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| There's certainly no doubting the pedigree that the Argentine coach Jose Pekerman can call upon but one cannot help wondering how much fuel those players will have left in the tank When I drew up my outline for this series of features, I realised that this particular category would be the most difficult to nail down. I was well aware that the task of pinpointing the tell-tale signs that trigger potential for teams to fire on all cylinders would be about as easy as trying to bottle lightning. Nonetheless, I was adamant that it was dangerous for pre-tournament analysis to be swayed too much by key players who are in top form and full of confidence. For me, the World Cup is a blank canvas and every player goes into the tournament with a clean slate on which to paint their reputation. A barnstorming season at club level will soon be forgotten when a rival player is writing headlines the following year, the same goes for a bad season. But make your mark at the World Cup and you carry your reputation around like a badge of honour for the next four years. What more incentive does an out-of-form top-level pro need for putting all of his troubles to the back of his mind? So my chain of thought led me to seek out teams with a high proportion of players of proven calibre who have endured a difficult season at club level and will be desperate to set the record straight in Germany. And, guess what, one team in particular is dominating my thoughts once again: Brazil! With Ronaldinho the obvious exception, several of the Brazilian team have endured an unhappy season in European club football. Dida has made some howlers in goal for Milan, the 36-year-old Cafu is returning from knee surgery, strikers Adriano and Ronaldo both seem to have lost their enjoyment for the game and the form of Roberto Carlos for Real Madrid has been almost embarrassing. So let me get this straight: that's the goalkeeper, both full backs and both centre forwards all out-of-sorts recently and this team can be laid at under 3/1 in the outright market? Maybe there's nothing unique in the way I'm thinking at all! As well as looking for teams with a high proportion of players who will want to release a frustrating club season from their system, the same criteria can be applied to individuals with the potential to figure prominently in the Golden Boot market. In this respect, the name Ruud van Nistelrooy should immediately spring to the forefront of anyone's thoughts. Only 12 months ago, it was unthinkable that the Dutchman could fall so far from grace in the opinion of Sir Alex Ferguson but his days at Manchester United appear to be numbered after a torrid season playing second fiddle to Louis Saha and the World Cup stage will no doubt serve as the greatest imaginable shop window for securing a lucrative move elsewhere later in the summer. Let's not forget that this is a man who has netted an astonishing 46 goals in 55 Champions League games and will probably be playing as the lone centre-forward for Holland, with ammunition supplied by the likes Rafael van der Vaart and Arjen Robben. Great players out of favour are not the only ones with an added incentive to showcase their talents at the World Cup finals, the same can be said of those footballers whose careers appear to be heading down the avenue of the journeyman after falling to hold down a place with their current clubs. As we all know from the countless number of players with exciting potential who have flopped in the Premiership down the years, it's not unusual for good players from unfashionable countries to encounter cultural difficulties when signing a deal in one of the bigger European leagues but a tournament of this nature can act as the springboard that resurrects their careers. When you've spent an entire season feeling sorry for yourself on the sidelines, the prospect of joining up with familiar faces can be just the boost one requires to start fulfilling the potential that others are beginning to doubt existed in the first place. In this instance, there are three particular nations whose coaches will stick by a fair proportion of players finding themselves in such a predicament: Portugal, Poland and Croatia. Luiz Felipe Scolari is a man renowned for his loyalty and he is unconcerned by the lack of playing time some of Portugal's key players have had at club level. Costinha has hardly kicked a ball in Russia this year, Maniche and Paulo Farreira have struggled to hold down a place at Chelsea and Nuno Valante has just recovered from a serious thigh injury that limited his chances at Everton. Naturally, these players have no excuses when it comes to fatigue because they ought to be fresh, a point that Jerzy Dudek is keen to make with regards to a Poland team that contains undoubtedly the highest proportion of players who cannot get a game with their respective clubs. Croatia coach Zlatko Kranjcar is one man actually excited by the scenario his players find themselves in. With seven of them nearing the end of their club contracts, he insists it has lightened his load ahead of the finals because he need not worry about motivating those players so much and can direct more energy into the tactical side of Croatia's preparations. The other side of the coin is the capacity for big-name players who are instrumental at club level struggling to hit the same standards at international level, a factor that can only really affect the very biggest nations to a widespread degree. It should be of little surprise that England, Spain and Italy will send out teams consisting almost entirely of players who earn their wages in their homeland. As the three biggest domestic leagues on the planet, there has been no hiding place for the players of these nations over the last nine months, especially when the majority of them play for the top three or four clubs and have been heavily involved in Champions League action as well. The worldwide exposure they receive is quite phenomenal and the downside for their World Cup potential is that they cannot possibly have any tricks up their sleeve that lesser-known opponents haven't witnessed on television before. Everybody knows what they're about and a dedicated opponent will have had six months since the draw in Liepzig to compile a catalogue of video evidence on a player he will come face-to-face with in the group stages. I'm not for one moment suggesting that this can be a leveller between a great player from a big league and a mediocre player from an average league but it can certainly go some way to diluting the impact of the stars in certain games. Rather than David versus Goliath, these individual battles can be more like David's elder brother versus Goliath's younger brother. Either way, it'll still require a pretty decent slingshot for the relatively unknown player to get the better of his more esteemed adversary. Meanwhile, a glance through the player/club lists of every other squad should really cause a little concern for Argentina backers. Virtually every outfield player who has any realistic chance of a game in Germany will be playing on the back of a taxing club season in Europe - and such is the sheer quality of the Argentina squad, the majority of those players have been instrumental in their club's achievements. In La Liga, Lionel Messi has helped Barcelona on the way to their league title and Champions League successes, Juan Pablo Sorin and Juan Roman Riquelme have taken Villarreal to last four of the Champions League, Javier Saviola has led Sevilla to UEFA Cup glory and Pablo Aimar has assisted Valencia towards Champions League qualification. In Serie A, Walter Samuel, Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso have guided Inter to Champions League qualification, while Hernan Crespo and Martin Demichelis have also won their respective league titles with Chelsea and Bayern Munich. There's certainly no doubting the pedigree that the Argentine coach Jose Pekerman can call upon but one cannot help wondering how much fuel those players will have left in the tank. Positives: Brazil, Portugal, Poland, Croatia Negatives: England, Spain, Italy, Argentina | ||
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