Rematch set for England and Croatia

Former French player Christian Karembeu (left) draws a card out of a pot as a screen displays the teams that will compete in the European zone's Group 6 during the preliminary draw of the 2010 World Cup in Durban on Sunday. Presenter Robert Marawa (second, from left to right), FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke and former Ghanaian player Abedi Pele Ayew look on. Reuters

The 1966 winner was handed a rapid chance to gain revenge on 1998 World Cup semifinalist Croatia, whose 3-2 win at Wembley on Wednesday ensured that England failed to qualify for a major finals for the first time in 14 years.

Managerless England was also drawn against last year's quarterfinalist Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra in Group 6.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has admitted he would rather have avoided facing an England squad bent on revenge in the qualifiers for the World Cup.

Bilic's talented young squad beat England twice to ensure that England missed out on Euro 2008 and trigger the dismissal of Steve McClaren as manager.

But despite his confidence that he can inflict just as much pain on whoever succeeds McClaren, Bilic admitted he would have preferred to avoid a rematch.

"When I saw the draw, I was saying, 'Oh no!'," Bilic said. "Everyone in Croatia was saying 'give us England again', but I wanted to avoid them. It is a very, very hard draw because they are by far the best team from the second pot.

"We are not afraid of them but they have got a terrific team and brilliant players. They should gel and they are going to gel."

Brian Barwick, the chief executive of England's Football Association, said the Croatia clashes would offer a new coach with the chance to prove he could improve on McClaren's record.

"The new coach will be in place and his job will be to get a better return out of those Croatia games," Barwick said, while warning that Croatia was not the only opponent England had to worry about.

"It's not just about one team, it is a group and there are banana skins in the group. This is an important time for England - our elimination was a wake-up call, one of the biggest wake-up calls in the last 20 years.

"We go into every qualifying group expecting and determined to qualify but there's no complacency any more."

Defending champion Italy will begin its quest for a fifth World Cup in a group that contains fast-improving Bulgaria as well as Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro.

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni cited Bulgaria as the biggest threat to the quest for repeat glory, acknowledging his side was group favorite.

"Bulgaria, Eire, Georgia, Montenegro don't have a great football tradition, but they are difficult opponents," he said.

"On paper Bulgaria should be the one to push us closest for qualification. Like all former Yugoslavian countries, Montenegro are a difficult and stubborn team."

The 1998 world champion and 2006 finalist France meet Romania and Serbia in Group 7 and 2006 hosts and semifinalist Germany come up against Russia, Finland and Wales in Group 4.

Scotland, which gave France and Italy a run for its money in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, found itself up against Holland in Group 9, which will also includes Norway, Iceland and Macedonia.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten said Scotland deserved respect.

"I watched their match against Italy last week and they were very good and we know they will always fight to the last minute."

The winners of the nine European groups qualify automatically with the eight best runners-up entering two-leg play-offs to decide the remaining four spots for the region.

Meanwhile, China was drawn against group seeds Australia, Asian champion Iraq, and Qatar in an Asian zone "group of death", while Japan must come up against Bahrain, Oman and Thailand in Group 2.

In an intriguing match-up in Asia's Group 3, the Democratic People's Repubic of Korea and Republic of Korea were drawn together.

The only team guaranteed to appear at the finals, which begin on June 11 2010, is the host South Africa.

However, it could affect the chance for qualification of African powerhouse Nigeria after being drawn in the same group as the Super Eagles, with the results also counting towards the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

South America's qualifying campaign, which got underway last month, is organized on the usual lines with the 10 countries in the region playing in one round-robin group with the top four qualifying automatically and the fifth-placed side playing off against a team from the North/Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF).

In the CONCACAF confederation, regional giant Mexico will now have to face the winners of a tie between Belize and St Kitts and Nevis while the United States will meet the winners of a Dominica-Barbados playoff.

AFP

(China Daily 11/27/2007 page23)