Curtain

The World Cup welcomes China for the first time. Finally they made it! They have more people than any other country watching the game, their government has poured the big money in, but in their six previous attempts they never quite got this far. They should thank coach Bora Milutinovic. China usually almost qualifies, but then loses it. So they appoint a strange, friendly, Yugoslavian World Cup specialist who has coached Mexico, Costa Rica, the USA and Nigeria in World Cups. He knows what it takes!

He has brought China on a bit. They reached the semi-finals of the Asian Cup last year, where Jiang Jin emerged as an outstanding goalie. Then China sailed through the first part of the qualifiers for this by winning every game. The coach is a massive optimist but the fans are a critical bunch. They expect great things of the team, and when China palayed badly against the Maldives & Cambodia, they were just brutal, chanting horrificly at the players. And you thought the English were a bunch of hooligans!

Milutinovic is acoach that knows how to change things around mid-term though, so switched things around enough to sufficiently turn things around. They qualified comfortably, and a few players stood out. Li Xiaopeng, Hao Haidong and Yang Chen are the players that shone the most over the last year. They are still a bit wobbly, but they are here now so let's have a look at them! Shame they are not in Busan because it could have been an even more interestnig month around here. Still we're not doing too badly, we do have France, Uruguay, Poland, South Africa and Paraguay showing up...

england

Business as usual for England. They are approaching the World Cup with ridiculously high expectations and a press that gets better and better at turning up the presure on the team and manager. But the team is clicking a bit these days, so this time they shouldn't end up too embarrassed. Although what a tough group they have!

They have players to boast of right now. Clearly David Beckham and Michael Owen are good enough for any team, world-class, and Steven Gerrard too, is getting there. Owen is made of goals and is able to score them against anybody. He's 22, which means at the last World Cup he must have been about 8 - remarkable isn't he! You can recall goal after crucial goal that he has scored, so even though England face Sweden, Nigeria and Argentina, they face him.

A couple of years ago though and England were hopeless. Their coach resigned and qualification was almost written off. Things have turned around and thanks to coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who seems to have cleaned up the mess. Actually he is already immortal, if just for leading England to that 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich last September.

But it looks like the English won't win the World Cup, again. They're a nice side and they really care about how they do in every game but they have a weak link or two. First is the injuries to key players, first David Beckham, now Gary Neville breaking their toes. Next is the defence. The goalie, Seaman, is about 90 years old, and central defence is an issue too. Sol Campbell is a big, stale hulk in there that seems to have his name on the shirt already, but he needs to click with Rio "Rolls Royce" Ferdinand if they are to stop the lethal strikers in the Group of Death they face. Then there is "Little" Paul Scholes, who is clearly a top drawer match-winner, yet in the last qualifier against Greece played poorly. Anyway he said sorry after so that's all right.

The perennial left-sided midfield problem has yet to be solved too. Who's going to play there? At least it seems clear it won't be Steve "I'd rather be at the hairdressers back home in Madrid, Real Madrid" MacManaman. Sven has told him so. Poor Steve, he'll have to make do with the European Cup Final this year.

france

France's last game of any importance was the Euro 2000 Final where they sneaked it past Italy at the death to equalize, and then twisted the knife against the shell-shocked Italians to score again in extra-time. Since then they have had mixed results in friendlies: wins against Germany, Japan and Portugal; a defeat in Chile and a draw in Australia. A hard team to gage is France. They are obviously pure quality, yet these days coach Roger Lemerre just focuses on who he will play as substitute in Japan and South Korea.

The main first-team question is who will replace Laurent Blanc alongside Marcel Desailly in defence. The classy act on the right hand side that is Lilian Thuram wants to do the job but is perhaps a bit too valuable where he is, leaving a vacancy. Who will get it? Surely not Frank Leboeuf? He's so undeserving, yet has ben flukey enough in his career to play in a World Cup winning team so could be! If it was me I'd go for Pascal Cygan of Lille, who stood up well in this year's Champions League. Mickael Silvestre and Barcelona's Philippe Christanval are likelier candidates, with Thuram and Lizarazu staying put at full-back.

Eric Carriere seems to have sneaked into the squad now, and has shown enough quality in Le Championnat over the past 18 months to warrant that. Fabien Barthez has shown little quality at Manchester Utd this season, yet will keep the jersey. Why? He's a star and maybe a lucky charm, although certainly cost Manchester Utd the Permiership this season with a string of high profile, costly errors.

