Mexico
Since the first World Cup Mexico national team participated 12 times. They reached the quarter finals twice, first in 1970 and was ruled out when they played against Italy 4-1, and second time, when they lost against Germany at the penalty shoot-out in 1986.
Mexico had named a provisional 26-man World Cup squad on April 2 and Guadalajara, who use only Mexican players, have been hardest-hit by the agreement to release the selected players for a training camp, a Reuters report said.
The Argentinian Ricardo Antonio La Volpe, Mexico national team coach, had been working with the team since 2002.
And as his goal was to reach the title at the upcoming World Cup, he had been bringing fresh blood into the Mexico team who can be constant in movement and quick in passing.
On April 13 Reuters also reported that Mexico’s players tried to ignore the controversy over the exclusion of forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco as they began a pre-FIFA World Cup training camp on Wednesday.
Blanco, who critics say is Mexico’s most creative player, was excluded from the provisional 26-man squad named on 2 April from which coach Ricardo La Volpe will pick his final 23.
“There are always going to be problems, things which some say and things which others say but we have to make sure they don’t affect us and stay concentrated,” said defender Carlos Salcido.
Defender Andres Guardado added: “I don’t see why this should affect us. It’s an off-field problem and we have come to work and focus on our jobs and not get involved in things which aren’t our business.” A group of around 80 protesters marched to the Mexican Football Federation’s headquarters demanding Blanco’s inclusion. But La Volpe, who says Blanco’s exclusion is purely tactical, has insisted that no new players will be added to his squad.
Portugal
Within the three times Portugal national team participated in 1966, 1986 and 2002, they were ranked third place once during their World Cup finals debut.
Portugal’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari told AFP he believes goals will be in short supply at next month’s FIFA World Cup finals in Germany as teams prefer to defend rather than attack in numbers.
“Attack with six players and defend with eight when you lose the ball. That is football at the moment,” Scolari said in an interview with Kicker magazine. “For that reason I do not think this World Cup will be a goals fest. There will not be as many goals as at previous World Cups.” At the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, the 64 matches produced 161 goals at a ratio of 2.5 goals per game. The 57-year-old Scolari, who led Brazil to victory in that tournament, is now in charge of Portugal and believes his side have improved since UEFA Euro 2004 when they reached the final as hosts. “I think our team are better than at Euro 2004,” Scolari said. “We had to go through qualifying this time and that was an advantage as we coped with the pressure. I would say that we are one of the best eight teams in the world at the moment.” The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) had also offered the national team players their biggestever bonus if they win the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the president of the federation has said on AFP.
Giberto Madail would not specify the exact amount each player would take home, telling daily newspaper Jornal de Noticias that “all I can tell you is that it will be enough to buy a good car.” “Everything has been defined. Now all that is left is for the team to play,” he added.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Portuguese Football Federation said it was happy with Brazilian the coach decision not to take over as England manager. Scolari pulled out as a candidate for the England job after two days of media intrusion. “We are very happy, the permanence of Scolari at the World Cup was never in question,” Portuguese Football Federation chairman Gilberto Mandail said.
Iran
In the Iranian football history, the years 1978 and 1998 would be a high water mark as they qualified to the World Cup.
Though they could not receive higher ranks, they were lucky as they became the Asian Championship holders three times in 1968, 1972 and 1976.
Iran’s national football team will base themselves for training in the central Swiss town of Spiez from May 8-18 and again from May 25-29 in Croatia ahead of the FIFA World Cup finals, AFP said.
The Iranian team will play three friendly matches against local teams and then integrate national players plying their trade in the German league before assembling again in Croatia. The team are scheduled to play fellow FIFA World Cup qualifiers Croatia on 28 May then would face Bosnia- Herzegovina three days later in Tehran before relocating to their German training base of Friedrichshafen from 5 June. Iran coach Branko Ivankovic, meanwhile, rejected suggestions that political tension over Tehran’s nuclear program was the cause of his team’s inadequate preparations for next month’s FIFA World Cup in Germany.
“It’s nothing to do with politics but everything to do with the fact that our top players are not available for some time,” Brankovic told Reuters.
Angola
In the preliminary qualifiers for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Angola battled their way past Chad and thus became one of the African newcomers at this World Cup.
According to FIFAworldcup.com, Luis Oliveira Goncalves is referred to as the ‘Professor’ of Angolan football in acknowledgement of his intelligence, tactical expertise and keen reading of the game.
And Goncalves himself, who had no profile as a footballer had worked his way up the coaching ladder with Angola’s youth sides before eventually achieving success at the highest level.
That Goncalves is now a national hero, instantly recognizable in his country and beyond its borders, goes without saying.
Angola winger Gilberto was not expected to recover in time from injury to play in next month’s FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, coach Goncalves said to Reuters.
The Egyptian-based player snapped his Achilles tendon in training with the national team ahead of the start of the CAF African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt in January.
After an operation in Germany he returned to training at his Egyptian club Al Ahli last month.
Gilberto was a regular for his country in last year’s qualifying campaign and also helped his club to win the 2005 African Champions League.
Meanwhile, Angola had requested the FIFA to allow Portuguese-based players Pedro Emanuel and Chainho.
