PREPARATION: IT'S ALL ABOUT QUALITY TIME
Mike Holden

The small Japanese island of Saipan was noted more for its red-light district than its football facilities when, in May 2002, Mick McCarthy arrived with his Republic of Ireland squad to prepare for the last World Cup finals.

Now, the remote location in the Pacific Ocean is perhaps best known for the fireworks display given by Roy Keane when the Irish captain lost the plot with his manager over the state of the pitches on which the players were forced to train and the casual approach of the coaching staff.

So used was Keane to the immaculate attention to detail employed by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, his desire to represent his country on the world's biggest stage wasn't so great that he was willing to bite his tongue on the matter and he left himself with little alternative but to catch the next flight back to England after letting fly with a tirade of abuse in several directions.

Keane doubtless had genuine cause for concern because preparation is everything in the build-up to a tournament of this standard and the final fortnight before the off is no time to be slacking when the margin between success and failure can be so fine.

However, it should also be remembered that Ireland still went on to enjoy a relatively successful tournament, going out on penalties to Spain after escaping a difficult group that included Germany and Cameroon.

It seemed Keane's actions had unified the rest of the squad. In many ways, it was probably the shot in the arm they needed to focus totally on the job in hand as the Irish players raised their game against widespread suggestions that they were a one-man team destined to struggle without their midfield talisman.

If nothing else, the outcome of that scenario should offer food for thought to those suddenly writing off England's chances this summer following Wayne Rooney's metatarsal fracture. I'm quite sure the many big-name players in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad won't appreciate being cast off so readily by the absence of a 20-year-old - even if, ironically, they might otherwise have relied too heavily upon Rooney for inspiration.

Nonetheless, preparation remains vital and few countries will match England in terms of accommodation and training facilities this summer. Not only does Eriksson enjoy the greatest salary in international football, he also has an unmatchable expenses budget and England's World Cup base at the Buhlerhohe Schlosshotel in the mountains above Baden Baden is reported to be the envy of every other competing nation.

Of course, paying the most money doesn't necessarily guarantee the best facilities but Eriksson's tendency to get his players in a positive and relaxed frame of mind in the face of pressure has long been regarded as his greatest quality. It's only in the heat of battle when things aren't going according to plan that his reputation comes under serious scrutiny.

Obviously we should expect all of the fancied nations to secure accommodation and training facilities of the highest possible quality ahead of this summer's tournament, but we can never know for sure what will be going on behind the scenes.

So how else can we possibly go about measuring the credentials of different nations in terms of how well prepared they will be for Germany 2006? Well, I'm a firm follower of trends and lend particular weight to the public comments of the different coaches in relation to their attitude and behaviour in recent months.

For example, one nation that could be heading for a serious fall this summer is the Czech Republic.

This will be their first appearance at the finals since splitting from the old Czechoslovakia and although they have been considered a force in European competition for the past decade or more, their inability to broaden their horizons geographically during that time might well be their undoing across the German border.

Coach Karel Bruckner is well respected by his own players for the pragmatic way in which he deals with them but it would appear his knowledge of the Czechs' Group E opponents leaves a lot to be desired.

The 66-year-old readily admits to knowing very little about USA or Ghana, a matter which should be of some concern considering their only European opponents are Italy in the final group game - but then this is a man who only two years ago described the European Championships as "the World Cup without Brazil or Argentina" and he doesn't seem too concerned by a journey into the unknown.

To date, the Czechs have only played two friendlies against non-European opponents in Bruckner's four years at the helm (one of them a 1-0 defeat to Japan in Prague) and his attitude smacks of an ignorance that may perhaps come back to haunt him.

Another nation venturing into the unknown is Ecuador. They have only ever sent an international side to Europe on three occasions in their entire history and huge question marks remain on their ability to cut the mustard at sea level.

There's no denying their ability to get results at an altitude of 9,000 feet or higher. Ecuador remained unbeaten at home in the capital of Quito throughout their qualifying campaign, winning seven out of nine, but away from home it was a very different story as they lost six out of nine. Their only away victory, incidentally, was registered against Bolivia at an altitude of over 11,000 feet in La Paz.

For other nations, the biggest problems concern the timescale within which they have to get themselves ready for the tournament and the clock is certainly clicking far too quickly on Luis Aragones in his bid to turn Spain from aesthetically-pleasing underachievers into ruthless world beaters.

La Liga was the last European league to complete its schedule on May 20 and when Aragones eventually gets his players together, he must decide upon a likely starting eleven and come up with an idea of how he wants them to play before he can consider addressing any of the finer details to their preparations.

It's a good job Spain were drawn in Group H because had they been forced to play their opening game on June 9 rather than June 14, one suspects the chaos at their base camp in Kamen could have been quite comical.

Likewise, it goes without saying that Togo are in trouble considering that Otto Pfister only took control of the reins on May 14 before naming his squad the following day. Let's just hope the Togolese players don't take exception to any of Pfister's plans because things really could get embarrassing if what little time they have left is marred by reports of players undermining his authority.

The one team at this summer's tournament for whom time has not been an obstacle is Mexico. Coach Ricardo Lavolpe has been able to call meet-ups almost at will over the last two years with the Mexican domestic league forced to take second precedence to his plans and only four squad members plying their trade outside of the country.

As a result, Mexico have been able to prepare for this tournament outside of the FIFA calendar and squeezed no fewer than 26 international fixtures into 2005 alone.

The majority of the squad have now been together and putting their final preparations into place since April 2 with a clean sweep of victories over Ghana, Paraguay, Venezuela and the Congo in recent friendlies. And the fact the Mexicans are happy to finalise their build-up with games against France in Paris and Holland in Eindhoven is perhaps a statement of intent that they aren't going to Germany to simply make up the numbers.

Positives: England, Mexico

Negatives: Czech Rep, Ecuador, Spain, Togo

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