pepe, Joao Moutinho and Cristiano Ronaldo as their references in each of their three lines.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal Dream Of Glory

HUGO TORRES (DPA)

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s he showed in the play-off against Sweden, Cristiano Ronaldo is still very much Portugal’s go-to man, though the peerless Real Madrid star is supported by a very able cast. The central-defensive pairing of Pepe and Bruno Alves is the cornerstone of a very solid rearguard that also features flying full-backs Joao Pereira and Fabio Coentrao. Joao Moutinho is the heartbeat of a creative midfield unit, while Nani can also be relied upon to shine alongside Ronaldo.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: 1966 FIFA World Cup England (third place), FIFA U-20 World Cup Saudi Arabia 1989 and Portugal 1991 (winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 (runners-up), FIFA U-17 World Cup Scotland 1989 (third place).

Former stars: Eusebio, Coluna, Simoes, Jose Augusto, Torres, Jaime Graca, Rui Costa and Luis Figo.

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ortugal are getting to the 2014 World Cup with the world’s best player according to FIFA, Cristiano Ronaldo, at the helm.

The Real Madrid striker is the main star of Portuguese football, and he is out to prove his worth in Brazil to help his team make history.

“My dream is to win a World Cup,” Ronaldo admitted in late 2013, a month before he was awarded his second Ballon d’Or. At age 29, the player from Madeira already has an enviable set of trophies, but he is not satisfied. In fact, it is this ambition that led Portugal to the World Cup in the first place.

“I’ll try to give my best for my team,” he vowed.

Portugal coach Paulo Bento prefers to speak of an “initial goal,” the round of 16.

“From then on, we will try to eliminate the teams that luck sets before us, to compete as well as

possible,” he said in late November.

The team hopes “to get as far as possible,” Bento said.

Portugal are facing Germany, Ghana and the United States in Group G. In theory, they are the group’s favourites along with the Germans, but it is hardly rare for Portugal to be surprised and upset by rivals that are well below their level on paper.

A defeat to Russia, two draws against Israel and another against Northern Ireland made things hard for Portugal during qualifying, which made it necessary for them to endure a playoff against Sweden. Ronaldo scored Portugal’s four goals in that play-off.

Portugal use a 4-3-3 tactic, with Pepe, Joao Moutinho and Cristiano Ronaldo as their references in each of their three lines. Pepe’s authority, Moutinho’s regularity and Ronaldo’s genius are the pillars that hold Bento’s attacking tactics.

Portugal have Rui Patricio as their keeper. The defence usually features Joao Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves and Fabio Coentrao, a set of players who have an aggressive style in common.

Midfielders Raul Meireles, Moutinho and Miguel Veloso seek to build on that, while the forward line has Ronaldo on the left, Nani on the right and Helder Postiga up-front.

Alternatively, they sometimes use a classic 4-4-2 tactic, with Cristiano Ronaldo as a second striker, which is also a comfortable set-up

for him. Ronaldo is the top goal scorer in the history of the Portugal national team with 49 goals, ahead of Pauleta (47) and Eusebio (41).

Portuguese football legend Eusebio will be missing this World Cup. The man nicknamed the “Black Panther,” who starred in the 1966 World Cup and was the first Portuguese player to win the Ballon d’Or in 1965, died on January 5, at the age of 71.

The 1966 World Cup was the first that Portugal ever played, and it was also, for a long time, their main achievement in sport. Portugal finished third, after losing in the semi-finals to hosts and later champions England.

They were unable to keep up their level among the world’s top football nations after that feat.

Portugal stayed out of major international tournaments for almost two decades, until the 1984 Euro. In France 1984, they also reached the semi-finals, and they again lost to the hosts. At the Mexico 1986 World Cup, they failed to make it past the group round.

The 10 years that followed saw the emergence of the “golden generation” of Portuguese football, with Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto, Paulo Sousa, Vitor Baia and Joao Vieira Pinto.

Portugal won the Under-20 World Cup in 1989 and 1991, and it was that generation of players that again made the Portuguese national team

one of the best in the world.

Since they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Euro 1996, Portugal have played every major tournament except the 1998 World Cup. In 2004, at the Euro that they played at home, they attained their best finish ever, losing the final to Greece. That bitter crowning of the “golden generation” also brought on the beginning of the end for its ageing players.

Cristiano Ronaldo took over, under the leadership of Brazilian-born coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Scolari, who coached Portugal 2003-08, is now back at the helm of the Brazilian national team.

Like Scolari’s team did in 2004 with Ronaldo as its star, Bento’s Portugal holds a few surprises for Brazil 2014. Young midfielder William Carvalho, of Sporting Lisbon – precisely the team that produced Ronaldo and Figo, - is their most promising player, while strikers Ivan Cavaleiro and (Benfica) and Rafa (Braga) also play well.

Further quality may come from veteran Ricardo Quaresma, who returned to Porto at age 30 after a stint in Turkey.

Bento became the second most successful manager in Sporting’s history, after the legendary Josef Szabo, when guiding the Portuguese capital outfit to back-to-back Portuguese Cup successes in 2007 and 2008.

A firm believer in the 4-3-3 formation for Portugal with three box-to-box midfielders in the middle to compensate for the nation’s lack of a natural playmaker. He instructs his team to get the ball out wide to the wingers as quickly as possible to exploit the opposition on the counter-attack.

KEY PLAYER : CRISTIANO RONALDO

COACH: PAULO BENTO

28

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

ARGENTINA

FIFA RANKING 5

F GROUP

Mature Messi Boosts Argentina’s Hopes Of A Third World Cup Title

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Argentina 1978, Mexico 1986 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Japan 1979, Qatar 1995, Malaysia 1997, Argentina 2001, Netherlands 2005, Canada 2007 (Winners), FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1992 (Winners), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 (Winners) Former stars: Daniel Passarella, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Mario Kempes

Argentina have arguably the world's most powerful attacking line, with several top names of European football like Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Rodrigo Palacio

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ith the landmark achievement of claiming four consecutive FIFA Ballon d’Ors (2009-2012), Lionel Messi in the undisputed leader of the Argentina national team and a multiple-trophy winner with Barcelona. Breaking all kind of goal-records, La Pulga is now looking to achieve greatness with his country after failing, somewhat surprisingly, to find the back of the net at South Africa 2010. Supporting him will be an all-star cast featuring Javier Mascherano and Angel Di Maria, all of them on top of their game with some of Europe’s leading clubs.

CECILIA CAMINOS (DPA)

L COACH: ALEJANDRO SABELLA Sabella is a great motivator, gets to players’ hearts, generates a moving ethos and convinces footballers with his tactics, many of those who have played under him say.

A strategist, a good observer, a methodical worker, he has done an especially good job with the national team.

ionel Messi is Argentina’s major standard-bearer for the Brazil 2014 World Cup. The striker is set to reach the tournament as an undeniable superstar, ideally mature and backed by a group that, while it may have certain weaknesses, appears to be in harmony and excited about the chance to win the World Cup. At age 26, Messi is hungry for the only major title he has not yet won, the world championship, and he is comfortable in his role as Argentina captain and determined to go for it all in Brazil.

“Winning the World Cup would be amazing,” he admits.

Argentina have arguably the world’s most powerful attacking line, with several top names of European football like Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Rodrigo Palacio. Behind them, there is the speed and the depth of Angel Di Maria and the experience of Javier Mascherano and Fernando Gago, although the latter is far from his top form after several seasons of injuries.

One of the great achievements of coach Alejandro Sabella was to follow the advice of former Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola and give Messi space to create play and add goals to the records he had already beaten at the Catalan club.

“It is essential for Leo to have the ball. He can play freely, wherever he feels comfortable. He is an incredible player, a different player,” Sabella said.

Sabella also worked hard to consolidate harmony within the squad, after troubled times including Argentine football legend Diego Maradona’s stint as national team coach. For the sake of this consolidation, Sabella excluded other major stars of Argentine football who did not conform to that personal dynamic.

“The group is like a house. The important thing is what you do not see, the foundations. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery put it, what is essential is invisible to the eye,” Sabella noted.

Messi ratified those comments.

“We had not been this well for a long time. The group is very strong. It comes at just the right time to do great things,” he said.

However, the 4-3-3 attacking tactic that Sabella usually employs exposes imbalances that raise several questions ahead of the World Cup. Argentina’s long-standing defensive weakness is now made worse by some apparent difficulties in terms of going back from attacking positions and of ball recovery, and those sometimes hamper the team’s overall performance.

Despite frequent criticism, the coach opted for hard work and showed unwavering confidence in the men he had chosen for Argentina’s defence: Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Federico Fernandez and Marcos Rojo. The same happens with his starting keeper, Sergio Romero, who was ratified time and again in the position although he does not get to play regularly at Monaco.

Will Messi’s talent be enough to give Argentina

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“Being a leader is not a bad thing, but you should also not feel the obligation to get the ball by your own goal and net it in the rival goal. Right now Messi is the world’s best player. He is very skillful, it’s very hard to get him in short dribbles, but he cannot win a World Cup on his own,” Mario Alberto Kempes, the goal scorer of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup winning team, told dpa.

The Argentine national team is further at risk of injury, and the string of physical trouble that sidelined Messi for close to two months is fresh in the minds of many. For some, however, it was the other way around: that was a rest that was great for the man nicknamed “The Flea” ahead of the World Cup. Argentina’s top stars are set to arrive in Brazil 2014 after a long, demanding season at some of Europe’s main clubs, with a level of physical and mental exhaustion that Sabella will need to manage well.

With their goals, harmony and efforts, Messi and the rest of the squad recently managed to regain the trust of Argentine fans, following the disappointments of the South Africa 2010 World Cup and the 2011 Copa America at home.

The challenge ahead remains massive, however, and it is set to take place in the territory of Argentina’s arch-rivals Brazil. And yet the dream persists of adding a new trophy to the World Cups they won in Argentina 1978 and Mexico 1986.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

SWITZERLAND

FIFA RANKING 6

29

E GROUP

Switzerland Tackle Brazil 2014 With Seasoned Coach And Young Guns Switzerland emerged from their qualification games against Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania and Cyprus as one of the seeded teams, but Hitzfeld has bridled his own initial enthusiasm about Swiss prospects in Brazil ALBERTO CAGLIANO (DPA)

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here is undoubted quality throughout the side, starting with keeper Diego Benaglio, a German championship winner in 2009 with VfL Wolfsburg. The combination of experienced players such as Tranquillo Barnetta, Gokhan Inler and Philippe Senderos, with highly-talented youngsters Xherdan Shaqiri, Fabian Schar, Granit Xhaka and Valentin Stocker, has borne fruit and the side are more than capable of making their mark at Brazil 2014.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009 (Winners), FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009 (Runners-up), FIFA World Cup Italy 1934, France 1938, Switzerland 1954 (Quarter-finals) Former stars: Alexander Frei, Stephane Chapuisat, Johann Vogel, Hakan Yakin

Switzerland are getting to Brazil 2014 with a powerful combination: experienced German-born coach Ottmar Hitzfeld on the bench, and a young, talented and multi-cultural team ready to take on any rival on the pitch.

With nine titles in the German and Swiss top leagues under his belt, as well as Champions League wins with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, Hitzfeld is considered one of the most successful coaches in European football.

He wants to make sure that it remains this way until he steps down as Swiss coach after the 2014 World Cup. “You want to have a good farewell as a coach, so that everyone retains a positive image,” he told Swiss broadcaster SRF. Switzerland emerged from their qualification games against Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania and Cyprus as one of the seeded teams, but Hitzfeld has bridled his own initial enthusiasm about Swiss prospects in Brazil.

Hitzfeld spoke of advancing to the quarter finals late last year, but in a recent interview he said his men “are flying to Brazil to reach the round of 16.”

“The team is stronger than it was in 2010.

In 2010 we had more experience, the players were older, but the mix was not as good. Now we have young, experienced players and they are technically better,” Hitzfeld told dpa in an interview. “But we can’t compare ourselves to Brazil, Argentina, Germany or Spain.”

In any case, Switzerland appreciates his work.

“After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Ottmar Hitzfeld started a new era,” Swiss captain Gokhan Inler has said.

Following the departure of several seasoned players, Switzerland now banks on a young team that includes

KEY PLAYER : GRANIT XHAKA

several athletes with family ties in South-Eastern Europe who play in the German Bundesliga.

The best-known among them is Kosovo-born Xherdan Shaqiri, a popular midfielder with Bayern Munich.

He is known as the “Magic Dwarf” to his fans, on account of his height of 169 centimeters and his agile playing style.

“Shaqiri is very fast and full of tricks, but above all he is very strong one-on-one,” said Iceland coach Lars Lagerback, whose side came second in Switzerland’s qualification group.

Another strong midfielder is Granit Xhaka, a fellow Bundesliga player at Borussia Moenchengladbach, whose parents immigrated from Kosovo.

Swiss-Bosnian striker Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad, Spain) and Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg, Germany) are other members of what Hitzfeld has called Switzerland’s “golden generation.”

“All of them are still very young and already playing at a high level,” he said.

Captain Inler is one of the more seasoned members of the team, which are playing in a 4-2-3-1 lineup.

He says Switzerland have become strong because they have taken care to maintain a positive atmosphere.

“Every player knows when he made a mistake. I have to make him strong again,” he said.

However, despite the strong roster of fast and flexible midfielders, the defense has been weak at times, such as in the 4-4 qualification draw against Iceland.

Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami said afterwards that his team has problems “when it is the favourite and when the opponent plays a physical game.”

In the group stage in Brazil, France are Switzerland’s biggest rivals, but Hitzfeld has made it clear that his players should also watch out for the other group members, Ecuador and Honduras, and their considerable technical and tactical skills.

“We still have a score to settle with Honduras,” midfielder Valentin Stocker said.

In the 2010 World Cup, Switzerland drew 0-0 against the Central American team in its last group phase match, and thus missed the chance to advance to the round of 16.

Although it is clear that Hitzfeld and his team are thinking about how to tackle their group opponents in Brazil, they have also realized that the heat and humidity may turn out to be another formidable enemy.

Sports physicians and the coaching team were working on strategies to prepare the players, especially for the match against Honduras in Manaus.

“I think it is almost irresponsible that we have to play football in such a location, in the middle of the jungle in the Amazon region,” Hitzfeld said about this game.

COACH: OTTMAR HITZFELD When it comes to talking about football, very few people carry authority like the German Ottmar Hitzfeld, who won everything at the club level and then built the most competitive Switzerland team of all time.

He knows it will not be easy, but the 65-year-old coach wants to leave a mark in the Brazil 2014 World Cup, where he is set to end a successful career in which he won the Champions League, the Bundesliga and the German Cup on two occasions each, among other titles.

30

World Cup 2014

URUGUAY

JUNE 2014

FIFA RANKING 7

D GROUP

Uruguay Want To Repeat Their Feat 64 Years Later S

trikers Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani have become the standard bearers for Uruguayan football and the national team over the last couple of years. The Liverpool man ended the South

American preliminaries as the leading scorer with 11 goals, and was the second most-used player by Coach Oscar Tabarez. The deadly duo have plenty of ballast behind them, with the vastly experienced Diego Lugano directing rearguard operations with aplomb, and Fernando Muslera providing a safe pair of hands between the posts. Even so, after an often-troubled qualifying campaign El Maestro Tabarez will no doubt be looking to shuffle his pack and build up some momentum ahead of Brazil 2014.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Uruguay 1930 and Brazil 1950 (winners), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 1924, Amsterdam 1928 (winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Malaysia 1997 (runners-up), FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006 (runners-up), FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 (runners-up) Former stars: Hector Scarone, Angel Romano, Obdulio Varela, Roque Maspoli, Alcides Ghiggia, Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Pedro Rocha, Rodolfo Rodriguez, Hugo De Leon, Carlos Alberto Aguilera, Ruben Sosa, Enzo Francescoli, Alvaro Recoba

KEY PLAYER : LUIS SUAREZ

COACH: OSCAR TABAREZ Uruguay are going to Brazil 2014 with a backbone of players with great experience in top tournaments

CARLOS CASTILLOS (DPA)

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heir path to Brazil was nerve-wracking, but Uruguay still feel up to the task of emulating this year their 1950 feat, the so-called “Maracanazo,” when they snatched the Brazil 1950 World Cup title off the hands of the hosts in the decisive match, at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium. That title was Uruguay’s second World Cup trophy, after the one they won at home in Montevideo in 1930, and it was also the last so far.

Uruguay are going to Brazil 2014 with a backbone of players with great experience in top tournaments. Veteran captain Diego Lugano played in Brazil, Turkey and France, and is now active at West Bromwich Albion in the Premiership. Defender Martin Caceres plays for Juventus, and Liverpool’s Luis Suarez and PSG’s Edinson Cavani make up an intimidating attacking duo.

The “Charruas” also have an experienced coach. Oscar Tabarez, nicknamed “El Maestro” (The Teacher), is set to coach at his third World Cup, and he has been very successful in the current stint, which started in 2006 and grants him supervision of every Uruguay team from the Under-15s up.

However, good players, a good coach and a history of success guarantee little. There are many things at play in a World Cup, not least “psychological demands,” Tabarez notes. Once again, Uru-

For Oscar Washington Tabarez it is second time around when it comes to Uruguay’s national team. The 66-year-old had already served as national coach of the small, South American country which, however, is a big player in international football.

guay will not be among the favourites when the World Cup starts, but they were not tipped as a top team in South Africa 2010 either and they went on to reach the semi-finals.

A year later, Uruguay won the Copa America in Argentina, and after an irregular 2012 in the South American World Cup qualifiers, they managed to qualify for Brazil 2014 in a play-off against Jordan. Further, they showed at the 2013 Confederations Cup that they had got back at least some of the virtues that lifted them to a prominent position in South Africa.

A World Cup held in Brazil with Uruguay among the participants is inevitably reminiscent of the “Maracanazo,” that 2-1 win by Uruguay over the hosts at Maracana on July 16, 1950. That was the greatest feat in Uruguayan sports history, and it gave a big boost to strengthening national identity in a small country sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina. The “Maracanazo” is celebrated to this day, even though Alcides Ghiggia, who scored the second goal of that match, is the lone survivor of Uruguay’s 22-man squad.

For Brazil, that defeat was a tragedy, although it also served to spur on everything that was to come later: a record five World Cup titles to become one of the superpowers of global football. Uruguay need to remain conscious that all that their 1950 title belongs to a very distant past, Tabarez warns: “That is over. That was a different world.”

JUNE 2014

COLOMBIA

World Cup 2014

FIFA RANKING 8

31

C GROUP

A serious man who only talks to reporters in pre-programmed press conferences, and a well-organized and hard-working coach, Pekerman managed to turn things around and led Colombia to a World Cup they had not played for 16 years

COACH: JOSE PEKERMAN RODRIGO RUIZ TOVAR (DPA)

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ixteen years after crashing out of the France 1998 World Cup in tears, the Colombian national team is anxious to return to the top event in world football in Brazil 2014.Their hope is to make it past the round of 16, but several experts point out that they have what it takes to do even better.

