World Cup football countdown: 3 days to go

operation on Friday. The pools will cover the English and Scottish premier leagues, the German Bundesliga and Italian, Portuguese and Spanish first divisions and cup matches, as well as the France ’98 World Cup.The minimum bet will be 100 Hong Kong dollars (13 US) with the maximun 500, 000 dollars.

Betting on despite crackdown in Thailand

Meanwhile in Bangkok, Thai prison officials have been ordered to crack down onsoccer gambling amongst inmates and guards in the run up to the World Cup, according to a report here. The corrections department issued a warning to the chiefs of correctional facilities around the country that the tournament was likely to spark a sharp increase in illegal gambling, the Bangkok Post reported. A poll released by Thai Farmers Bank Research Centre last month estimated that Thais, despite their economic crisis, would place bets just shy of one billion dollars during the Cup.

Warning to football crazy officials

In Bangkok, as football-mad Thais brace for the upcoming World Cup, government officials here have been warned against travelling to matches on public funds, the foreign ministry said. Foreign ministry has said the warning was necessary because it appeared many officials were planning trips to Europe during the France ’98 tournament.

Paris court rejects Euro MPs’ ticket case

A Paris court threw out an attempt by European members of Parliament to Force a change in thedistribution of World Cup tickets because they were not acting on their own behalf. Euro MPs claimed that the 2.5 million tickets wee distributed in a discriminatory fashion, benefiting French fans.

Inside the Brazilian camp

World Cup defending champion Brazil needs Viagra to overcome disputes, leadership vacuums, finger pointing and cancelled training sessions, a Sports daily said Friday. In an issue almost entirely filled with the problems plaguing Brazil’s national team, the newspaper Lance concluded there was only one solution: "Give them Viagra." The morning daily Jornal do Brasil said that the team "has gone from being a real favorite to being in a real pressure cooker" with one player complaining that a training session was cancelled after 40 minutes for a Nike party. Coach Mario Jorge Zagallo has come under criticism, with Lance saying he is "incoherent" and the daily O Globo saying that Zagallo "doesn’t have the conditions to coach anything, much less the nationalteam."

Look who’s juggling the ball

Just days after being cut from Brazil’s national team, Romario surpassed his physical therapist’s expectations and appeared on Brazilian television kicking a soccer ball around a sand box. "Romario is much better than I had imagined," Nilton Petroni was quoted in O Globo newspaper. "He wasn’t supposed to go the sand box today but he felt so good after a work session this morning that we upped the training schedule." Romario returned from France earlier this week after tests showed he had not recovered sufficiently from a muscle injury in his leg.

Appetite for success undimmed

Mario Zagallo/ Brazil

The Grand Old Man of the World Cup he may be, but the voracious appetite for success is undiminished and Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo sees no reason why he can’t pick up a fifth World Cup triumph this summer. With the exception of Pele, the driving force behind three wins, Zagallo, who turns 67 in August, deserves the epithet of Brazil’sMr. Football. It was his privilege to be coach of the greatest team of all time, when Pele and Co. ripped apart a highly-talented Italy side in the 1970 Mexico final.

And four years ago he was involved again as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira when a 24-year barren spell faded away in the heat of Pasadena as Brazil again triumphed, albeit far less spectacularly, over the Italians in USA 94.

Yet, contrary to what one might expect of the man entrusted once again with the task of conducting the world’s great entertainers to the samba beat, Zagallo is no dreamy soccer romantic. To him, flair and hard work must co-exist in equal measure. And woe betide anyone who ignores the code of the man born in the northern coastal town of Maceio who made his name with America, Flamengo and Botafogo.

And what price flair for a man who believes that "we must remain compact" and "I’d rather play an ugly game and win than pretty football and lose"?Zagallo’s love of hard toil has earned him the nickname "Formiguinha" -little ant. And when ants all pull together, few burdens, even retaining the title, are too great to bear.