Nicolas Anelka is the intriguing one. He has played badly for PSG and Liverpool this season, yet in there somewhere is a world class striker. Of course though, he has to deliver, and that is precisly what Auxerre's Djibril Cisse and Lyon's Sidney Govou are all about. Anelka once cost Real Madrid the earth, they paid big money for what seemed like a future star. Look at him now, struggling to force Emile Heskey out of the Liverpool team.

Anyway they have won the lot, France, and they use a formation featuring the defensive midfield pairing of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, with the magnificent Zinedine Zidane the main source of inspiration. No Robert Pires this time, he's injured, but pacy and scory Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet are where the goals will come from. Don't be surprised if they win again. Be disappointed, sure, but expect great things from 'em. God don't they make you envious?

japan


they love their football, this lot	would you stand for this nonsense blocking your view?

Will the real Japan please stand up? First at the Confederations Cup they get to the Final drawing with Brazil and lose just 1-0 to France. They hold Italy to a 1-1 draw. Then they play dismally against Senegal and Nigeria, losing one game and just about drawing the other.

Japan have improved since France '98, getting stronger and bigger, but still get outmuscled. Coach Phillipe Troussier does the right thing by sending the players abroad to get experience and toughen up, but in fact the players don't get a game because they are not strong enough. Inamoto has hardly played a game for Arsenal, Ono at Feyenoord has fared little better.

But they do have Hidetoshi Nakata, now at Parma. They said he was only signed so his club could sell shirts in the homeland but oh no! This man is actually a world class link man and watch out for him. Plus they have a fine sweeper and captain in Ryuzo Morioka, and even a good keeper in Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

They are at home as well, and their group is easier than Korea's, so they have a better chance than ever to get to the knockout stages. Better send their better selves out to play though because at this level you get punished.

paraguay

In a nutshell, we don't know where Paraguay is but they're really good at football. At France '98 France were fortunate to beat them, and Spain and Bulgaria could not do it. What is their secret? They don't let many goals in. Just one at the last World Cup - not bad at that level!

The defence is still together so expect more of the same. They are older, wiser, rockier, been around the block a few more times, and now they should be the finished article and the envy of every coach - solid defensively. Does that mean expect boring football? Maybe not, they have strikers that score, like Roque Santa Cruz of 2001's European champions Bayern Munich, and Jose Saturnino Cardoso, one of Latin America's best strikers. Tasty!

The midfield is joined now by Carlos Paredes of Porto, so he can carry water for the flair player, Roberto Acuna of Real Zaragoza.

And Jose Luis Chilavert, the captain and goalie. What a guy. He scores goals, and stops them as well! Free-kicks, penalties, no problem for the big man. He's their second top goalscorer, and off the pitch he beats up journalists! He can pass a ball well, what next from the larger-than-life type? I hear he's going to play blindfold this time and said if he doesn't lift the World Cup this time, he's going to eat the goalposts! Well maybe I made that bit up but maybe I didn't!

A good team is Paraguay...they beat Brazil recently, and drew with the awesome Argentina twice in the qualifiers after outplaying them on both occasions. Even though they lost 4-0 to England recently, they can not be dismissed and watch out for them, they are coming.

poland

Poland strolled to qualify for this World Cup, surprising even themselves, spearheded by a Nigeria-born striker playing his club football in Greece. He looks so funny in a Poland kit. Poland has migrants, not immigrants, so it looks a bit cheeky of them to feature this player. Anyway I'm sure it's all legal and everything. And how he is the man. Emmanuel Olisadebe scores and scores for Poland, and we'll soon see the reason Poland qualified this time. Try not to laugh, after you get over the look of him, you come to regard him as a footballing threat.

Another key man is their coach, Engel, and he seems to have turned things around over there in Eastern Europe. A humble and hardy type, understated but effective.

It's been a long time, Poland seemed like furniture at the World Cup not too long ago, they came third in '82 but check the records, it's been 16 years you know! Their fortunes have declined a bit, so now they are just glad to be here. (And please don't write in telling me that's patronising, 'cause it's not!) Poland lost 2-0 at home to Japan recently, which must have ben a bit depressing for them.

They've got Olisadebe though. He follows in the footsteps of the likes of Zbigniew Boniek who used to play for Juventus, not just that but the Italians really rated him and remember him well. At the back they have the Schalke 04 pair of Tomasz Waldoch and Tomasz Hajto, who seem to have things sewn up back there. They'll break a few hearts in Korea this summer, especially with the magnificent Jerzy Dudek of Liverpool behind them. What a keeper! How did he get so good? He's a star and he deserves to be - unlike Victoria Beckham!

