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Post Draw: Quotes and Analysis |
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Argentina
(ARG) |
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General director of national select teams: José Pekerman
Argentina have landed the hardest group - take nothing away from the
other teams. We have been drawn against the strongest of the
non-seeded countries, the most experienced side in the African
continent as well as another seasoned European campaigner. Nigeria
are without question one of the great African sides. Sweden showed in
their qualifying group just how good a team they are. The same goes for
England, whom everybody wanted to avoid. This is a real heavyweight
group but it gives us the chance to show how far we can go in the
competition.
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Nigeria
(NGA) |
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Coach: Amodu Shaibu
We are older than we were in 1998, but we are still good. It is very hard to
be in this killer group. This is a tough one indeed and it will take hard
work … but it will be tough for all the teams. We will be going back to the
drawing board to start planning properly how to deal with this group of
death.
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England
(ENG) |
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Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson
We have to have more luck than we had tonight to get out of this group.
We must play the best African team, Nigeria, and Argentina is the best
South American team. It’s a tough draw. I certainly hope that we will have
more luck next June. I was talking to Ireland’s manager (Mick McCarthy),
and I asked him if he wanted to change groups, and he said "no way". Of
course when we meet (teams like this), we must perform at the highest
level. It didn’t matter to me whether we ended up in Korea or Japan. We
were lucky with one thing - we don’t have to change countries. At least we
will be in Japan until the end.
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Sweden
(SWE) |
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Coach: Tommy Söderberg
It’s a tough group, but we have nothing to fear. England has some fine players such as David Beckham
and Michael Owen and it’s always special to play against the English, since I have so many friends
there. Argentina is also excellent in every aspect of play. Matias Almeyda in defence, Batistuta in attack…
I have a lot of respect for this team – they might actually be the best in the world at the moment, along
with France. As far as the rest of the tournament is concerned – no comment. The group stage will be
tricky enough as it is…
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Group Analysis:
The "Group of Death" sees hereditary rivals England and Argentina slugging it out for the fifth time at a FIFA World Cup, but only one of the past four encounters was at the group stage, when the English won 3-1 in 1962. They also won on their way to the title in 1966, but since then, controversy has reigned, with Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" helping Argentina to victory in 1986 and David Beckham being red-carded in 1998 in a game which the Albiceleste won on penalties.
Argentina and Nigeria are on a qualification streak - the South Americans coming to their eighth consecutive FIFA World Cup whilst the Africans will be at their third. The two teams met in 1994 when the Super Eagles went down 2-1 in what was Maradona's last FIFA World Cup game. Meanwhile, Nigeria find themselves in the "Group of Death" for the second consecutive FIFA World Cup - pure bad luck or is it their reputation which precedes them and makes them a feared opponent?
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