DOHA, Qatar (AFP) – German legend Jurgen Klinsmann said on Saturday that an underdog could go far in what he is predicting will be a “World Cup of surprises” in Qatar.
The hosts play Ecuador in the opening game Sunday of the first World Cup held in the northern hemisphere winter.
The change from the usual June-July slot means this World Cup falls in the middle of the club season in Europe, where the majority of leading players are based. This is also just the second World Cup in Asia.
“I think this could be a World Cup of surprises because if some of the kind of underdogs — maybe if it’s an African nation, if it’s an Asian team — if they are courageous I think you can go actually far in this tournament,” Klinsmann told a press conference in Doha.
“It is not a tournament to sit back and defend. I think it’s a tournament that really invites you to go, be courageous and go forward.
“I don’t think you go very far if you just have a defensive approach in this tournament,” added Klinsmann.
Now 58, the former striker played in the West Germany team that won the World Cup in 1990 and later coached Germany to third place as hosts in 2006.
HOST FACES ACID TEST
Qatar will finally get their home World Cup under way on Sunday, 12 years after the nation’s successful bid put into motion wide-ranging preparations which cost billions of dollars.
It is widely accepted the Gulf state has spent $200 billion on hosting football’s biggest event and Qatar will get its first glimpse at the final product at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor when the hosts take on Ecuador.
Organisers say that 2.9 million of the 3.1 million tickets have been sold and they will be expecting a 60,000 sell-out on Sunday.
The home team’s players have also been preparing tirelessly, spending months outside Qatar in isolated training camps, in an attempt to reach the knockout phase on their World Cup debut.
INDIAN SAMBA FOR
NEYMAR AND COMPANY
Hundreds of fans from South Asia and South America greeted Neymar and his teammates as the Brazil squad landed in Qatar for their bid to secure a sixth World Cup.
Drum-beating Indians who have already made their mark on the tournament left Brazilians in a minority outside the luxury Doha hotel that will be the Selecao’s base for the tournament.
“Why do neutral fans support Brazil? Because they are the best in the world,” said Kelly Dias, a Brazilian who runs a cosmetics business in Madrid and is spending three weeks in Qatar.
FRANCE STAR
OUT WITH INJURY
France’s hopes of successfully defending the World Cup were dealt a huge blow late on Saturday as Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema was ruled out of the tournament in Qatar with an injured left thigh.
The 34-year-old Real Madrid striker had been struggling with the injury for some time and had played less than half an hour of football in his club’s last six games before the World Cup.
On Saturday, he took part in full training for the first time since the World Cup holders gathered last week ahead of the tournament.
He was forced to withdraw from the session at the home stadium of Qatari champions Al Sadd with the injury and was taken for tests.
The French Football Federation (FFF) later said in a statement that the injury “will require a recovery period of three weeks”, ruling out any prospect of him being fully fit for the tournament which finishes on December 18.
“I am extremely sad for Karim, for whom this World Cup was a major objective,” France coach Didier Deschamps was quoted as saying in the FFF statement.
