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| Angola | Iran | Ivory Coast | Saudi Arabia | Togo | Trinidad & Tobago |
The title
of this grouping is pretty self-explanatory, but for those of you who don’t
know, we’ll explain it to you. This is what a television game show host says
to a contestant who has lost early and departs with no winnings. That about sums
up in a nutshell the teams that are grouped here. These six teams have virtually
no shot at making it to the second round, much less coming even remotely close
to winning the cup. The best thing you can say about them is that they may have
some talent and they qualified to be in Germany, but that is about it. They are
this tournament’s bottom-feeders whom more than likely will serve as
sacrificial lambs to the better teams they are grouped with.
Somebody
had to qualify from the fourth of five African qualifying groups – Angola
will have to do. These first-time minnows are clearly under-whelming and
overmatched. Nigeria, one of the two best sides in African football over the
last 24 years, scored a lot of goals but clearly acted like they didn’t want
to go this time. Actually, Angola didn’t look all that inspired either,
scoring just 12 goals in 10 qualifying matches.
With a football federation that has only been in existence since 1979, Angola has actually spent the better part of their history producing players whom have gone on to play for their Portuguese masters even after the country’s independence. The side has faced Portugal twice before, losing both times in Portugal, so they are looking for a little payback in Germany, a venue they believe will be more neutral.
Enthusiasm
for qualifying for the World Cup has been tempered by some bad results in
friendlies since. Forty-eight-year-old Luis Oliveira Goncalves, an Angolan of
Portuguese descent, is at the helm. A former coach of the country’s Under-20
youth side that won the 2001 African Youth Championship, he is clearly in a
position to know what talented youngsters he can use for the senior side…
…And
you had better believe that this team is young and short on international
experience beyond their own continent. There isn’t too much to get excited
about here but there is some individual talent. Akwa is the all-time leading
scorer up front and their key player. Flavio has been his more successful strike
partner, but it looks like either Love (that really is his name) or Mantorras
will get the not next to Akwa. Gilberto and Figueiredo are the thriving
suppliers on the wings, and Mendonca looks to be the attacking creator in the
center of the midfield. The best defender they have is Yamba Asha but he failed
a drug test and may be banned for the finals, leaving Goncalves to have to
cobble together a backline comprised of Jamba, the only experienced defender
they have, and a host of youngsters nobody’s ever heard of.
In
a Group D draw that includes Portugal, Mexico and Iran, the Angolans believe
they can get some points, and they are well motivated to take on their former
colonial master Portugal. Beyond that they are just glad to be and hope that
this is a step in the right direction for the future.
Key Player: Akwa.
Actually the key for Angola will be a porous and inexperienced backline that is
very long on youth and very short on quality, but they clearly aren’t going to
get much from a gaggle of youngsters. And outside of the wingers there really
isn’t much service from the midfield. Akwa got them here; Akwa is going to
have to get them further.
First-timers
Angola will probably keep Iran from
finishing at the bottom of their qualifying group. Making their third appearance
in the World Cup – and falling out at the group stage the previous two times
– Iran actually has more quality than they’ve ever had. Which still isn’t
saying much because there is far less talent here than on mostly every other
side going to Germany.
Iran is more hopeful than expectant of their chances, especially after finishing third at the 2004 Asian Cup. But that optimism is mostly unfounded given both Iran’s recent form and their less than convincing performances in qualifying. For reasons we won’t get into, Iran is thoroughly intimidating at home surrounded by their fans but are downright impotent on the road.
Iran’s
Croatian coach since 2002, Branko Ivankovic is the coaching brains behind the
side who has tried to bring a certain Eastern European toughness to the side
with less than successful results. The side is made up more of attacking players
who lack a certain hardness for anything physical. The 4-4-2 attacking formation
Ivankovic uses accommodates the growing band of talented Bundesliga-based
midfielders they have. Vahid Hashemian, Medhi Mahdavikia and Ferydoon Zandi and
especially Ali Karimi are all fine midfield creators who are strong dribblers.
