World Cup Favorites Start Second Round Calculations

Knowing that a few false words today could bring a pink slip in June, nearly all of the World Cup teams' coaches' feelings could be summed up by the Germany trainer Jürgen Klinsmann.

"It could have been worse, we're very satisfied," he said. "All our rivals are tough, and we don't want to underestimate anyone."

But behind closed doors and away from TV microphones, some of the favorites, like Klinsmann -- who couldn't hide a quick smile Friday night in Leipzig at sharing a group with Poland, Costa Rica and Ecuador -- know they'll have it easier than others, like Jose Pekerman's Argentineans, who play the Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro and the Ivory Coast in Group C.

C is for crying

It's the Holland's match against Argentina that -- on paper -- will be the most exciting of the opening round. Still, neither Holland nor Argentina are willing to write off their Group C opponents, knowing that at least one first-class team will be sent home after the group stage.

Perennial World Cup favorites Brazil, the team no one wanted to face, were willing to make a small wager on the future.

"Technically, you could say that it is an easy group for Brazil but it is nothing of the sort," Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said of the matches against Japan, Croatia and Australia. "If we make it through -- and we will make it through -- we will likely go up against Italy or the Czech Republic in the last 16. Either way it will be a huge task."

Best English team since 1966 should advance

England, whose captain David Beckham said he believes they have their strongest squad since they landed the trophy in 1966, drew Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden, producing smiles from England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who said his group matches "could have been much worse."

"I said before the draw that if we could avoid Australia and Holland then we would be happy," Eriksson said. "On paper we are favorites to win the group, but you never know."

Should England win their group and progress through their last 16 match, they face a possible clash with Argentina or the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

It was Spain's coach Luis Aragones whose thoughts moved farthest after the draw. After the Spanish press led with headlines of "Easy" and "Happy Spain," Aragones admitted he doesn't see much of a difficulty advancing past Tunisia, the Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.

"What really worries me are the teams we could come across in the next rounds," he said. "In theory we should meet France or Switzerland in the last 16, and if we get through that, then we are set to meet Brazil in the quarters. These are going to be very difficult sides for

us."

USA can't afford to look ahead to next round

US coach Bruce Areana, however, said he doesn't have the pleasure of being able to think about second round opponents, facing Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana in the first round.

"It looks one of the toughest groups particularly with Italy and the Czechs," he said. "They are two of Europe's best teams but that is why you come to the World Cup in the first place."

The most upbeat predictions were from South Korea, who will open against Togo and play France and Switzerland later in the group round.

"The games' schedule is also quite favorable for us as we are going to have our first match against Togo," Kim Joo-Sung, Korea's international affairs director, told journalists. "It is the best draw for us that I have seen since 1986."

France plagued by bad memories

But to make sure the tone didn't get too positive, France, winners on home soil in 1998 but eliminated in the first phase of a disastrous 2002 campaign, said they wouldn't take advancing for granted.

"We know the Swiss and we did not beat them during the qualifying campaign," trainer Raymond Domenech said. "South Korea is a bad memory, and we don't know Togo."

The closest group is probably Group D where Mexico, Iran, Angola and Portugal face off against each other. Portugal and Mexico are favorites to advance, but a couple of good games from Iran or Angola could spoil their party.

"All of us in Portugal have to work to avoid the euphoria we experienced four years ago after the draw for the 2002 World Cup, which ended up in a nightmare," Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari said. "We don't want Portugal to live through that again."