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| June 2, 2002 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 20,1423 |
Battle for survival starts in Group of Death today
SAITAMA (Japan), June 1: Sunday’s game between England and Sweden will go a long way to deciding which team survives the World Cup’s ‘Group of Death’ - and the fitness of key midfielders on both sides could well decide the issue.
Cup favourites Argentina are expected to top group F, the toughest of the eight. With highly-rated Nigeria completing the line-up, England and Sweden know defeat in Saitama will leave them nervously studying flight times for the plane home.
Adding further to the intrigue will be several friendships put on hold for 90 minutes and questions over the form of England captain David Beckham and Sweden’s Fredrik Ljungberg.
England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson must plot the downfall of his country of birth, outwitting joint managers Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback, friends of his for decades. Much could depend on Beckham and his deadly right foot from set pieces.
Beckham’s recovery from a broken bone in his left foot has transfixed England for seven weeks and the news that he has finally recovered has boosted his squad’s confidence. But whether he will be fully match fit is open to doubt.
Ljungberg is just as important to Sweden’s chances with his penetrating runs and eye for goal, but a hip injury is still giving him pain and could reduce his effectiveness.
Sweden are unbeaten against England since a 3-1 friendly defeat in 1968 and when the two sides met last November at Old Trafford the visitors held out for a 1-1 draw in a friendly.
Sweden are one of the best-organised sides in European football and England will rely heavily on Beckham’s prowess and the pace and finishing of Michael Owen.
Beckham, last seen on the World Cup stage making an ignominious red card exit against Argentina in 1998, earned England their place in the 2002 tournament with a goal off the final free kick of their qualifier against Greece.
Gabriel Batistuta will lead Argentina’s attack in their opening match against Nigeria at Ibaraki, coach Marcelo Bielsa said Saturday.
“This was not a last minute decision, nor was it traumatic. It was absolutely normal,” Bielsa told a news conference about his selection of Batistuta ahead of Hernan Crespo.
Crespo appeared the more likely choice after practice games in the last 10 days at Argentina’s World Cup base, 200 kilometres north of Ibaraki where they play Nigeria.
Batistuta, Argentina’s record scorer with 55 goals in 75 internationals and leading World Cup marksman with nine goals in the last two tournaments, has been vying with Crespo for his country’s number nine shirt throughout Bielsa’s three and a half year reign.
Crespo was Argentina’s top scorer in the South American World Cup qualifying tournament with nine goals.
Bielsa also opted for Claudio Lopez instead of Kily Gonzalez on the left flank of the attack.
The line-up contains eight members of Daniel Passarella’s 1998 World Cup squad, seven of whom played in the 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Pablo Cavallero, third choice goalkeeper behind Carlos Roa four years ago, makes his World Cup debut.
Paraguay are sweating on the fitness of midfielders Carlos Paredes and Roberto Acuna ahead of their Group B opener against South Africa in Pusan.
Paredes is receiving treatment for a minor calf strain while Acuna is troubled by a niggling knee injury picked up during the squad’s week-long training camp in Japan.
Both players are vital to Paraguay’s hopes of getting off to a flying start in the group, which also contains Spain and Slovenia.
Paredes, who plays his club football with Porto in Portugal, performs a mainly defensive midfield role but likes to get forward for set-pieces and scored two goals from headers in the South American qualifiers.
The 30-year-old Acuna, known as “The Bull”, has been a regular fixture in the Paraguay side since his debut in the 1993 Copa America.
This will be Paraguay’s sixth World Cup finals and their second in a row. They bowed out in the second round to France four years ago and their previous best effort came in 1986 when they also reached the second round, before losing 3-0 to England.
Serial under-achievers Spain begin their campaign against newcomers Slovenia in Kwangju, needing a commanding victory to settle their nerves and break a 52-year jinx.
A Spanish side based around the assured defending of Fernando Hierro and the quicksilver attacking skills of Raul should be near-certainties to win group B, also containing Paraguay and South Africa.
Coach Jose Antonio Camacho has a full squad available, after Fernando Morientes recovered from an ankle sprain this week, and the team have recent history on their side, having clinched a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in the group stage at Euro 2000.
But Spain are notoriously slow starters in major tournaments, having won their opening match at the World Cup just twice, the last time back in 1950 when they had their best finish of fourth.
Since then, Spain have managed no better than a couple of appearances in the quarter-finals. Their last World Cup bid in France four years ago was one of their worst as they lost their opening game 3-2 to Nigeria and failed to reach the second round.
The Slovenians, the surprise team of the 2000 European championship, are well aware of Spain’s difficulties in winning World Cup opening games but coach Srecko Katanec is not reading too much into it.
“Let’s hope that record continues,” he said. “It’s not as if we’ve won any opening games ourselves, though.
“Winning the first match gives you more energy, more motivation ... (but) if we lose and win the other two it’s also very possible that we’d go through.”—Reuters
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