[Domains4u]

Madrid : The 2006 World Cup in Germany will see eight newcomers or "replacement troops" being put to the test when the month-long tournament kicks off June 9.

Will these newcomers pay the price for being greenhorns or will they rebel against the hierarchy imposed on them by history?

In Italy in 1934 there were 10 debutants, but then there were only 16 teams taking part in the competition at the beginning of World Cup history. In comparison, Germany 2006 will be host to 32 teams, a quarter of which consist of World Cup newcomers.

The greatest revolution has taken place in Africa, where Ghana, Angola, the Ivory Coast and Togo have replaced countries like Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria in the World Cup finals, countries which in the last competitions looked as if had gained a permanent place in the elite.

In Italy 1990, Cameroon gained the respect of the rest of the football world when it beat the then champion Argentina in its debut match and in the quarterfinals caused England more than a few problems.

Four years later in the United States it was the turn of Nigeria, who were on the point of knocking out Italy in the qualification rounds for the last eight.

And in South Korea/Japan in 2002, it was Senegal who lifted themselves up into the group of the last eight, after beating France, champion of four years previously, in its first match ever in a World Cup competition.

Nevertheless, names like Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Rigobert Song, Nigeria's Obafemi Martins and Jayjay Okocha or Senegal's Hadji Diouf will not be in the World Cup programmes in Germany.

On the contrary, fans will have to get accustomed to the names of the black continent's new stars such as Maman Gaffar, Jean-Jacques Tizie, Cyrille Domoraud, Rats, Milay or Gugas.

The absence of Cameroon, Nigeria or Senegal, who had become a real headache for the established favourites when the groups were drawn, would seem to reduce the aspirations of Africa in Germany 2006, where the continent can only count on one team with any experience, Tunisia, African champions in 2004.

However, teams like the Ivory Coast have already made it clear that their presence in the most important football competition in the world is not just luck. After the World Cup draw in Leipzig on December, none of their Group D opponents Argentina, the Netherlands or Serbia and Montenegro looked particularly happy at getting what many believe to be the strongest of the Africans.

Italy will now have to come up against another of the African newcomers in Ghana who will be out to upset one of the World Cup favourites as well as the Czech Republic and the United States in Group E.

Angola and Togo are meanwhile the rank outsiders in their respective groups, the Angolans with Mexico, Portugal and Iran in Group D, and Togo facing France, Switzerland and South Korea in Group G.

That is even more the case with Trinidad and Tobago, who scraped into fourth position in the six-way qualifications of CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football), overtaking Guatemala and Panama, and gained its first participation in World Cup in a play off against Bahrain.

The reward is an attractive group with England, Sweden and Paraguay in Group B, but anything other than an early exit for the Caribbean nation would be a major shock.

Meanwhile Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Serbia and Montenegro may not have a World Cup record as independent countries, but they are only relatively speaking newcomers. Ukrainians have played under the Soviet Union, the Czechs under Czechoslovakia and the Serbs under Yugoslavia.

After a brilliant qualification, Ukraine was the first European team to secure its ticket for the World Cup, where forward Andriy Shevchenko will try to secure a similar reputation in the front line of his national team as he enjoys in the Milan attack. In Group H with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, Oleg Blokhin's side certainly has every chance of reaching the next round.

The Czech Republic had a harder time qualifying, having to beat Norway in one of the three relegation matches played in the European zone. The team of Karel Bruckner won through, and in the process scored more goals than any other team from the Old Continent: 35.

The Czechs will not want to let the opportunity pass to achieve something of importance with a generation of players with such illustrious names such as Tomas Rosicky, Pavel Nedved, Jan Koller, Peter Cech, Marek Jankulowski, Tomas Galasek, Zdenek Grygera, Karel Poborsky or Milan Baros.

Serbia and Montenegro, with Mateja Kezman and Dejan Stankovic, are desperately keen to return to the levels of performance achieved by Yugoslav teams in Italy 1990 and France in 1998, after getting somewhat lost in the World Cup in 2002.

Up in the frame with Spain are the teams from the Netherlands and Portugal. The Dutch return to the World Cup thanks to the efforts of coach Marco Van Basten, after having missed out on 2002. Failure to be seeded for the World Cup draw means they must now negotiate Argentina.

The Portuguese want to exploit the Figo generation after losing the final of the European Championships in their own country, and were clearly pleased at the draw with pits them with Mexico, Iran and Angola.

Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France, England and Germany, no matter how well or badly they played to arrive at the World Cup, must always be included in the group of favourites.

The Brazilians go into the tournament as most people's big favourite. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano, Kaka, Robinho - to name just some of their stars - are all capable of leading the green and yellows to become a record-breaking "hexacampeon" - six-time champion.

There are still some doubts about other major contenders such as Argentina and France, who currently are not able to combine the individual talents of their players into a cohesive team.

Of the other Europeans, England could be a challenger, while Italy have a line-up that that combines traditional defensive security with the imagination and attacking effectiveness of men like Alessandro Del Piero, Alberto Gilardino or Luca Toni.

[Daz]

I think it will be good to have newcomers for a change.