It’s finally here!! Just five days to go (at the time of writing). The D Day is finally here and I can’t hardly wait.
I am talking about the World Cup finals. The greatest of all the football events. The 2006 World Cup finals will be played in Germany from June 09, 2006 to July 09, 2006. One month of high class football action. That is a much anticipated treat for football mad people like me. With the football fever reaching the climax, a lot has been written about the extravaganza in Germany. Plenty of analysis, discussions, reviews have been written on the topic. So writing a review about the greatest Football event is just an extension of the football mania that has taken over the world.
All said and done, here's my two cents worth of views on the World Cup 2006
A little background
The World Cup finals (yes, the tournament is referred to as the finals) is the one most important event in the life of any international football player. All the football playing countries around the world have to go through many tough qualifying rounds before they reach the finals. The countries are placed in various groups representing the regions and each group has a fixed number of entries to the finals.
Qualifying Groups (for the 2006 World Cup) and the teams from that group
Europe (UEFA) : 14 (including hosts Germany)
Germany, England, Holland, Portugal, Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Serbia.
Asia (AFC) : 4.5
Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran.
South America (CONMEBOL) : 4.5
Brasil, Argentina, Paraguay, Equador.
North and Central America (CONCACF) : 3.5
Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago.
Africa (CAF) : 5
Tunisia, Ghana, Angola, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory coast).
Oceania (OCF) : 0.5
Australia.
Oceania (which includes Australia, New Zealand, Fiji etc) have only a half place. The winners of this group play a playoff game (on a home-away basis) with the fifth placed team from the CONMEBOL group. This year, Australia defeated Uruguay to seal a place in the finals.
All the qualifying matches are played on a home – away basis. After all the matches are played, the final groups are drawn. The draws are made according to the world ranking of the teams, but many times some really tough teams get placed in the same group (such groups are called as “Group of Death). Germany qualified automatically as the host nation. This year, for the first time in the history of the World Cup qualifying, the defending champions had to play the qualifying rounds to enter the finals. (Previously the hosts and the defending champions qualified automaticaly).
A total of 32 teams have qualified for the finals and they are divided into eight groups of four teams each. The groups are named alphabetically (Group A to Group H). The teams in each group are seeded by taking into consideration their FIFA rank and their performance in the previous finals. 2006 witnesses the largest number of first timers to the finals.
Destination Deutschland
Germany has been gearing up for the finals for some time now. The stadiums sport a new polished look, the towns hosting the teams and the fans have been washed clean and there is football fever everywhere.
Twelve cities have been chosen to host the matches. The first match (after the opening ceremony) will be played between host nation Germany and Costa Rica in Munich. The final will be hosted by Berlin.
The stadiums in each of these twelve cities will be renamed for the World Cup. This is because FIFA rules do not permit a staduim to display a sponsor name.
Teams – favourites and the new boys
As always, this year too, the defending champions Brasil are the favourites along with England, Spain and Holland. Germany the host nation does not figure among the hot favourites, but home support can take this team past the first round. This year sees the most number of new boys in the finals. The newcomers this year are Ukraine, Serbia Montenegro, Trinidad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Angola, Togo and Czech Republic.
Going by the opinion polls, it seems Brasil are the universal favourites. However, if one checks the history of the world cup (my memory starts from 1986), its always European country and South American country alternately won the cup. Go back in time and recollect. This time it has to be a European country (and I just hope Argentina prove them wrong).
My favourite for this year is Argentinafollowed by Portugal. Golden boot (the award given to the top goal scorer) : Crespo (Argentina) or Ronaldinho (Brasil).
Can’t hardly wait!!!
Come June 06 and the world will see high quality football action from Germany. Millions of dollars/pounds/euro etc will be exchanged in bets. Fans from all around the world will be cheering their teams. The hooligans (that’s a BIG blot on the football world) will go on a rampage after their team loses. In short, the world will not be the same for a month starting from June 09, 2006.
World cup 2006 – some info.
World Cup mascots: *Goleo (the lion) and Pillee (the talking football)
Official Song: *Time of our life (Il divo with Tony Braxton)
Twelve host cities: *Munich, Berlin, Sttutgart, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leizpeg, Kaiserslaurten, Nuremburg, Glasenkirchen.
Watch out for: *Thierry Henry (France), Luis Figo (Portugal), Fabregas (Spain), Ballack (Germany), Tim Cahill (Australia), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Lionel Messi , Riquelme (Argentina), van Nistelrooy (Holland), Ronaldinho, Kaka (Brasil), Lampard (England), Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine), Pippo Inzaghi (Italy) . Theo Walcott (England – if he gets a place in the starting 11 or even as a sub).
Favourites for the Golden boot: *Ronaldinho, van Nistelrooy, Henry, Shevchenko, Crespo.
Groups :
Group A: Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Equador.
Group B: England, Paraguay, Sweden, Trinidad Tobago.
Group C: Argentina, Holland, Côte d’Ivoire, Serbia Montenegro (my group of Death)
Group D: Portugal, Mexico, Angola, Iran (another tough group).
Group E: Italy, Czech Republic, USA, Ghana.
Group F: Brasil, Japan, Croatia, Australia.
Group G: France, South Korea, Togo, Switzerland.
Group H: Spain, Ukraine, Saudi, Tunisia.
-- Thank you --
