France and Italy in contrasting pre-tournament moods

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(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-02 10:12

BERLIN - With the clock ticking to the World Cup kickoff in Munich, France are upbeat after they finally hit form but Italy complained of rough treatment in a stuttering draw with Switzerland.

France, the 1998 winners, had been booed at the Stade de France in their first warm-up match at the weekend against Mexico, but produced a 2-0 victory over Denmark in Lens on Wednesday to boost their spirits.

A goal from Thierry Henry and a Sylvain Wiltord penalty were enough to ease past the Danes.

Defender Mikael Silvestre said the French were rounding into form at the right time.

"We improved from Mexico, and physically we're close to being 100 percent."

The 32 qualified nations have been playing a series of friendly matches designed to try out new tactics and help teams to gel, but Italy coach Marcello Lippi said he had feared for the health of his players in their match in Geneva on Wednesday.

"We came for a friendly, but we came across a team that was aiming for a little more than that," he said.

Lippi said he had been forced to change half his team in the second half because of Switzerland's physical tactics.

"We suffered from so many incidents that I was forced to make substitutions that I hadn't planned."

On a positive note, Italy's talismanic Francesco Totti proved he is regaining sharpness.

England complete their preparations with a match against Jamaica on Saturday when towering striker Peter Crouch is expected to again stake his claim for a first-team place.

"I want to do as much as I can to get into the starting eleven and hopefully on Tuesday I pushed my claim a little more," said the 6ft 7in (1.98-metre) forward who scored in the 3-1 win over Hungary and sparked a new craze in Britain with his robotic dancing routine to celebrate his goal.

South Korea, who turned the football world on its head by reaching the semi-finals in 2002, continue their intensive build-up by taking on Norway in Oslo on Thursday and then Ghana on Sunday.

Several teams have drafted in replacements following injuries to squad members, most notably Brazil who suffered a blow to their bid to win a record sixth World Cup when versatile midfielder Edmilson was ruled out with a knee fracture.

His place will be taken by Mineiro, who has played just twice for his country but scored the winning goal for Sao Paulo against Liverpool in the final of the World Club Championships in December.

The United States brought in experienced defender Gregg Berghalter to replace Cory Gibbs, while Dusan Petkovic got the call from his father, Serbia and Montenegro coach Ilija Petkovic, to take the place of the injured defender Mirko Vucinic.

Japan meanwhile were relieved that defender Akira Kaji, who played a major role in helping the Asian champions to qualify, has recovered from an ankle injury and is likely to be fit to play in the Asian champion's opening World Cup match against Australia on June 12.

Meanwhile Franz Beckenbauer, the head of the tournament's organising committee, dismissed fears of half-empty stadiums because of the system of printing the holder's name and passport number of the tickets which makes them harder to swap.

"The stadiums will be full. At least, they are soldout," Beckenbauer told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper on Thursday.

He called on national federations and sponsors to return any unsold tickets from their allocation to ensure they can be sold to fans.

"Many tickets will be offered as prizes (by sponsors and national federations) and if you get one as a gift you may not realise its worth.

"So gaps in the stadium could develop. But there will be no empty blocks of seats."