France

France midfielder Zinedine Zidane said on Monday he wants to end his international career in July with a second FIFA World Cup triumph in Germany.

Speaking to German football magazine Kicker, the Real Madrid playmaker said: “It would be good if I could finish my international career in the French team with a big and beautiful success. I want to become world champion again — that’s my goal.” The 33-year-old has already retired from the international scene once before after France’s dismal showing at the UEFA European Championship in Portugal in 2004.

But he made a comeback in August 2005 as France struggled to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

Zidane played his part as the 1998 winners recovered to squeeze through ahead of Switzerland, Republic of Ireland and Israel.

After the World Cup, though, Zidane is adamant he will not be making another U-turn and he also plans to retire from club football by the end of next season. “It is absolutely certain. The World Cup is my last big challenge at that level. With Real Madrid I still have another year on my contract to go before 2007. And then I will decide, in total peace, what I will do,” added the former world and European player of the year.

Zidane is also hoping that France can make up for their nightmare 2002 appearance in Korea/Japan where they failed to make it out of a group containing Uruaguay, Denmark and Senegal, without even mustering a single goal.

“France has the potential, with big players, to go far in the competition,” he added. “To do so we have to be at the top of our form in June. We have to improve our game. If we play like we did in most of our qualification matches then we won’t have much hope.” (Agence France Presse)

Switzerland

“Our objective must be to inspire everybody with the same pride and passion,” Swiss coach, Jakob ‘Köbi’ Kuhn told FIFAworldcup.com. The players today earn good money with their clubs. Therefore, their objective is for them to be loved, to make a lot of people happy and to earn recognition. So when the time comes, that he said, will be their responsibility and their duty. They have reached quarterfinals thrice in 1934, 1938 and 1954. Including this year it will be the Switzerland national team’s eighth qualification. Switzerland were hosts in 1954, the fifth FIFA World Cup. And their last participation was in 1994 when they lost 3-0 to Spain in the second round.

Though missing the previous two World Cups, the coach said despite the few matches their national team had played it will not prove to be a problem.

“We prefer to keep things as they are and we will concentrate on preparations in May and June. The players are playing at their clubs and I am gathering information, but we will not be meeting up again until May,” he said.

The coach considered the large number of Swiss players, who are playing abroad, as an advantage because the players play now to the standard of the top leagues. He also said that it is more of a problem for the clubs who lose players, adding, “but that is how things are.” He said, “We have to look at it positively, we cannot complain about the effect on our national league. We have to push forward and give the young players an opportunity to play.” ‘Köbi’ Kuhn said that the team had a lot of young players such as Philippe Senderos, Valon Behrami and Johan Vonlanthen. During the last friendly match with Scotland, the team had an average age below 23.

The won the match 3-1.

“They play in the national team not because they are young, but because they are good,” he said.(Razan Baker)

South Korea

There is a possibility that Korea Republic striker Lee Dong-Gook could miss the FIFA World Cup finals after tearing his knee ligaments, said the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on April 11.

It would be a shattering blow to Lee, who was omitted from the South Koreans’ World Cup squad four years ago by former coach Guus Hiddink.

“Lee Dong-Gook tore his right cruciate ligament during a K-League match on 5 April,” KFA medical chief Yoon Young-Seol said. “It’s a serious injury to his right knee but Lee is determined to play at the World Cup and wants to follow a course of strengthening exercises instead of surgery, which would definitely rule him out.” After qualifying for the finals in 1954 the Korea Republic national team tasted success again as they reached the semifinals in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. During that sixth participation they were co-hosts with Japan and lost to Germany 1- 0 after beating Italy and Spain. And Lee has become a permanent fixture since Hiddink’s subsequent departure.

He won the first of his 55 caps in 1998, scored some crucial goals during the Koreans’ qualifiers and is a favorite of current national team coach Dick Advocaat.(Razan Baker)

Togo

Starting from 2004 the Nigerian former midfielder Stephen Keshi has been coaching the Togo national football team, and he successfully managed to take them for the first time to the World Cup 2006.

He has been replaced by Otto Pfister for the finals.

In 1998 the unpredictable Togo national team made history when they qualified at the African Cup of Nations and beat four-time champions Ghana. The loss also eliminated the fancied nation from the tournament.

Even though Togo was defeated 1-0 when they played Equatorial Guinea in the first-leg of their preliminary qualifiers for the World Cup, they won the second leg 2-0 and progressed to the next round.

Meantime, Togo will play friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Liechtenstein to warm up for the FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.

Coach Pfister said Togo would play Saudi Arabia in Amsterdam on May 14 and Liechtenstein in Vaduz on a date still to be determined.

Togo, who is to hold a five-week training camp at Wangen in Germany, will also play matches against third division FC Augsburg on May 28 and against Bayern Munich’s reserve side and a Wangen team on dates still to be arranged.(Razan Baker)