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What Can We Learn From World Cup Warmups?

The clock is ticking, and we’re into the final week -when most of mankind falls into a soccer coma for a month and the female species just has to put up with it!

The coaches are becoming more engrossed in formations and strategies than a Grand Chess Master, and the fans are trying to spot any teams emerging from the World Cup warmup matches that could take on the defending champions, Brazil.

There’s only one weekend left to get everything in order, and then Friday the greatest team sports event in the world unleashes a spectacular that sometimes takes four years to get over!

Over the past week, football fans have seen the usual results.

America enjoyed success at the end of its “send off series” against Latvia. EPL star Brian McBride scored the only goal of the game. Coach Bruce Arena knows that a 1-0 victory against Latvia means there’s room for improvement as the Americans have to face the Czechs in their opening game in Gelsenkirchen on June 12 and then face two tricky teams, Italy and Ghana, to fulfill their group schedule.

In Europe, France and Holland won by the same scoreline. These teams usually start slow in the World Cup and improve through the tournament. You don’t want to peak on June 9 – the coaches want their teams to peak on July 9!

France celebrated one of its favorite sons’ milestones in Paris, with Zinedine Zidane receiving his 100th cap. The game was not a classic, and Lyon’s Florent Malouda saved the red blushes for “Les Blues” with a 45th-minute goal.

Raymond Domenech, the French coach, admitted his players had to improve, and he wanted a much better performance against Denmark last Wednesday. In the Lens Stadium, goals by Thierry Henry and a penalty from Sylvain Wiltord showed that “Les Blues” are now really focusing on reclaiming the trophy in July.

Ruud van Nistelrooy may be out of favor in Manchester, but in Rotterdam he was king after scoring the only goal of the game against Cameroon. The Dutch have a quality team on paper, who would not want “Van the Man”, Van Persie, Arjen Robben, Cocu, van Bommel, Dirk Kuyt and, of course, one of the best goalkeepers in Europe in Edwin van der Sar.

The Dutch always enter the World Cup with hope of success. But “The Oranje” always seem to come unstuck in the knock out games. Legendary striker Marco van Basten, now head coach for Holland, needs to get his players focused on the whole 90 minutes, as he stated after the game: “We must work hard on that in the next two weeks before the World Cup starts.”

After that match in Eindhoven, the Dutch put in a very impressive performance against Mexico. The Mexicans opened the scoring, and with a weakened team Van Basten’s men rolled up their sleeves and duly earned a 2-1 win. I think the bookies have lowered the Dutch’s odds after this match.

It is still a shock that the Dutch didn’t qualify for the last World Cup – so they need to show the world that they are a major footballing powerhouse in Germany in this edition.

The World Cup hosts and Ukraine sent their fans home dreaming of World Cup glory after “caning” their opposition.

The former Soviet Republic hit four against fellow World Cup entry Costa Rica. Goals from Serhiy Nazarenko, Andriy Vorobey and Maxym Kalinichenko closed the tie at halftime, and both coaches radically changed their teams for the second half. However, Ukraine is a dark horse as it wants to host the 2012 European Soccer Championships with

Poland, so any good showing in Germany will push its cause for hosting Europe’s biggest competition in six years. Plus, Ukraine’s Group H in the World Cup is weak. Ukraine only has to worry about Spain to win the group; victories should come against Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Once Ukraine enters the knockout stages, it could upset some bigger names if it can carry this form to late June.

Pardon the pun; you can be the sub-editor here!

“Germany take fans to 7th heaven” – “Lucky Seven” – “The Magnificent Seven” – you can take the pick after

Germany did not break a sweat in scoring seven goals against Luxembourg.

However, it was a different story on Tuesday night, when Jurgen Klinsmann’s men were attacked from all sides and were two goals down before they realized they had to quickly do something. The Luxembourg stroll had probably lured the team into a false sense of security, and the Japanese seized on that.

To be fair to the coach, he didn’t get carried away by the scoreline against Luxembourg, as Germany’s worst side could have beaten the Benelux country, a team that only has one professional footballer representing the nation.

One recent shock was the defeat of Trinidad and Tobago against Wales, and the Welsh didn’t even qualify for the World Cup.

The Caribbean “Soca Warriors” tested themselves against a side that had good EPL players. However, Robert Earnshaw, who with due respect to him is no Thierry Henry, scored two easy goals against the “Warriors” defense. The Islanders need to shape up fast if they want to make some headlines in Germany, and the alarm bells started to ring again when they lost to Slovenia 3-1in Ljubljana.

Individual performance of last weekend came from Portugal’s Pedro Pauleta; he has already overtaken the legendary Eusebio’s scoring record. Over the weekend against the Cape Verde, Pauleta scored a hat-trick to give his side a 4-1 win over the Minnows.

To be cynical, a side of Cape Verde’s quality is never going to appear in the World Cup. So, we should not read too much into this victory.

Argentina had a little warmup against Angola in Salerno, Italy, and a couple of goals was the margin of victory, as expected.

At Old Trafford, the “awesome” midfield of Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham probably made Hungary feel like a “bunny” in a juggernaut’s headlights. But, the Hungarians did manage to frustrate the “Three Lions” until Gerrard opened the scoring.

Peter Crouch scored the final goal in a 3-1 win, and if you didn’t see his celebration dance then let me tell you that it shows why 6-foot-7 inch white sportsmen should not try and look cool doing a robotic dance. Let’s just say it was not on the same level as Michael Jackson doing his moonwalk

Just as an aside, Sven Goran Eriksson will probably take more questions about a player who is not playing at the moment than any other one. The Wayne Rooney Saga is great for the papers as it fills column inches during a “dry period” of top-class sport.

But, you have to wonder now that the way these “fashion” football boots are made, is there enough protection for the actual foot. Of course, the sports companies are not going to say anything else but “yes” as they try to push their boot into the billion dollar industry.

However, back in the 1980s every English schoolboy could not spell “metatarsal.” But after Beckham and Rooney’s injuries, this small little piece of the human body has become as famous as the players.

Maybe I am getting old, but a good thick piece of black leather always stopped me from getting injured, and I was playing against amateurs that didn’t have the timing of top class defenders!

The Italians got some normality back against Switzerland win a 1-1 draw. But they couldn’t score against the tough Ukraine side in Lausanne on Friday night. If I was a bookmaker I would take any money from punters on the Italians lifting The World Cup.

Therefore, from all the previous week’s international friendlies, I personally feel Brazil will cruise tothe semfinals. However, England’s attack is first class – its midfield is the strongest on the planet and then you add ace striker Michael Owen up front – what a dream combination. If England finally clicks, then 40 years of hurt could be over.

The only problem is that the FA has already sacked the coach. If Sven wins, are they going to ask him back?!

The French are now hungry to prove that France ‘98 was not a fluke or they’re not a “fair weather” team – i.e., they only do well on home soil.

I think Italy will be lucky to scrape through the group phase, and my dark horse for a good showing is Ukraine. It has done nothing wrong and quietly is going about its business.

Also, if you like to party make sure you catch Trinidad and Tobago’s group matches, as they’ll be watching the knockout stage in a pub next to you !

So, get ready. The teams are warming up, get the beers in, the bookmaker on the phone or Internet and make

sure you try and catch as much of this football fiesta as you can.

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