Dutch start campaign eyeing another final

BERLIN, June 11: Netherlands begin their attempt to reach a third final on German soil when they face Serbia&Montenegro in their opening Group C match today.

The Dutch, who lost the 1974 World Cup final in Munich and won the European Championship in the same city 14 years later start the match in Leipzig's Zentralstadion among the favourites to do well in the tournament which enters its third day.

Netherlands and Serbia kick off at 1500 local time (1300 GMT), followed by the Group D match between Mexico and Iran in Nuremberg at 1800 (1600 GMT) and Angola against Portugal in the second game in hat group at 2100 (1900 GMT) in Cologne.

The Dutch, who also lost the 1978 World Cup final in Argentina, have made the short trip to Germany in high hopes after an excellent qualifying campaign that saw them win 10 of their 12 matches.

Serbia&Montenegro, though, will provide extremely tough opposition in what will be their first -- and last -- World Cup following the formal dissolution of the country last month after a referendum in Montenegro which is now an independent state.

However, the team is a united one under coach Ilija Petkovic, and the Dutch will have to be at their best to snare all three points.

The second game on Sunday sees Mexico, fourth in the world rankings, play Iran for the first time since a 2-1 win in a friendly six years ago.

Mexico will take heart from a series of good performances when they reached the Confederations Cup semi-finals in Germany last summer.

Iran striker Ali Daei said this week that Iran have come to the finals with the best team in their history but could be hampered by injuries to key midfielders Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Karimi and Ferydoon Zandi -- with Zandi definitely out.

Passions will be high in Cologne when Angola make their World Cup debut against their old colonial masters Portugal.

Many of the players know each other and have played with and against each other but Portugal, who reached the final of Euro 2004 on home soil two years ago, should emerge as the victors.

England were the early winners yesterday with a 1-0 Group B win over Paraguay in Frankfurt followed by Trinidad&Tobago's inspired 0-0 draw with Sweden in Dortmund in the same group.

Argentina began their campaign with a narrow 2-1 win over Ivory Coast in a superb match in Hamburg.

REUTERS

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