World Cup 2006 Team Profiles – Group B
Trinidad and Tobago
World Cup Appearances: Initial Appearance
Best Finish: n/a
Key Players: Stern John, F; Dwight Yorke, F
Notes:
Welcome to the World Cup Finals, Trinidad and Tobago. You are officially the tiniest nation to ever qualify for the 32 team finals with your population of 1.1 million people. They qualified for the WC in remarkable fashion considering they were in a qualifying group that included Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica, all teams that qualified for the finals.They were also fored to play in a two-match playoff with the country of Bahrain out of the Asian region.
They will field a team that, as a unit is new to the international stage, but one that will have a lot of individual international experience. Leading the team will be the best player ever to come from the tiny island nation, striker Dwight Yorke. Yorke is now 34 years old, but many in Trinidad and Tobago have not forgotten his glory days in playing in the Premiership with the fabled Manchester United. He would team there with Andy Cole and provide English and world soccer with one of the more dynamic duos in recent history. They would win three consecutive League titles, along with completing the rare trifecta of also winning the 1999 Champions League and the FA Cup along with their League title. Yorke just has a nose for the ball that few possess. He’s instinctive and knows what to do to get himself free. It goes further from the ability to merely make himself open to actually having the awareness to change and find these spots in mid-game.
But for them the number one striker is not Yorke, but Stern John, another player who has the resume internationally. Having played in the ‘ college system, and then spend a year in MLS before heading to England, he’s another one of those natural goal scorers. He was the second highest scorer in CONCACAF qualifying with 12 tallies. He’s a stronger guy than Yorke and will demand a lot of the attention now, although it wasn’t always the case. With names like Yorke and even Russell Latapy he wasn’t seeing too much of the defensive attention. Trust me, he will be drawing attention in Germany.
It may come down to defense and goalkeeping. You’ve got dynamic teams in England and Sweden who can put the ball in the net in bunches, and it’ll be upto the GK Kelvin Jack and his backs to mark those strong attacking teams. They’ve got firepower, but won’t be able to keep up in shootouts with these teams that can play adequate defense with their attacking styles. They must be solid in the defensive 1/3 of the field.
England
World Cup Appearances: 12th Appearance; 3rd Consecutive
Best Finish: Champions (1966)
Key Players: Wayne Rooney, F; David Beckham, MF; Michael Owen, F
Notes:
With names like Beckham, Owen, and Rooney, a World Cup championship should be in the bag, right? Well, if you ask the English fans, the answer is a resounding yes. But there have been a number of problems that have made it difficult for the English to return to the pinnacle of the World Cup that they reached 40 years ago. And even then, it was only when they played on English land that they were ultimately triumphant. But the expectations are high as ever with this team heading into Germany for the 2006 edition of the World Cup. Hopefully they’ll be up for the task and not the lackluster English side we’ve become accustomed to in international friendlies and competitions over recent years.
Led by Swedish coach Sven-Goran Erickson, the English coasted through most of their qualifying matches, but not without their own share of speed bumps. They tied Austria in the opening match of the qualifying round, and even suffered an embarrassing loss to in September of last year. They still finished qualifying with only one defeat and one draw in ten matches.
They need Wayne Rooney to be fit, first of all. Rooney has been plagued with an injury to his right foot during a game against Chelsea in the Premiership back in April. It was originally reported by Manchester United doctors that he would be available for national team duty after the group stages. Coach Erickson took a different stance when asked a few days before the World Cup, saying that Rooney is ready to play and it was just dependant on getting him game fit. His game has been described by teammate Michael Owen as “running at people, playing in that hole, shooting from distance, passing the ball, bits of skill.” In other words, a true jack-of-all-trades on the pitch. He’s regarded as one of England’s most natural soccer players and, although only 20 years old, is considered one of the main keys to English success or failure.
Owen, meanwhile, is dangerous in his own right. Michael Owen made his name known as a fresh-faced 18 year-old in the 1998 World Cup in France. He’s as dangerous as they come in the attacking third of the field. He’s scored an impressive 35 goals for England, the fourth-highest international tally total in English history. After spending 8 years in Liverpool, he made the move to Real Madrid to play with one of the best club teams in the world with fellow English club player David Beckham. Owen possesses what is described as a “bullet shot” off either foot and has become an international soccer star with his natural scoring ability.