The so-called “Coffee Growers” had a difficult start in the South American World Cup qualifiers under coach Leonel Alvarez, and pessimism soon set in within the country over their quick loss of useful points at home. However, the story radically turned around when Argentine-born coach Jose Pekerman, who led the Argentine national team in Germany 2006, took the helm of the Colombian side and gave them back an identity they had lost.

Colombia did not just attain the results that gave them qualification but also played their best round of South American qualifiers ever, and showed in several matches a level that was really noteworthy. In the end, they were second in the standings, with 30 points, behind Argentina. They let in the smallest number of any team in the region and had the third-most-prolific attack.

Colombia’s progress allowed them to be seeded, for the first time in their World Cup history, as one at the top teams in the FIFA rankings. Pekerman arrived in Colombia with the goal of obtaining a World Cup berth, but he was not planning to be the seeded team in Group C, which also holds Greece, Japan and Ivory Coast.

“This is historic. Only world champions have been seeded. This is a wonderful feat. Our goal was qualification, but based on our results, our number of points brought us to this situation,” a delighted Pekerman said

Colombia Anxious To Return To The World Cup After Long Absence

as he celebrated having made it to the World Cup. The Argentine’s leadership gave a definitive touch to a team that, like the Colombian side of the 1990s, brings together a set of players who are in the prime of their careers.

The Colombia of the 1990s had stars like Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincon, Faustino Asprilla, Adolfo Valencia and Rene Higuita, and this one hardly lags behind with players like Radamel Falcao Garcia, James Rodriguez, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado and Fredy Guarin.

Moreover, the coach who led Colombia to the World Cups in Italy 1990 and the United States 1994, Francisco Maturana, says the current team is a lot more experienced, since its players have been active from a young age in competitive tournaments abroad, while his own men mostly played at Colombian clubs.

Although Colombia is a football-crazy country and its local tournament, in its early days in the mid-20th century, had the luxury of attracting stars like Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano, their international achievements have been rather scanty.

They only won the Copa America in 2001, after a distant second place in 1975, and by 1990, when Maturana got to lead the talented “Pibe” Valderrama and company, the country’s only good football memory had been participation in the Chile 1962 World Cup, where they reaped an epic 4-4 draw against the powerful Soviet Union.

Colombia made it to the round of 16 in Italy 1990, but in the United States 1994 and France 1998 they could not get beyond the group phase. “I am sure that this squad will make it past the first round in Brazil, because it is a side that has the right attitude, along with good play and character,” says Valderrama, who is still regarded by many as the best player in the history of Colombian football.

Pekerman says he trusts his men’s potential and insists that their first goal, after qualification and being seeded, is to make it to the round of 16. Anything else that comes their way will be a welcome bonus for Colombia.

Colombia's progress allowed them to be seeded, for the first time in their World Cup history, as one at the top teams in the FIFA rankings.

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fter failing to recover from a serious knee injury, Colombia’s main attacking threat Radamel Falcao has been left out.

Now it is up to 22-year-old James Rodriguez, Falcao’s teammate at Monaco, to carry the hopes of Colombian fans. Considered by many in Colombia as the successor to iconic midfielder Carlos Valderrama, Rodriguez was a regular in Colombia’s youth squads and will have his first chance to prove his worth at a top international competition.

With or without Falcao, Colombia has a solid squad that cruised through South American qualifying, finishing second only to Argentina in the nine-team group. Its defense was the best in the region, led by veteran Mario Yepes.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA U-20 World Cup UAE 2003 (Third place), FIFA World Cup Italy 1990 (Round of 16) Former stars: Rene Higuita, Carlos Valderrama, Faustino Asprilla

KEY PLAYER : JAMES RODRIGUEZ

32

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

ITALY

FIFA RANKING 9

D GROUP

Perplexity Reigns As Italy Gear Up For World Cup In Brazil

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aptain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is the only survivor from their 2006 triumph in Germany along with Andrea Pirlo, while a host of youngsters have broken into the team, that include midfielder Marco Verratti. Up front, the transition from old to new has been even more dramatic thanks to Giuseppe Rossi’s return to the fore. Also with a vital role to play is the maverick Mario Balotelli.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Italy 1934, France 1938, Spain 1982 and Germany 2006 (Winners), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Berlin 1936 (Winners)

Few are willing to bet on Prandelli lifting Italy's fifth world title at the July 13 final, but hopeful and older fans look back to the slim chances given to the Azzurri ahead of the successful 1982 and 2006 campaigns

Former stars: Dino Zoff, Paolo Maldini, Silvio Piola

KEY PLAYER : MARIO BALOTELLI ALBERTO CAGLIANO (DPA)

D COACH: CESARE PRANDELLI With his idealism, but above all with good results on the pitch (as runners-up in the Euro 2012 and third placed in last year’s Confederations Cup), Prandelli has earned Italy’s respect.

oubts, with fair amounts of pessimism, are usual feelings among Italy’s fans ahead of World Cups. The tradition is fully respected ahead of the campaign the Azzurri are to kick off on June 14 in Brazil, with a first tough match against England followed by group games against Costa Rica and Uruguay.

A high-level friendly against world and European champions Spain worsened the general mood in early March as coach Cesare Prandelli ruthlessly recognized the poor form his men displayed as they crashed 1-0 in Madrid – about 100 days before the World Cup debut in Manaus.

“In this moment we saw that there is a difference in physical form from Spain which is almost embarrassing,” Prandelli said. “We must work a lot because we need to run faster. We tried to get the ball in their midfield, but we never succeeded because we do not have their speed.”

Optimists noted that the defeat against Spain was not as scorching as the 4-0 suffered in the Euro 2012 final, and that there is time to improve physically. As technical differences were also noticeable, it seems more realistic to consider the difficulty of getting top form in Brazil’s tropical conditions, a month from the end of the Serie A season.

Prandelli, who has complained without success about being unable to hold camps with his top players during the league season, in March held a three-day gathering of 31 players, mostly young and uncapped. The group of 23 who will travel to Brazil, however, seems to be set, with the naturalized Argentine Gabriel Paletta due to stay in the group after his convincing debut against Spain.

“He was the (game’s) positive note. His was a very good game,” Prandelli said about the Parma fullback. Parma also appear set to provide Antonio Cassano, a 31-year-old striker who overcame heart problems in 2012 and last played with the Azzurri at the ill-fated Euro final.

Cassano, who often couples his undiscussed talent with unruly behav-

iour, may lack the grit Prandelli needs at the World Cup, but can lift the team’s technical rate, possibly being deployed part-time.

AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli, a younger but likewise moody talent, is Prandelli’s main striker, while doubts remain about the recovery from injury of Giuseppe Rossi. The diminutive Fiorentina striker was the Serie A top scorer, on 14 goals from 18 games, when in early January he hurt a knee he was previously operated on. Goalkeeping captain Gianluigi Buffon, and his team-mates Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Andrea Barzagli, all from Juventus, are to man Prandelli’s defence as the Serie A champions also provide midfielders Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo.

Beside the perplexity surrounding his team and the chances to win a fifth world title, Prandelli seems set extend his contract before the start of the World Cup, staying on if allowed to manage also the Azzurri youth teams.

“We will meet with the football federations (FIGC), we will talk

and decide about the future,” the 56-year-old coach said. “But I am setting one thing straight: if I find an agreement for an extension it is fine, otherwise I am not taking other jobs.”

Prandelli took over from 2006 world champion coach Marcello Lippi in 2010, after a disappointing showing at the World Cup in South Africa.

His best achievements were the second place at Euro 2012 and the third at the 2013 Confederations Cup. Few are willing to bet on him lifting Italy’s fifth world title at the July 13 final, but hopeful and older fans look back to the slim chances given to the Azzurri ahead of the successful 1982 and 2006 campaigns. In both occasions, the squad showed up as underdogs and struggled through the group phase, but switched gears in the second part of the tournaments to subvert negative outlooks.

When the Azzurri on June 4 depart for their Brazilian base in Mangaratiba, a seaside town 100 kilometres west of Rio de Janeiro, some of their supporters may be looking with confidence at their imperfect form.

JUNE 2014

ENGLAND

FIFA RANKING 10

World Cup 2014

33

D GROUP

England Need Rooney And “Luck” In Tough World Cup Group W

ayne Rooney remains England’s greatest talent and his seven goals in six World Cup qualifying starts underlined his importance to Roy Hodgson’s side. In midfield, Gerrard and Frank Lampard provide experience and creativity while young guns Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain highlight the Three Lions’ attacking flair for the future. Danny Welbeck came into his own during qualification, scoring four goals on the way to the finals, while Daniel Sturridge’s emergence as one of the English Premier League’s top forwards can only bolster Roy Hodgson’s attacking options for Brazil.

While it is assumed the experience of 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard – one of England's best players at Euro 2012 - will be crucial, cynics can point out he was part of previous English failures at major tournaments.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup England 1966 (Winners) Former stars: Sir Bobby Charlton, Peter Shilton, Gary Lineker

DEREK WILSON (DPA)

W

KEY PLAYER : WAYNE ROONEY

ith years of underachievement behind them and crushing pressure from intense media never far away, only by springing a surprise in Brazil can England finally live up to the demands made on them by a country still fanatical about football.

England, the country which brought the sport to the world, has only one major trophy to its name, and that was the home World Cup of 1966. Critics have plenty of ammunition even from that solitary success: England were, uniquely, allowed to play every game in London and won the final with one goal which didn’t cross the line and another scored in the middle of a pitch invasion.

The only World Cup semi-final reached away from home soil was in 1990. Quarter-final exits have become commonplace, in spite of the “England expects” mantra repeated by the press before several tournaments. “England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks” was the cocky pneumonic used by the Sun after the World Cup 2010 group draw was made. “You’ve let your country down” was the equally blunt, and equally false, conclusion when England were hammered by Germany in the first knock-out stage.

“I’d love to see us approach the World Cup this summer – if we qualify - without the pressure from the media; I’d love to see the players be allowed to go over there, express themselves and play without fear,” former England international Kevin Phillips wrote for Sky in October.

Several people would no doubt agree. But Phillips himself, just a few paragraphs earlier in his column, had already revealed why that will not happen. “We play in the best league in the world, in my eyes, and we have 85-90 per cent of the best players on the planet playing in our league,” he said.

Ignoring the veracity of that statement, it is little wonder manager Roy Hodgson has brought in a sports psychologist to work with the players and help them deal with the intense pressure of

COACH: ROY HODGSON Having experience from a wide variety of football, his man-management skills have been his main strength. His tactical nous has been the subject of DVDs and he knows the game inside and out.

Extremely malleable, Hodgson changes his formations to suit his players. Over the years he has used every one in the book, and even created a few of his own, but 4-4-2 seems to be the order of the day.

the build-up to a World Cup. While it is assumed the experience of 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard – one of England’s best players at Euro 2012 - will be crucial, cynics can point out he was part of previous English failures at major tournaments.

And even Manchester United star Wayne Rooney, the one-time teenage prodigy and darling of English football, has often failed to deliver on the international stage. “Maybe once or twice in the past, I think I can say without fear of contradiction that on the world stage he hasn’t exploded as he has on our national stage, where we all accept him as an outstanding player,” Hodgson said in February. “We have been together for a couple of years, we are growing slowly and there will be an opportunity for him in Brazil to show he is not just a great star in the Premier League, but a world star.”

Getting the best out of Rooney is one of the main tasks facing Roy Hodgson in Brazil. Hodgson gives the impression of being calm, considerate and thoughtful. He is undeniably well-travelled and multi-lingual. In fact, he is almost totally the opposite of Harry Redknapp, the media favourite for the job when Hodgson was picked by the FA. After a regrettable false start – the Sun headline on his appointment made fun of his (minor) speech impediment – Hodgson has inspired respect, if not yet admiration, for the job he has done. Not only has he guided England to the World Cup, there is even sign of a change within the team. Younger, dynamic players such as winger Jordan Henderson, striker Daniel Sturridge, both of Liverpool, and Everton’s excellent left back Leighton Baines are becoming established and marginalising the previous generation.

There is also stability in goal despite the wobble in form suffered by Manchester City’s Joe Hart last year. Not only is there no serious competition to take the number one jersey from him, he is the finest English keeper of his generation.

With a devilishly tricky group including Uruguay and Italy waiting in Brazil, England are in for a tough time, and nothing less than their very best will be enough to progress. The final warmup match before naming the final squad was a narrow 1-0 win at home to Denmark. It was not a terrible performance, but Danish coach Morten Olsen likely summed up England’s chances in just 12 words. ”I wish you good luck in the World Cup,” said the Dane. “You need it.”

34

World Cup 2014

BELGIUM

JUNE 2014

FIFA RANKING 11

H GROUP

All In Red: Belgian Team Seeks To Unite The Country At World Cup After years as an unimportant team in European football, a new generation has arrived that has already proved golden for the small country of 11 million

COACH: MARC WILMOTS

BENNO SCHWINGHAMMER

W

(DPA)

hen Belgium play Algeria in Belo Horizonte on June 17, there will be more at stake for the young European team than just a good start to the World Cup. Their success is equally important back home, behind the TV screens.

Belgium, deeply divided between the French-speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemish community, celebrates national team wins in one voice.

Belgium are already being called the “secret favourites” in Brazil 2014. The highly rated team is coached by Marc Wilmots, 41, himself a former Belgium player and a UEFA Cup winner with Schalke 04. The coach remains cautious, although he says he would not like “to fly to Brazil as a tourist.”

“I want us not to be afraid and not to feel smaller than our rivals,” Wilmots said.

Indeed, Belgium have little reason to feel below other teams. After years as an unimportant team in European football, a new generation has arrived that

A dogged midfielder, dubbed “Kampfschwein” (fighting pig) by adoring fans of German side Schalke 04, senator, coach - Marc Wilmots will need the traits of all three of his careers, past and present, to turn Belgium’s World Cup into a success.

has already proved golden for the small country of 11 million.

Their 23-year-old superstar Eden Hazard was traded to Chelsea for 40 million euros (55 million dollars) barely two years ago. Zenit St. Petersburg paid a similar amount for midfielder Alex Witsel, while Marouane Fellaini joined Manchester United for 32 million euros (44 million dollars).

It is mainly the mix of players that makes Belgium hard to tackle for their rivals: Hazard with his great technique and Wolfsburg’s Kevin de Bruyne with his good dribbling play alongside tough guys like Witsel, Fellaini or Tottenham’s Moussa Dembele.

And there is more to the team than just great young talent. Belgium also have experienced veterans like centre back Daniel van Buyten.

For Van Buyten, 36, the team’s success is due to the experience that Belgian players have gained abroad.

“The biggest factor is that all the young players are suddenly playing abroad. They all used to play in Belgium.

They were still good players, but only as good as the Belgian league,” Van Buyten, a Champions League winner with

Bayern Munich, said in an interview with FIFA. Thanks to such developments among others, the Red Devils have made it back to the World Cup after 12 years.

Belgium have played the tournament 11 times in their history, and in 1986 they even reached the semi-finals. Now, they dream of repeating such past success.

And yet not only sport is at stake for Belgium in Brazil. The team, which former Belgium keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff described as “the most promising in European football,” could also serve as a model for the whole nation.

In 2010 the language divide put Belgium on the verge of a break-up as a country. For 541 days, Belgium had no government, until socialist Elio Di Rupo took office as prime minister.

In 2014, on the other hand, all Belgians could come together around the red national team shirt. Everyone has bought the shirt, Van Buyten says. In June, the country is to come together, just like its young players will on the pitch.

“Everyone is sticking together. It doesn’t matter if you are Flemish or Walloon,” Wilmots said proudly.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Mexico 1986 (Fourth place), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Antwerp 1920 (Winners) Former stars: Enzo Scifo, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Marc Wilmots

KEY PLAYER : EDEN HAZARD

O

n paper, Belgium can call upon an armada of stars, all plying their trade in Europe’s most prestigious championships. The depth of their talent pool is striking, with Nacer Chadli threatening to eclipse crowd favourite Eden Hazard before the latter has approached anything near his peak. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Toby Alderweireld are the latest stars to emerge, while the likes of Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen, Axel Witsel, Marouane Fellaini and Steven Defour have already established themselves as senior figures.

JUNE 2014

GREECE

World Cup 2014

FIFA RANKING 12

35

C GROUP

Greece Looking To Score Euro Repeat At World Cup

Best performances in a FIFA competition: USA 1994, South Africa 2010 (Group stages) Former stars: Theodoros Zagorakis, Antonios Nikopolidis, Angelos Basinas

Greece will be appearing at their third World Cup, after 1994 and 2010, and their fifth major international tournament in the last decade.

KEY PLAYER : GIORGOS KARAGOUNIS

C

aptain and seasoned midfield general Giorgos Karagounis remains the dominant figure in the Greek line-up but forwards Dimitrios Salpingidis and Mitroglou will certainly have a part to play and provide Santos with a variety of attacking options. He can also call on the experience of the likes of Theofanis Gekas and Giorgos Samaras, which will be key when the tournament begins. Incidentally, though, despite their array of attacking talent, it was Greece’s defence that stole the show in qualifying, laying the foundation for success by conceding just four times in ten matches.

CHRISTINE PIROVOLAKIS (DPA)

S COACH: FERNANDO SANTOS A big advantage for Santos and Greece is their coach’s extensive knowledge of Greek football and culture from his time as a club manager, having coached some of the country’s top clubs in AEK Athens, Panathinaikos and PAOK.

Greece blindsided football fans around the world when they won the Euro in 2004. Now, 10 years later, they are looking to carry out the same herculean feat at the World Cup in Brazil.

Portuguese coach Fernando Santos, who took over the squad in May 2010 from German Otto Rehhagel, has dramatically altered the team’s playing style, from a defensive to a mainly attack-oriented side, resulting in a record 24 victories and only four defeats in 41 games. He has successfully led Greece to 12th place in the FIFA rankings.

“We have our own identity and will not change for anyone,” the 59-year-old Santos said. “I will not follow the tactics of Rehhagel. I want people to say Santos’s national team is a compact group with its own identity. We want to dominate the game,” he added.

Santos had previously coached the Portuguese big three – Porto, Sporting Lis-

bon and Benfica – along with Panathinaikos and AEK Athens in Greece. The coach, who helped steer Greece to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 before taking the team to the World Cup in Brazil via a play-off against Romania in November, said that he would be leaving his job as Greece coach after the World Cup. He is expected to seek a return to club football after the international event.

“I believe my decision to leave in the summer will not affect my players,” he said.

“They will give their all in the World Cup, so that our parting will be the best possible. That is my intention as well. My only aim is to see Greece qualify for the World Cup knock-out stage, and I will do everything in my power to achieve that and make Greek fans happy.”