He has Pele’s vote

Daniel Passarella/Argentina

His pedigree is not in question and Argentina fans will forever have a place in their hearts for coach Daniel Passarella, who held the trophy aloft as skipper following South America’s first World Cup triumph in 1978.

Passarella received a recent boost when none other than Pele identified Argentina as a huge threat to Brazil’s hopes of another and praised his "well-organised team." But not everybody is a supporter and Federation President Julio Grondona was openly critical after a friendly defeat by Israel in April threatened to sink preparations for World Cup group clashes against Japan, Jamaica and Croatia. However a 1-0 victory over Brazil in Rio last month give Passarella a much needed Boost.

Despite leading Argentina comfortably enough through the qualifiers — they topped their regional group losing just two of sixteenmatches — Passarella has continually been hampered by bad relations between him and goal scoring hero Gabriel Batistuta.

Athough Batigol has returned to the fold, Passarella has often preferred Parma’s Hernan Crespo, who played for Passarella at River Plate. He has already shown the door to Real Madrid’s Fernando Redondo for refusing to get his hair cut. Apart from long hair, jewellery and homosexuality are also anathema to the hardline coach.

Passarella, who turns 45 on May 25 and who scored 24 goals in his 71 internationals despite playing sweeper, has to deliver the goods amid reports that Argentina’s 1986 winning coach Carlos Bilardo is mulling over a return to the helm.

His orders: stand and deliver

Berti Vogts/Germany

He is known throughout Germany simply as "Berti", a no-nonsense man of moderate tones whose face flushes red with anger when his charges do not deliver what he expects of them. Vogts stepped into very large shoes when he became Germany’s coach, taking overin 1990 after being Franz Beckenbauer’s deputy. Beckenbauer parted in a blaze of glory, leading Germany to the 1990 World Cup title in Rome. Using the same players from Beckenbauer’s era, led by Lothar Matthaeus, Rudi Voller and Andreas Brehme, Vogts took Germany to the final of the European championships in 1992 only to be beaten by underdogs Denmark in the final. Two years later in US Germany fell in the quarter finals of the World Cup against Bulgaria.

Vogts despaired and was on the verge of resigning. He was talked out of it, rebuilt the side and took it all the way at the 1996 European championships. Playing the Czech Republic at Wembley, Germany won the world’s first international title through an Oliver Bierhoff extra time Golden Goal. Vogts decided to stay on.

While playing for Borussia Monchengladbach he was known as "The Terrier", small but tough defender in the never-say-die German mould. Today he is a strict disciplinarian who demands equal dedication and passion from the players under hiscommand. Those who do not perform or fall below his standards of appropriate behaviour are summarily dismissed. Bodo Illgner and Stefan Effenberg are cases in point – both were dismissed after USA-94 and have not been nominated for Germany since.

Second chance for World Cup success

Javier Clemente/Spain

Javier Clemente has another chance to propel Spain, seemingly always the bridesmaid never the bride, to their first World Cup title after years of impressive play but unimpressive results. Quarter-final spots at both the the last World Cup and the European championships could hardly be regarded as failures although, given the quality of the players at his disposal, more was expected by the fans back home. Clemente’s Spain fell to Italy in the United States four years ago and to hosts England at Euro 96. In France next month they will be competing in their sixth World Cup finals.

Clemente will be the first coach to lead Spain at successive World Cup finals and the controversial,chain-smoking coach has possibly his last chance to win honours on the international stage.

Born in the Basque region near Bilbao in 1950, Clemente showed such talent as a young footballer that many expected him to go on to become an all-time great. Sadly, a bad tackle ended his career, irreparably damaging his knee, and put paid To his ambitions. He elected, instead, to turn his hand to coaching.

Clemente guided Athletic Bilbao to the 1982 and 1983 Spanish League titles before being given his marching orders by the club after a dispute with one of his players. He had spells at Espanyol and Atletico Madrid before taking over the reins of the national side in September 1992. Bold off the field, Clemente has been similarly unafraid in his selection policies. He has no qualms about injecting young talent into the side and those he has blooded include Raul, Kiko, Guardiola and Alfonso.