By Barry Whelan Dec 10, 2005, 3:51 GMT
Leipzig, Germany - Football experts were divided on which of the eight groups qualified for the World Cup's time and trusted 'Group of Death' title.
A composite picture showing students in groups of four with the national colours of the participating countries in the Soccer World Cup 2006, in their respective groups, painted on their faces in Hamburg, Germany, Friday, 09 December 2005. (From top to bottom, L-R) Group A: Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador. Group B: England, Paraguay, Trinidad/Tobago, Sweden. Group C: Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia-Montenegro, Netherlands. Group D: Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal. Group E: Italy, Ghana, USA, Czech Republic; Group F: Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan. Group G: France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo; Group H: Spain, Ukraine, Tunesia, Saudi Arabia. The main drawing event for the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2006 took place in Leipzig, Germany. EPA/Kay Nietfeld
It is, after all, a truth pretty well universally acknowledged at World Cup draws that there has to be a Group of Death - a group so frighteningly tough that it is all going to end in tears for one or possibly two top teams.
But which group was it? Group C perhaps with the, on paper, terrifying combination of Argentina and the Netherlands - two undoubted World Cup favourites - the tricky Serbia and Montenegro and the fancied Africans from Ivory Coast?
Or is it Group E pitting Italy against the Czech Republic, the improved United States and another African new boy in Ghana?
Most of the other groups were more like Groups of Dearth than Death with Group D looking decidedly a doddle for Portugal or Mexico.
At least Portugal's Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari looked a happy man in the mixed zone after the draw as he merrily gave interviews to all and sundry.
However he managed to pounce on someone who had the temerity to suggest he would be having a cushy time at the start of the World Cup in Germany next summer.
'Any journalist who says this group is easy does not have the slightest idea what he is talking about and should try doing my job.'
Group D was by no means easy for Portugal, he said, but had to concede that Group C was a tougher proposition.
'It's the Group of Death,' he said. 'It's more balanced than any other group. This group is horrible.'
However Dutch coach Marco Van Basten was completely serene. 'It's a tough group,' he said. 'It's an interesting group.'
Interesting? Not really a Group of Death description.
'I wouldn't call it a Group of Death,' agreed FIFA's Argentinian vice-president Julio Grondona. 'Holland are very strong but the group is not as strong as the one in 2002.'
He should know because Argentina went out against England, Sweden and Nigeria four years ago. That's a real Death Group for you.
Meanwhile Ilija Petkovic, the Serbia and Montenegro coach, had little choice but to put a brave and somewhat philosophical face on things. 'Easy groups do not exist,' he suggested. 'All the groups are very hard for the teams in them.'
He did, however, concede, that 'it is not very easy to make promises when you play against teams like Argentina and the Netherlands.'
It should perhaps be left to Franz Beckenbauer, head of the organising committee, to have the last word on the toughness or otherwise of the groups.
It certainly isn't Group A featuring the hosts Germany whose coach Juergen Klinsmann looked to be hiding a grin as the names of Poland, Costa Rica and Ecuador came out of the little coloured balls.
'Group E seems a little bit harder than Group C,' opined Beckenbauer when asked, and who would want to contradict him?
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