Brazil
When it comes to soccer, the samba nation has too much to offer. With a unique style along with an honorable history of loving the game, they have never missed a single World Cup since 1930, they have been always there to compete.
According to their record, Brazil can rightly be called the kings of football. They have won the FIFA World Cup on five occasions.
Brazil won their first FIFA World Cup title in Sweden in 1958, with a team that included a 17-year-old legend-in-the-making by the name of Pelé. Their hardest-earned FIFA World Cup triumph came in 1994, when the Auriverde won on penalties.
Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho, 26, was part of the Brazil team that lifted the last World Cup in 2002 in Yokohama with a 2-0 win over Germany and predicted a sixth world crown win for the Seleção four years on. “I think that it will be Brazil’s World Cup,” Ronaldinho said in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “I don’t think about standing out or being more or less the best. I simply want to do my best so that Brazil will be the world champions. The most important thing is that Brazil reach the final and win.”
Brazil are the overwhelming favorites to reach the final at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on July 9 and Ronaldinho admits their three group opponents, Croatia, Japan and Australia, will need no firing up.
“It will be hard to advance past the first stage because everyone will be aiming for us,” Ronaldinho said. “They will all have a bit of extra motivation.”
“Those who won in 2002 know how good it is to win a World Cup and are motivated,” Ronaldinho added. Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said that he was more relieved than worried by the injury suffered by star striker Ronaldo ahead of their FIFA World Cup campaign. Ronaldo was sidelined for up to three weeks since a muscle injury in his right leg after scoring his 100th goal for Real Madrid in their 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad two weeks ago.
Japan
Despite some inconsistent performances along the way, Japan ultimately showed their class as Asian champions when becoming the first team to book their passage to the 2006 FIFA World Cup aside from hosts Germany. Having sailed safely through to the last eight of Asian qualifying with six straight wins in the 2004 preliminary round, Zico’s men made a poor start to the final round in February 2005 as they needed an injury-time winner to beat Korea DPR before suffering a 2-1 defeat in Iran in their second Group B game on 25 March.
Back-to-back victories over Bahrain (the first courtesy of a fortuitous own goal) kept Japan on course and in neutral Bangkok on 8 June, goals from Atsushi Yanagisawa and Masashi Oguro secured a 2-0 win over Korea DPR and, with it, their ticket to the finals with a game to spare. For good measure, they won that remaining game too, at home to Iran, to finish top of their section with 15 points from a possible 18. Germany 2006 will be Japan’s third successive FIFA World Cup finals. Since the inception of the professional J-League in 1993, they have progressed steadily and won consecutive Asian titles in 2000 and 2004. On the world stage, they missed out on USA 94 through a dramatic last-minute Iraqi equalizer.
Croatia
Croatia qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup with a minimum of fuss. Unfancied prior to the start of the preliminaries, the Croats marched unbeaten through their section with a record of 21 goals scored and just five conceded, leaving opponents such as Sweden, Hungary and Bulgaria trailing in their wake.
The architect of their success was Zlatko Kranjcar. The 50-year-old is Croatia’s sixth coach since the nation gained independence in 1991, and took up the reins after a disappointing 2004 UEFA European Championship under Otto Baric.
In the time since, Kranjcar has managed to usher in a new generation of players and guide Croatia to their third FIFA World Cup finals in succession. As a reward for their endeavours, the team - in which Kranjcar’s son, Niko, is a pivotal player - face the imposing task of locking horns with world champions Brazil in their first game on 13 June. The coach was, however, in quietly confident mood when FIFAworldcup.com caught up with him to ask about this new crop of Croatians and their aspirations at Germany 2006.
The only preparation Croatia have had this year was the 3-2 victory against Argentina (on 1 March). How do you assess that result? Zlatko Kranjcar: To beat Argentina is always a fantastic result, but it was only a friendly. It will be different at the World Cup because the team will be far more focused and playing for a result. Both sides played an open game, which was obviously great for the fans. I was happy with my boys, but there were some things for us to work on for the World Cup.
Will there be any major changes to your team?
We assembled a side that played well during qualifying. We were first in our group without losing a game. It is very important for us that the players arrive fit and ready to start preparation. All of them have the potential to improve by 20 to 30 per cent. That would ensure a good display at the World Cup.
Was it good for your confidence to beat a big nation such as Argentina? Or should you not overestimate the result?(FIFAworldcup.com)
Australia
The Australian team was founded in 1961, it has only participated in World Cup once in 1974 after appearing in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for a total of ten times since 1966. More recently, their hopes of qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup were once again dashed at the final hurdle. The team from Oz lost out in the playoffs between Oceania’s top side and South America’s fifth-placed team. Despite all the losses, Australian football is on the up and up. In 2003, they have improved their preformance which resulted in a big win by 3-1 against England.
Guus Hiddink, the hugely successful 59-year-old Dutchman, who led the Netherlands and South Korea to the semifinals of the last two tournaments, will be in charge of Australia at this year’s event in Germany.
He had previously announced his intention to leave the part-time Australia post and his job at PSV Eindhoven at the end of a season in which they have already retained the Dutch league title. He will take over as coach of Russia’s national team after this year’s FIFA World Cup, the Football Union of Russia said on two weeks ago. John Boultbee, head of high performance for the Football Federation of Australia, said his organisation had known for a while that Hiddink would be leaving the job.