Especially Karimi, who has scored 31 goals, a whopping number for a midfielder.
Iran have an unusually large number of their goals scored from the midfield.
Javed Nakounam gets onto the scoresheet from the bench.
Thirty-eight
year-old striker Ali Daei is the most prolific scorer in international history,
having netted 107 goals. He is way past his prime but Iran needs his leadership
and vast experience in the international game because they just can’t rely on
anybody else up front for goals. Arash Borhani, Reza Enayati or Hashemian will
get the start next to Daei but are of no real threat.
The
midfield and attack seem golden in comparison to the defense, which is in such
disrepair that it isn’t even worth mentioning who is back there, and the same
can be said of the chaos in goal.
There
are a few positives here but they appear to be outnumbered by the negative,
especially in defense. Iran looks good on the field but they sure don’t score
like they look, having scored just 7 goals in 6 qualifying matches and looking
even worse since. In a Group D draw that includes Portugal, Mexico and Angola
they are counting on getting points from Angola but not much else.
Key Player: ANYBODY IN
DEFENSE. They’ve got some
players back there that have been there for a while and offer little. Coach
Ivankovic will probably go to Germany with just seven out-and-out defenders,
which is a good indication of how little there is in the back. If they want to
stay in any match they play, they had better figure this one out and do it soon.
Coming out
of the continent’s most difficult qualifying group that saw them beat out
Cameroon and current African Nation’s Cup holders Egypt, a lot of people were
high on the Ivory Coast’s chances
at advancement to the knockout stage of the World Cup – and then the draw
happened. After being pooled in Group C with Argentina, Holland and Serbia &
Montenegro that optimism has cooled considerably.
Too bad, really, because this is a side that can probably be best described as Africa’s team of the moment, with the continent’s biggest array of high-quality talent plying their trade in Europe and a coach with one helluva pedigree on the international scene.
The
coach is Henri Michel, the mystical French icon who led his native country to
the semis at Mexico ’86 and coached North African heavyweights Morocco at
France ’98 and Tunisia at Korea/Japan to respectable performances even though
they didn’t make it out of the group stages. Michel plays his hand close to
the vest, making tactical and personnel choices that leave Ivorian media and
fans guessing and privately making Ivorian federation officials question his
methods.
Michel
has toyed with a rigid 4-4-2 formation that makes sense for such a tough World
Cup group but will probably have to settle for a midfield-intensive 3-5-2
because of the one place on the pitch that is a weakness – the lack of any
quality center-backs. Kolo Toure is the big guy in the center of the backline.
His calm demeanor, athleticism, competent marking and tackling, and big-match
experience with Arsenal make him a must in what has been a problem area.
Emmanuel Eboue has partnered with Toure at Arsenal and has actually turned in
some good performances. Cyril Domoraud probably joins to complete the troika.
First-choice keeper Jean-Jacques Tizie doesn’t exactly inspire confidence but
is the best of a not-so-good lot in net.
The
midfield is talented if somewhat unsettled. Didier Zikora is probably the next
great holding midfielder following in the footsteps of Mahamadou Diarra and
Michael Essien. Kolo Toure’s brother Yaya does everything but nothing
particularly well. Bonaventure Kalou was used as a playmaker during qualifying
but the experiment failed. He is more of a forward than a midfielder but will
only see action if he agrees to play on the wings, which his skills suggest he
would adapt to with ease but he is reluctant to do.
Up
front is where you will find the world-class talent on the side in the person of
Didier Drogba. A scorer of nine qualifying goals, Drogba is the inspirational
team leader whose size and strength camouflage a nose for goal and a will to win
that just won’t be denied. Aruna Dindane is his strike partner who scored
seven qualifying goals. Drogba’s power and speed compliment Dindane’s
dribbling skills and creative instinct. There is no strike tandem in the world
whom they take a back seat to.
This
is clearly a talented team with the quality to compete at this level. But as
luck would have it they landed in an impossible group that just doesn’t give
them much of a chance, not as first-time qualifiers. The Ivory Coast’s route
to a long run is littered with countless land mines to be hopeful of their
performance.
