"If you start out with a tough group, you immediately know what you are
worth," Van Basten said. "We know it isn't going to be an easy job."
Juergen Klinsmann
coach of Germany gives a thumbs up during an international friendly soccer
match against Luxembourg in Freiburg May 27, 2006.
[Reuters] |
Klinsmann helped West Germany win its third World Cup title in 1990, and
he'll be coaching the hosts this time.
His two-year contract is due to end after the World Cup, and anything short
of a spot in the final is likely to keep him from being offered an extension.
But that doesn't seem to bother him.
"If I am not there, someone else will be," Klinsmann said. "But the
federation has to have a philosophy. It has to have a line to be followed."
Germany will open the tournament on June 9 against Costa Rica. The three-time
champions later play Poland and Ecuador in Group A.
Blokhin played for the Soviet Union, and now lead's Ukraine and star striker
Andriy Shevchenko. The former Soviet republic is making its debut at this year's
tournament and is grouped with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
Roger Lemerre has won European titles on two continents, leading France to
the 2000 European Championship and Tunisia to the 2004 African Cup of Nations.
The Frenchman will be trying add a world title to his resume by coaching Tunisia
at the World Cup.
Eriksson, the first foreigner to coach England, is one of the few men at the
World Cup that doesn't have to worry about job security when the tournament is
over. He already knows he's leaving.
The Swede has been guiding England for five years and led the team to the
quarterfinals at the last World Cup and the 2004 European Championship.
But sensationalist coverage in the British tabloids, which exposed Eriksson's
romantic affairs and tricked him into talking to an undercover reporter posing
as an Arab sheik, hastened his early departure. He will be replaced by Steve
McClaren.
"Sometimes I get fed up reading about my private life, what I did, what I
said, and I think people in general feel that way," Eriksson said earlier this
year. "We should talk about football, but unfortunately that's difficult in this
country."
Everyone will be talking about football _ soccer _ through the July 9 final
in Berlin. Will they be talking about a legendary coach, too?