Greece will be appearing at their third World Cup, after 1994 and 2010, and their fifth major international tournament in the last decade. “I know that this qualification is important to me for the players, but also for the Greek people,” said Santos. “It is a message of hope and faith,” he added. “Belief in our abilities, and hope

that the wheel will turn, and we will find ourselves overcoming the economic crisis.”

The Greek national team will face Colombia, Ivory Coast and Japan in Group C. “All three teams are difficult, but not the worst possible scenario for us. We will have to see them first, they have remarkable players, especially Colombia, but we should not be afraid of them,” said leftback Giorgos Tzavellas.

Defensive midfielder Alexandros Tziolis described the group as “difficult,” but he remained confident. “We know little of the teams because they are not from our continent, but we have our chances of qualifying,” he said.

Commenting on his choice of players for the World Cup, Santos was unbending.

“No player has been ruled out as yet, and nobody should consider themselves certain of traveling to Brazil. We will continue to monitor all players and their condition.

When the time comes, I will make the picks that I deem fair. I am 200 per cent focused on the upcoming World Cup.”

36

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

USA

FIFA RANKING 13

G GROUP

Team USA Aim To Fulfill Elusive Promise Team USA comes in to the World Cup with a very respectable FIFA ranking of 13 and a renewed confidence in its ability to make an impact on the biggest stage in world football.

COACH: JURGEN KLINSMANN United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann has always done things his own way. Whether as a top goalscorer in Europe’s leading leagues, or as a coach who re-invigorated a tired old German national team, the Klinsmann style is unmistakable in everything he does: fast, smart and filled with infectious energy.

ANDY GOLDBERG (DPA)

S

ince the fabled days of Pele and Franz Beckenbauer at the New York Cosmos in the 1970’s the world has been waiting for the US to become a world power in football. Now, under the leadership of former Germany striker and national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann that time may be at hand.

Team USA comes in to the World Cup with a very respectable FIFA ranking of 13 and a renewed confidence in its ability to make an impact on the biggest stage in world football.

Though Klinsnmann’s brand of swashbuckling high-tempo football has a lot to do with the resurgence, the team is also benefiting from football’s status as the fastest growing major sport in the US. The arrival of David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 put the world’s most popular game in the national headlines on a daily basis, just as the three mainstays of the US sporting scene were being hit by scandal. Evidence linking American football to brain damage became impossible to ignore, the greatest baseball stars were indicted in steroid scandals, and basketball heroes were implicated in all manner of crime.

At the same time, US exposure to league games from Europe and south America attract-

ed a new generation of fans, while the popularity of video games like FIFA 13 further grew the fan base.

The result, according to a September study

by ESPN, is that soccer, as the game is called in America, is now the second most popular sport in the US among those aged 18 to 24, surpassed only by the NFL. That ensures an almost certain record viewership when Team USA takes the field in Natal on June 16 to play Ghana, followed by the June 22 game versus Portugal and a crunch game against Germany four days later.

Past USA teams would have been content to rely on their traditional qualities of athleticism, team work and tenacity to get something out of the games against more traditional football nations. But under Klinsmann there’s a new swagger in their approach, a willingness to play out from the back, and to ping the ball around midfield to create openings for their attackers.

“Something is happening in this country with the professional game that we’re trying to get to the next level,” said Klinsmann. “We’re pushing younger players into the roster, we’re keeping the door open for everybody and we’re trying to develop a style of play that hopefully excites the people more and more.”

All those factors came into play in a recent 2-0 victory against South Korea, semi-finalists in 2002, in front of a sell-out crowd in Carson,

California. The US dominated possession forcing South Korea to rely on counter attacks which were usually quickly snuffed out by swift US recovery.

Adding to the air of confidence are other potentially key advantages over its rivals, due to the schedule of the domestic league, Major League Soccer, whose season typically runs from March to early December.

This means that most of the players will be relatively fresh compared to opponents just coming off grueling leagues in Europe. It also allowed Klinsmann to hold a month-long training camp in January and to take a large group of players to the team base in Sao Paulo for two weeks to help acclimatize them to conditions.

While the team doesn’t boast any players of proven world-class ability, it has plenty of members capable of performing at a high level. From strikers such as Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altadore, to midfielders Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones, and goalie Tim Howard, the US has the tools to progress from the group stage if any of the other teams fails to perform.

“We could go to Brazil, play three games and sit back for 90 minutes and pray we get results,” said Donovan, the US’ all-time leading scorer.

“But, that’s not how we’re going to progress as a soccer nation, so we’re going to go with the confidence to play. We’re evolving as a nation.”

KEY PLAYER : TIM HOWARD

J

ozy Altidore, of English Premier League outfit Sunderland, emerged as the complete package during the final qualifying competition. Left out of the team due to poor form and attitude in the semi-final round, Klinsmann reconsidered and wasn’t let down by his burly striker, who scored goals for fun and was the perfect partner for Clint Dempsey in attack. With Tim Howard still a dominant presence between the sticks, the Americans are loaded with ability wherever you look.

Best performances in a FIFA Competition: FIFA World Cup Uruguay 1930 (Third place), FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1992, Mexico 1999 (Third place), FIFA U-20 World Cup Saudi Arabia 1989 (Fourth place), FIFA U-17 World Cup New Zealand 1999 (Fourth place), FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 (Second place) Former stars: John Harkes, Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

CHILE

FIFA RANKING 14

37

B GROUP

Chile Dream Of Downing Giants In Brazil 2014 Chile, under the strict watch of their Argentine-born coach Jorge Sampaoli, at least showed ample evidence of their character on the pitch over the past year

Coach: Jorge Sampaoli Sampaoli started with an impressive managerial period at Coronel Bolognesi in 2006, and then again with a brief but fruitful period at O’Higgins and Emelec.

He definitively consecrated as a head coach in 2011-2012 with Universidad de Chile, winning three league titles and the Copa Sudamericana championship. This success led him to coach the Chilean team of La Roja.

F

orwards Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas, as well as attacking midfielder Arturo Vidal, is the leading men in a squad packed with talent and boasting viable alternatives in each position. Nor must we forget experienced performers such as Claudio Bravo, Gary Medel and Jorge Valdivia, or exciting rising stars like Jean Beausejour and Marcelo Diaz.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Chile 1962 (Third place), FIFA U-17 World Cup Japan 1993 (Third place), FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 (Third place), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Sydney 2000 (Third place) Former stars: Elias Figueroa, Ivan Zamorano, Marcelo Salas

Key Player : Alexis Sanchez

MAURICIO WEIBEL (DPA)

C

hile, who have never won an official tournament in their history, hope to be one of the success stories in Brazil 2014, as they challenge Spain, the Netherlands and Australia in Group B with their attack-oriented style.

“I want to be world champion,” Barcelona striker Alexis Sanchez said in no uncertain terms immediately after his team qualified for the World Cup. “I feel that we are in a position to fight for the trophy,” said Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal, Chile’s other star player.

Chile, under the strict watch of their Argentine-born coach Jorge Sampaoli, at least showed ample evidence of their character on the pitch over the past year.

In friendlies, they appeared close to winning and eventually drew against Brazil and Spain, they beat England at Wembley, and they got what seemed to be an unfair 1-0 defeat against Germany in Stuttgart.

“They are a team that plays incredibly well,” Germany coach Joachim Loew told dpa in an interview. Loew’s sincere admiration emerged after his men were booed by their own fans because the South American team dominated play.

The Chileans’ major strength, in the wake of the mental revolution that their

former Argentine-born coach Marcelo Bielsa launched in South Africa 2010 is their frontal, unabashed style. Indeed, Chile always put pressure on rival play.

They are daring in attack, with major acceleration and with the ball on the ground, and they use the wings well.

“Chile are currently the best South American team,” Brazilian football legend Pele said in Paris. For the man nicknamed “The King,” they are candidates to lift the trophy in Brazil 2014, alongside teams like France, Germany, Argentina or Italy.

The enthusiasm of Chilean players has caught on among fans. A 600-vehicle caravan even plans to travel as a bloc the 4,500 kilometres to Chile’s 2014 World Cup opener, against Australia in Cuiaba on June 13, crossing the Andes at an altitude of 4,000 metres.

However, the reds have weaknesses that could hamper their hopes of surpassing the third place Chile got at home in the 1962 World Cup. One inescapable problem is the team’s average height, one of the lowest in the tournament. In South Africa 2010, Chile were in fact the shortest team, with an average of 1.77 metres in their matches against Honduras, Switzerland, Spain and Brazil.

A further complication is their lack of a natural goal scorer. Coach Sampaoli has not managed to find a replacement for the injured Humberto Suazo, beyond improvising midfielders like Vidal and

Palmeiras’s Jorge Valdivia as false 9s.

However, Sampaoli remains confident about making it through to the round of 16, where his men might again have to face Brazil. Chile have not beaten Brazil since the South American qualifiers ahead of the France 1998 World Cup. “You get excited when that you see you can play on a par with rivals with a great level,” Sampaoli admitted. Chile’s true chances are set to emerge from June 13, but Sampaoli is not in awe even of world champions Spain, who already beat Chile in South Africa 2010.

“Spain are not the same as they were in the last World Cup. The players are now older. I see Spain as more bourgeois. They are finding it hard to react to the little time they have left until the World Cup,” Sampaoli told dpa in an interview.

“If they react, they do have elements they can draw upon, definitely. But I see Spain at a stage in which they are going to have to react, because otherwise it is going to be hard for them,” he said.

Whatever happens on the pitch, Chile are already set to achieve an unprecedented feat in Brazil. In their clash against Spain in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium, they are both set to become the first two teams in the history of the World Cup to repeat a World Cup match in the same city, the same venue and the same group.

In 1950, Spain won the match 2-0.

38

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

NETHERLANDS

FIFA RANKING 15

B GROUP

The Oranje: At Best “Outsiders” In Brazil 2014 This Netherlands team is not quite as strong as some of its predecessors. Besides, the draw handed them one of the toughest groups in Brazil, alongside defending champions Spain, a Chile side which is considered good, and Australia.

PABLO SANGUINETTI

T

(DPA)

he old lion is back, at least on the shirts of the Dutch national team: players and fans alike are delighted about the bright orange shirt with its nostalgic heraldic animal.

The lion is also a symbol of the Oranje’s most successful football moments, the European championship title of 1988 and the World Cup finals of 1974, 1978 and 2010. And yet it is doubtful that the lion can roar on

the green grass in Brazil. For the first time in many years, the Netherlands are not regarded as favourites in a major international tournament.

The team reached the final four years ago in South Africa 2010, and now the Dutch federation (KNVB) expects coach Louis van Gaal to lead his men at least to the semi-finals. However, only a few people in the Netherlands believe he will. Even Van Gaal, 62, of whom it can hardly be said that he has an inferiority complex, remains cautious.

“We see ourselves as outsiders,” says the former coach of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. He says this even though the Oranje qualified for the tournament with an impressive nine wins and one draw.

“We have brought many young players onto the team, we played great football and scored many goals in the qualifying

Coach: Louis Van Gaal Van Gaal is prepared to juggle his formation in accordance with the players at his disposal. He tends to favour wider formations, however, and forces his teams to press high up the pitch, dominate possession and also be clinical on the counter attack.

In 1994-95, his Ajax side went the entire league and Champions League season unbeaten, and is thus considered one of the finest to have graced Europe.

R

obin van Persie’s blossoming into one of the finest strikers in the world has been a huge boon to the Dutch, with the Manchester United marksman topping the goal-scoring charts with 11 goals. He was able assisted in that department though by the likes of Jermaine Lens - who has progressed into a key part of the Oranje outfit - and Rafael van der Vaart. ArjenRobben continues to be a menace on the wing, while formerly promising youngsters such as Daryl Janmaat is now key components of the side.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Germany 1974, Argentina 1978, South Africa 2010 (Runners-up), FIFA Futsal World Cup Netherlands 1989 (Runners-up), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament London 1908, Stockholm 1912, Antwerp 1920 (Third place), FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2005 (Third place) Former stars: Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp

Key Player : Robin Van Persie

round,” says Van Gaal. “But still, it will be hard to reach the semi-finals.” To start with, this Netherlands team is not quite as strong as some of its predecessors. Besides, the draw handed them one of the toughest groups in Brazil, alongside defending champions Spain, a Chile side which is considered good, and Australia.

A rematch of the South Africa 2010 final is set to be played as early as June 13. While Spain kept up the pace after winning the World Cup and also won the 2012 Euro, the Netherlands did conspicuously less well. At the Euro, in fact, they were eliminated in the group round, without having reaped a single point.

Should Van Gaal’s team make it through its “Group of Death,” they could well land hosts Brazil, the top favourites to win the title, in the round of 16. Again, hardly an easy task. “I would describe it as a big, beautiful challenge,” said Bayern Munich striker Arjen Robben, with a touch of an understatement.

This is the third World Cup for Robben, 30, and of course, the Dutch star is hoping for success. “To say now that we are going to

become world champions would be very opportunistic. But that’s of course what we want, and I am doing my best for that,” Robben said.

In order to attain their goal of reaching the semi-finals, the Netherlands’ best players will need to be in top form: Robben (Bayern Munich), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Gregory van der Wiel (Paris St.Germain) and defender Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa) have all put on great performances of late.

However, Van Gaal and the Oranje took a tough blow when Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman was injured in March and it became known that he would miss the World Cup. Wesley Sneijder has been in good form at Galatasaray, but he is yet to return to his level of the 2010 World Cup. And yet no one should underestimate the coach. For Van Gaal, Brazil 2014 is quite a personal vendetta. Twelve years ago, in his first stint as Netherlands coach, he did not manage to qualify for the World Cup with the Oranje. Now, he is determined to wipe off this stain. “I always want to win, in Brazil too,” says Van Gaal, who wants to quit after

the World Cup. “Compared to other countries, we may not have the best players, but that does not mean that we cannot win.”

Fans are happy that Van Gaal has led the national team back to its old style. They play with classic wingers and attack-oriented wing backs, and he seeks to enjoy good ball possession. In this sense, he is a lot more attack-minded than his predecessor, Bert van Marwijk.

Besides, for him, the performance of the team is above those of single players, which is why the superstars of top European clubs play alongside many young talents of the Netherlands’ Eredivisie, without complaints.

Dutch fans hope that Van Gaal’s pride and the chance to take another shot at Spain will give the Dutch team extra energy. Ideally, the boost would allow them to lift the trophy on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium, 40 years after the best Netherlands team of all time failed to do just that. In 1974, the so-called Total Football Machine around the legendary Johan Cruyff lost the final against Germany.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

FRANCE

FIFA RANKING 17

39

E GROUP

“Les Bleus,” Between Their Ghosts And The Hope Of Emulating 1998

COACH: DIDIER DESCHAMPS

Deschamps has made a name for himself in France, Italy, England and Spain, commanding the respect of his players. He has succeeded in finding a balance of youth and experience to transform the fortunes of every club he has managed.

Against the odds and at just 34 years of age, he was dubbed the ‘Prince of Monaco’ after guiding the principality outfit to their most impressive Champions League campaign to date, inspiring a youthful side to the final and watching them fire in 27 goals en route

French people now await Brazil 2014, torn between awareness of the ghosts of recent years and the hope that their national team may repeat the title of 1998, when Les Bleus gave Brazil a 3-0 thrashing in the final

EMILIO RAPPOLD (DPA)

T

here are many in France who think that the sudden head-butt from Zinedine Zidane that brought down Italy’s Marco Materazzi during the final of the Germany 2006 World Cup did not just cost Zidane a red card and France the title: it also unleashed a terrible curse, they say.

“Just look at what was to follow. The cause of all this cannot be just disorganization,” says Yves, a young doctor from Paris.

“What was to follow” are three major international tournaments (the Euro in 2008 and 2012 and the 2010 World Cup) in which France not only failed miserably on the pitch but also tarnished their image with a long string of scandals.

Nonsense and ridicule were at their worst four years ago at the World Cup in South Africa, when controversial striker Nicolas Anelka obscenely insulted Coach Raymond Domenech at half-time in France’s defeat to Mexico.

Anelka’s words – uttered in the presumed privacy of the changing-room – quickly made it to the front page of the French sports daily L’Equipe and set off a whirlwind of events that climaxed in the incredible “training strike” that Franck Ribery and company declared in Knysna, and in a groupround exit with two defeats and a draw.

French people now await Brazil 2014, torn between awareness of the ghosts of recent years and the hope that their national team may repeat the title of 1998, when Les Bleus gave Brazil a 3-0 thrashing in the final.

France reached the World Cup in Brazil via a heroic play-off, in which a spectacular 3-0 over Ukraine at the Stade de France served both to compensate an earlier 2-0 defeat away and to breed excitement.

K France’s hopes are pinned on a new generation of very talented young players, like Paul Pogba (20), Lucas Digne (20), Antoine Griezmann (22), Raphael Varane (20) and Eliaquim Mangala (23).

There are also good expectations regarding a few experienced players who may stand before their last World Cup chance and promise to redeem themselves, since they among other problems took part in the “strike”, such as Ribery (30), Patrice Evra (32) and keeper Hugo Lloris (27).

Above all, however, the hopes of the fans and the media rest on coach Didier Deschamps.

Deschamps, 45, a “small giant” who stands 1.73 metres and is a sort of real-life Asterix, has proved that he managed to impose on his men the discipline that he ran by when he was active as a midfielder and won the 1998 World Cup and the Euro 2000.

In the framework of his “clean-up,” the man known as “DD” ruled out several extremely talented players of the so-called “golden generation of 1987,” like Samir Nasri, Hatem ben Arfa and Yann M’Vila, who failed to learn the lessons of 2010 and did not exactly behave well during the Euro 2012.

Before that tournament, Domenech’s successor Laurent Blanch had attained a 23-game unbeaten streak. However, at the Euro, where France played badly and lost in the quarter-finals to later

champions Spain, Nasri insulted a reporter and Ben Arfa and M’Vila had problems with the coach.

However, all that now lies in the past, at least for those who hope a better future lies ahead. 1998 world champion Youri Djorkaeff (46) is among the most optimistic.

“Deschamps can win the World Cup,” says Djorkaeff, a friend of the coach. “It’s not for nothing that he’s always been called ‘Didier La Chance’ (Good Luck Didier).”

Those who know Deschamps well tend to agree. It is the case of fellow 1998 world champion Patrick Vieira.

“We have very good players, and no one is expecting anything. There is not a lot of pressure, and that’s going to be a very important factor. Can we win? In principle, I’d say no, because there are other teams who are better.

But there can be a surprise,” Vieira said.

In the relatively easy Group E, France are set to play Honduras, Switzerland and Ecuador.

“We want to erase Knysna. If we make it into the round of 16, anything can happen,” Lloris stressed.

arim Mostafa Benzema (born 19 December 1987) is a French international footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid in La Liga and the French national football team. A precocious talent and widely considered to be one of best all-round forwards in the world, Benzema can make his own chances, finish clinically in the area and make assists for his teammates. He always places his talents at the service of the team.