David Beckham may be the biggest name on the team, and his importance on the pitch is just as important. One of the best free-kickers in the world, “Bend It Like Beckham” was a saying going around the world long before the movie was made. Beckham also has an ability to make crisp passes to the striking forwards of the English team and has an awareness that is enviable to most midfielders. He has been called the most important player in England since Bobby Moore, and it’ll remain to be seen if they can do be like Moore’s 1966 team and hoist the World Cup trophy above their heads.
They will have to shake off the pressure and just play soccer. They seem to buckle when it gets too intense, and the quarterfinal finish in the 2002 World Cup was seen as a vast disappointment in England. If they don’t advance far, the disappointment will travel far and wide.
Sweden
World Cup Appearances: 7th Appearance; 2nd Consecutive
Best Finish: Runner-Up (1958)
Key Players: Olof Mellberg, D; Christian Wilhelmsson, MF; Freddie Ljungberg, MF
Notes:
This is a very dynamic Swedish team around the net, and they proved that during qualifying. Although two losses to Croatia relegated them to the second place in qualifying, they were so prolific offensively. They averaged three goals a game while only yielding four goals in all of qualifying. They still play the same traditional 4-4-2 style that they’ve played for years on the international stage, and it’s easy for them to do so with the scoring personnel they have. They look to improve on reaching the elimination stage in 2002, having lasted through a group with 2006 group rivals England and the always powerful Argentina.
Olof Mellberg has been a mainstay for the Swedes, and he now also sports the captain’s armband. He’s an intimidating force on that backline, and his physical reputation and his tough tackling has made him a security blanket for many goalkeepers who play behind him. He has the speed to play in front of the opposition’s best strikers and cut off a lot of runs that players make wide. He is also an above-average passer who is able to contribute effectively to their offensive and transition sets. He’s hailed by his teammates as an incredible leader despite his relatively young age.
Wilhelmsson has been lauded by his teammates as the fastest in the bunch. That’s saying something when he’s a member of the Swede team that boasts a number of natural athletes. He’s incredible in pushing forward on the attack and is especially proficient in handling the ball in one-on-one positions. While being that natural athlete, Wilhelmsson has also been studying the game and is gaining a technical proficiency that is rare in young players. He’ll be an offensive force for this team. Teamed with Ljungberg, who scored seven tallies in qualifying, the midfield will play an integral role in the Swede attack.
They are, however, susceptible to counterattack. They’ll need to be solid enough to stop the teams from coming back on their missed opportunities, and they also need to keep up the offensive pace. Unlike Trinidad and Tobago, this team is capable of winning offensive shootouts, sometimes allowing multiple goals and still winning quite comfortably. They’ll need to have a consistent offense, if nothing else.
Paraguay
World Cup Appearances: 7th Appearance; 3rd Consecutive
Best Finish: Last Sixteen (1998, 2002)
Key Players: Nelson Valdez, F; Justo Villar, GK; Carlos Gamarra, D
Notes:
A team who has been to the pinnacle of international recognition for almost eight years now, since World Cup 1998 in France, Paraguay has suffered two straight exits from the World Cup in the elimination round, once to the eventual champions in 1998 France and the other loss to 2002 runner-up Germany. Both were hard fought 1-0 matches that seemed to have gained the team a measure of respect around the world, especially coming into World Cup play. They’ve got the team, however, to make a surprise run in the World Cup, all dependent on whether they can escape this tough group.
They seem to have some of the players in place to make that run. In Nelson Valdez, they’ve got a young striker who’s got little international experience but the ability and the skill to be one of the breakout players of the 2006 World Cup. He’s the young spark that they seem to want to see succeed, and he could do so in the stage that he plays in at the club level. Although mostly a bench player in Germany, he does have the familiarity with the area and the fans and knows how to put the ball in the net. He plays behind ‘s Miroslav Klose and ‘s Ivan Klasnic for Werder Bremen in the German League and has learned a lot about goal-scoring from the duo.
Villar in goal is fairly solid, and although not considered to be in the upper tier of goalkeepers in the world, could be headed in that direction soon enough. He is thought to be one of the top netminders in Argentina and has the shot-blocking ability and charisma that needed after their national icon Jose Luis Chilavert retired from international football. He’s continuing to carve out an impressive resume, leading his club team in to an Apertura title in 2004/2005.
They’ll have to find a way to consistently score in their group. Like Trinidad and Tobago, they must be able to play effective defense against the scoring giants of and in order to have a shot, but also must find a way to score goals of their own. It will probably take at least five points in the group stage to move on from this group, and in order for to accomplish that goal, they’ll need to score a win against either or one of the European powers.
