German supermodel Heidi Klum meets Goleo, the official mascot of the the 2006 World Cup, during a photocall in Leipzig yesterday. The final Cup draw takes place in Leipzig today. - REUTERS
LEIPZIG, Germany (AP):
AVOID THE Netherlands! And look out for Australia, too.
The draw for the 2006 World Cup will be held today, and 31 teams will be hoping they don't wind up in the same group as the unseeded Netherlands.
The Dutch team of talented underachievers, coached by Marco van Basten, was left out of the top eight seeds by FIFA.
Defending champions Brazil and hosts Germany were automatically seeded, while FIFA handed Argentina, England, France, Italy, Mexico and Spain the other top spots. Those eight teams can't meet each other in the first round of next summer's month-long tournament.
The Netherlands, runner-up in 1974 and '78 and ranked third by FIFA, are in a pot with seven more European teams: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
STRONG ATTACKING LINE
With Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy, Bayern Munich's Roy Makaay and Chelsea's Arjen Robben in the lineup, the Dutch have a strong attacking line. They also have a reliable and experienced goalkeeper in Edwin van der Sar.
"I really don't want to play against the Netherlands again," said Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi, who was on the German team that drew 1-1 with the Dutch at the 2004 European Championship and went out in the first round.
German great Franz Beckenbauer, who led the national team to a World Cup final victory over the Netherlands in 1974, isn't worried.
"Holland has a strong team again - that has been the case traditionally," he said. "But it is not a disaster if we meet the Dutch in the preliminary round. After all, two teams will progress."
Despite the wealth of talent at his disposal, Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is hoping to avoid tough teams.
"We will hope that not-so-strong adversaries are drawn to Brazil's group," he said. "It would be good to avoid what happened to Argentina and France in 2002."
CONTENDERS
Two of the leading contenders at that World Cup, both Argentina and defending champions France, went out in the first round.
"We cannot allow that to happen again," said Argentine star Lionel Messi, facing up to his first major tournament at age 18. "I am sure Argentina have a very strong team and the players have the will to win the title. We have a team that is really strong. We would like to avoid playing against one of those strong teams in the first round."
The 32 World Cup qualifiers will be split into eight groups of four. They have been separated geographically as well as on the basis of how good they are.
The format sets up the possibility of the Dutch, who have the talent to beat anyone in the world, playing Brazil or Germany in the group phase. Although two teams will advance from each group, whoever is drawn to play against the Dutch could be in danger if they get some tricky teams from the other two pots.
That's why Australia should also be feared.
Although the Australians have not played in the World Cup since 1974, they beat two-time winners Uruguay in a playoff to reach Germany 2006.
They also have several stars from the English Premier League and one of the most respected coaches in the game.
THE DUTCHMAN
Guus Hiddink, a Dutchman who led the Netherlands to the semi-finals in 1998 and South Korea to third place at the last World Cup in 2002, has been in charge of the Australians since July.
Australia are ranked among the outsiders, alongside African qualifiers Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Tunisia and South America's Ecuador and Paraguay. With talented players such as Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka, Liverpool's Harry Kewell and Everton's Tim Cahill on the roster, however, Australia could provide some of the first-round shocks.
Australia are the only one of the 32 teams in the draw that could face any of the other 31. The others are all limited to a degree because teams from their own confederations are in the draw.
Because of the way the teams have been separated, there's the possibility of a tough group, such as Brazil, Netherlands, Australia and Serbia-Montenegro.
The Serbs, the lowest ranked of the 14 European teams, have been put into a special pot so they will avoid going into a group with two other teams from their confederation. That means Serbia must play against either Brazil, Argentina or Mexico in the first round.