His game is based on power and movement on both wings, skill on the ball and deadly finishing in the last few metres of the pitch Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup France 1998 (Winners), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Los Angeles 1984 (Winners), FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001, France 2003 (Winners), FIFA U-17 World Cup Trinidad and Tobago 2001 (Winners), and FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005 (Winners) Former stars: Just Fontaine, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane

KEY PLAYER : KARIM MOSTAFA BENZEMA

40

World Cup 2014

CROATIA

JUNE 2014

FIFA RANKING 18

A GROUP

Croatia-Sure To Surprise

Spoiled by their persistently strong international presence, Croatians always expect both ambition and results from their team. The World Cup in June is no different, and fans are not in awe at anybody

E

xperienced captain DarijoSrna is a born leader, and playmakers Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic can always be relied upon for moments of inspiration. Kovac presides over a wealth of international-class attacking talent including Eduardo, IvicaOlic, Nikita Jelavic and Mario Mandzukic.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: 1998 FIFA World Cup France (Third place) Former stars: DavorSuker, ZvonimirBoban, Robert Prosinecki

Key Player : Luka Modric

PABLO SANGUINETTI

C

Many people would say Croatia’s problems started when Niko Kovac retired in 2008. Six years later, he’s back with the team that includes many of his former team-mates. His task now is to try and translate his former on-field general persona and familiar charisma into his new role as their boss.

Coach: Niko Kovac

(DPA)

roatia’s coach Niko Kovac often angers fans by praising Brazil as favourites and giving his own team the role of outsiders in their match, the first of the upcoming World Cup. Kovac’s caution, if not an act, is understandable: Brazil are hosts and football giants with five world titles. Croatia, if the 19 games they played independently during the Second World War are disregarded, only barged onto the international scene 21 years ago.

“Brazil are favourites not just in our group, but overall,” Kovac says.

His mantra since the draw predicts that “Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon will fight for second place and passage to the next stage.”

The awe-struck tone irritates many in Croatia, a country that split from Yugoslavia in 1991 and was inducted to the world football organization FIFA two years later.

Before independence, Croats played for Yugoslavia and provided key ingredients for the country’s world youth title in 1987 and their strong, unlucky showing at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when they lost to Diego Maradona’s Argentina in a quarter-final penalty shootout.

After the split, Croatia proved by far the strongest of the former Yugoslav republics.

Since then, the team qualified for four out of

five World Cup tournaments - with a third place in the first, in France 1998 - and four out of five Euros since 1996.

Spoiled by their persistently strong international presence, Croatians always expect both ambition and results from their team. The World Cup in June is no different, and fans are not in awe at anybody.

“Coach, the way you murmur to Brazilians and underestimate our team, as if we have no chance and they are favourites, makes me believe that we should best default the game,” a fan, Dario Vidovic, commented a report on Croatia’s leading football portal, gol.hr.

How realistic is the expectation? As usual in sport, it is difficult to predict, particularly with a team that has shown volatility, as Croatia has in the past, but also recently, in World Cup qualifications.

The team is star-studded at the front, with Real Madrid’s Luka Modric, Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic and Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic capable of terrorizing any defense.

Mandzukic will miss the Brazil match due to a suspension following a red card in the final qualifying match, a 2-0 win over Iceland in November.

A powerful striker who importantly chips in on defense as well, he will be back for the remaining two group matches and any possible matches that follow.

“Mandzukic is one of best European strikers, and clearly we are not indifferent to his absence,” reserve goalie, Monaco’s Danijel Subasic, admitted in a briefing with reporters

before the team’s first match in 2014, a 2-2 draw against Switzerland.

Modric is a lucid midfielder capable of striking and assisting both through the middle and from the wing. The leader of the team, he has been on form at Real after a lengthy acclimatization process following his arrival in 2012.

The youngest of the trio at 26, the Swissborn Rakitic - who has actually played for Switzerland’s youth teams - earned captaincy over Sevilla last year, two years after arriving.

Kovac has additional options for the attack in Wolfsburg’s veteran Ivica Olic, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian-born Eduardo da Silva, and Hull City’s Nikica Jelavic.

Croatia’s backfield is less sparkly by far, but it features solid, tested veterans. They usually perform better than they did against Switzerland on March 5, when both goals followed defensive blunders.

Croatia will travel to Brazil without they most capped player, Dinamo Zagreb’s defender Josip Simunic, another from the squad suspended after the triumph over Iceland in the qualifications playoff. Simunic performed a pro-nazi salute on the pitch and earned a 10-match ban which dashed his hope of playing in a third World Cup. The hope of the nation and the team for a good World Cup performance remains, nevertheless. Kovac himself vaguely estimated Croatia’s chances.

“Everybody dreams of success. Our dream is to reach the final, but there are others with the same chances,” he said. “We want to be the surprise.”

According to Kovac, Croatia can surprise only by “going far” after advancing from the group stage. It seems, however, that Croatians would be unhappily surprised by anything less than that.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

RUSSIA

FIFA RANKING 19

41

H GROUP

Star Coach Capello Concerned About Russia’s Defence Russians are delighted that, under Capello, the Sbornaya finished the qualifiers top of their group, despite having a tough rival like Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal

T

his latest Russian side is built on solid defensive foundations. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev did not miss a single minute of the qualifying competition and conceded just five goals during the course of it, while Sergey Ignashevich marshalled the defence with aplomb. Yet Fabio Capello’s most prized assets can be found in what is a technically gifted and astute midfield unit, where Roman Shirokov and Victor Fayzulin have continued to hone the partnership they have forged at Zenit St Petersburg, scoring six goals between them in the qualifiers.

BENEDIKT VON IMHOFF (DPA)

R

ussia’s star is their coach, Fabio Capello: after qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, the Italian has Russia at his feet.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and federation president Nikolai Tolstykh were quick to extend Capello’s contract at the helm of the national team, until the Russia 2018 World Cup. With an annual salary of up to 9 million euro (12.4 million dollars), he is one of the world’s highest-paid coaches, although he will be over 70 when his contract expires.

Russians are delighted that, under Capello, the Sbornaya finished the qualifiers top of their group, despite having a tough rival like Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

“It is a team that has changed its playing style, it has changed its mentality.

We are playing good football, with good quality players,” Capello told dpa in an interview.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the team’s top scorer was Kerzhakov. Though not always a starter, the Zenit striker helped himself to five goals during the campaign, the most important of them being that winner against the Portuguese.

A lethal finisher, the former Sevilla man could wreak havoc in Brazil. .

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup England 1966 (Fourth place) Former stars: Yashin, Eduard Streltsov, Oleg Blokhin

Key Player : IGOR AKINFEEV

“We are a complete team. We’re not the best, like the favourites, but watch out!”

The former England coach has managed to turn a group of individually outstanding players back into a team. Still, however, he does not want to set himself excessive goals.

“Getting to the quarter-finals would be a success for us,” Capello said.

Particularly in attack, the former Italy player is spoilt for choice, so much so that he can afford not to call FC Rostov’s Artyom Dzyuba, 25, one of the best strikers of the Russian Premier League, for his 4-3-3 system.

Another forward, Alexander Kerzhakov, 31, of the top team Zenit St. Petersburg, plays a leading role in the national team. Former Russia star Andrei Arshavin, 32, has few chances of being called into the squad, since his performances at Zenit are often unconvincing.

There are high expectations about young talent Aleksander Kokorin, 23, who plays at Dynamo Moscow. And Alan Dzagoev, 23, from Russian champions CSKA Moscow is also likely to play in Brazil 2014. In Russia’s failed Euro 2012 campaign, where the Sbornaya were eliminated in the group round, Dzagoev was almost the only one of their players to put on a convincing performance.

Capello can also be pleased with his midfield, where even former team captain Igor Denisov, 29, no longer has a place. Roman Shirokov, 32, and Viktor Fayzulin, 27, both of them from Zenit, and above all Spartak Moscow’s Denis Glushakov, 27, make up an impressive line.

Although Russia’s attacking power is indeed good, they need to improve their effectiveness. Their play, with impressive switches from defence to attack, often ends unsuccessfully in the rival box.

Besides, the Sbornaja often also fail to build on their 1-0 leads, which keeps weak rivals in the match. Time and again the Russians concede goals shortly before the end of their matches, as was the case in their 1-1 draw with Azerbaiyan in their last game in the qualifiers.

The defence ahead of the usually solid keeper Igor Akinfeev, 27, remains Capello‘s biggest cause for concern. As centre-backs, there are few alternatives to Akinfeev‘s CSKA Moscow team-mates Vasili and Aleksei Berezutski, both aged 31, and Sergei Ignashevich, 34. There are few rising stars in sight.

Dmitri Kombarov, 27, of Spartak Moscow, is promising, but Capello hardly has a lot of choice in terms of wing-backs either.

The coach will need to find a solution, at the latest in Russia’s World Cup training camp in Itu, near Sao Paulo.

However, Capello makes no excuses.

“An intelligent coach makes his team play depending on the players he has,” he told dpa.

And he takes it one step at a time.

Coach: Fabio Capello A former Italy midfielder with a remarkable record of success as a club coach, winning domestic titles with Milan, AS Roma, Juventus and Real Madrid and the European Cup with Milan.

Capello led England to the 2010 World Cup finals and then the Euro 2012 finals.

He took over as Russia coach in July last year, replacing Dutchman Dick Advocaat and quickly instilled a new sense of discipline and personal responsibility.

“The first match in a World Cup is the most important one,” Capello said.

According to him, the match against South Korea on June 17 in Cuiaba is crucial for Russia. In Group H, the Sbornaya are also set to encounter Belgium and Algeria.

On paper, this is a relatively easy group, Russian football commentators agree. If they go through to the round of 16, they are likely to come across either Germany or Portugal, en route to achieving Capello‘s goal of reaching the last eight.

For now, however, there is euphoria from Kaliningrad, on the Baltic, to Vladivostok, on the Pacific: Russia are set to return to a World Cup for the first time since 2002. Back then, in South Korea and Japan, they put on a poor performance and were eliminated in the group round. If the Sbornaya again disappoint, even the well-respected Capello may have to go, despite his long contract.

42

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

MEXICO

FIFA RANKING 20

A GROUP

Mexico Change Their Mindset And Want To Make History Herrera’s reputation is one of a players’ coach who instils a strong sense of belief within his squad. With El Tri, he showed an impressive ability to implement his methods quickly, while also instilling discipline.

Mexico's World Cup record appears to contradict his hopes: they have been eliminated seven times in the group round, and over their last five participations they have only made it as far as the round of 16

Coach: Miguel Herrera PABLO SANGUINETTI

T

(DPA)

he goal sounds somewhat like an exaggeration, to put it mildly, but coach Miguel Herrera, the man who got Mexico to the Brazil 2014 World Cup in the play-offs, is clear enough: “My plan is to set off with an eye on the final.”

Mexico played the World Cup quarter-finals twice, both times at home in 1970 and 1986, but they have played 14 World Cups without ever making waves. The fact that they had four coaches over the course of 2013 further discourages too many ambitions.

And yet Herrera, who took over the Mexican national team in December after coaching in the top flight of Mexican football for 11 years and winning the tournament once, is dreaming big.

Herrera’s reputation grew fast when he led America to the Mexican league title last season. His success with one of the top clubs in Mexican football and the awful performances of the national team over several years braced his position at the helm after he managed to save Mexico from an untimely exclusion from the World Cup. He built his efforts around the core of his America side, with a few rein-

forcements. The formula was successful, Mexico edged past New Zealand in the play-off and they got their berth in Brazil. “We want to make history,” says Herrera.

Mexico’s World Cup record appears to contradict his hopes: they have been eliminated seven times in the group round, and over their last five participations they have only made it as far as the round of 16.

“We know that it’s difficult and that history does not help, but if you are not thinking about that at the start of a tournament, then you have no aspirations,” says the former defender who played professionally 1987-2000.

The man nicknamed “El Piojo” (The Louse) insists on “playing a good World Cup,” despite the slim chances experts give Mexico in Brazil. ation de“My federmands a fifth match, but my head is going further ahead,” says Herrera.

He is praised in Mexico for the attacking play that characterizes his teams, which is now his main tool to lead the “Tri” to their best-ever World Cup performance.

He knows Brazil are the team to beat in Group A, and the top favourites to top the group based on their history and on the fact that they will be playing at home. However, Herrera is confident.

“The last few games between us have been close, and we will try to play a good match and to get the points we want to get out of it,” he said.

Mexico, who also share Group A with Cameroon and Croatia, are expected to field eight “Europeans,” players with experience in European football that range from veteran captain Rafael Marquez to youngsters like Isaac Brizuela and Carlos Pena.

“You always have to go to the World Cup with a view to changing everything and winning a world championship. Is that difficult? Yes, very difficult, we know that. But if you don’t go with that hope, why are you going at all?” Herrera stressed.

A

fter an agonising qualifying competition full of setbacks, coaching changes and tactical reshuffles, predicting how the Mexicans will fare at Brazil 2014 is no easy task. While El Tri can count on a band of high-profile overseas-based players, spearheaded by Javier Chicharito Hernandez, Andres Guardado and Giovani dos Santos, the last few months have shown that the latest wave of young players also have much to offer, chief among them their London 2012 hero Oribe Peralta, Raul Jimenez and Carlos Pena. Now that they have safely secured their ticket to Brazil, the Mexicans have time to find some stability and build for the future.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA Confederations Cup Mexico 1999 (winners), FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2005 (winners) Former stars: Antonio Carbajal, Hugo Sanchez, Jorge Campos, Cuauhtemoc Blanco

Key Player : Javier Hernandez

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA FIFA RANKING 21

43

B

osnia-Herzegovina have a core of talented players capable of changing games in an instant, ranging from the likes of Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic up front, through midfielders Miralem Pjanic and Zvjezdan Misimovic, all the way back to defensive rock Emir Spahic and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. The majority of the squad regularly showcase their talents in Europe’s biggest leagues, giving them the experience necessary to shine on the biggest stage of them all.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: None Former stars: Vahid Halilhodic, Hasan Salihamidzic, Safet Susic

F GROUP

KEY PLAYER : EDIN DZEKO

Bosnia Under Threat Of The “Balkan Syndrome” DRAZEN SIMIC (DPA)

COACH: SAFET SUSIC The 58-year-old, a gifted forward who played for the former Yugoslavia in the 1982 and 1990 World Cups, succeeded Croatian Miroslav Blazevic after Bosnia narrowly missed out on a 2010 World Cup berth with a 1-0 aggregate defeat by Portugal in the playoffs.

Having raised their game to a more entertaining and high-scoring level, Susic retained the faith of fans, media and the country’s football association after Bosnia were undone by the Portuguese in a Euro 2012 playoff. He finally got his reward in the 2014 qualifiers as Bosnia edged Greece on goal difference in Group G

B

osnia and Herzegovina defied indifference, even scorn coming from half of their own people to earn their first World Cup berth, but much of it seems to have disappeared in a few months.

The doubtlessly talented team now has to defeat what local observers describe as the “Balkans Syndrome” in order not to fall apart even before their first kickoff against no other than mighty Argentina.

The Balkan Syndrome reports refer to is when talented, solid teams from the region fall apart at major tournaments, in any sport. The causes range from overconfidence to meddling by outsiders eager to jump on the bandwagon of success.

It struck many Yugoslav football incarnations and subsequently the countries that emerged from the

ALGERIA

The doubtlessly talented Bosnia and Herzegovina team now has to defeat what local observers describe as the 'Balkans Syndrome' in order not to fall apart even before their first kickoff against no other than mighty Argentina.

now dead federation, with Croatia the only exception.

Coach Safet Susic, a massive star as former Yugoslavia’s left winger, returned to the status of near-deity with the World Cup visa only to see headlines renaming him to “Bosnian Petko.”

“Petko” is Ilija Petkovic, the coach of rump Yugoslavia which disgracefully crashed out of the group stage at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The previously homogeneous team reportedly started falling apart when the coach brought in his own son Dusan.

The flurry of criticism drew a reaction from the godfather of Bosnian football, Ivica Osim, who said: “People always find something to nitpick. We are spoiling the atmosphere in the team, that’s wrong.”

But negativity continued to grow after the 0-2 defeat to Egypt in the 2014 premiere for Bosnia in early March.

Only by bringing the dressing room and the domestic media to order may Susic hope to tune the

FIFA RANKING 22

instruments that he has and hope for passage in the very strong group that also includes Nigeria and Iran.

Bosnia potent attack is led by Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko and VFB Stuttgart’s Vedad Ibisevic, with 10 and seven goals respectively, from five matches.

At that, Bosnia was the fourth-most prolific European team in qualifications, after Holland, Germany and England.

What are Bosnian chances? It seems that even the fieriest fans cannot make up their minds and sway from euphoria to depression.

Susic himself acknowledges Argentina as the clear favorite to win the group and pins his interest on Nigeria and Iran. “It is them we have to beat,” he has been saying.

But the former star also showed a flash of the old swagger that made him an idol of the entire former Yugoslavia, telling a TV reporter: “We sure are not going to Brazil only to learn.”

M

adjid Bougherra is a key figure at the back, and he scored the all-important winner in the second leg against Burkina Faso. Sofiane Feghouli is an exciting attacking midfielder, while Medhi Lacen holds things down in front of the defence. Islam Slimani emerged as the most prolific option in attack during qualifying.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Spain 1982, Mexico 1986, South Africa 2010 (Group stages) Former stars: Lakhdar Belloumi, Rachid Mekhloufi, Mustapha Zitouni

KEY PLAYER : SOFIANE FEGHOULI

H GROUP

Algeria Hope Fourth Time Is A Charm At The World Cup NEHAL EL SHERIF (DPA)

COACH: VAHID HALILHODZIC Widely known for his stern demeanour, Halilhodzic, 61, started his managerial career in Velež Mostar in 1990, then he headed Beauvais, Raja Casablanca, Lille OSC, Stade Rennais, Paris Saint-Germain, Trabzonspor, Ittihad Jeddah, Côte d’Ivoire and Dinamo Zagreb

For the second time in a row, Algeria will carry on their shoulders the hopes of Arab football in the World Cup, as the only team from the Arab world competing in Brazil 2014.

And they are confident ahead of the fourth World Cup participations in their history, in which the Desert Foxes look forward to reaching the second round.

“Playing in the World Cup requires good preparation, especially on the physical side, and I know that if we are well prepared physically, then we can look forward to achieving the best results,” said Algeria’s Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodžić.

Algeria first qualified for the World Cup in 1982. However, they failed to reach the knock-out stages, despite having what is known as the golden generation of Algerian football.

This year, the team hopes to build on their experience of South Africa 2010 and take a step forward in the competition.

Algeria will play in Group H, facing Belgium, Russia and South Korea, which is seen as a balanced group that gives them an opportunity to make their way into the round of 16, and hopes are high.