Key Player: Didier Drogba.
Unlike their other African counterparts taking part in this tournament the Ivory
Coast at least have a world-class talent. Drogba has the size, height, and skill
to take over a game if his teammates can play up to a level that lets him create
space and his own shot. If this side makes any semblance of a run it won’t be
because of teamwork – as has been characterized by World Cup runs of late –
but because Drogba put this team on his shoulders and brought them along for the
ride.
Even in a
Group H draw as relatively weak as this, there is very little reason to believe
that Saudi Arabia have a realistic
shot at advancing. Sure, they won their Asian qualifying group with ease, even
relegating South Korea to second, but I would be much more hopeful if the side
weren’t nearly as chaotic as they have been since. The coach who steered them
to their fourth-straight World Cup was fired shortly thereafter, which usually
isn’t a positive omen going into a tournament of this stature. So now
Brazilian Marcos Paqueta has less than six months to put his imprimatur on a
squad he isn’t even remotely familiar with.
Furthermore, this is the same side which does not have any players playing away from Saudi Arabia. I realize the money there is much better than they would get anyplace else, but their players are sacrificing crucial foreign experience at the expense of money, and that more than anything is going to keep them in their position on the football food chain.
Sami
al-Jabar, a holdover from the side’s first World Cup appearance at USA ’94,
will shoulder the scoring load up front. Asian Player of the Year Hamad al-Montashari
is the organizer on defense. Mabrouk Zaid shows some reflexive form in goal.
Beyond them it wouldn’t do me any good pointing out any of their other players
because you wouldn’t know who they are anyway.
Since
their surprise appearance in the Round of 16 at USA ’94 their World Cup
results have gotten exponentially worse, culminating in a last-place finish at
Korea/Japan that was punctuated by a 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Germany.
Chaotic
federation. Unknown local players. Historically awful performances at this
level…
…It
just doesn’t bode well for them. I can’t help but think that the their Group
H competitors Spain, Ukraine and Tunisia just jumped for joy when this squad was
drawn.
Key Player: Who Really Cares?
In all
likelihood Togo will be the worst
prepared squad from Africa in this year’s tournament. Despite leading from
start to finish and qualifying out of group that included two teams, Senegal and
Zambia, with more experience on the international football stage, Togo’s form
on either side of their qualification campaign has been nothing short of
atrocious. Togo didn’t win a single friendly leading up to qualifying, and
they embarrassed themselves in the African Nation’s Cup this past February by
not even getting a single point.
Furthermore, Togo’s football federation is in more chaos than even Saudi Arabia’s and Ghana’s. A row between the side’s star player, striker Emmanuel Adebayor and the coach who guided them to their first-ever World Cup, Stephen Keshi, precipitated the latter’s dismissal. The firing came just four months before they kick off their first Group G fixture, leaving new coach, German Otto Pfister, little time to appease a star player, reverse a run of bad results, and cobble together a competitive team from an inexperienced bunch.
Pfister
has long experience coaching in Africa, though, having coached the national
sides of Rwanda, Burkina Faso, the Congo, Ghana and Bangladesh. But he won’t
even be able to get them on the pitch until they start training in mid-May.
There
is some talent here. The aforementioned Adebayor is clearly capable of making an
impact, scoring 10 goals in qualifying, and as the country’s only high-profile
player has adapted well to playing for Arsenal in the English Premier League,
showing great skill and flair in making an impact (EDITOR’S NOTE: You have
to give it to Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger; he is probably the best in Europe at
finding young raw talent and getting them to make an immediate impact). But
the petulant finisher is moody and divisive and, in the mold of Terrell Owens,
knows how to bring a team down with him when he is unhappy. So don’t be
surprised if Pfister spends most of his time trying to appease his star striker.
There
are quite a few Togolese players who ply their trade on European clubs but most
are not first-teamers or on teams that are in the lower divisions. Kader
Cougbadja makes an effective strike partner with Adebayor. Naturalized Ghanaian
Eric Akoto is the tall bear of a man at the heart of Togo’s defense. Cherif
Toure Namam is a speedy creator in midfield with great presence of mind, and
Lantame Ouadja provides good service as well as an eye for the goal on the
flanks.
