Search: ' World Cup 2006'

What are the expectations for the team?
Most Swedes expect the team to get out of the group.

Are there any players who have appeared in TV commercials?
Fredrik Ljungberg, of course, was the face and body of Calvin Klein underwear for over two years and is now in a Pepsi advert with Ronaldinho, Frank Lampard and Lionel Messi. Anders Svensson is nicknamed Taco-Anders by opposing fans in the Allsvenskan after being in an advert for a company selling pizza, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now one of Nike’s hottest properties. It is a far cry from the start of his career when he was the face of Garnier Fructis, with the slogan: “You don’t think Zlatan has dandruff, do you?”

Is the coach popular?
Lars Lagerbäck is quite popular because he has taken Sweden to five consecutive major championships but is often criticised for the team’s negative approach. Remarkable, really, considering his achievements.

Which players are good interviewees and who are the worst?
Any journalist getting more than monosyllabic replies from Tobias Linderoth will have done really well. Mikael Nilsson is quite good and Ibrahimovic can be superb or awful depending on what mood he is in.

Do any of the players have famous girlfriends or wives?
Christian Wilhelmsson’s girlfriend, Oksana Andersson, is the most famous face at the moment. The Russian-Swedish model writes a blog about the couple’s life in Spain (he is on loan at Deportivo La Coruña) and has attracted a cult following (not necessarily because it is that good; one recent headline was “how nice it is with newly washed clothes”).

Are there any players involved in politics?
Not noticeably, but the current assistant coach, Roland Andersson, protested vehemently against the Argentinian junta before the 1978 World Cup. He threatened not to go to the tournament but in the end went and filmed everything he could concerning the regime.

What will be the media coverage be like?
Swedish Channel 4 has got the rights and their pundits are normally Magnus Hedman (ex-Coventry City) and Pontus Kåmark (ex-Leicester City). They are both good and professional – but nowhere near as popular as the former Sweden international Glenn Strömberg, who works for state channel SVT and will not be commentating on games this time around. The best newspaper columnist is, without a doubt, Aftonbladet’s Simon Bank.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
Loads of fans will travel, around 30,000 at the latest estimates. Sweden were voted Fans of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup with the highlight being 55,000 Swedes in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. 170,000 people applied for tickets. The two most popular songs are Vi är svenska fans allihopa (We are Swedish fans all of us) and In med bollen i mål (Put the ball in the goal).

Marcus Christenson

What are the expectations for the team?
The French public are pessimistic. Which is a good indicator that they’ll get to the final at least, previous low expectations having been recorded in 1998 and 2006. Ten years on, four players from the 1998 World Cup squad – Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet and Thierry Henry – could all take part. If picked, Nicolas Anelka, another player from 1998 generation, will be looking to score his first goal in a major international competition. There is some optimism surrounding the new generation represented by Hatem Ben Arfa, Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema – all three tipped as the next Zidane – as well as “Kaiser Franck” Ribéry.

Read more…

What are the expectations for the team?
After being drawn in a group containing both 2006 World Cup finalists, the expectations are not high, especially after some shaky qualifying performances, such as a single-goal victory over Luxembourg and a collapse against Belarus in Minsk at the end of 2007. However, the national team have survived the first round of every European Championship since Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Co won the title in 1988 so there is always the possibility of another penalty shootout defeat in the quarter- or semifinals.

Have any players appeared in commercials or any other adverts?
Edwin van der Sar features in a commercial for healthy mints, in which he stops penalties taken by Bad Breath, Tooth Slice and Coffee Stain. The revenues may go to a good cause.

Is the coach popular?
Not really. Van Basten’s preference for Ajax reserves is suspect, while the way he stubbornly clung on to the two-winger system when there wasn’t a recognised one in the squad was a bit strange – but players have recently talked him out of that. However, every Dutch national coach suffers from the nation’s expectation of being entertained. Winning is not good enough, we want “dream football”, too.