In Spain 1982, Algeria achieved a 2–1 victory over West Germany. The team’s first appearance in the World Cup stunned the world, and it was followed by a 3-2 victory over Chile and a 2-0 defeat to Austria.

Yet the Algerian dream of qualifying for the next round was shattered by West Germany’s controversial 1-0 win over Austria.

Both European teams moved to the next round at Algeria’s expense, after a match that provoked criticism even from European fans and a protest from Algiers to FIFA. That went down in history as the “Non-Aggression Pact of Gijon,” after the

northern Spanish city where the match was played. Years later, a German player admitted foul play.

“I can only apologise to the Algerians, because they deserved to qualify for the second round,” Hans-Peter Briegel told the United Arab Emirates daily Al Ittihad in an interview. “Germany cheated to eliminate Algeria.”

While FIFA maintained the result, it later revised its system to play simultaneously the final two games in each group.

Four years later, in Mexico 1986, Algeria lost 1-0 against Brazil, were held to a 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland and lost 3-0 to Spain.

In the 2010 World Cup, the Algerian team experienced a similar scenario, with a 1-0 defeat to the United States, a 0-0 draw against England and a 1-0 defeat against Slovenia.

Unlike in 1982, the Algerian national

Algeria first qualified for the World Cup in 1982. However, they failed to reach the knock-out stages, despite having what is known as the golden generation of Algerian football

team today includes many players who are professionals in Europe, including Valencia’s Sofiane Feghouli, Tottenham’s Nabil Bentaleb, Inter Milan’s Saphir Taider, Napoli’s Faouzi Ghoulam, and Udinese’s Hassan Yebda, among others.

These players are led by Halilhodžić, who played in the 1982 World Cup himself, though he made just two substitute appearances.

Despite his significant experience coaching French clubs, Halilhodžić has limited experience training African teams, with less than two years with the Ivorian national team between May 2008 and February 2010.

Halilhodzic was sacked just four months before the Elephants’ participation in the 2010 World Cup, despite leading his team through the qualifications. Thus, the upcoming World Cup will mark his first participation as a coach.

44

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

IVORY COAST

FIFA RANKING 23

C

ôte d’Ivoire boast some of the greatest individual talents in Africa. Forwards Drogba and Salomon Kalou are a formidable front pair, while midfield duo Didier Zokora and Yaya Toure perform key ball-winning duties in the middle of the park. Explosive winger Gervinho supplies service from Kolo Toure providing a wealth of experience at the back.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 (Group stages), FIFA U-17 World Cup Canada 1987 (Third place), FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1992 (Fourth place) Former stars: Laurent Pokou, Youssouf Fofana, Joel Tiehi

KEY PLAYER : DROGBA

C

Elephant's fans see Brazil 2014 as their last chance to truly achieve something, after the squad failed to make an impression in 2006 or 2010.

GROUP

Ivory Coast’s Elephants: Lacking Hunger To Succeed SELAY KOUASSI (DPA)

A COACH: SABRI LAMOUCHI Sabri Lamouchi has been in charge of The Elephants since 2012 and at 42 is one of the youngest coaches heading to Brazil

fter edging obstinate Senegal on a 4-2 aggregate, Ivory Coast qualified for their third World Cup in a row. But underneath the elation lies a dark secret: Africa’s top team lacks the trust of their own fans.

Even though FIFA ranked the Elephants Africa’s number one for the past two years, supporters are painfully aware that the team managed to win the Africa Cup of Nations only once, in 1992, after beating Ghana in a dramatic penalty shootout.

Elephant’s fans see Brazil 2014 as their last chance to truly achieve something, after the squad failed to make an impression in 2006 or 2010. In Germany 2006, Ivory Coast won 3-2 against Serbia-Montenegro, but then lost against Argentina and the Netherlands. Four years later, in South Af-

ECUADOR

rica, the Elephants were again drawn into a difficult group, including top teams Brazil and Portugal alongside North Korea.

Yet Ivory Coast have a strong team. Many of the squad’s players have been head-hunted by top European clubs and become international household names: Didier Drogba, Salomou Kalou, Yaya and Kolo Toure, Didier Zokora, Barry Copa and Wilfried Boni.

Drogba, the country’s most famous footballer and leading goal scorer, is undoubtedly one of the best centre-forwards in the world. Drogba, who used to play for Chelsea and is now at Turkish club Galatasaray, is known for this aerial prowess, stamina and ability to kick with both legs.

Three-time African footballer of the year, midfielder Yaya Toure is the Elephants’ playmaker. His confident presence in the centre of the field ensures teamwork, while his older brother Kolo Toure is the team’s strong-

est defender. Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry showed his iron commitment to the game last year, when he painfully crashed headfirst into the goalpost while diving after a ball, knocking himself unconscious.

Opinions about why the Elephants haven’t managed to be more victorious despite this wealth of talent are divided. Some fans believe the squad has been simply unlucky, while others reckon the players don’t make as much effort with the national team as they make at the club level.

Former Ivory Coast manager Phillipe Troussier recently told journalists the Elephants “lacked hunger to succeed,” noting that Drogba as well as the Toure brothers were almost at the end of their careers.

Coach Sabri Lamouchi, a former France midfielder, who has been at the helm of the Elephants since May 2012, is far from being popular. Fans and sports writers have re-

FIFA RANKING 26

peatedly demanded Lamouchi be axed and called for a more experienced trainer – the Elephants are Lamouchi’s first management appointment. But Ivory Coast football federation chairman Sidy Diallo showed full support for Lamouchi after the qualifiers.

“It would be ungrateful to sack Lamouchi after he helped Ivory Coast secure a place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Let’s give him the opportunity to confirm the potential he showed during the qualifiers,” Sidy told local journalists.

Ivory Coast will be pitted against Colombia, Japan and Greece in Group C. It’s widely regarded as a favourable draw for the West Africans, but Lamouchi has remained cautious. ‘‘It’s not an easy group. The number-one objective is to try to do better than we’ve managed on the last two occasions and get past the group phase. We need to focus on our first match, on our preparations and our strengths,” he said.

Wingers Antonio Valencia and Christian Noboa, as well as forwards Felipe Caicedo and Jefferson Montero, represent an exciting new wave for Ecuadorian football, but they are also ably assisted by a handful of evergreen stalwarts with European experience, such as Edison Mendez, Walter Ayovi and Segundo Castillo.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 (Round of 16) Former stars: Ulises de la Cruz, Agustin Delgado, Jose Francisco Cevallos

KEY PLAYER : JEFFERSON MONTERO

E

The cry of 'Yes we can' will be heard in Brazil, where a good number of Ecuadorian fans are expected to support their team

GROUP

Ecuador Seek To Go One Step Further In Their Gradual World-Cup Rise RAMIRO CARILLO (DPA)

COACH: REINALDO RUEDA The Colombian bid a tearful farewell to Honduras in July 2010 and took over Ecuador and guided the national team to its third World Cup, mainly due to winning 22 of a possible 24 points at home, with the matches played at high altitude in Quito. He tends to play a 4-4-2 formation and his team is exciting to watch going forward, although he does have some defensive concerns.

“Y

es we can, yes we can” – that is the cry with which Ecuadorians cheer for their national team, which has long been well respected in South America, particularly at home, at the high altitude of Quito.

Top players like Manchester United’s Luis Antonio Valencia are now in charge of representing Ecuador in Brazil 2014. They qualified directly and deservedly under the leadership of their efficient, low-profile Colombian-born coach Reinaldo Rueda.

Rueda is the latest exponent of the “Colombian school,” which is credited with much of Ecuador’s recent football success. And yet the process was launched

by Montenegro’s Dussan Draskovich, who took the helm of the then-weak Ecuador in 1988 and modernised the team.

Before Rueda, the Colombian school

featured Francisco Maturana, Hernan Dario Gomez and Luis Fernando Suarez as Ecuador coaches. Maturana developed Draskovich’s legacy, Gomez led Ecuador to the World Cup for the first time in their history in South Korea-Japan 2002, and Suarez attained qualification for Germany 2006. They missed a step under Ecuadorian coach Sixto Vizuete and did not qualify for South Africa 2010.

Rueda redressed course, based both on a group of players of great physical ability and on tactical discipline, a level head while having the ball and a crowded midfield with as many as six men.

However, Ecuador lack a good capacity to score goals, and that emerges as a big challenge for their chances in Brazil, experts say.

“There is always the hope to be protagonists,” Rueda told dpa in an interview.

“Ecuador have a very strong national team, a very young team with a great

future. Perhaps one of their weaknesses can be the lack of experience, and one of their strengths can be the harmony there is and the collective play they try to put together,” he said.

In South Korea-Japan 2002, they were eliminated in the first round. In Germany 2006 they made it to the round of 16.

There were no particularly impressive performances, but it is clear that they were never ridiculed at the prestigious tournament.

In Brazil, Ecuador are set to have two European rivals in Group E: France and Switzerland. One of them should in theory be the team to beat for Ecuador to make it to the round of 16. The fourth team in the group, Honduras, is the weakest on paper, although they have as their coach Suarez, precisely the man who coached Ecuador in Germany 2006.

Ecuador no longer have the leaders they once had in Alex Aguinaga and Agus-

tin Delgado, but the talent of players like Felipe Caicedo (Al Jazira/Saudi Arabia), Segundo Castillo (Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia), Renato Ibarra (Vitesse/Netherlands), Christian Noboa (Dynamo Moscow/Russia) and Christian Leonel Ramirez (Fortuna Duesseldorf/Germany) will doubtless shine through in Brazil.

Frickson Erazo, Edison Mendez, Walter Ayovi, Enner Valencia, Jefferson Montero and Fidel Martinez, all of them active in Latin American tournaments, also played major roles in qualification.

They have limited, yet clear ambitions: to play better than in their previous two World Cup participations, and to press on with their patient growth process.

The cry of “Yes we can” will be heard in Brazil, where a good number of Ecuadorian fans are expected to support their team. Rueda’s men hope to spoil the show for some in theory bigger team, and they appear to have what it takes to do it.

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

COSTA RICA

FIFA RANKING 28

45

C

osta Rica’s fortunes lie at the skilful feet of one Bryan Ruiz. Called “a truly special player” by former coach Rodrigo Kenton, Ruiz established himself at club side Twente in the Netherlands before moving on to Fulham in England. Now back in the Eredivisie with PSV Eindhoven, he ranks among the best playmakers in the North, Central American and Caribbean zone. Alongside Ruiz are a number of tried-and-trusted performers like Cristian Bolanos and outstanding goalkeeper Keilor Navas. The dribbling skills and all-around attacking play of the young Joel Campbell have made him another of Los Ticos’ most valuable assets.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Italy 1990 (Round of 16), FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 (Fourth place) Former stars: Hernan Medford, Paulo Wanchope, Walter Centeno

D GROUP

KEY PLAYER : BRYAN RUIZ

One David, Three Goliaths: Costa Rica’s 2014 World Cup ERNESTO RAMIREZ (DPA)

C COACH: JORGE LUIS PINTO The vastly experienced Pinto is a keen admirer of Jose Mourinho’s methodology and is hoping to prepare his team for what would be a major shock at his first World Cup

osta Rica know their chances in Brazil 2014: in Group D, they are set to be a David playing three football Goliaths like Uruguay, Italy and England. The Costa Rican team, nicknamed the “Ticos,” is set to play three top teams who have between them won seven World Cups (Italy won four, Uruguay won two and England won one).

It is no easy task for the Central Americans, who have only played a total of three World Cups in history. The first of the three, Italy 1990, was the most successful, as Costa Rica made it into the round of 16 after edging past Scotland and Sweden.

“We have no fear, no fear whatsoever. On the contrary, this group motivates us,” Costa Rica’s Colombian-born coach

HONDURAS

Jorge Luis Pinto told dpa in an interview.

Given the characteristics of Group D, Costa Rica could even play a crucial role.

In their initial match against Uruguay, on June 14 in Fortaleza, the “Ticos” are sure to have the support of the whole of Brazil, which is yet to forgive Uruguay for the bitter memory of the 1950 “Maracanazo.”

Although Pinto insists that these days “shirts no longer play football,” it is clear that few expect Costa Rica in the round of 16. At least one of the group’s three giants will be eliminated too, and in theory it will be the teams that make the most of their clash against the on paper weak Costa Rica that make it into the knock-out rounds.

Costa Rica is a really small country of 4.8 million people in the middle of the Americas. The first trace of football was felt there around the year 1876, when a Costa Rican who was studying in Eng-

Given the characteristics of Group D, Costa Rica could even play a crucial role.

land returned with news of a fashionable sport where men in their underpants ran behind a leather ball. The new sport quickly spread around the Central American country. The first organized football association emerged in 1921, and in 1927 the country joined FIFA. Football was quick to become the most popular sport in Costa Rica. For many years it was quite rustic, but it has now grown, particularly since the country’s first World Cup participation in 1990.

Costa Rica have recently played high-profile friendlies against Argentina, Brazil and world champions Spain. However, the country’s football has many problems. Costa Rica is very small, and there are only 12 top-flight clubs in the country, including the popular Alajuela and Saprissa. Most of the clubs are very humble.

The largest stadium, the National Stadium

FIFA RANKING 33

in San Jose, has a capacity for about 35,000 spectators. Two further stadiums fit 20,000 fans, while the rest have capacities for as little as 8,000 people.

However, Costa Ricans are not scared off by such conditions, and in recent years a whole generation of players has been active abroad, in several cases in Europe. Keeper Keylor Navas is doing well for Levante in La Liga, striker Bryan Ruiz plays for PSV Eindoven and the young Joel Campbell is on loan from Arsenal at Greek club Olympiakos.

Costa Rica’s play features good order in defence and midfield, with speed down the wings and in attack. They play short passes and seek to treat the ball well, but everything appears to indicate that it will not be enough this time around: making it to the round of 16 in Brazil 2014 would be a giant step for Costa Rica.

L

eft-back Emilio Izaguirre was the find of the 2010/11 season for Celtic - named Scottish Premier League Player of the Year - and is a key force within Honduras’s respectable backline. He is helped by captain and goalkeeper Noel Valladares who, despite a shy off-the-field personality, played an instrumental role in Honduras’s qualification for South Africa 2010 and their deep run at the latest instalment of the Gold Cup. Wilson Palacios, one of the more recognisable faces of Honduran football playing for Stoke City, is also a crucial piece of the Honduran puzzle.

The front line have been doing their bit too, where old hand Carlo Costly has impressed alongside rising star Jerry Bengtson, who burst on to the international scene at London 2012 and top-scored for La H in the qualifiers with nine goals.

E

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Spain 1982, South Africa 2010 (Group stages)

GROUP

Former stars: Amado Guevara, Carlos Pavón, Danny Turcios

KEY PLAYER : CARLO COSTLY

Honduras Obsessed With Playing Four World Cup Games SID ASTBURY (DPA)

COACH: LUIS FERNANDO SUAREZ Luis Fernando Suarez made history when he guided Ecuador to the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup, and the Colombian has already achieved considerable success with Honduras just by qualifying for this year’s tournament.

Suarez has crafted a Honduras side that is physically strong, compact and dangerous from set pieces and on counterattacks. He tends to play a 4-4-2 formation

H

onduras are set to arrive in Brazil 2014 with the obsession to play four matches and thus prove that they do not inevitably have to go home after the first round.

“The goal is to qualify for the round of 16,” says Rafael Leonardo Callejas, president of the Honduran National Football Federation (Fenafuth).

After first-round exits in Spain 1982 and South Africa 2010, Honduras want to prove to themselves that they are not bound to be the weakest team in any group, in this case Group E, alongside France, Switzerland and Ecuador.

Honduras have one further goal to

tackle first, however: to finally win a World Cup game.

In Spain 1982, they got two draws, against hosts Spain and against Northern Ireland, and lost to Yugoslavia. In South Africa things went a lot worse, as they reaped two defeats and one draw and did not even manage to score one goal.

However, the London 2012 Olympics gave hope to the Central American team. Honduras got to play five matches, and now, in Brazil, officials and fans alike want to see them win a game in Brazil.

“That is what we long for,” Callejas told Honduras’s Colombian-born coach Luis Fernando Suarez.

Suarez is not shirking responsibility.

After first-round exits in Spain 1982 and South Africa 2010, Honduras want to prove to themselves that they are not bound to be the weakest team in any group, in this case Group E, alongside France, Switzerland and Ecuador

“It is almost a pressing obligation that they are imposing on us, to make qualification to the next round a reality,” Suarez admitted during an interview with dpa. “It is very difficult.”

“You can lose against strong teams, but never before you play the actual matches. If they beat you, let it be over the 90 minutes. If we do that, we probably can manage a more important feat than just being participants,” he said.

Suarez believes Honduras have one thing in their favor: their players’ physical strength.

“We have a very strong, very powerful team. The country has a very good racial mix, there are a number of black people who give a special touch

to the national team, particularly in the physical aspect,” he said.

Wilson Palacios, one of the highest-profile Honduras players, thinks his team can deliver an upset.

“I have four matches on my mind,” said Wilson Palacios, who plays for Stoke City in the Premier League.

Honduras is according to the United Nations the world’s most violent country without a war. As the third-poorest country in the Americas, Hondurans see football as their only chance to join the global elite.

The country has a good ethnic mix, although players are mostly Garifuna, the descendants of African slaves who were taken to the Caribbean by Spanish settlers.

46

World Cup 2014

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GHANA

T

FIFA RANKING 37

here are few better midfields in the world than Ghana’s as the Black Stars can call on veterans Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari as well as players hitting their prime like Andre Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Up front, the athletic Asamoah Gyan will be a vital focal point and no doubt anxious to prove that Ghana can be the undisputed class of Africa.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 (Quarter-finals), FIFA U-17 World Cup Italy 1991, Ecuador 1995 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 (Winners) Former stars: Abedi Pele, Samuel Kuffour, Ibrahim Sunday

G GROUP

KEY PLAYER : MICHAEL ESSIEN

Ghana’s Black Stars: An All Attacking, All Defending Midfield MAWUSI AFELE (DPA)

COACH: KWESI APPIAH Kwesi Appiah was promoted to head coach after serving as the assistant of the Black Stars to several of his predecessors.

The 53-year-old was handed a permanent appointment following the March 2012 sacking of Serbian Goran Stevanovic, but had also been caretaker for several games after the 2010 World Cup. At under-23 level he coached Ghana to the gold medal at the All-Africa Games in Maputo in 2011.

Ghana’s Black Stars are optimistic: they aim for the World Cup semi-finals in Brazil. And – claiming to play as “entertaining” football as the Brazilians – they hope to play them against the hosts.

But first, the Ghanaian squad will have to come victorious out of Group G, dubbed the “group of death” by local media due to strong opponents Germany, Portugal and an ever-improving USA. Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantekyi recently admitted the Black Stars needed “divine intervention” to qualify. “We need the prayers of all Ghanaians,” he said.

