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Brazil is the best international team in the world. By winning the World Cup in 2002 they have continued to amaze the world with their dazzling skills and players. |
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The German national football team is one of the most successful national football teams. They have appeared in seven World Cup Finals, winning three. They have appeared in five European Championships finals, winning three. |
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The French national football team is a successful European football team, generally considered to be one of the stronger sides in international football today. France came third in the World Cups of 1958, a reasonably isolated success. |
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Holland are a very succesful footie team in europe. their nickname is die orange because of their ORANGE kit. |
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Unbeaten in their qualifying group and one of the four seeded teams in the competition much is expected of the resurgent Czechs. After missing out on World Cup 2002 and not getting beyond the group stage at Euro 2000 the Czechs have certainly bounced back. Coach Karel Bruckner has had his contract extended until 2006 as a reward for his team's qualification and the the Dutch will hold no fears for Bruckner's well-balanced team. A handful of the players who made it to the final of Euro 96 still remain: veterans Karel Poborsky (no longer a Noddy Holder look-alike and now playing his football back in the Czech Republic), Liverpool’s Vladimir Smicer and captain Pavel Nedved. Up front there’s man-mountain Jan Koller and Milan Baros – if he recovers in time from injury. In the 'Group of Death' much will depend though on Juventus star Nedved staying fit and the enigmatic (read: inconsistent) Tomas Rosicky producing his best form.
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The 0-0 encounter in Turkey which allowed England to qualify for the finals without having to go through a play-off shows the maturity of the current squad. Indeed the qualifying matches as a whole reflected this. Sure, England seemed to struggle against Macedonia, but there are positive things to be said. For example, the team can now come back after going a goal down; the lack of natural left-sided players is not seen as such a problem as it was pre-World Cup; Rooney is that rarity – a player with ball skill who's actually allowed to don an England shirt; Beckham has true leadership qualities; the players are used to Sven's modus operandi.
Then there are the weak points: the goalkeeper position; the defence which likes to head away knee-high passes; the media and some of the fans who like to blame poor performances on the error of particular players, rather than seeing the team as a unit.
All in all reasons to be cheerful.
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For the remaining members of the ‘golden generation’ of Portuguese football including stars Luis Figo and Rui Costa - this is the end of the line: it’s win or bust this time around. A lack of discipline characterized the disappointing defeats to France at Euro 2000 and Korea at the 2002 World Cup. New man in the hot seat, Brazilian World Cup-winning coach ‘Big Phil’ Scolari will surely stand no nonsense and he just might be right man to handle the considerable home crowd pressures and get the best out of the veterans and the latest crop of existing youngsters. Portugal have no surfeit of exciting attackers, Sergio Conceicao, Christiano Ronaldo, Luis Boa Morte and Hugo Viana but the defence may still be manned by the aging and slow Fernando Couto and Jorge Costa. The two Iberian teams should progress from the group; the Portuguese nation expects but don't count on further progress. |
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