Are there any players with unusual hobbies or business interests?
Clarence Seedorf is the owner of a 125cc Moto GP team. He has also founded the Clarence Seedorf Stadium in Paramaribo and aims to lead Surinam to the World Cup. The Netherlands Antilles also hope to dip into the talent pool of black players in the Eredivisie, which may affect the Dutch national team in the future.

What will the media coverage be like?
There is a tendency to use coaches as pundits. “This would never happen against any team of mine” is always a subtext of their comments. Louis van Gaal quit during the qualifying tournament, saying he had pointed out the same mistakes in the team tactics over and over again and felt he was repeating himself. However, it is very difficult for Van Gaal to keep his opinions to himself, so when asked, he will surely turn up somewhere on the telly. As will Johan Cruyff who was simultaneously a TV pundit and an advisor to Van Basten during the 2006 World Cup. After the bad-tempered loss to Portugal in the last 16, Cruyff defended Van Basten in his newspaper column the next day and blamed the defeat on government minister Rita Verdonk, who had refused to give Salomon Kalou a Dutch passport.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
Most Dutch tickets are taken by sponsors, the biggest one an insurance company, who use them to reward their agents and employees. It is a new form of hooliganism. At the 2006 World Cup there were frightening stories of unsuspecting foreign fans isolated in pub corners by men dressed in orange who bombarded them with stories about life insurance, investment plans and favourable loan rates.

Ernst Bouwes

What are the expectations for the team?
After the astonishing 2006 World Cup, public expectation is high, especially since Germany had the luck of the draw again and all the big names are in the other half. After all, Germany have won at least one major title in every decade since the 1970s. But then again, the Nationalmannschaft haven’t won a single European finals match since 1996.

Are there any players who have appeared in TV commercials or other advertising?
The national team have been sponsored by Mercedes-Benz for several decades and, for every big event, a TV commercial is produced. This time, the players are dressed in 19th-century climbers’ outfits, crossing the Alps to get to Austria. The idea is semi-funny, but Michael Ballack’s fake moustache brings back memories of the days when a hairy upper lip was obligatory if you wanted to play for Germany.

Is the coach popular?
Joachim (“Jogi”) Löw was Jürgen Klinsmann’s sidekick and said to be the mastermind behind Germany’s new attacking style in 2006. He is good looking (except for his moptop haircut) and articulate, so the public and the media love him. Club officials, however, are unnerved by his continuous criticism of their allegedly outdated training methods.

Which players are good interviewees and who are the worst?
From an interviewer’s point of view, Jens Lehmann is the worst person to talk with. Whatever he is asked, he reacts with a disregard that verges on hatred. A sigh of relief was heard in the press corps when Arsenal’s substitute goalie imposed an interview ban before Germany’s friendly with Switzerland in March. On the other hand, Lukas Podolski’s ability to talk faster than he thinks is always entertaining. He says things like “We must roll up our heads. And our sleeves” or “That’s football. Sometimes the better team wins”.

Are there any players with unusual hobbies or business interests?
Werder Bremen’s Thorsten Frings owned a raccoon until his wife became pregnant. He gave it to a friend, saying a voracious beast and a baby don’t mix. Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez enjoys watching the fish in his aquarium, while Schalke’s Heiko Westermann admits that his hobby is sleeping.

Do any of the players have famous girlfriends or wives?
A few years ago, Lothar Matthäus and Oliver Kahn’s nightclub acquaintances were Germany’s B-versions of Posh Spice. Today, Bastian Schweinsteiger walks in their footsteps. He once invited a girl from a Munich disco to the Jacuzzi in Bayern’s training centre. When they were discovered by the security staff at 2am, he claimed that the young lady was his cousin – which made her famous for about a week.

