WORLD CUP PLAYERS continued Togo Shevchenko of AC Milan, can be the one to spoil Spain’s progress party on the world stage. Unknown quantity Togo, will be hard pressed to qualify to the next round at the tournament, with Tunisia only Arsenal reserve Sheyi Adebayor likely to The players are based all over Europe with catch the eye. strikers Haykel Guemamdia & Salim Benachour (Paris S.G) the stars of the show. Tunisia must GGOAL!OAL! GROUP H: get points from Spain and Ukraine to qualify. Spain - Tunisia - Ukraine - Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia KIAMA SOCCER CLUB PRESENTS Perennial under-achievers, Spain’s midfi eld of Out to restore lost pride from its last World Cup YOUR ARMCHAIR WORLD CUP GUIDE 2006 Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arse- encounter when they were hammered 8-0 by nal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelo- Germany, the Saudis are more experienced na), and Luis Garcia (Liverpool) is world class. this time around but still may well struggle to But can they combine to do the side justice in impress. None of the squad play outside the “Only once every four years this World Cup? Saudi league. countries meet to play for Ukraine Crystal Ball fi nal 4: France (1) Brazil (2), Eng- the Holy Grail of football Arguably the world’s number one striker, Andriy land (3) and Argentina (4). .... the World Cup.” SBS TV BROADCASTING TIMES All times shown are in AEST and Portugal v Mexico 21 Jun 11:30 pm. are SBS TV broadcasting times only. Iran v Angola 22 Jun 02:00 am. Actual kick off times may vary. Group E Group A Italy v Ghana 13 Jun 04:30 am. Gemany v Costa Rica 10 Jun 01:30 am. USA v Czech Rep. 13 Jun 01:30 am. Poland v Ecuador 10 Jun 04:30 am. Italy v USA 18 Jun 04:30 am. Germany v Poland 15 Jun 04:30 am. Czech Rep. v Ghana 18 Jun 01:30 am. Ecuador v Costa Rica 15 Jun 10:30 pm. Czech Rep. v Italy 22 Jun 11:30 pm. Ecuador v Germany 20 Jun 11:30 pm. Ghana v USA 23 Jun 02:00 am. Costa Rica v Poland 21 Jun 02:00 am. Group F Group B Brazil v Croatia 14 Jun 04:30 am. England v Paraguay 10 Jun 10:30 pm. Australia v Japan 12 Jun 10:30 pm. Trinidad v Sweden 11 Jun 01:30 am. Brazil v Australia 19 Jun 01:30 am. England v Trinidad 16 Jun 01:30 am. Japan v Croatia 18 Jun 10:30 pm. Sweden v Paraguay 16 Jun 04:30 am. Japan v Brazil 23 Jun 07:00 am. Sweden v England 21 Jun 04:30 am. Croatia v Australia 23 Jun 04:30 am. Paraguay v Trinidad 21 Jun 07:00 am. Group G France v Switzerland 14 Jun 01:30 am. Group C Korea v Togo 13 Jun 10:30 pm. Argentina v Ivory Coast 11 Jun 04:30 am. France v Korea 19 Jun 04:30 am. Serbia v Holland 11 Jun 10:30 pm. Togo v Switzerland 19 Jun 10:30 pm. “204 countries started, Argentina v Serbia 16 Jun 10:30 pm. Togo v France 24 Jun 04:30 am. 32 made the fi nals, but there Holland v Ivory Coast 17 Jun 01:30 am. Switzerland v Korea 24 Jun 07:00 am. Holland v Argentina 22 Jun 04:30 am. can only be one winner of Group H the world game.” Ivory Coast v Serbia 22 Jun 07:00 am. Spain v Ukraine 14 Jun 10:30 pm. Group D Tunisia v Saudi Arabia 15 Jun 01:30 am. Mexico v Iran 12 Jun 01:30 am. Spain v Tunisia 20 Jun 04:30 am. Angola v Portugal 12 Jun 04:30 am. Saudi Arabia v Ukraine 20 Jun 01:30 am. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Mexico v Angola 17 Jun 04:30 am. Saudi Arabia v Spain 24 Jun 02:00 am. A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK AT THE WORLD CUP STARS TO WATCH AND A Portugal v Iran 17 Jun 10:30 pm. Ukraine v Tunisia 23 Jun 11:30 pm. COMPLETE SBS TV ARMCHAIR GUIDE TO ALL THE ACTION! Edited and compiled YOUR 2006 ARMCHAIR GUIDE TO THE TOURNAMENTS TOP PLAYERS by Chris Hudson Kiama Quarrier’s freelance football journal- Werder Bremen’s Nelson Haedo Valdez, should GROUP D: Another ‘keeper to steal the limelight should be ist, Chris Hudson, attempts to sift through pose the most threat to the opposition. Mexico - Portugal - Iran - Angola Petr Cech of Chelsea, while key players Pavel the squads to bring you the players most Trinidad and Tobago Nedved (Juventus), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), likely to be remembered after July 2006: Only Mexican forwards Jared Borgetti of Bolton, Milan Baros (Aston Villa), and the giant, Jan Possibly out of their depth, keeper Shaka His- and Guillermo Franco of Villarreal, play outside Koller (Borussia Dortmund) up front, should lop (West Ham United) will be well tested to of Mexico, but it’s a workmanlike team with no GROUP A: see the Czechs progress. keep a clean sheet throughout the group phase. true individual talent but which could surprise. Germany - Poland - Costa Rica - Ecuador Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC), will be hoping for Iran GROUP F: Hosts Germany have goalkeepers Jens Lehm- some pity from his former rival Premier League Midfi elders, Mehdi Mahdavikia (Hamburg), Fe- Brazil - Croatia - Australia - Japan ann of Arsenal and Oliver Kahn, Bayern Munich, collegues. reydoon Zandi (Kaiserslautern) and Ali Karimi both worthy of any international side. In midfi eld No real weakness in the Brazil side but ones Sweden of Bayern Munich are the only noteworthy play- Michael Ballack, now of Chelsea, is important to look out for, apart from the obvious; freekick Arsenal’s Fredrik Ljungberg is always a player ers to keep an eye on. to them and is the creative mind of the team. specialist Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid; the to watch and is the creative heart of the Scan- Angola tireless Emerson (Juventus); Ze Roberto (Bay- Costa Rica danavian’s midfi eld. Up front, Sweden have one Former Leeds Utd defender, Rui Marques (now ern Munich) and Kaka of AC Milan. Only former Man City and Aston Villa striker of Europes leading marksmen with Zlatan Ibra- of Hull), and forward Mantorras (Benfi ca) are Croatia Paulo Wanchope, now of Herediano, looks ca- himovic of Juventus, while Henrik Larsson (Bar- the ones to watch from the African outsiders. pable of causing concern for the opposition at celona), could be a surprise package. Play maker Niko Kranjcar (Hajduk Split), could this level. Portugal be the difference between Australia qualifying or coming home, while Robert Kovac (Juven- Poland The Chelsea pair of Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo GROUP C: Carvalho are the mainstay of the rearguard, but tus), Dario Simic (AC Milan), and Dado Prso Celtic striker, Maciej Zurawski, is their star play- Argentina - Holland - Ivory Coast - Serbia the Portuguese have a formidable strike force (Rangers), should entertain. er while the ageing defence pair of Jacek Bak to choose from in Luis Figo (Inter Milan), Cris- Australia and Mariusz Jop, is Poland’s foundation, but it A gifted squad, Argentina are in the infamous tiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Luis Boa will be tested. “Group of Death”, which will either make or It’s the engine room of Marco Bresciano (Par- break the spirit of the tempramental South Morte (Fulham), Simao (Benfi ca), Nuno Gomes ma), Tim Cahill (Everton), Jason Culina (PSV Ecuador Americans. Quality in midfi eld comes in the (Benfi ca), Pedro Pauleta (Paris SG) or Helder Eindhoven), Vince Grella (Parma) and Harry Have skilled individuals, but will now need to shape of Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Postiga (Saint-Etienne). Kewell (Liverpool), which will enable the long prove their effectiveness on the world stage but its the forwards of Lionel Messi (Barcelona) suffering Aussies to clinch a qualifying berth. as a team. Defender Ivan Hurtado is the most GROUP E: and Hernan Crespo of Chelsea, which could Japan capped player (128) and dependable, while 20 give them the edge to win the group. Another Italy - Czech Rep - USA - Ghana year-old winger, Luis Antonio Valencia, on the to watch is Carlos Tevez, if he gets a run, voted Junichi Inamoto (West Brom), Hidetoshi Na- Italy’s goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon of Juven- kata (Bolton), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic) and books at Spain’s Villareal, could be anything! recently as the best foreign player in Brazil. tus, is being hailed as the world’s number one, Up front Ecuador are blessed with former Crys- Naohiro Takahara of Hamburg SV, will shine for Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) now he has the stage to prove it in a very tal- the Japanese. tal Palace hot-head, Ivan Kaviedes now of Ar- ented team which includes the likes of Alessan- gentinos Juniors, while Agustin Delgado (Liga Many of the squad play at a good level in France, dro Nesta (AC Milan), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), GROUP G: de Quito) will be the main target man. but Chelsea’s Didier Drogba is the class act of the side, while supported by the exciting pros- Francesco Totti (Roma), and Alessandro Del France - Switzerland - South Korea - Togo Piero (Juventus). GROUP B: pect of Abdoul Kader Keita, of Lille. “Fabulous Fabien” Barthez of France & Mar- England - Sweden - Paraguay - Trinidad Serbia and Montenegro Ghana seille will hopefully be up to his old antics in goal The worry for all England fans will be the fi t- Former basketballer, Nikola Zigic of Red Star Not as strong as in previous campaigns, but for a few laughs.