All they need to do is feed the goat and he will score. Give Olisadebe a chance and he will hurt the likes of Korea & USA, so if Piotr Swierczewski and Marek Kozminski of Marseille & Brescia do that, they could get a result or two.

Anyway, we have to cheer South Korea don't we, otherwise they'll revoke our visas. We mustn't support Poland, unless we're in a naughty mood.

portugal

Portugal, we love you, thank you for being so brilliant and over here! They topped a difficult qualifying group and didn't lose a game, including a 2-0 win away to Holland. This is through playing the game the way it should be played, with style, grace and panache. They attack creatively, harnessing the midfield talents of World Footballer of the Year Luis Figo, plus Manuel Rui Costa, either of whom could grace any side.

Coach Oliveira puts out an attacking 4-4-2 formation with just one defensive anchor, Armando Petit. The left wing belongs to Figo, the right wing to Sergio Conceicao, and the attacking nous down the middle from Rui Costa. But it's not so set in stone. All three swap around so fluidly, other defences just get bewildered. Does anyone remember Euro 2000, where guns and bluster from England created a 2-0 lead against the Portugese, who then spent the next hour taking the English apart and winning 3-2. You just had to admire how special this side was, and is. Up front they are no slouches either, with the clever Joao Pinto giving chances and goals on a plate to either Pauleta or Nuno Gomes.

Nuno Gomes - the most handsome footballer there is. Korean girls are going to go crazy for him, you watch.

Where did this classy bunch of legends come from though? Aren't Portugal supposed to be a poor side? Over the past generation their best ever is 3rd place at Euro '84. Where did they go right? They focused on building a great youth side in the 80s: Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Joao Pinto, Victor Baia and Fernando Couto were all around when Portugal won the under-21 World Championships in 1989 and 1991. They have got better and better since then, reaching the quarter-finals at Euro 96 and the semi-finals at Euro 2000 where they were unlucky to lose to France in a fantastic contest. Here they are now anyway, all grown up and peaking, the Golden Generation, great things is expected of them and they are an outside bet to win this World Cup.

south africa

South Africa - tickets are selling slow for them! Maybe the organisers'll give the tickets to schoolchildren to fill up the ground!

Last time round they qualified for the tournament, and then when they got there they just seemed to focus on enjoying a nice holiday in Europe. What was that about? Hopefully they'll try this time. They qualified in style, winning game after game, so they have got a bit of strength. A few good strikers too, like Sibusiso Zuma, Benni McCarthy and Siyabonga Nomvete. These are not Champions League class acts, but are solid enough if not spectacular.

Shaun Bartlett too, the fox-in-the-box, and Radebe and Fish of the English Premier League if they play, will help the cause, and they might just reach the second round if they're intothat sort of thing.

See they have it in them. They drew with the high and mighty France recently, but then lost 3-0 to Sweden, who are no slouches, but results like that make coaches worry, which Carlos Quieroz is. His team is well-organised, but just not that good. Especially in midfield, where games and fortunes are won and lost. which could prove costly in the Far East. Last time round they just seemed to score loads of own goals, which aren't too pleasing. They have some players, they could do better this time, then they just as easily may do just the same and come home early. Anyway I'm sure they're all lovely people.

south korea

Normally, host nations do well in World Cups, but with Korea it might be more like USA in '94 than France in '98. Hiddink's mission is to get out of the group and as far as the knockout stages; he will think he has died and gone to heaven if Korea reaches the quarter finals. The reason his dreams are so minimalist is the past record of Korea in World Cups: in five previous attempts, Korea has never won a World Cup game.

However Korea has a few players that can turn it on a bit. Hong Myong-Bo is half decent and has been for a decade; Ahn Jung-Hwan plays for Perugia and does the business there from time to time; and wide players Song Chong-Guk & Lee Chun-Soo stand out.

Hiddink is opting for a World Cup formation of 3-4-3, which is noble of him, he obviously wants to either win or lose in style, which I admire a lot of him. If Korea doesn't win a game, then they will have entertained. Forward-thinking is that: if they play to attack and entertain they'll win a lot of friends. Even though Korea is so far away from everywhere that they'll have to be pen-friends.

The defensive problems are being addressed. The 5-0 hiding they took off the Czech Republic at home hurt. Now they use three at the back, brave, but notably their players are pacy so it's all about counter-attack these days. Clever move. Teams will come at Korea expecting to bank points; best soak that up and hit them on the break. (That'll teach 'em to come to Busan asking questions...!)

