Soar your eagles

The Tunisian national team intends to actively interfere with Ukraine and Spain

A funny company formed in group “N”. The Spanish national team, which rarely misses the World Championships and just as rarely pleases its fans with performances at world championships. The Ukrainian national team, for once overcoming the qualifying barrier. And immediately teams from Arab states - Europeanized Tunisia and extremely religious Saudi Arabia.

So it won’t be easy for the Ukrainian national team , and its head coach Oleg Blokhin no longer makes big promises. Leave the group - and then we'll see. Oleg Vladimirovich soberly assesses the capabilities of his team, especially since the main and, perhaps, only star of the team, Andrei Shevchenko, is preparing for the championship using an individual program, or rather, not preparing at all. Andrey is healing from his injury and is working on his employment at Chelsea.

The Spaniards will be brought to Germany by one of the most experienced specialists in the country, 68-year-old Luis Aragones . Two years ago, the coach, who was about to retire, agreed to help the Spanish national team . As we can see, it’s not bad: the Spaniards, already rarely losing, did not concede even once under Aragonés. But the veteran coach had problems of a different nature. At an open training session, Aragones had the imprudence to speak about Thierry Henry, hinting at the Frenchman’s skin color. The journalists present nearby did not miss the opportunity to stir up a sensation. A respected specialist in Spain, he was immediately promoted to racist. Even the admonitions of a much darker man than Henry, Samuel Eto'o, who worked with Aragonés for several seasons, could not wash away the coach's reputation. The scandal was still hushed up, but Don Luis decided to reduce all contacts with the press from now on.

Aragones is bringing a very decent Spanish team to Germany. They say that the strongest since 1964 was the Spanish victory at the European Championship. Even Fernando Morientes did not have a place in the team. We could be convinced of the strength of the Spaniards in a recent friendly match with the Russian national team, in which Aragones' charges showed a third of what they are capable of.

Frenchman Roger Lemerre is a unique specialist. He managed to win championships on two continents at once: Europe - with his native team of France and Africa - with his current team, the Tunisian national team . Lemerre, known in the football world as the Corporal, is no stranger to the World Cup. In 1998, he helped Aimé Jacquet win the World Cup. Four years later, Corporal was already leading the French on his own, but his team performed ingloriously in Korea, without scoring a single goal. But in Tunisia they hope that the “eagles of Carthage” will finally qualify from the group. And the 65-year-old Corporal has another reason to rejoice - two weeks before the start of the championship, he became a father.

The most mysterious team in Group H is the Saudi Arabian team . And her coach is very mysterious - Brazilian specialist Marcos Paqueta , appointed shortly before the World Cup instead of Argentinean Gabriel Calderon. The prince, who oversees football in the oil kingdom, did not like that the national team lost a number of friendly matches. Calderon was quickly shown the way out, and Paqueta, whom few people know in Brazil, was appointed instead. But it doesn't matter. The Seleção's current mentor, Carlos Alberto Parreira, also began his practice in the Middle East.

Oleg TIMOFEEV