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Post Draw: Quotes and Analysis |
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Japan
(JPN) |
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Coach: Philippe Troussier
First of all I would like to say how impressed I was with the ceremony.
Otherwise, without wanting to lapse into cliches, none of the groups is
easy – I consider all 32 qualified teams to be on an equal footing and
respect them all. We are not in a strong or a weak group since everything
is possible in football. Each World Cup team has to play three first round
group matches to qualify, whoever they are. Qualification is everything,
and in our group, anyone could get through.
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Belgium
(BEL) |
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Coach: Robert Waseige
am satisfied since we have teams that like to play their football in our
group. Japan and Russia like to express themselves. I know Japan, I’ve
seen them five or six times and learned a lot, but we’ll have to study them
more. They’re a very lively, mobile team which has adopted Troussier’s
tactics and discipline. They have a real chance to climb in the footballing
hierarchy and will put us under a lot of pressure for the openeing match
on their home ground, but they too will be under the spotlight
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Russia
(RUS) |
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Director of Russian football federation: Aleksander Tukmanov
We have been lucky. We were talking before the draw and said we
wanted to end up in Japan for our fans. It’s always tough to play the host
nation – there is more pressure but after all, were are not coming up
against France, Argentina or Brazil… Our group is within our capabilities, we can get through.
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Tunisia
(TUN) |
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Former Coach: Henri Michel
I don't know Belgium too well, but I have bad memories of them from which I was Moroccan coach and
we lost to them 4-0. I saw them recently in their play-offs against the Czech Republic and they put in
solid performances. Since Robert Waseige has taken over the reins, they have become more
disciplined and hard to break down. The Belgians are better than us on paper but if we prepare well, we
could surprise them. We are the minnows of the group, but who knows…
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Group Analysis:
It what is the most balanced group on paper, none of the four teams has ever played each other in a FIFA World Cup final phase (although Belgium beat the USSR in the last 16 at Mexico 86). The peculiarity of the group will stem from the fact that it contains three French-speaking coaches - Robert Waseige of Belgium, Philippe Troussier for hosts Japan and Henri Michel of Tunisia, who took France to the semi-final at Mexico 86.
Japan and Tunisia (the highest-ranked African team in the competition) will be at their second consecutive FIFA World Cup and will face evenly-matched opponents - Belgium are 20th, Russia 22nd, Tunisia 28th and Japan 35th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola world rankings.
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