The
problems both on the pitch and off suggest that Togo will be mere whipping boys
in a Group G draw with Spain, Switzerland and South Korea. Hopefully they will
take something away from this experience and come back a little more prepared.
Key Player:
Emmanuel Adebayor. The
ill-tempered striker is exasperating to say the least. While there may be many
more strategic and tactical keys to success for Togo, keeping him happy while
appeasing the rest of the squad will be of monumental importance. That’s
really too bad.
(EDITOR’S
NOTE: This could really be a bad tournament for Africa. There is the very real
possibility that the continent could have their worst World Cup experience since
they’ve been coming.)
The North
American section (CONCACEF) surely doesn’t deserve four qualifiers. It is good
to see the United States and Mexico making a splash at the international level,
but that doesn’t mean that teams as marginal as Costa Rica and especially Trinidad
& Tobago (heretofore called T&T)
should get a shot at the 12-pound trophy at the expense of much more worthy
suitors. The side scored just 10 goals and allowed 15 in 10 qualifying matches
on their way to winning just 4 of those 10 – that’s not even .500! And they
got to Germany through a playoff victory over another side, Bahrain, that is
just as marginal.
(EDITOR’S
NOTE: There has to be a better way of filling out the rest of the field for a
World Cup. Maybe doing something like what NASCAR does to fill out each race
field; let the top group finishers qualify and then fill out the 32-team field
with the best teams worldwide as ranked by FIFA. It may seem a bit unfair to
non-European and non-South American confederations, but that will force them to
have to compete against better teams in other international competitions during
years when a World Cup isn’t contested).
The
coach of T&T is Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, who brings a pedigree to the small
Caribbean island nation: He is the third-longest-serving coach at Real Madrid,
and you can’t stay the head of them unless you win some hardware. His
organizational and man-management skills revamped the team’s campaign, and he
also showed his tactical astuteness. An attack-minded tactician, one of
Beenhakker’s priorities has been to wean this side off the creatively
restrictive European style of play – a good many of his player ply their trade
in England – and bring them more in step with an attractive, attacking flair.
Beenhakker
thinks he has the players to pull this off. He points to 34-year-old former
world-class Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke as a prime example. The
Caribbean’s most successful footballing export, who longs to match the
euphoria of winning the treble with the Red Devils in 1999, Yorke had the
vision, innovation and flair to make the successful transition to creative
midfield playmaker at this late a stage in his career.
Along
with Yorke there is talent on the ground. Stern John is one of the world’s
most accurate finishers despite flying under the international radar: 64 goals
in 103 international appearances attest to that. Midfielders Aurtis Whitley,
Russell Latapy and Carlos Edwards exhibit skillful approach play going forward
and combativeness when not in possession. Center-back Dennis Lawrence is the
sole bright spot in a porous defense that lacks pace, and winger Marvin Andrews
is an inspirational ball of energy on the flank. T&T even have depth in the
net, where Kelvin Jack has shown good hands and reflexiveness in supplanting
international mainstay Shaka Hislop as first-choice keeper.
A
Group B draw with England, Paraguay and Sweden means that it in all likelihood
will be a short stay in Germany for Trinidad & Tobago, talent
notwithstanding. There is, though, one thing you can certainly count on from
T&T – they will show up to party. If T&T don’t aspire to make any
real impact in Germany, they are at the very least going to enjoy themselves.
They may be the smallest country to qualify, with a population of just over 1.2
million, but they intend to make a splash while they are there.
Key Player: Dwight Yorke.
T&T’s primary party animal who spent the better part of the last six years
hedonistically worshipping Britain’s nightlife at the expense of his
world-class talent, basically pissing away any standing he had in Europe. Yorke
now looks to redeem himself on football’s biggest stage. Even if he has a
stellar tournament, at 34 it is probably too late for him to resurrect his
career to where it once was.