Favorites Give Status Reports
There are two ways of looking at the slate of World Cup warmup games that took place around the world last week.
One way is through American eyes, viewing only the national team’s better-than-expected performance Wednesday in a 1-0 loss to Italy at Catania, Sicily. It seems 2002 might not be 1998 all over again. Certainly, the Americans looked quite comfortable, at least until the Italians turned up the pressure in the second half.
The other way is with a global perspective, trying to assess which of the eight countries with a realistic chance of winning the World Cup has its act together this early.
Thirty-two nations qualified for the May 31-June 30 finals in South Korea and Japan. Three-quarters of them needn’t bother buying any silver cleaner.
They won’t be taking the World Cup home.
Seven of the remaining eight played on Wednesday--the only exception being Brazil--and here is what their respective coaches said:
*
Argentina
Marcelo Bielsa is an optimist.
“We had enough of the ball and I think we created enough chances to have won by two clear goals,” he said of the World Cup co-favorites’ 1-1 tie with Wales in Cardiff that extended Argentina’s unbeaten string to 15 games.
“Even though some players were missing, and there were some new faces playing, this was a genuine representation of the Argentine team.”
The real test for Bielsa’s squad, however, will come in April when it plays Germany, the team it defeated in the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico City and lost to in the 1990 final in Rome.
*
England
Sven-Goran Eriksson used England’s game against the Netherlands at Amsterdam to experiment with a 4-3-3 formation for the first time since the Swede became England’s coach. The result was a 1-1 tie.
“We had 10 matches last year, but I never felt it was the right time to break up the traditional 4-4-2,” he said.
“The players adjusted well. It was a much better performance today than it was last August when we played 4-4-2 [in a 2-0 loss to the Dutch]. It was a good game, and while Holland had more possession, we threatened more and with a little bit of luck we could have won.”
*
Germany
Rudi Voeller believes the German team has regained its confidence after last year’s humiliating 5-1 home loss to England.
Certainly, its 7-1 demolition of Israel at Kaiserslautern has the three-time world champions thinking more positively about Korea/Japan ’02.
“Seven goals in one half against Israel is something,” Voeller said. “They’re not a weak team and they got close to qualifying for the World Cup against Austria.”
Voeller was even more pleased that Germany came from behind to win: “Even at one-down, we didn’t get frantic. We just bided our time.”
*
Spain
Jose Antonio Camacho tried an unusual tactic in Barcelona, where Spain had to come from behind to tie Portugal, 1-1.
Ignoring his veteran players, Camacho selected a midfield that featured three young players: Xavi, 22, Vicente, 20 and Joaquin Sanchez, 20.
“The youngsters played with real freedom and desire, which means they want to play for the national team,” Camacho said.
He then echoed a thought shared by all coaches.
“I just I hope I make the right decisions when I come to choose the World Cup squad,” he said. World Cup rosters have to be selected by May 21.
*
Portugal
Antonio Oliveira has more to worry about these days than the tie with Spain.
On Friday, backup goalkeeper Joaquim Silva, who played one half of that match, tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone for the second time and faces a suspension of at least three months, which could keep him out of the World Cup.
Silva has denied taking any drugs. Portugal will be the U.S. team’s most difficult opponent in South Korea.
Oliveira, who said before the Spain game that “we can match anyone,” wasn’t overly impressed by the match. “I didn’t think either side deserved to win,” he said.
*
France
Roger Lemerre was left unhappy by the defending world and European champions’ performance in a 2-1 victory over Romania in Paris.
“I’m perplexed,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve found it hard to analyze a match. The first 20 minutes were disappointing in the way we played as a team. I’ll need to review all this.”
The absence of injured playmaker Zinedine Zidane was particularly noticeable.
*
Italy
Giovanni Trapattoni was even more displeased than Lemerre, slamming the Italians’ lackluster showing against the U.S.
“Putting on the blue shirt of Italy is like being a Formula One driver,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“You need to always go at 320 kilometers per hour. If you are cruising and you lose concentration, you risk ending up off the track.”
Italy’s next warmup game is at England on March 27.
*
Brazil
Felipe Scolari’s four-time world champions did not play last week, having started their World Cup preparations earlier with a 6-0 victory over Bolivia and a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia.
None of Brazil’s leading European-based players was used in either game.
Brazil plays Chile on March 7, but has more meaningful warmup matches against Yugoslavia on March 27 and against Portugal in Lisbon on April 17.
“The game against Portugal will be the big test,” Pele wrote in January in a column in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
“I have already tipped this team, with the likes of Luis Figo and Rui Costa, as one of the strongest contenders to win the World Cup.”
That, of course, is just what U.S. Coach Bruce Arena wanted to hear.
