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 News from Around the Americas | June 2005 
World of Interest
 Michelle Kaufman - Herald.com
| | With 29 spots left for soccer's premier event, which will begin a year from today, countries are making their final push for the chance to unseat defending champion Brazil. |
All across the time zones Wednesday, like a giant stadium wave traveling around the globe, soccer fans from Bangkok to Barranquilla, from Tehran to Helsinki, were rooting on their teams as they continued their quest for one of 32 coveted spots in the 2006 World Cup.
The quadrennial tournament, the biggest sports stage in the world, kicks off a year from today in Munich, and concludes a month later in Berlin.
Japan was the first to qualify, and Iran joined the field a few hours later. Host Germany gets an automatic bid, leaving the rest of the world to battle for the remaining 29 berths. The spiciest match was between World Cup champion Brazil and rival Argentina, with the winner securing one of four South American spots.
Watching it all with great interest were German World Cup organizers, led by former great Franz Beckenbauer, who have lived up to their reputation as punctual and detail-oriented. All 12 stadiums are already in place with only two renovation projects still underway, a $9 million transport system is running on schedule, and tickets are selling briskly on the Internet.
The modernistic new 60,000-seat stadium in Munich was already tested and celebrated for a match between Bayern Munich and the German national team. The remodeled Olympic Stadium in Berlin, where Jesse Owens won four gold medals in 1936, was inaugurated with the German Cup match, which drew 74,000 fans and went off without a hitch.
The true dress rehearsal will be June 15-19, when the eight-team Confederations Cup will be held in five cities.
''We wouldn't be ready to kick off this week, some of the stadiums are not completely finished, but everything is going according to plan, without problems,'' organizing committee spokesman Gerd Graus told The Associated Press during an inspection tour of the Frankfurt stadium.
This is not to say there haven't been glitches as Germany prepares to play host to the world's biggest party. The organizing committee was dogged by some internal corruption. Preparations were overshadowed for a few months while the media focused on the embarrassing Robert Hoyzer match-fixing scandal.
There have been fears of hooliganism. Fans and the media don't seem particularly thrilled with Goleo IV, the lion mascot. The online ticket-selling operation crashed in March, when 812,000 tickets went on sale and a fraudulent order of 2 million tickets was placed from the United States.
And Bitburger brewers were more than a bit miffed to learn Anheuser Busch owns exclusive rights to sell beer at and around World Cup arenas.
After much fuss, Anheuser Busch caved and will allow Bitburger to sell domestic beer at the matches.
For the most part, though, the soccer world can rest easy that Germany will be more than ready.
The only questions left are which teams will be playing.
Will 1998 host and winner France find a way to jump ahead of Switzerland, Israel and Ireland in the most hotly contested European group? After Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador, who will earn the fourth South American spot? Will it be Colombia? Paraguay? Chile?
Will Turkey, the surprise third-place team in 2002, get past bitter rival Greece? Will Togo and Ivory Coast lead the five-team African contingent?
And what about the United States? Bruce Arena's team was sitting pretty heading into Wednesday night's match at Panama, but will not be guaranteed a World Cup spot until at least later this summer.
''It is still a scramble,'' Arena said. ``Probably most of the automatic qualification spots are going to be decided on the last day. This is a very difficult process, and I really believe that this time around is going to look exactly like it did last time around. We are going to experience lots of ups and downs, and we need to realize that and we have to be prepared for that.''
One year to go. Five more dates of qualifying matches. By mid-October, the field of 32 will be set. Let the countdown begin. |
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