The West African nation’s football fans, however, are much more hopeful. A recent GFA poll shows that 61.8 per cent of Black Stars supporters believe their

IRAN

A team renowned for its strong midfield, Ghana has been lacking deadly strikers for more than a decade: since Tony Yeboah, one of the most prolific goal scorers in African football history, retired in 2002.

team will survive the knockout round.

It’s an optimism largely based on national pride, however. If asked to assess their team more thoroughly, ample skepticism shines through.

“The truth is that the current team is not as good as the one we had in 2010. We will be lucky to reach the second round. Our chances are rather slim,” reckoned Black Stars fan Fred Morgan in capital Accra.

An African football powerhouse for decades, the Black Stars have not impressed with their play in the past two years. After a long losing streak, their 7-3 victory against Egypt in the World Cup qualifier came as a surprise, even to their staunchest supporters.

A team renowned for its strong midfield, Ghana has been lacking deadly strikers for more than a decade: since Tony Yeboah, one of the most prolific goal scorers in African football history, retired in 2002.

And so, Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah, the first

FIFA RANKING 43

Ghanaian to train the team after two Serbians in a row held the post, plans to compete in Brazil with a strong focus on the midfield.

Appiah’s strategy will be an “all attacking, all defending play,” local sports writers say. Ghanaians trust Appiah because he played in the squad that took the African Nations Cup home in 1982.

Running the Black Stars with lots of willpower, Appiah is said to tell his team to imagine having “their name inscribed in history and on the trophy” every day.

There’s no denying that the Black Stars need a good dose of self-confidence. The four-time African champions have not been able to repeat their success since their 1982 victory in Libya.

They were knocked out by Brazil during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and four years later, in South Africa, only made it into the quarter-finals. But as the saying goes: the third time’s lucky

F

illing the void left by Mahdavikia is Captain Javad Nekounam, who has quickly established his place as the team’s talisman. Aside from providing leadership, the skipper provides creativity alongside former Osasuna team-mate Masoud Shojaei. Belgium-based striker Reza Ghoochannejhad stands out among the emerging generation, while Fulham man Ashkan Dejagah shores up the midfield alongside Andranik Teymourian..

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Argentina 1978, France 1998, Germany 2006 (Group stages), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Montreal 1976 (Quarter-finals) Former stars: Ali Daei, Khodadad Azizi, Karim Bagheri

F

KEY PLAYER : REZA GHOOCHANNEJHAD Experts believe that Iran's chances in Group F, against Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria, are almost nil

GROUP

Iran Before The World Cup: Torn Between Enthusiasm And Frustration FARSHID MOTAHARI (DPA)

A COACH: CARLOS QUEIROZ The former Portugal and Real Madrid head coach, who also had two spells as Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United, has built on the defensive displays and improved ball retention with the emergence of Ghoochannejhad and the evergreen Javad Nekounam to make Iran a more potent attacking threat.

head of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Iran’s national football team is torn between sheer enthusiasm and utter frustration.

Experts believe that Iran’s chances in Group F, against Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria, are almost nil.

However, fans expect the team to make history and reach the second round for the first time in a World Cup tournament.

“I do not get involved in the speculation market and just think of preparing the team for the games,” Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz said.

But preparations are also a problem. Sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union with relation to Iran’s controversial nuclear programmes, and particularly the embargo on oil, have

pushed the oil-rich country into an economic crisis.

In this context, the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) has no money to finance the plans drafted by the former Real Madrid coach.

A training camp in South Africa had to be cancelled, the salary of the Portuguese coach is not paid regularly and Queiroz is still hesitating to extend his contract with the FFI. “Without adequate preparations, we will have a tough time in Brazil,” national team captain Javad Nekounam warned.

Iran seemed almost without the chance of playing in Brazil 2014, but last year’s unlikely 1-0 win against South Korea in Ulsan, which gave them a World Cup berth, unleashed a national carnival on the streets of Tehran and other cities.

The financial situation in Iran is also a major reason that at least three of the team’s key players – captain Nekounam,

playmaker Mojtaba Jabari and top defender Pejman Montazeri – could not resist lucrative offers from the neighbouring Gulf countries.

There are also a few players who are active in European teams. Strikers Ashkan Dejaga and Reza Ghoochannejad play in the English Premier League, at Fulham and Charlton respectively. Goalkeeper Daniel Davari plays for Braunschweig in the German Bundesliga.

Iran have so far qualified for three World Cups. They won one match, drew two and lost the rest of the games.

At the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, they lost to the Netherlands and Peru but managed a surprising draw against Scotland. In France 1998, they lost to Yugoslavia and Germany but achieved a prestigious 2-1 victory against the country’s political arch-enemy, the United States. In Germany 2006, they lost against Mexico and Portugal and drew

1-1 draw against Angola.

“We don’t want to be just a break for our opponents in the World Cup,” says Goochani.

Experts, however, fear that this will be the case.

“What we have to do now is just to stay relaxed until the World Cup,” Fulham striker Dejagah said.

Relaxation is, however, something Iranian football fans hardly have when their team loses.

In the 1970s, Iran used to be the indisputable number one team in Asia.

Following the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the eight-year (1980-88) war against Iraq, the team lost this status to Japan, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia.

Despite their World Cup qualification and their 39th place in the FIFA rankings, Iran are no longer considered a top team in Asia

World Cup 2014

JUNE 2014

NIGERIA

47

C

FIFA RANKING 44

oach Stephen Keshi has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense boss who is not afraid to choose in-form domestic players at the expense of more well-known stars, and that policy paid handsome dividends as Nigeria won the 2013 edition of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Keshi has kept a relatively stable spine of the team since then, with Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel leaving his mixed past with the Eagles behind to become the lynchpin of the side. In goal, Vincent Enyeama is an important veteran, while Victor Moses, Ahmed Musa and Emmanuel Emenike are key parts of a deep attack.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup USA 1994, France 1998 (Round of 16), FIFA U-17 World Cup China 1985, Japan 1993, Korea Republic 2007 (Winners), Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta 1996 (Winners), FIFA U-20 World Cup Saudi Arabia 1989, Netherlands 2005 (Runners-up)

F GROUP

Former stars: Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Rashidi Yekini

KEY PLAYER : VICTOR MOSES

Nigeria’s Super Eagles: Ready To Soar LUCKY NWANKWERE (DPA)

COACH: STEPHEN KESHI The man nicknamed “The Boss” was a disciplined midfielder cum defender who played for Nigeria.

From 2004 till 2006 he headed the Togo national team and led them to their first ever FIFA World Cup championship in 2006.

Keshi then went on to coach Mali, and then Togo for a third time, before being appointed

by Nigeria in 2011 and enjoying more success last year with victory in the African championship in South Africa.

S

uper Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has made one thing very clear: a place in the 2014 World Cup squad is won by hard work, not by international stardom.

“Whoever impresses us ahead of the World Cup and is ready for the big stage will get the chance. Our boys will have to fight for places in the team,” Keshi recently told Nigerian newspaper This Day. It’s a strategy that won his team the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. And one that has earned Keshi, who is fondly called “the boss,” a reputation as a no-non-

JAPAN

sense coach. Since he started managing Nigeria’s national team in 2011, the Super Eagles have soared again.

Fans put this down to Keshi’s years of experience as a former defender and team captain. He is one of only two footballers – along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary – to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach.

Keshi’s performance has not gone unnoted: he was voted African Coach of the Year in 2013.

His current goal is to get the Super Eagles into the knock-out stages in Brazil. Some insiders even believe the team has chances to make it into the semi-finals.

It's the fifth time Nigeria have qualified for a World Cup. But even when the West African nation had one of the top teams in the world, in 1994, they only ever reached the round of 16

“I really do believe that Nigeria can be the first African team to reach the semi-finals. I believe in Nigeria’s ability,” Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, who used to manage Malawi, told Nigerian radio station Brila FM. It’s the fifth time Nigeria have qualified for a World Cup. But even when the West African nation had one of the top teams in the world, in 1994, they only ever reached the round of 16.

The three-time African champions have not won a match at the World Cup since beating Bulgaria in 1998, which is the last time the Super Eagles made it to the knock-out stages.

That’s why fans have been keeping their eyes peeled on which players Kes-

hi will choose for the World Cup squad.

Nigeria’s most-capped player with 93 appearances, Joseph Yobo, is most likely to make the team. So are strikers Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses, who made an impressive attacking impact during the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as veteran goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.

“Brazil is that place where I hope to make my mark and prove myself as a striker who can perform at major tournaments,” Emenike told local newspaper The Vanguard.

“We’ve gone unbeaten in Africa in two years, and the players know we can use that as a big motivation to do well in Brazil,” he added.

FIFA RANKING 46

H

aving excelled during the last FIFA World Cup and the recent AFC Asian Cup, CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda has quickly established his place as the team’s new leader, filling the void left by Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura.

C

Spearheading the attacking-line are Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki, who finished the continental finals as the team’s top-scorer with three goals. Driving the central field alongside Honda is set-piece specialist Yasuhito Endo while Schalke 04 defender Atsuto Uchida is the key man at the rearguard.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Mexico City 1968 (Third place), FIFA U-20 World Cup Nigeria 1999 (Runners-up), FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 (Quarter-finals)

GROUP

Former stars: Kazuyoshi Miura, Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata

KEY PLAYER : KEISUKE HONDA

Japan, The “Blue Samurai”, Dreaming About Becoming A Giant Killer TAKEHIKO KAMBAYASHI (DPA)

COACH: ALBERTO ZACCHERONI Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni left his native Italy in 2010 after more than three decades on Italian benches.

Zac’s record with Japan has been impressive and made the 61-yearold a celebrity, as he lifted the 2011 Asian Cup and last year’s East Asian Cup, before comfortably clinching a berth at the World Cup to tally Japan’s sixth appearance in the tournament

J

apan want to amaze the world by becoming a giant killer at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil as more players making their mark in Europe’s top leagues.

The Blue Samurai enjoyed a strong finish to the year in 2013, drawing 2-2 with 2010 World Cup finalists the Netherlands and defeating 2014 dark horses Belgium 3-2 in away friendlies in November. The results instilled confidence in Alberto Zaccheroni’s men.

“We did really well on our last tour of Europe. We could take a lot of confidence from that and hopefully we can keep that kind

of form going,” said Manchester United attacker Shinji Kagawa.

Players and fans said Japan, the world’s 46th-ranked side, are good enough to lift this year’s World Cup. Japan showed improvement after a pair of disappointing performances in defeats away to Serbia (2-0) and Belarus (1-0) in October 2013.

“In October, we could not play the kind of soccer we were aiming for and that is why results didn’t follow. We lacked sharpness and rhythm in attack but I thought we defended well,” coach Zaccheroni said. In June, the Blue Samurai opened the Confederations Cup with a resounding 3-0 defeat by host Brazil. Japanese media and fans then said Brazil displayed its

class to Japan who won four of the last four editions of the AFC Asian Cup. Japan’s squad includes more than a dozen Europe-based stars such as Kagawa, Inter Milan defender Yuto Nagatomo and Mainz forward Shinji Okazaki.

The biggest star is Keisuke Honda, a midfielder who joined AC Milan in January after playing for CSKA Moscow for four years.

He said repeatedly how important it is to play away from home.

Despite the high-profile transfer, Honda struggled to produce a result in a Milan uniform. Another star Kagawa has been largely overlooked by United coach David Moyes since Moyes succeeded Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

“Both Honda and Kagawa

Players and fans said Japan, the world's 46th-ranked side, are good enough to lift this year's World Cup

need to be patient and there is no need for them to panic,” Zaccheroni said. Kagawa scored in Japan’s 4-2 World Cup warm-up win over New Zealand in early March. “I was determined to produce so I am glad I could deliver a result,” he said. Zaccheroni was pleased that his players scored four times in the first 17 minutes.

“It was especially good in the first 20 minutes, though what was especially good about that was that we were able to play so skillfully at such high speed because you have to have the skill plus the speed to compete at international level, and I think we were fully at the international level in the first 20 minutes,” the Italian tactician said.

Japan’s first game in Brazil

is against Ivory Coast on June 14 in Recife, followed by Greece on June 19 in Natal and Colombia on June 24 in Cuiabá. This is Japan’s fifth appearance at the World Cup, their fifth in a row. Japan’s best finish came both at Korea/Japan 2002 and South Africa 2010, when they advanced to the round of 16.

Japan have high hopes for this year’s World Cup as the team has more Europe-based stars.

“Everyone expects Japan to reach at least the quarterfinals and I believe many of the players have gained their experience abroad to achieve that”, said Takashi Mizunuma, a popular commentator and former national team player.

48

World Cup 2014

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CAMEROON

FIFA RANKING 56

The 2014 World Cup will present a huge challenge, as Cameroon are in Group A with the fearsome Brazil, unpredictable Mexico and gritty Croatia.

Samuel Eto’o remains the world-class threat up front, although the charismatic figure, who still serves as captain, has gone in and out of the team.

But even without the Chelsea veteran, the side if loaded with experience and high-level talent.

Nicolas N’Koulou, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Aurelien Chedjou remain vital at the back, while the midfield is even more loaded with Alex Song, Jean Makoun and Stephane Mbia at the heart of the team.

A GROUP

Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Italy 1990 (Quarter-finals), Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Sydney 2000 (Winners) Former stars: Roger Milla, Marc-Vivien Foe, Rigobert Song

Cameroon Hope To Rise Up Again In 2014 World Cup

C

KRISTIN PALITZA (DPA)

ameroon are hoping for a respectable performance at the World Cup, even if they are unlikely to recover their former glory. The national team, known as the Indomitable Lions, is no longer the same as in the 1990 World Cup, when they shocked defending champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening match and came close to defeating England in the quarter-finals.

It was the first time that an African team reached the quarter-finals in the World Cup, and all of Africa celebrated Cameroon’s success as its own. Including the forthcoming trip to Brazil, the central African country has now reached seven World Cups – the highest number for an African country – and it has won the Africa Cup of Nations on four occasions.

The 2014 World Cup will present a huge challenge, as Cameroon are in Group A with the fearsome Brazil, unpredictable Mexico and gritty Croatia. But German coach Volker Finke, who has trained the side since mid-2013, believes he has had enough time to shake up the rusty team and build team spirit.

Finke has built the team around prolific striker Samuel Eto’o, who has won three Champions League titles in a stunning career and currently plays for Chelsea. The Cameroon team has meanwhile suffered from a difficult relationship with the Federation of Cameroon Football (FECAFOOT).

Eto’o and other players even went on strike while in Morocco for a tournament in November 2011 over unpaid bonuses and appearance fees.

Players have also criticized the federation’s management style and the sacking of coach Javier

SOUTH KOREA

Key Player : Samuel Eto’o

Clemente.

The strike in Morocco earned Eto’o a 15-match ban, though President Paul Biya persuaded FECAFOOT to guarantee that the ban would not exceed eight months.

Now that Cameroon are approaching the 2014 World Cup, team spirit needs to be worked to a peak before the last group match against Brazil, a repeat of their 1994 group encounter, which the Brazilians won comfortably 3-0.

The results of Cameroon’s first two matches against Mexico and Croatia could be crucial to their progress, as a defeat against Brazil is widely regarded as a foregone conclusion. But Cameroon have sprung surprises before, and will hope to return to their previous indomitable strength of the past.

FIFA RANKING 57

Volker Finke is a German football manager and former player. He managed SC Freiburg from July 1991 to May 2007.

This made him the longest-serving manager in the history of professional football in Germany.

Later he managed the Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds and 1. FC Köln.

Coach: Volker Finke

He was named coach of Cameroon on 22 May 2013.

T

he squad’s make-up kept changing during the qualifying and under new coach Hong Myungbo, a new-look team has taken shape. A series of emerging stars, notably German-based Son Heungmin and Koo Jacheol, have graduated into the team’s backbone force.

Bolton Wanderers’ Lee Chungyong is the new man wearing the captain’s armband and home-based Kim Shinwook and Lee Keunho are proven goal-scorers.

Best performance in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan 2002 (Fourth place)

H

Former stars: Cha Bumkun, Hong Myungbo, Park Jisung

GROUP

KEY PLAYER : SON HEUNG-MIN Experts do not expect South Korea to repeat their feat of 2002, when they came fourth.

South Korea Out To Get Beyond Group Stage Of World Cup FARSHID MOTAHARI (DPA)

COACH: HONG MYUNGBO Known as the ‘Korean Libero’ during his playing days, Myung-Bo took charge of his country back in June 2013. He has plenty of big tournament experience, as a player during Korea’s run to the 2002 semis, as assistant to Dick Advocaat for the next World Cup and then leading Korea to the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics

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outh Korea want to make waves again at the Brazil 2014 World Cup and their minimum goal is to make it into the round of 16, but a mediocre qualifying round and poor preparations somewhat tone down the expectations of experts.

The football boom in the country following the South Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup soon died out, but interest in the country’s national team remains high as ever. During Brazil 2014, millions of South Koreans will doubtless watch their team on television and before open-air giant screens, and they will celebrate if the Taeguk Warriors attain their goal of making it to the knock-out stages.

Some members of the South Ko-

rea Fan Club will even be cheering for their team in the South American country. For close to 8,300 dollars, match tickets included, fans of the Red Devils can live the big adventure of a World Cup in Brazil, and around 150 members of the national team fan club founded in 1996 will be travelling to support the team, says Red Devils spokesman Bahn Woo Ryong.

Bahn, a 43-year-old financial planner, will himself be flying to Brazil, and he is optimistic about his team’s performance.

“We think the team will get through the group stage and can reach the quarter-finals,” he said.

Experts, however, do not have such high expectations for the Asian team with the most successful World Cup record. They certainly do not expect South Korea to repeat their feat of

2002, when they came fourth. And yet the team coached by national football legend Hong Myung Bo is always ready to deliver a surprise.

This is set to be South Korea’s ninth World Cup participation. Qualification for Brazil 2014 was hardly easy for them: only the fact that they had a better goal difference than Uzbekistan granted them a World Cup berth, as second in their group behind Iran. Retired defender Hong, 45, took the helm as coach soon afterwards, in June 2013, when his predecessor Choi Kang Hee gave up.

In their last pre-World Cup test on March 5, Hong’s team beat former European champions Greece 2-0 in Athens. Above all, South Korea had access to those of their players who are active in Europe, whom they missed sorely in the United States.

South Korea hope to make it past the first round of a World Cup for the third time in their history. Their key players are Son Heung Min (Bayer Leverkusen), Koo Ja Cheol (Wolfsburg), Park JooHo (Mainz 05), Park Ju Young (Watford) and Ki Sung Yong (Sunderland), according to Kim Song Min, an expert with the online sports website sportalkorea.com.

Kim notes that midfielder Son is the team’s top player, with a good sense of play and also good shooting skills.

The midfield is one of South Korea’s strengths, while their forward line is rather a weakness.

