GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Fans celebrate the arrival of their national team for their final training session before their opening match against the Ivory Coast

Record ID: 447759

  • Title: GERMANY: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Fans celebrate the arrival of their national team for their final training session before their opening match against the Ivory Coast
  • Date: 10th June 2006
  • Summary: HAMBURG, GERMANY (JUNE 9, 2006) (REUTERS) PAN: IVORY COAST TEAM BUS DRIVING PAST CHEERING ARGENTINIAN FANS MID VIEW: RGENTINIAN FANS SPREADING OUT A FLAG PAN: ARGENTINIAN FANS JUMPING UP AND CHEERING (SOUNDBITE)(Spanish) ARGENTINIAN FAN JUAN CARLO MACCACEAN SAYING: "It's great! To get into a final with Brazil and win it, let's hope, we waited four years for this." SEMI CLOSE UP: ARGENTINIAN FANS SINGING AND DANCING PAN: ARGENTINA TEAM BUS ARRIVING AND DRIVING PAST CHEERING FANS WIDE: BUS DRIVING INTO THE STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAALTM7H3IIIK7QFORSKC9ANOVO
  • Story Text: Fans celebrated the arrival of their national team for their final training on Friday (June 9) before their opening match against the Ivory Coast on Saturday.
    Argentine coach Jose Pekerman had named his team on Friday and told his players not to underestimate the African side.
    Pekerman said he is under no illusions about the threat posed by debutants Ivory Coast, coached by Frenchman Henri Michel, in Saturday's group C encounter in Hamburg.
    He said their coach had done a great job in the last two years and they had top players with experience in Europe.
    But Argentinian fans were not to be put off.
    "It's great! To get into a final with Brazil and win it, let's hope, we waited four years for this" Juan Carlo Maccacean told Reuters outside the stadium where the team were training.
    Coach Pekerman picked the side he has been working with all week at Argentina's base near Nuremberg, linking Javier Saviola with Hernan Crespo in attack.
    He named a defence that has the experienced Roberto Ayala and Gabriel Heinze in the centre to deal with the threat posed by the Ivorians' captain Didier Drogba, who until recently was sharing the centre forward duties with Crespo at Chelsea.
    Pekerman said he regarded his squad of 23 as a unit and not a first team and reserves. Players overlooked for the opening match might come to the fore during the tournament.
    He is almost certain to call on gifted teenager Lionel Messi at some point in the match and may link him with fellow substitutes Pablo Aimar and Carlos Tevez if Argentina struggle.
    Argentina face two more tough opponents in Serbia & Montenegro, in Gelsenkirchen on June 16, and twice finalists Netherlands, in Frankfurt on June 21, in their group. Pekerman said he had chosen his players essentially to get the most out of a traditional Argentine style of playing without at the same time dismissing the strengths of his opponents.
    Pekerman said he was pleased with Argentina's preparations for a tournament in which he hoped the team would "have a great World Cup...to forget things that hurt us a lot."
    Argentina, winners in 1978 and 1986, suffered a first-round exit in 2002 after being tipped to win the tournament.
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