FIFA World Cup Germany Match 3 10-06-06

England VS Paraguay

Venue: FIFA World Cup Stadium, Frankfurt

Kick Off: 15h00 (SA Time)

Ernst Middendorp on England

England are one of the firm favorites to go all the way in Germany and return home with the silverware, for the first time in many world cups England have a quality team with experienced players. England have a number of players who played at France 98 as well as in Korea and Japan four years ago and this will bode well for them In Germany especially going into this game.

A lot lies on the ability of the midfield trio of David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard to lift their game and in effect get the rest of the team to play around them. England have shown in qualifying that if either one of these guys’ plays well than the entire team produces the kind of result that their fans and coach would be expecting. I feel that they have a very strong team with good players and will prove to be too strong for Paraguay, England are also in the fortunate position of having a full strength team. If necessary Wayne Rooney could also be called in some time during the game as he has been cleared by the Doctors.

My feeling is that England win this one 2-0.

Yusuf Muhammad on Paraguay

Paraguay enter this FIFA World Cup not as prepared as they were at France 98 and in Korea & Japan four years ago, also missing is their former inspirational goal scoring captain and goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert. With out Chilavert Paraguay lack the fighting spirit the demonstrated when they were knocked out via a Golden Goal by eventual winners France eight years ago.

They still do possess their very experienced captain Carlos Gamarra who currently plays Palmeiras in Brazil, Gamarra who has over a hundred appearances for Paraguay has been playing for thirteen years for the national. He made his debut as a twenty two year old against Bolivia in 1993.

Paraguay’s real chance of victory over England could depend on the ability of another veteran midfielder Robert Acuna and lanky striker Roque Santa Cruz of Bayern Munich to link up. At six foot five Paraguay’s tower in attack could be a handful for the English defense, apart form his height advantage Cruz is familiar with the conditions in Frankfurt as he clubs his club football with Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga.

FIFA World Cup Germany Match 4

Sweden Vs Trinidad and Tobago

Venue: FIFA World Cup Stadium, Dortmund 10-06-06

Kick Off: 18h00 (SA Time)

Ernst Middendorp on Trinidad and Tobago

For the Socca Warriors as their supporters affectionately call them, Trinidad and Tobago will be happy with the achievement of just having made it to the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Trinidad have an experienced campaigner in the form of Dutch Coach Leo Beenhaker and he will be hoping that the experienced players who were not part of the Socca Warriors qualifying campaign will come through for him.

After they had qualified for the World Cup Beenhaker axed a number of players who were domestically based and some who were playing soccer for various universities in the United States. Instead he went for a number of so called more experienced players currently playing in various lower leagues in Europe, certain of these guys previously made themselves unavailable for the Socca Warriors.

One of the players who has a lot resting on his shoulders is former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke currently playing in Australia for Sydney FC is probably the most famous and well known football export from Trinidad. He along with West Ham United goalkeeper Shaka Hislop will need to guide the Socca Warriors through their first outing at FIFA World Cup.

Another player to look out for in the Trinidad team is midfielder Craig Birchall who presently plays for Port Vale in the English first division. He became the first White man to play for Trinidad in over sixty years when he made his debut for the Socca Warriors against Bermuda in May 2005. This exciting young player will do himself no harm in finding himself a contract at a bigger team if he can put in the same kind of performances he did during Trinidad’s qualifying campaign.

All that said though, Trinidad do not have the over all quality and experience to match Sweden in their opening game, the Swedes I feel are too experienced for them and like I said earlier should be happy with just being in Germany.

Yusuf Muhammad on Sweden

Lars Lagerback would probably not have had any sleepless nights when told that his side would be facing FIFA World Cup debutants Trinidad and Tobago in their opening match. Sweden have a team made up of quality players it is widely felt that they have the ability to match their previous best performances when they were finalists in 1958 as well as their third place finish at USA 94.

Sweden have quality players in all positions and one key man will be Arsenal’s Freddie Ljunberg who will be looking to put behind him his clubs defeat in the UEFA Champions League Final with a good showing at the World Cup. Sweden will be relying on his ability to win the ball at the back and make swashbuckling runs up field to open up the opposition for either Henrik Larsson or Zlatan Ibrahimovic to finish off.

With either Ibrahimovic or Larsson up front as the Swedish coach prefers using one striker, a lot will be required of the man tasked with the striking duties. In the past Ibrahimovic and Larsson have both shown their star quality with their ability to fight with opposing defenders for the ball and also their remarkable finishing powers make them a real threat in front of goal.

For the Swede’s they could not have asked for any easier start to the tournament and will only have themselves to blame if they do not win this game convincingly.