Still, it's about results as well. Their run-in has been respectable, even if they couldn't beat China, but they did overwhelm Costa Rica too. Home advantage should count for a lot, and they have a great chance of climbing out of their group. Surely they will get their precious first win. Korea at home in the World Cup can take Poland; they can also do the US; Portugal not normally, but if Portugal have already qualified by the the time they play Korea then they may play their second string, who Korea could pick up a point against. The points are for the taking, Korea! Actually, where's the betting office? I'm putting my money where my mouth is, Korea will climb out of this group. Do it Korea, we all wish you well!

uruguay

In the early days, when we were fighting world wars, the small South American country of Uruguay was busy winning World Cups. Now their name is engraved on the ultimate sporting hall of fame: twice winners of the World Cup.

They hosted and won the first one in 1930, and won it again in 1950 when they beat hosts Brazil 2-1 in their own back yard. Quite an upset it was too at the time. No-one remembers this now but it was.

Recently (post 1950) Uruguayan football has stepped down and let Italy, Brazil, England, Germany, Argentina and France win all the World Cups, but it's a cynical game these days, not like the old days when everyone was a gentleman and teams said sorry for winning. (You can see the early English influence in the sport.) Uruguay later spotted how successful dirty teams could be and attempted to catch up in the 80s, with some displays using record high levels of gamesmanship and sneaky violence the likes of which football has never seen but by then it was too late, they'd lost the touch! Still they are well remembered and their name is engraved on the trophy forever, no-one can take that away from them. They are in the club of past winners, no matter where they are at now. And they regularly telex supposed quality outfits like Spain, Portugal and Holland just to say "Nur-nur-nurny-nur!" Those Uruguayans...!

It is twelve years since Enzo Francescoli's collection of ex-convicts appeared at Mexico '86 but they are well remembered. Keep an eye on them, they are fun. And now they are back. They're half decent this time too, they killed of Australia's challenge on the way, winning 3-0 in Montevideo, and they have a few stars.

Captain Paolo Montero is big in Juventus and has ben for four years now. He gets loads of red and yellow cards, so he fits in well, but he can play a bit. Fabian Carini is just 22, but he's a brilliant keeper, he flies around th egoal like some monkey and he might be the best goalie in the world one day. Then they have the pacy Dario Silva up front. Defenders hate playing against him. That means he's good. Only a shame that Gustavo Poyet is a shade too old for all this, he is still a solid performer in the fast, hurley-burley English Premier League for Spurs, scoring 14 goals from midfield this season when he should be thinking of more relaxing things, Busan could have used a little of his personality.

Uruguay are a bit cautious. Few goals scored and conceded - maybe it's the coach? Under Victor Pua they have cleaned up their act a bit but not that much! Last year nine players were jailed for a week after a brawl on the pitch after a local derby! Those hot-tempered South Americans are on their way, so expect fun.

usa

The US are here at the World Cup for the fourth consecutive time. Bruce Arena's team started strongly during the qualifiers but then started wobbling, finally coming in third in the Concacaf region after Costa Rica and Mexico. On this campaign they beat Mexico 2-0, which does look good. But the pressure is on after three losses in a row, against Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica.

Arena's been in the job about four years now, He's 50, he's from Brooklin, he started after USA's sorry France '98, where his track record in the States is solid and impressive. University side Virginia won four national titles under him, then he led MLS side DC United to two league titles, a cup plus an Interamerican Cup success against Vasco da Gama of Brazil, who aren't bad.

There are a few familiar names in the squad, like Claudio Reyna, Jeff Agoos, Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller, and a few young lads like Landon Donovan and Da Marcus Beasley. What a name. Only in America. Arena needes to blend that youth to the experience and maybe the second round is achievable. It's not impossible, especially as Poland are the opponents. It seems like a fight between Korea and the US for second place in that group after Portugal, so the big clash is in Daegu between them both.

Oh, what a conflict of interests for the Americans over here. They have to support their team, but that means hoping they defeat their gracious hosts Korea. Knowing Americans, I'm sure they'll do the gentlemanly thing and cheer for the Koreans. It's only a game, and Korea has earned such a huge place in the hearts of each and every American here. I can't wait to see it.

Should be fun. It's amazing though isn't it, that the States don't dominate world football. I mean, they're the States! And yet, they might not beat Poland!

WORLD CUP 2002: FOCUS ON KEY COUNTRIES

china

england