South Korea are in the tough, but not impossible Group H, along with Russia, Belgium and Algeria. Expert Kim says the group is quite even: the other three teams are strong enough to get through the group stage, but South Korea has what it takes too.

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AUSTRALIA

FIFA RANKING 62

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im Cahill remains the team’s undoubted star and talisman with a stunning goal ratio from midfield and equally remarkable heading ability despite his modest stature.

Tommy Oar is a threat too. The team also include the terrific midfielder Mile Jedinak.

Best performances in a FIFA competition: Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Mexico City 1968 (Third place), FIFA U-20 World Cup Nigeria 1999 (Runners-up), FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 (Quarter-finals)

B

Former stars: Kazuyoshi Miura, Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata

GROUP

KEY PLAYER : TIM CAHIL

Australia To Field Newbies In Brazil SID ASTBURY (DPA)

COACH: ANGE POSTECOGLOU For many fans, Postecoglou has taken on an almost cult-like status. They believe it is only a matter of time until his feats in the A-League with Brisbane Roar are emulated with the Socceroos. They believe he will restore meaning and pride to the Australian shirt. Importantly, he is seen as someone prepared to make the tough decisions on personnel on and off-the-field and give younger players the chance that Holger Osieck seemed reluctant to do.

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ustralia are set to arrive in Brazil 2014 with a new coach, few expectations and a tough set of rivals, but they still hope things may go well. The novice side coached

by Ange Postecoglou is set to face Spain, Holland and Chile in Group B. “Australia are a good team, but objectively, that’s a very difficult group. It would be a pleasant surprise for me if they made it to the round of 16,” Italian star Alessandro Del Piero, now playing with Sydney FC, told dpa in an interview. “But they’re a good team, so anything can happen.”

The smart money was for Holland’s Guus Hiddink, who took Australia to

the World Cup in 2006, to step in when Football Federation Australia removed Holger Osieck as Australia coach. A foreigner was favoured, because officials worried that a local would not have the stature to stand up to players on big salaries abroad.

In his six months in the job, former Melbourne Victory manager Postecoglou, 48, has proved no pushover.

His job was to clear out ageing members of the so-called Golden Generation and promote new blood. He has done just that.

Australians have been primed not to expect a glittering performance by the home team in Brazil. The Socceroos are in rebuilding mode, and Postecoglou is looked to as the great regenerator.

Osieck was sacked in the wake of

Australians have been primed not to expect a glittering performance by the home team in Brazil. The Socceroos are in rebuilding mode, and Postecoglou is looked to as the great regenerator

Australia’s 6-0 loss to France in a World Cup warmup game in Paris. Athens-born Postecoglou, the most successful Australian coach with four premierships, was picked to stop the rot.

The likelihood is that only three veterans of Australia’s last two World Cups - Tim Cahill, Josh Kennedy and Mark Bresciano - will be in Brazil. Great goalie Mark Schwarzer is gone, along with Brett Emerton. The latest shown the door is Harry Kewell.

Postecoglou is putting together a team with fresh faces and a fresh playing style. The worry has always been that Australia has stuck too long with a very physical style of playing; a style based on possession and slow build ups.

Australians know they will see new

ideas in Brazil. They are not expecting to be that competitive.

The sell-out crowd in Sydney had to wait until the 83rd minute for a goal against Iraq and confirmation that Australia would even be at this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil. The team in the green and gold looked old compared with the Iraqi youngsters they expected to breeze past.

“We didn’t wait until the last game to qualify for South Africa,” one aggrieved fan posted on the Goal website. “We won’t be going to Brazil with a lot of confidence.”

That Australia is now more about blooding new players than about being in the hunt in Brazil was shown in March, when the team took on Ecuador. The experimental side squandered a 3-0 first-half lead to post a 4-3 loss

Africa, A Continent That

Breathes Football And Again Dreams Of “Its” World Cup FERNANDO DUCLOS (DPA)

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In Tanzania, as in the rest of Africa, any appropriatelyshaped, rolling object will do as a ball. The photograph shows the small village of Kaguna, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where people gather to watch children shoot from the penalty spot.

t does not matter whether the ball is made of plastic or of leather, if it is well pumped up or not, and it can even be made of paper, old socks, bags, sand or mud: in Africa, any appropriately shaped, rolling object will do as a ball.

From north to south, from east to west, from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the continent breathes football and lives by it 24 hours a day. For that reason, as usual every four years and with great expectations, all Africans are getting ready for Brazil 2014. They hope it will be, once and for all, “their” World Cup. Ethiopia is well-known for its athletes, but it has very little by way of a football tradition. And yet the popular party on the country’s streets when the national team beat the Central African Republic and qualified for the World Cup play-offs was unprecedented, says Moustapha, a vendor in Addis Abeba.

The same happened in Burkina Faso, another African country without a great football history which got to be one little step away from Brazil 2014. And it also happened when Zambia won the 2012 African Cup of Nations, and when Libya won the 2014 African Championship of Nations.

“There is no longer a country on this continent that does not go crazy about football,” Rwandan fan Herbe told dpa. “That is why people here enjoy every World Cup as a huge party that always surpasses its predecessor.”

Pascal, 18, is a Congolese wing-back who dreams of playing for his country’s TP Mazembe. He has few doubts as to why a World Cup in Brazil is special for Africa.

“For the first time in history, the five African participants will be the same in backto-back World Cups. Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, who already played in South Africa, are now set to travel to Brazil,” Pascal said.

“Besides, the warm weather that the tournament is set to be played in can be an

advantage for us. And third, because a large part of Brazil’s population are the descendants of African slaves, and for that reason there will probably be many people who cheer for countries from our continent,” he said.

There are five African participants in Brazil 2014, but at the end of the day there is only one Africa, said Juma, a Tanzanian-born tourist guide who spoke of Ghana as if he were referring to his own country.

“I still remember Luis Suarez’s hand, and how close we came to the semi-finals in 2010! I hope we make it now,” Juma said.

Without strong national tournaments, Africans keep a closer eye on European leagues than on those in their own countries.

Many do not even support a hometown club but celebrate instead goals scored in England, many kilometres and, in a way, several worlds away.

The Premier League is the tournament that evokes the greatest passion on the black continent: even in nations that were never British colonies, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool matches are a cause for celebration and suffering, as if those were local teams.

Shirts for those clubs are everywhere.

Newspapers talk about Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini. Buses are decorated with images of Belgium’s Eden Hazard or Mexico’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. And even in the smallest villages it is not uncommon to see a bar named after Old Trafford and, right opposite, a hairdresser’s shop named Stamford Bridge.

In Kagunga, on the remote border between Tanzania and Burundi, there are no power lines, but a generator allows locals to watch television. Several people got together to buy an antenna so they can watch Argentine Sergio Aguero’s goals and Czech keeper Petr Cech’s saves every weekend.

Tickets for the so-called “sports cinemas,” a popular, widespread business all around the continent, never cost more than 1 dollar. And, unless there is a blackout, satis-

faction is guaranteed.

Moreover, although the ball rolls far enough on its own, there is always the chance to identify with a countryman.

In Harar, Somalia, people claim as their own a striker of Ethiopian descent who is in Arsenal’s youth ranks. In Burundi, people remember the historic Shabani Nonda, who played for Congo and Monaco, and locals in Guinea talk of Titi Camara, who played for Liverpool among other European clubs.

Pierre Aubameyang, a French-Gabonese defender with Borussia Dortmund, has a whole country’s support.

And then there is the stars in search for a sort of coronation in June: Didier Drogba, Gervinho and Yaya Toure with Ivory Coast, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Michael Essien and Asamoah Gyan with Ghana, Victor Moses with Nigeria, and Samuel Eto’o with Cameroon.

Africa relies on all of them to increase the hopes of its people. Conrad, a Ugandan whose country failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, noted that he is still excited about the event.

“We love football. We have our own style: we are very physical, especially West (African) countries, but we also like to have the ball. In recent times we have improved a lot tactically, and most importantly, we have gained experience and we still keep the joy of playing. Will this be the year we make it?” he wondered.

Conrad’s question, which the whole of Africa shares, is set to find an answer from June 12, when the ball starts rolling in Sao Paulo. Until then, African fans look forward to the event and hope that one of their five representatives can surpass the World Cup feats of Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 by qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time in history.

One advert that is being shown day and night in Africa expresses just that: on a multicultural continent with 54 countries and more than 3,000 tribes, there is only one language, football.

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Alessandro Del Piero: “Italy Are

Not Starting Out As Favourites” SEBASTIAN FEST (DPA)

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"The choice of Australia was a choice that was different from everything else", said Del Piero.

Italy have always sought to make the most of their potential. They have had great attacking players, great midfielders, but it has always been defence that delivered the greatest satisfactions', said the 2006 world champion dpa: You were not that far... Prandelli said in 2013 that he was considering you.

Del Piero: Well, I appreciate the fact that he keeps me in mind and that he is following what happens. I know full well that he has launched his ideas with other players, he has his idea and his structure focused on the players he has led through the qualifying round, but he remains open, and we’ll see how I am, we’ll see what his decisions are. Anything can happen, why not? dpa: Can this change that Prandelli is promoting go so far that Italians get to favour good play above winning and playing badly?

Del Piero: Italy have always sought to make the most of their potential. They have had great attacking players, great midfielders, but it has always been defence that delivered the greatest satisfactions, because we have had brilliant defenders and brilliant keepers. So the idea of building a team based on defence is not wrong, because it is about making the most of its characteristics. Having defended better than others must be regarded as a virtue. Nowadays, there is a mix of all this, there is a good defence with a

system that has borne good fruit, based on having the ball more, attacking more, so I think it’s a positive change. dpa: Is Balotelli crazy?

Del Piero (laughing): I don’t know if he’s crazy.

He is a lad with huge quality who has to control himself sometimes, yes. dpa: Italy are playing England in Manaus, in a match in the Amazon rainforest. What do you think of that clash?

Del Piero: It is unique, like Brazil, which is a country that I don’t know very well but that is practically home for football. It is them who have won the most World Cups. dpa: Three words to define Lionel Messi, and three on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Del Piero: Great, great, great, and great, great, great. You cannot say anything else. They are two extraordinary players who have incredible, unique skills, and it is not by chance that they split the Ballon d’Ors between them. There is not much to add. They confirm their quality every year, and the World Cup is what might definitively crown them, so I think they will do very well.

eeing Alessandro Del Piero surrounded by nameless players in the Australian football championship gives a strange feeling: it is almost a denial of his rich football history.

And yet it is a fleeting denial, because when the Italian striker starts to talk he soon shows that he is the same player as ever.

“Italy are not starting out as favourites,” the Juventus icon, currently at Sydney FC, told dpa in an interview in Melbourne.

Del Piero assessed the Azzuri’s World Cup chances, the Australian national team’s situation and the quality of players like Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Del Piero, 39, is still in perfect physical shape, and his gaze appears to transmit a certain dissatisfaction: he lives well in Australia, but he knows he is a lot greater than a championship which is still naïve and has no pressures. dpa: What is a player like you, a world champion and a record man for Juventus, doing in Australian football?

Del Piero: The choice of Australia was a choice that was different from everything else. I had to take distance from home, from European football and from my adventure there, and I chose a place where I have found many positive aspects, from the climate to my family’s stability, to being able to tackle a championship that is completely different from what I was used to. dpa: Australia are set to have a really tough World Cup group, alongside Spain, the Netherlands and Chile. Are they effectively already out?

Del Piero: Anything can happen in the group.

Australia are a good team, but objectively, that’s a very difficult group. It would be a pleasant surprise for me if they made it to the round of 16. But they’re a good team, so anything can happen. dpa: How would you define Australian footballers?

Del Piero: They are passionate, instinctive players who have great physical ability. They may not have as much tactical ability as in other countries, as in Europe, but, since many players play in championships abroad, they have a good mix and they can improve. So I think the national team has good players. dpa: Italy eliminated Australia in the round of 16 in Germany 2006, with a Lucas Neill penalty on Fabio Grosso that had a high simulation content. Have you made up with Neill?

Del Piero: Yes, we joked about that, because Lucas played with us for three months last year.

But that is already a closed matter for us and for them. Luckily it closed to our advantage. dpa: Today’s Italy play differently from the national team of which you were once a member. They seem to have greater love for the ball. Do you like the change?

Del Piero: I think they are a team who have made the group their strength, who have played a great qualifying round, and I think that’s very important, because it consolidates group strength and unity. It is a good starting point, particularly when Italy are not starting out as favourites, like now, when they are not starting out as favourites.

That is an advantage and I hope all those signs are positive for them. dpa: Would you have felt more comfortable playing in the style that Cesare Prandelli has given the national team?

Del Piero: I don’t know. We would have to try it.

If you want me to try it, I’ll try.

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History of World Cup Uruguay 1930:

Argentine Francisco “Pancho” Varallo Could Have Changed History Finalists : Argentina and Uruguay Venue : Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Date : July 30, 1930 Result : Uruguay won 4-2 Memoirs of the match : • Argentina were leading 2-1in the first half • In the second half Uruguay took 3-2 lead • In the 82nd minute, Argentine striker ‘Pancho’ Varallo’s shot hit the left corner of Uruguay’s goal and crushed Argentine hope for an equaliser.

• Varallo, in an interview with dpa at his home in La Plata, about 60 kilometres away from Buenos Aires, a few years before his death at age 100 on August 30, 2010, said. “If we win here, they’ll kill us. Nobody wanted to play... I couldn’t believe it!

When I got back from Montevideo I screamed at Uruguayans in rage because we had lost. But it was us who lost that final. For all the bitterness he felt after failing to win a World Cup at 20, Varallo always said he later grew fond of Uruguayans. “I really love Uruguayans,” the Argentine said.

• That first World Cup final marked the growing rivalry between neighbours Uruguay and Argentina in the field of sport, and clashes between both are a classic of South American football.

Italy 1934:

Vittorio Pozzo: “Proud To Be Italian” •

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• Finalists : Italy and Czechoslovakia Venue: Stadio Nazionale del PNF, Rome, Italy Date: June 10, 1934 Result: Italy won 2-1 Memoirs of the match : • Italy needed to win its World Cup in 1934 to show the world the superiority of its fascist regime.

That was the assignment that Vittorio Pozzo got from Benito Mussolini.

• Before the World Cup, the Turin-born Pozzo took his men to

•

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the Alps so they could recover from the efforts they had made in the Italian championship.

The World Cup came, and the first-round rival was easy: the United States.

Spain proved to be a much tougher rival in the quarter-finals, in more than one sense: the match was extremely violent, as Pozzo recalled when he told of a clash between Spanish centre-backs Ciriaco and Quincoces.

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In the semi-finals, the “luck” that Pozzo had invoked set Italy up against Austria. Italy won 1-0 and got through to the final. Their major goal, winning the World Cup, was just one step away.

Their last hurdle was Czechoslovakia. Everything was set for the triumph of the “Nazionale”: 50,000 voices were supporting them at the packed stadium of the National Fascist Party. In his box, Il Duce expected nothing but a win.

In the 76th minute, Czech winger Antonin Puc’s long-range shot found the net behind Combi, who moved late and could not produce a save.

Nine minutes before the final whistle, Orsi drew off a great run and a left-foot shot to the corner of the goalmouth.

The 90 minutes ended in a draw.

Schiavio’s 95-minute shot to the far post, did the national duty of winning the title. Fans at the stadium went crazy, and the “azzurri” became heroes.

“The players, with their eyes full of emotion, went to pick up the prize that Il Duce presented to them with his own hands. Days like those of preparation in the Alps and in Roveta, struggles like those in that World Cup… they are unforgettable. And none of us who lived through them will ever forget. Such experiences make you proud to be Italian,” said Pozzo.

Switzerland 1954:

Fritz Walter: “I Was The Coach’s Representative On The Pitch” Finalists : Germany and Hungary Venue: Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland Date : July 04, 1954 Result: Germany won 3-2 Memoirs of the match : • Fritz Walter was the decisive man in the Germany team that surprised many when they won the World Cup title in Switzerland 1954, beating Hungary. Walter, who died on June 17, 2002, was the captain and the brains behind the “Miracle of Bern,” as the feat was known later.

• “I remember (the final in Bern) as if it had happened today,” Walter said in his memoirs. “A heavy rain was falling, and it seems like I always played good matches under such conditions.”

• Hungary’s machine, around Ferenc

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Puskas, Zoltan Czibor and Sandor Kocsis, started playing at fireman speed and literally were all over Germany. Eight minutes into the match, Germany were losing 2-0.

When Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn scored for Germany 2-2, Hungary, according to Walter, “got scared, they seemed paralyzed.”

In the changing room, at half-time, Walter told the lads that they could achieve the feat and they achieved it with the second goal from ‘boss’ Rahn, with just 6 minutes left of the game.

France 1938:

Pietro Rava: “A Great Fascist Spirit Pervaded Us”

Finalists : Italy and Hungary Venue: Stade Olympique de Colombes , Paris Date : June 19, 1938 Result: Italy won 4-2 Memoirs of the match : • A short time before his death in 2006, Pietro Rava, by then the last surviving member of the team that won the 1938 World Cup, recalled how football in those pre-war days was related more to politics than to sport for Benito Mussolini’s Italy.

• “We had to play to win. No excuses were acceptable. Il Duce was clear and precise: we had to achieve it above all for the regime, beyond even our own personal satisfaction,” Rava told in an interview.

• “French people did not like us much because of our fascist regime, and when

we entered the pitch for the first match, in Marseille against Norway, there was deafening whistling,” Rava recalled.

In the decisive clash against the Hungarians, a team that dominated all their rivals at the time, there was a lot more at stake than just a football game. Rava was just 22, but he says he did not feel afraid.

After the final, Rava could hardly believe Italy had won. “It meant everything. It’s the greatest satisfaction a player can have in his life. I had it, and I think that is a lot.”

“Il Duce welcomed us in Rome at Palazzo Venezia. Mussolini rewarded us for the service we had done to the homeland.

My reward was a diploma and an 8,000lira prize. With that money I bought a new car, a Topolino 9500. It was a different era!”

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Brazil 1950:

Obdulio Varela: “We Won With Our Minds, Not Based On Skill”

Finalists : Uruguay and Brazil Venue: Estádio do Maracanã , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Date : July 16, 1950 Result: Uruguay won 2-1 Memoirs of the match : • The hero of 1950 World Cup was Uruguan captain Obdulio Jacinto Varela, nicknamed “The Black Chief”, who imposed his iron will and personality on the hosts at the brand new, gigantic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

• Friaca almost secured a win for Brazil with a goal early in the second half, despite being apparently offside.

• That was when Obdulio surprised most by picking up the ball and putting it under his arm to argue with the referee. “You want the truth? I had seen the linesman with his flag up. Of course, the man put it down immediately, lest he might get killed,” Obdulio told Uruguayan journalist Antonio Pippo in the book Desde el Alma.

