World Cup Germany 2006 Groups

Former Socceroo says Australia faces a horror draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Australia is in Group F with Brazil (ranked number 1 in the world), Japan (ranked 15) and Croatia (ranked 20).

The 2006 World Cup will be held in Germany with the first round matches starting in June. Coincidentally the last time we qualified, Germany was the host nation as well.

Back in 1974, our Socceroos also held down full-time jobs. Their results? A 3-0 defeat at the hands of eventual winners West Germany, a 2-0 defeat against East Germany and a 0-0 draw against Chile.

We're currently ranked 49 (according to the FIFA website). How will we go this time?

Former Socceroo and Perth Glory Coach Gary Marrochi reckons we've got the "horror draw".

Brazil are favourites and while we have played them recently, Gary doesn't believe we've played their full-strength side. Still, on the bright side, he says it will be a fantastic thing for the players to talk about with their grandkids - that they got to play Brazil in the World Cup.

Gary says Japan is not easy either, doing well in the last World Cup in 2002 which they hosted along with South Korea.

"You've got to be realistic and we are drawn in a very tough group. If we can get a win against Japan and a draw against Croatia we may be able to sneak into round 16."

Groups E and C also look tough to Gary. E is probably the toughest with Italy (12), USA (8), Czech Republic (2) and Ghana (ranked 50).

In Group C, Gary says don't underestimate Serbia and Montenegro who finished ahead of Spain in the qualifiers.

Of the other groups, Gary says England and Germany must be pretty happy with their draws, and France and Spain have a relatively easy run as well.

Is he going to Germany? He's been on the internet already to try and get tickets.

So what will it be like for the players? Gary never played in a World Cup but did play against Iran in 1975 in front of 100,000 people. He reckons it was pretty frightening but he still treasures the experience.

Will soccer take off in Australia now we've made it back into the World Cup? Gary thinks the administration is heading in the right direction and hopes the World Cup will be the catalyst soccer needs. He has every confidence in administrator John O'Neill who, he says, has done wonderful things for Rugby Union.

So given the draw, what are our chances of making it through to the next round? 40:60 says Gary. "We've got some very good players and now we've got an extremely experienced coach. I think we can beat Croatia and we can beat Japan."

We have beaten four former world champions in the last five years: France, Brazil, England and, of course, Uruguay.


The World Cup Draw

The teams' world ranking as of November 2005 in brackets.

-Group A-

Germany (16)
Costa Rica (21)
Poland (23)
Ecuador (37)

-Group B-

England (9)
Paraguay (30)
Trinidad & Tobago (51)
Sweden (14)

-Group C-

Argentina (4)
Cote d'Ivoire (41)
Serbia & Montenegro (47)
The Netherlands (3)

-Group D-

Mexico (7)
Iran (19)
Angola (62)
Portugal (10)

-Group E-

Italy (12)
Ghana (50)
USA (8)
Czech Republic (2)

-Group F-

Brazil (1)
Croatia (20)
Australia (49)
Japan (15)

-Group G-
France (5)
Switzerland (36)
South Korea (29)
Togo (56)

-Group H-

Spain (6)
Ukraine (40)
Tunisia (28)
Saudi Arabia (32)