SEOUL, 30 May — German football legend Franz Beckenbauer said yesterday that it won’t be easy for Germany to beat Saudi Arabia in their opening match on Saturday. “The first match is very important. We saw that in Italy in 1990 when we beat Yugoslavia. Afterward that everything went automatically. If we want to reach the second round we have to beat Saudi Arabia but it won’t be so easy,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA.
Germany’s chances were “good”, although the loss through injury of defender Jens Nowoty and midfielder Sebastian Deisler could not be compensated. “The fact that several stars were either absent through injury or struggling to recover from injuries was the price being paid for the heavy fixture program in Europe,” he said.
Beckenbauer, who is president of the organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, said that France were his clear favorites to win the World Cup with Argentina and Brazil also chief candidates for the trophy.
Time for Asia to sparkle: Jowhar
In Tokyo, Saudi Arabia coach Nasir Al-Jowhar is tipping Asia’s World Cup contingent to sparkle at this year’s finals.
Al-Jowhar, the first Saudi national to coach his country at the tournament, believes the time is ripe for the region’s underachievers to impress at the highest level.
Four years ago at France 98, Asia’s four teams managed only one win in 12 matches, with Saudi Arabia joining Iran, Japan and South Korea as first round losers.
“I’m quite sure that the four Asian teams will do good in this tournament and this will affect the FIFA decision to have more Asian teams,” Al-Jowhar told AFP.
Saudi Arabia finished runners-up to Japan at the 2000 Asian Cup, and not surprisingly, Al-Jowhar expects Philippe Troussier’s young side to do well here.
“I think Japan is now playing good soccer and they will show the world that Asian football is improving very much,” he said.
“I trust that the Japanese national team will do good in the World Cup,” Al-Jowhar said, wryly adding that Saudi Arabia might have been Asian champions had he been in charge from the start in Lebanon two years ago.
“First of all, I lost to Japan only one time, because I wasn’t the coach in the first round.
“If I had been the coach from the beginning of the tournament, maybe we would have won the Cup,” said Al-Jowhar, who is delighted with Saudi Arabia’s preparations.
“Since we arrived here, everything has been just perfect,” he said. Saudi Arabia face Ireland, Germany and Cameroon in Group E, with the Germans first up on June 6 in Sapporo. “Germany is a strong team from their history of the past, but also Ireland, they are a good team, and Cameroon, they are the champions from Africa. “All the national teams are really strong, but we’ll find the way through this group,” said Al-Jowhar confidently.
Saudi Arabia at full strength as Babkr recovers
In Tokamachi, Saudi Arabia will begin their World Cup campaign with a fully fit squad after reserve goalkeeper Mohammad Babkr recovered from a hand injury, a spokesman said yesterday.
“His hand is better, he’s feeling good and he was training again yesterday,” team spokesman Soliman Al-Nafa told Reuters yesterday.
Germany will not win World Cup: Klinsmann
In London, Germany will not win the World Cup, former striker Jurgen Klinsmann said yesterday.
“I detect a different attitude in Germany at the moment from what we have known before,” said Klinsmann. “People are realistic this time. They know that Germany are not going to win the World Cup.”
Klinsmann, who helped Germany lift the trophy at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, also told the London Evening Standard: “This (Germany) is a team in the middle of their development; nobody can really tell how good they are. “They have the ability to do something at this World Cup but the question is are they ready?”
Blatter sweeps to second term
FIFA President Sepp Blatter swept to a stunning election victory and a second four-year term yesterday, after a bruising campaign that exposed deep rifts within world soccer’s governing body over his leadership.
Blatter, accused of plunging FIFA into financial crisis, defeated Cameroon’s Issa Hayatou by 139 votes to 56 in a secret ballot of its national associations in South Korea’s capital Seoul, two days before the start of the World Cup finals.
The no-holds-barred election campaign was dominated by allegations of corruption and mismanagement leveled against Blatter, some of them from members of his own executive committee.
“Today was victory for the truth,” Blatter, a 66-year-old Swiss, told a news conference after the vote at FIFA’s 53rd ordinary congress in Seoul.
“I have been given a very clear mandate and have a responsibility to first win the confidence of the football family from the inside, and then gain the credibility outside,” he said.
After being declared winner, a visibly elated Blatter held center stage on the podium with his arms aloft — before being greeted by his daughter, Corinne, and his 15-month-old grand-daughter Serena, whom he held tightly in a brief embrace.
