By Jay Mwamba
Note 1:
Spain
Group B
Note 2:
South Africa
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Group B
Of the old European powers, Spain’s World Cup record poses more questions than answers.
Their league is one of the toughest in the world and continues to produce players of the highest quality; and their clubs, eight-time European champions Real Madrid among them, are some of the finest in soccer.
But despite this rich tradition, the Spaniards remain the only major European nation never to have won the World Cup.
In eight of nine previous attempts going back to the second finals in Italy in 1934, the scarlet-shirted Spaniards went no further than the quarterfinals, giving rise over time to whispers of a “jinx.” They finished fourth in 1950 when the second round of the tournament featured a round-robin competition.
This notorious Spanish ability to underachieve was best illustrated in France ’98, where the world-class trio of the then 21-year-old Real Madrid striker Raul, goal-scoring veteran defender Fernando Hierro, and forward Fernando Morientes, faltered unceremoniously in the first round.
They were expected to dominate a group comprising Nigeria, Paraguay and Bulgaria, but were stunned 3-2 in a dramatic encounter with the Super Eagles and held to a goalless tie by Paraguay before a meaningless 6-1 rout of Bulgaria. Spain returned to Madrid a humbled lot after the first round.
The quarterfinal hoodoo has not spared them in the European Championship either. One of the favorites for Euro 2000, they had scrapped through to the last eight when they succumbed 2-1 to a Zinedine Zidane-inspired France in Bruges. To add a foreboding sense of inevitability to the outcome, Raul missed a penalty on the stroke of full time.
For Raul and his compadres who lived through the French debacle, Group B in Japan/Korea may have an eerie feeling of dTja vu. The Paraguayans are on the schedule again, as is another African side (South Africa) and a team from the Balkans (Slovenia).
Spanish followers hope that that’s as far as the coincidences go. A source of optimism, from a side that qualified undefeated and at a canter, is the attacking style adopted by coach Jose Camacho, who succeeded Javier Clemente after France ’98.
Whereas Clemente favored a packed and defensive midfield, which made for some dour play, Camacho has encouraged his offensive-minded players to go forward at will.
The result was obvious in the qualifiers, where Spain topped Group 7, ahead of Austria, Isr’l, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Liechtenstein. They won six of their eight matches and drew two — scoring 21 goals while conceding a mere four.
It’s stats like these that make the Spaniards favorites to top their group and advance to the second round, where they may or may not meet Mick McCarthy’s Irish warriors. The Group B winners meet the runners-up in Ireland’s group (E), whose winners tackle the Group B runners-up.
Like four years ago, the exciting troika of Raul, the 34-year-old Fernando Hierro, and Morientes, who’s 25, will lead Spain to Korea.
Raul, now 24 and with 19 goals in 43 internationals, remains the future of Spanish football. The oft-injured Morientes, on the other hand, is favored to reprise his lethal Real attacking partnership with Raul in Asia, while Camacho should be praying that the graying Hierro holds up in the humidity to add to his 26 goals in nearly 80 appearances, from his defensive lair.
Camacho also appears to have additional depth in the shape of Madrid’s Ivan Helguera, Juan Carlos Valeron of Deportivo La Coru