Post by Taxigirl on Dec 9, 2005 9:06:18 GMT
www.sportinglife.com/football/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/08/SOCCER_World_Cup_Nightlead.html
Sven-Goran Eriksson will find out England's first three World Cup rivals in Leipzig on Friday, desperately hoping to avoid an Ashes rematch with Australia.
Eriksson freely admits if he had been fully aware of the historic sporting rivalry between the two nations he would never have sanctioned the infamous friendly with the Socceroos at West Ham in 2003.
The game is now notorious as the night Eriksson fielded two completely different sides in a match England lost 3-1.
But for Swedish coach Eriksson, it provided an insight into how much Australian passion is reserved for beating England. And it is something he would prefer to avoid at next year's Finals in Germany.
"The English speaking countries are desperate to beat England in a big tournament, which is why I don't want to play against Australia or the United States," said Eriksson.
"But there is is a wider aspect to Australia.
"There is a sporting rivalry between the two countries. What I saw during the summer when England won the cricket was amazing.
"If I had known all about the rivalry, I would never have played that friendly against them.
"It was far from a friendly game. They wanted to beat us, and they did."
FIFA's surprising decision to install England as second seeds for the entire competition will allow Eriksson to breathe slightly easier as the 32 nations are pitted together in eight groups of four.
However, there are still some horrors lying in wait, not least in the 'European' pot which includes Holland, who Eriksson regards as the best side not to be seeded.
"We have played Holland three times in friendlies and they are a very good side," said Eriksson.
"Marco van Basten is building a new team and he has been very successful with it."
The Czech Republic are also possible opponents, as are Sweden, who England failed to beat in Japan four years ago, and the Ukraine, who include lethal striker Andrei Shevchenko in their ranks.
At least that group of potential opponents are well known, those who will arrive in Germany out of Africa could be more problematic to do homework on.
With the usual qualifiers Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa all eliminated, Eriksson may need to brush up on his knowledge of Angola, Togo and Ghana, who will all make their finals debuts.
Of Africa's five entrants, Eriksson has seen just one in action live, Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast, so a trip to the African Nations Cup will be on the cards should the draw steer England that way.
"I will go to the African Nations Cup if we are drawn against an African team because there are some of these sides I know next to nothing about," he said.
Eriksson's desire to avoid the United States in the fourth pot is obvious enough given it also includes Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose impact on previous World Cups has been minimal, plus the co-hosts four years ago Japan and South Korea, who both exploited home advantage to the full but have never really excelled anywhere else.
If there are makeweights in any group, they are likely to come from this section, although Eriksson believes the days of bigger countries routinely hammering weaker ones are at an end.
"I don't believe we will see many 4-0 or 5-0 victories," he said. "The differences between teams reduce at every tournament and I anticipate there will be a lot of tight games."
Eriksson insists he will not be nervous before the draw because 'I can't do anything about it', although he is hoping for better luck than he had in Japan when England were paired with Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria in the obligatory 'Group of Death'.
Having done so much to clean up the image of England fans over the last few years, there will also be a few fingers crossed among the Football Association's administrators.
The rampant nationalism which characterises the support of many eastern European nations means Croatia and Poland would no doubt appear on the list of teams to be avoided. The neo-Nazi groups which have sprung up in the old East Germany means Nuremberg is a host city they would probably prefer not to visit.
The draw will be quite complicated and the following outlines Friday night's proceedure.
There will be a first pool of eight seeded teams. The teams, including England, were seeded based on their performance at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and also their FIFA world ranking in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
As soon as a team is drawn from pools two, three or four, another draw will then take place to allocate this team their place in the group, which will decide the order of the group fixtures.
Wherever possible, teams from the same confederation will be kept apart, the exception being UEFA-affiliated nations where a maximum of two are permitted in each group. Serbia and Montenegro are in a separate pot, and will go into a group containing one of three non-European seeds - Brazil, Argentina or Mexico.