Are there any players involved in politics?
It’s not evident from the style of football they prefer, but Germany’s central defenders are intelligent and socially committed. Real Madrid’s Christoph Metzelder has started a foundation that seeks to help Turkish kids find their way into German society. Per Mertesacker of Werder Bremen is a devout Lutheran protestant and helps promote the church’s youth festivals.

What will the media coverage be like?
Unfortunately, the pundit partnership of 1970s hero Günter Netzer and journalist Gerhard Delling will disappear from the screen at the end of Euro 2008, because Delling wants to spend more time with his family. For ten years, the two of them were a real life equivalent to the Muppet Show’s Statler and Waldorf. The match commentary will be atrocious, as usual. Worst of all is public channel ZDF’s Wolf-Dieter Poschmann, a former middle-distance runner with a special interest in speed skating who doesn’t have a clue about football.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
Supporting Germany was left to a small group of Deutschland Deutschland chanting dimwits for many years, but in recent times the national team have become sexy. So there will be masses of – hopefully – gentle folks travelling to the tournament round the corner. In the stadium, the German fans have taken up the English habit of singing the national anthem at the start of the second half. The Austria v Germany match will be accompanied by mutual insults on the terraces.

Karsten Blaas

What are the expectations for the team?
Fairly low – although the Czech Republic topped Group D, ahead of Germany, it was a problematic qualifying campaign. The low point came after the 2-1 loss to Germany in Prague, when a tabloid journalist visited the team hotel and reportedly found five players celebrating Tomas Ujfalusi’s birthday with prostitutes. Coach Karel Bruckner almost resigned over the incident, and Karel Poborsky was later hired as a sort of national-team babysitter.

Are there any players who have appeared in TV commercials or other advertising?
That nice Petr Cech has become a one-man advertising industry over the past couple of years, simultaneously pitching Samsung, the Ceska Sporitelna bank and, modelling leisurewear alongside his wife Martina, Marks & Spencer.

Is the coach popular?
After leading the Czechs to three successive tournaments Bruckner is respected, but if he hadn’t decided to retire after Euro 2008 he would probably have been edged out. One of the conditions for his retaining his job after the 2006 World Cup disappointment was the appointment of Petr Rada, a potential successor, as his assistant.
 
Do any of the players have famous girlfriends or wives?
Jan Koller’s wife Hedvika has appeared in the Czech edition of Playboy, Tomas Rosicky has been involved with beauty queen-turned-weather girl Radka Kocurova for several years, and defender Radoslav Kovac’s girlfriend Klara Medkova was runner-up in the 2003 Miss Czech Republic contest – a position that the Czechs, rather unfortunately, refer to as “vicemiss”. Keeping track of who Milan Baros and the recently divorced Ujfalusi are seeing keeps large sections of the Czech Republic’s tabloid press in work.

Are there any players involved in politics?
Baros’s experiences have probably put his team-mates off any political involvement. Baros campaigned for the right-of-centre Civic Democratic Party (ODS) during the 2006 election. When the ODS took power, Baros applied for a grant to set up a football academy in his home town, prompting a row within the party over whether he had been promised the money in exchange for his participation in the campaign.

What will the media coverage be like?
Prima, the free-to-air commercial station that has the Euro 2008 TV rights, has announced that Vladimir Smicer will be the “face” of their coverage. This is the first time Prima, who currently show English Premier League games, have covered a major football tournament, so it’s a bit of a step into the unknown. In February, there were reports that Prima had been trying to sell the rights on to Ceska Televize, the state broadcaster that normally handles major tournaments, which doesn’t inspire confidence.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
Demand for tickets has been intense, exceeding that for the World Cup in Germany. Czech fans aren’t the most boisterous supporters – typically, a chant of Cesi do toho (Czechs go for it) fizzles out after three or four repetitions. That said, the sight of several thousand fans jumping up and down and chanting Hop! Hop! Hop! Kdo neskace neni Cech! (If you’re not jumping, you’re not Czech) is oddly impressive.

Sam Beckwith