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BUENOS AIRES, Dec 10 - Argentina's matches at next
year's World Cup in Germany will all be finals, said coach Jose
Pekerman after his team were drawn in one of the toughest
groups. Friday's draw in Leipzig put Pekerman's team in Group C
where they will meet Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro and the
Netherlands in that order. "We will play all finals," Pekerman told the daily La Nacion
in Buenos Aires where he watched the draw on television. He was
the only coach of the 32 teams not to attend the draw because he
had just had surgery on a broken hand. "One knows that in World Cups the team has to be ready from
the start," Pekerman said. "But you also have to acknowledge that it's not the same to
face the strong teams at the beginning rather than as the
tournament progresses. "This means that all our matches will be finals from the
first day," he said. "We're convinced we have to get to the World Cup in the best
form. This is a priority factor with the coaching staff,"
Pekerman added. "We got a demanding group because all the teams in it are
going through a good spell. "For example, Ivory Coast are the best team in Africa and
they have players who shine in Europe."
Veteran defender Roberto Ayala was happy with the group,
saying: "It's very good, maybe the most complicated but
interesting so we can go gathering strength. "We know the quality of the Dutch players (and) Serbia &
Montenegro almost knocked Spain out in the European qualifiers,"
said Ayala, going to his third World Cup although he did not
play in Japan in 2002 because he was injured warming up for
Argentina's opening game against Nigeria.
"We want to be candidates but not beforehand, rather when
the World Cup starts and advance match by match because we have
virtues and we don't want what happened to us in the 2002 World
Cup," said Ayala. Argentina went to the last tournament in Asia firm
favourites to win the trophy for the third time only to go out
in the first round after finishing third in the toughest group
including a 1-0 defeat by England. Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine Football
Association, played down the difficulty of the group. "This group is certainly less difficult than that of four
years ago," he said in Leipzig. "We can't qualify it as a group of death when there is
Serbia & Montenegro, who are a new team, and Ivory Coast who are
also playing a World Cup for the first time. "Holland on the other hand are first rate rivals."
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