Germany have been placed in Group A. They will kick off the tournament in Munich, before moving to Dortmund and completing their group campaign in Berlin, where the final will be staged.
Sven-Goran Eriksson will find out England's first three World Cup rivals in Leipzig on Friday, desperately hoping to avoid an Ashes rematch with Australia.
Eriksson freely admits if he had been fully aware of the historic sporting rivalry between the two nations he would never have sanctioned the infamous friendly with the Socceroos at West Ham in 2003.
The game is now notorious as the night Eriksson fielded two completely different sides in a match England lost 3-1.
But for Swedish coach Eriksson, it provided an insight into how much Australian passion is reserved for beating England. And it is something he would prefer to avoid at next year's Finals in Germany.
"The English speaking countries are desperate to beat England in a big tournament, which is why I don't want to play against Australia or the United States," said Eriksson.
"But there is is a wider aspect to Australia.
"There is a sporting rivalry between the two countries. What I saw during the summer when England won the cricket was amazing.
"If I had known all about the rivalry, I would never have played that friendly against them.
"It was far from a friendly game. They wanted to beat us, and they did."
FIFA's surprising decision to install England as second seeds for the entire competition will allow Eriksson to breathe slightly easier as the 32 nations are pitted together in eight groups of four.
However, there are still some horrors lying in wait, not least in the 'European' pot which includes Holland, who Eriksson regards as the best side not to be seeded.
"We have played Holland three times in friendlies and they are a very good side," said Eriksson.
"Marco van Basten is building a new team and he has been very successful with it."
The Czech Republic are also possible opponents, as are Sweden, who England failed to beat in Japan four years ago, and the Ukraine, who include lethal striker Andrei Shevchenko in their ranks.
At least that group of potential opponents are well known, those who will arrive in Germany out of Africa could be more problematic to do homework on.
With the usual qualifiers Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa all eliminated, Eriksson may need to brush up on his knowledge of Angola, Togo and Ghana, who will all make their finals debuts.
Of Africa's five entrants, Eriksson has seen just one in action live, Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast, so a trip to the African Nations Cup will be on the cards should the draw steer England that way.
"I will go to the African Nations Cup if we are drawn against an African team because there are some of these sides I know next to nothing about," he said.
Eriksson's desire to avoid the United States in the fourth pot is obvious enough given it also includes Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose impact on previous World Cups has been minimal, plus the co-hosts four years ago Japan and South Korea, who both exploited home advantage to the full but have never really excelled anywhere else.
If there are makeweights in any group, they are likely to come from this section, although Eriksson believes the days of bigger countries routinely hammering weaker ones are at an end.
"I don't believe we will see many 4-0 or 5-0 victories," he said. "The differences between teams reduce at every tournament and I anticipate there will be a lot of tight games."
Eriksson insists he will not be nervous before the draw because 'I can't do anything about it', although he is hoping for better luck than he had in Japan when England were paired with Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria in the obligatory 'Group of Death'.
Having done so much to clean up the image of England fans over the last few years, there will also be a few fingers crossed among the Football Association's administrators.
The rampant nationalism which characterises the support of many eastern European nations means Croatia and Poland would no doubt appear on the list of teams to be avoided. The neo-Nazi groups which have sprung up in the old East Germany means Nuremberg is a host city they would probably prefer not to visit.
The draw will be quite complicated and the following outlines Friday night's proceedure.
There will be a first pool of eight seeded teams. The teams, including England, were seeded based on their performance at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups and also their FIFA world ranking in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
As soon as a team is drawn from pools two, three or four, another draw will then take place to allocate this team their place in the group, which will decide the order of the group fixtures.
Wherever possible, teams from the same confederation will be kept apart, the exception being UEFA-affiliated nations where a maximum of two are permitted in each group. Serbia and Montenegro are in a separate pot, and will go into a group containing one of three non-European seeds - Brazil, Argentina or Mexico.
Germany have been placed in Group A. They will kick off the tournament in Munich, before moving to Dortmund and completing their group campaign in Berlin, where the final will be staged.