A competition that usually opens with a damp squib is unlikely to break the habit when Germany meet Costa Rica in Munich on June 9 in Group A - nor is England's opener against Paraguay, on the second day. For connoisseurs, the 2006 World Cup will mark its real opening with Argentina versus the Ivory Coast, also on June 10: sparks may fly when the second favourites meet a line-up including Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Kolo Touré of Arsenal. Completed by Serbia & Montenegro and Holland, Group C is one of the toughest in the competition. With a pair of established powers meeting two ambitious upstarts. Much may hang on the meeting of Argentina and Holland on June 21 in Frankfurt, a replay of the 1978 finals in Buenos Aires Group D looks as easy for Mexico and Portugal as Group H should be for Spain and Ukraine. In Group G - France will need to prove that the nightmare of 2002 is behind them by leaving Switzerland and South Korea to battle out for second place. The biggest question will be who can stop Brazil marching on with their array of super stars such as Ronaldo, Kaka, Roberto Carlos, Adriano, Ronaldinho and Robinho. Surely it cannot be Croatia, Australia or Japan although the opening match will be genuine contest with Croatia keen to re-establish their 1998 reputation. The real fight will be with Australia meeting Croatia in the final game of the group.

Every World Cup in the recent past has had its quota of surprises from Africa such as Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal. A special significance in the history of African football is that four nations with no previous history of participation in World Cup finals celebrated their first-time qualification. Football analysts were unable to pin point what triggered the sensational changes but the fact remains that Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Angola outlived all expectations to earn the passage to Germany.

As things stand - Hustache may have had attitude problems, but he was no doubt technically sound and the best foreign coach ever. Morever, Hustache had given a new dimension to the game by improving third-ball attack and now the team can gleefully look forward to take on the best. After changing hands, the good thing about the current Swedish coach Benone Cristian Grigore is that he has not tried to meddle with the technique of the players, already strengthened by Hustache. Instead he has concentrated on their mental skills and instilled a lot of confidence and mental toughness. This is clearly evident on record to show that the Indian table tennis team which took part in the World Championship in Bremen, Germany had skillful players such as Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy and Shubhajit Roy who gave a good a account of themselves.