• “The whole stadium was insulting me, but I did not fear... I had endured all those struggles on pitches without a fence, where it was kill or die, so I was not going to get scared there, with full guarantees! I knew what I was doing,” he said.

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“The Black Chief” returned the ball to the pitch and told his team-mates in a tone that did not seem to leave room for replies. “Good, that’s it. Now we’re going to beat these ‘Japanese’,” he said, using a term he frequently used to refer to any foreigner.

“The more I think about all that, the more I am sure that it was a match that we won with our minds, not based on skill. We choked them from the start, we made them feel our strength in the middle and at the back. And when we had the ball we made the most of the speed of (Alcides) Ghiggia on the right, the resources of Julio (Perez), the skill of (Omar) Miguez to drag off rivals, and the serenity of (Juan Alberto) Schiaffino... And it gradually happened as I expected, it was neck and neck.”

“I sat at a bar and I started to drink sugarcane (liquor) hoping that no one would recognize me, because I thought that if they did they would kill me. But they recognized me straight away and, to my surprise, they congratulated me, they hugged me and many of them stayed to drink with me into the night,” Obdulio told dpa in an interview in 1993.

“Brazilians are the kindest people in the world,” insisted the man who caused Brazil its greatest sadness.

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History of World Cup Sweden 1958:

Pele: “Our Talent Was Enough To Win The Title”

Finalists : Brazi and Sweden Venue: Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden Date : June 29, 1958 Result: Brazil won 5-2 Memoirs of the match : • Eight years after the famous “Maracanazo” in the 1950 World Cup final, when Brazil lost 2-1 to Uruguay, Pele won the first World Cup title for Brazil.

• After the 1950 defeat, Pele told his crying father: ‘Don’t cry, dad. I will one day win a World Cup for you.

• The chance to fulfil that promise came earlier than expected. At age 17, Pele was already a well-known and much-admired player within Brazil.

• Pele was almost excluded from the team due to injury. Due to his injury, Pele started the World Cup on the bench, just like almost every other black player in Feola’s squad including the legendary Garrincha.

• On June 15, 1958, Brazil started their match against the mighty Soviet Union with Garrincha and Zito to replace Dino and Joel, and with the young Pele instead of Mazola. And they launched their raid to the title.

• Four days later, Pele scored his first World Cup goal, in the 1-0 win over Wales that took Brazil through to the semi-finals.

• “Brazilian team brought together some of the best players of all time for the finals: Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Orlando, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Zito, Didi, Garrincha, Vava, Zagallo and me,” Pele notes.

• According to Pele, when Brazil arrived in Stockholm’s Solna stadium to play the final against the hosts, their players and coach Feola had virtually no idea of Sweden’s strengths and weaknesses. “We only had the talent of a Didi, a Garrincha, a Nilton Santos, a Pele. And that talent was enough for us to win our first World Cup,” Pele said.

Finalists : England and Germany Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date : July 30, 1966 Result: England won 4-2 Memoirs of the match : • England 1966 impressed in global memory the exotic participation of North Korea and one of the most controversial goals in football history.

• England striker Geoffrey Hurst, still a newcomer to the team, managed a hat-trick in his team’s 4-2 win over Germany. it was his second goal – England’s third, in extra time – that made the Germans particularly bitter, when Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov ruled that the ball had crossed the goal line after bouncing off the bottom of the crossbar.

• “Was it a goal? Did the ball cross the line?” the former West Ham United striker Hurst asked himself in his book 1966 and All That. “Those two questions have haunted me for most of my adult life. It’s a controversy that will follow me to the grave,” wrote Hurst.

• In 1966, Pak Do Ik and his team-mates in the North Korean football team stood in awe of their bigger, richer and more famous Italian opponents.

• Facing superstars like Gianni Rivera and Sandro Mazzola, who could enjoy the celebrity lifestyle of the Swinging Sixties, the North Koreans admit they were “a bit frightened” of what would happen in their group match.

• However, the fears proved unfounded as right winger Pak’s goal sealed a 1-0 victory that remains one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.

• The British press hailed the North Koreans’ win as a “fairy story”, with one newspaper calling it a “bigger disaster for Italy than the fall of the Roman Empire”.

North Korea went on to the next round, and Italy got to pack their bags.

England 1966:

From The North Korean “Dentist” That Left Italy Numb To Hurst’s Controversial Goal

Mexico 1970:

Pele: “Before The Final I Burst Into Tears, I Could Not Stop”

Chile 1962:

Nilton Santos, Di Stefano And The World Cup Spain Came Close To Spoiling For Brazil Finalists : Brazij and Czechoslovakia Venue: Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile Date : June 17, 1962 Result: Brazil won 3-1

FinalisMemoirs of the match : • “King” Pele will never forget the Mexico 1970 World Cup: there, besides leading Brazil to the trophy, he became the only man in history to have won three World Cup titles.

• “In the middle of Brazil’s political trouble, there were major demands for victory, with messages from the president (General Emilio Garrastazu Medici), from other people...” says the football legend Pele, now aged 73.

• Pele was already mulling retirement by that time, and he knew that would be his last World Cup. • He realized his own state of tension a few minutes before the final. ”We left our camp directly for the Estadio Azteca. We were getting to the changing rooms when we heard the shouts of the fans on the stands. Suddenly, I burst into tears, I could not stop.”

• Close to two hours later, Brazil were celebrating their third World Cup title. It granted them definitive possession of the Jules Rimet trophy, which had been at stake in World Cups over four decades, and definitively crowned Pele as the “king of football,” a title that the French press had granted him as early as 1961.

West Germany 1974: Mystery Of Malente As Kaiser Franz Takes Command

Memoirs of the match : • Brazil got to the Chile 1962 World Cup as the favourites, but they came close to losing their third first-round game, against Spain.

• Nilton Santos, one of the stars of that legendary team, recalled in an interview with dpa. “But that day, when Spain were 1-0 up, I committed a foul in the box to stop one of their counter-attacks. I immediately took a step forward and lifted my arms. The referee was far and he signalled a free kick. Had Spain scored their second goal, we would have lost.”

• Pele got injured in the second first-round match against Czechoslovakia and had to be replaced by fellow-striker Amarildo for the remainder of the tournament.

• Nilton Santos tried to reassure Amarildo and appointed himself as a “guard” to the temperamental forward, in order to avoid violent incidents that would harm the team as a whole. “I told him no one was expecting him to do what Pele did and that he only had to play like he did at Botafogo, and I tried to keep a close watch over him,” said Santos.

• Nilton Santos lifted the trophy in Chile as the climax of his career, which was to end two years later, in 1964

ts : Brazil and Italy Venue : Estadio Azteca, Mexico City Date : June 21, 1970 Result : Brazil won 4-1

Finalists : Netherlands and Germany Venue: Olympiastadion, Munich Date : July 07, 1974 Result: Germany won 2-1

Memoirs of the match : • After the humiliating 1-0 defeat against East Germany at the training camp in Malente, captain Franz Beckenbauer effectively dethroned coach Helmut Schoen as West German team tactician.

• The Bayern Munich star had the authority to change things on the pitch as the most powerful captain in German football history.

• “We have been playing too offensively because we have had easy opponents and everyone wanted us to attack. This will change now because all the opponents will be tough,” Beckenbauer said. This was somewhat ironic that the inventor of the attacking sweeper was calling for a cautious approach.

• In the decider the Dutch were considered the better team with their “total football” concept. Johan Neeskens gave them a first- minute lead from a famous penalty, but Paul Breitner’s spot kick and Gerd Mueller’s strike shortly before half-time turned the tables.

• Success came at the height of Beckenbauer’s career, just months after another Bundesliga title and Bayern’s first of what would be a European Champions Cup title hat-trick between 1974 and 1976.

• “My best memories go back to the 1974 World Cup because we won it,” Beckenbauer once recalled.

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History of World Cup Argentina 1978:

Argentina’s Kempes, Peru’s Cubillas And The Netherlands’ Rep Remember The Most Politically Charged World Cup

Finalists : Argentina and Netherlands Venue: Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina Date : June 25, 1978 Result: Argentina won 3-1 Memoirs of the match : • Mario Alberto Kempes was without a doubt the Argentine symbol of a World Cup won at home in 1978.

• The tournament was largely marked by the dictatorship of General Jorge Videla.

• “People in the Netherlands did not want us to go there, but it was a World Cup, and we had to play it. We were against Videla’s dictatorship, I insist,” Johnny Rep, one the tournament’s key Dutch players, told dpa.

• The striker nicknamed “Matador” admitted to dpa that players were “very isolated” in their headquarters and that for this reason they were unaware of everything that was going on under a military regime believed to have killed more than 30,000 people.

• Kempes, the top scorer of that tournament with six goals and now aged 59, remains convinced that Argentina’s first World Cup was won in good faith, based on the hosts’ “hunger for victory.

• After losing the final Dutch players did not shake hands with Videla. He was a dictator, they did not like him.

Mexico 86:

Maradona’s “Most Sublime” Moment: Finalists: Argentina and West Germany Venue: Estadio Azteca, Santa Ursula, Mexico City, Mexico Date: June, 29 1986 Result: Argentina won 3–2 Memoirs of the match : • The Mexico 1986 World Cup appointed Diego Maradona as the new god of football: as he led Argentina to their second World Cup title, the playmaker’s magic appeared to fill the space that Brazil’s Pele had left vacant 16 years earlier.

• “Beating Argentina would have been very difficult because at that time Maradona was on a different level,” Spain’s Emilio Butragueno told dpa, whose team lost to Belgium in the penalty shootout, in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

• Argentina emerged as a clear candidate to lift the trophy with their 2-1 win over England in the quarter-finals, a match that, as Maradona himself says, had lots of ingredients beyond football.

• Maradona did justice, from his own perspective, with two goals that describe him fully: street wisdom and magic.

• “The first one I defined at the time as the ‘Hand of God’... What hand of God? It was the hand of Diego! And it was like stealing English people’s wallet too,” he recalls. Maradona used his left fist to beat England keeper Peter Shilton and net the ball, a trick so perfect that it was not even clear on television.

Italy 1990:

Voeller: “Argentina’s Fault” That The Final Was Poor Finalists: West Germany and Argentina Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy Date: July 8, 1990 Result: West Germany won 1–0 Memoirs of the match : • In Rome, everything was set for a sort of re-match: Maradona against Lothar Matthaeus, Oscar Ruggeri against Rudi Voeller, Beckenbauer against Carlos Bilardo, the coaches of both teams.

• This time around Germany won, and the match had none of the suspense and the quality of its predecessor. It was a boring, plain game that was settled with a dubious penalty shot just five minutes before the final whistle.

• “It was not a very good final, but to be honest it was not our fault. The Argentines got to the final a little bit by surprise, they played very small-minded football, as they had done throughout the tournament. They were trying to get by anyway they could, played for a draw, tried to reach the penalty shootout,” Rudi Voeller recalled in an interview with dpa.

• “Italy’s win was not all down to quality. We were lucky. For example, everything could have vanished in the round-of-16,” says Voeller of the match against the Netherlands. That game was a troubling one for the Germany striker. It saw him get a lot of undeserved attention, as the victim of what he continues to regard as “a great injustice.” Dutchman Frank Rijkaard spit in his face several times, and after the subsequent clash between them Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau sent them both off 22 minutes into the match.

Spain 1982: “I Was Born Again,” Says Paolo Rossi

USA 1994:

Bebeto: “The Team That Played Best Won” Finalists: Italy and Germany Venue: Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain Date : July 11, 1982 Result: Italy won 3-1

Memoirs of the match : • With his six goals in the last three matches of the Spain 1982 World Cup, Paolo Rossi led Italy to their third world championship title, became the tournament’s top scorer and rose to the status of a legend of Italian football.

• This mythical World Cup, revived him both personally and professionally after serving a two-year ban for a match-fixing scandal in Italy during the 1979-80 season.

• “Looking back after 30 years I see things with different eyes and I smile at having doubted about my abilities as a footballer and a man. However, at certain moments of deep discomfort during the heavy suspension from the match-fixing scandal, it seemed impossible to play again at a certain level,” Rossi, now 57, wrote.

• “In Spain I became one of the undisputed symbols of the World Cup, redeeming my image and silencing the anger I had inside. I was born again.

The Pablito of Argentina (in the 1978 World Cup) was back, more roaring and determined than ever,” Rossi recalls.

Finalists: Brazil and Italy Venue: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, United States Date: July 17, 1994 Result: Brazil won 3–2 in a penalty shootout Memoirs of the match : • In Rome, everything was set for a sort of re-match: Maradona against Lothar Matthaeus, Oscar Ruggeri against Rudi Voeller, Beckenbauer against Carlos Bilardo, the coaches of both teams.

• This time around Germany won, and the match had none of the suspense and the quality of its predecessor. It was a boring, plain game that was settled with a dubious penalty shot just five minutes before the final whistle.

• “It was not a very good final, but to be honest it was not our fault.

The Argentines got to the final a little bit by surprise, they played very small-minded football, as they had done throughout the tournament. They were trying to get by anyway they could, played for a draw, tried to reach the penalty shootout,” Rudi Voeller recalled in an interview with dpa.

• “Italy’s win was not all down to quality. We were lucky. For example, everything could have vanished in the round-of-16,” says Voeller of the match against the Netherlands. That game was a troubling one for the Germany striker. It saw him get a lot of undeserved attention, as the victim of what he continues to regard as “a great injustice.” Dutchman Frank Rijkaard spit in his face several times, and after the subsequent clash between them Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau sent them both off 22 minutes into the match.

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France 98:

Germany 2006:

“We Felt Like We Were On Holiday,” Zidane Says

“Merci Beaucoup, Monsieur,” Materazzi Tells Zidane Memoirs of the match :

Finalists: Brazil and France Venue: Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France Date: July 12, 1998 Result: France won 3–0 Memoirs of the match : • Memories of the France 1998 World Cup are the most pleasant in Zinedine Zidane’s football career, and he remains to this day very aware of the fact that the hosts came close to derailing en route to the title in the round-of-16, against Paraguay.

• “For any footballer, winning a World Cup is a dream. Having scored two goals in the final is the best memory in my career as a football player,” Zidane says whenever he gets a question about the 1998 feat.

• France started out against South Africa, whom they beat in the second half by 3-0, thanks above all to the work of Zi-

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dane’s best friend in the world of football, Christophe Dugarry. Against Saudi Arabia, it again took France half an hour to get into the match, until Thierry Henry’s first goal. The match ended 4-0, but it brought some bad news: Zidane was sent off after trampling on Fouad Amin.

The team struggled without Zidane. First against Denmark, whom they beat 2-1, and above all against Paraguay, whom they beat in extra time with a golden goal from Laurent Blanc.

Italy were eliminated in the quarter-finals, in the penalty shootout, after actual play ended 0-0, and Croacia were the hosts’ semi-finals rival.

For the final, Zidane and his team preferred Brazil as their rivals. “If the Netherlands had won, it would have been a problem because we were ready for the dream final against Brazil.”

The Frenchman thinks the trophy was an incredible gift for the whole country.

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Marco Materazzi’s name will forever be linked to Zinedine Zidane’s. The final act in the brilliant Frenchman’s career was a violent head-butt against the Italian’s chest, in no less than extra time during the final of the Germany 2006 World Cup. Since then, the story of their clash has almost become a legend.

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On the 110th minute of the match, Zidane and Materazzi exchange a few words while the ball is in a different part of the pitch. Suddenly, the Frenchman stops, turns around and knocks the Italian down to the ground with a headbutt. The referee did not see the incident, but he was alerted to it by his assistants and sent off the captain of the “Bleus” with a direct red card. That was the end of the career of the hero of France’s 1998 World Cup title.

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Zidane had said he would retire after the 2006 World Cup, and he never again played professionally after that. The match was 1-1 after extra time, and Italy won it 5-3 in the penalty shootout to claim the trophy.

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What exactly did Materazzi tell Zidane for him to react that way?

“What’s up, Zinedine? You haven’t lost the match yet and you’ve already lost your hair.” If the Italian had said that, Zidane would probably have laughed. But that is just one of the 249 satirical phrases that the defender gathered in his book What I Really Said to Zidane (“Que cosa ho veramente detto a Zidane”).

Finalists: Italy and France Venue: Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany Date: July 9, 2006 Result: Italy won 5–3 in a penalty shootout

South Africa 2010:

Andres Iniesta: “I Heard The Silence” Finalists: Brazil and Germany Venue: International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan Date: June 30, 2002 Result: Brazil won 2–0

South Korea/Japan 2002: Ronaldo: “It Was My Own Personal Victory”

Memoirs of the match : • It was an impeccable tournament for the Brazil team that was packed with stars: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Cafu.

• Ronaldo had a dream month in South Korea and Japan. Not only did he lift the trophy along with his Brazil team-mates, but he was also the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals. No one had scored that many goals in a single World Cup since the German Gerd Mueller scored 10 in Mexico 1970.

• In the first round, Ronaldo scored against Turkey (2-1 win), China (4-0 win) and a brace against Costa Rica (5-2 win). In the round-of-16 he scored again against Belgium (2-0 win), and only England in the quarter-finals (2-1 win) could prevent

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him from finding the net. This in turn prevented him from emulating fellow-Brazilian Jairzinho, who became in Mexico 1970 the only player to have scored in every match he played at a World Cup. “I was not thinking about breaking any records. I just wanted to score goals so we could win games. The first thing I had in mind was the record of (Brazil) winning the World Cup for the fifth time.”

In the semi-finals he scored the winning goal against Turkey (1-0), a legendary goal in which he dribbled several rivals in a very small space and blasted off an unpredictable shot.

In the final, Ronaldo rose to the challenge with two goals against the mighty Oliver Kahn, a man who had almost single-handedly led Germany to the final.

Finalists: Spain and Netherlands Venue: Soccer City stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa Date: July 11, 2010 Result: Spain won 1–0 after extra time Memoirs of the match : • •There were four minutes left till the end of extra time in the final of the South Africa 2010 World Cup, and the score was still 0-0. The Netherlands were down to 10 men in a game in which they had played quite rough, and they were waiting for the penalty shootout. Energy was running low in both teams, but Spain proved that they still had a little left.

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It was a long move. The ball went through Jesus Navas, Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, again Navas, Fernando Torres and again Fabregas before returning to the small-built Barcelona midfielder.

He just took two touches: one to control the ball, another to shoot. The whole process took just a few seconds for the rest of the world, but not for Iniesta.

“Everything stopped and it was just me and the ball. Like when you see footage in slow motion. That’s what it was like for me,” he recalled.

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It was not just a goal in the World Cup final. It was the goal: a shot that ended decades of bitterness and frustration for Spanish fans. It was the goal that gave Spain their first World Cup title, after only having made it past the quarter-finals on one prior occasion, in 1950.

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Iniesta paid tribute to Dani Jarque, an Espanyol player who died of a heart attack in 2009, at age 26 just after he scored the winning goal in the World Cup final by showing off his vest that said: “Dani Jarque, always with us,” in Spanish.

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