England's World Cup nightmare true
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Tokyo, December 8: England's World Cup nightmare turned into reality today when they were drawn with arch rivals Germany in the draw for the qualifying round for the 2002 finals in Japan and South Korea.

The audience of football officials in Tokyo's International Forum let out a collective gasp as it became apparent that the two countries would be battling each other for the one automatic qualifying spot from Group Nine.

Apart from the presence of the Germans however, the draw was relatively kind to Kevin Keegan's men. Their other opponents in Group 9 -- Greece, Finland and Albania -- do not look strong enough to deprive them the runners-up spot in the group.

Teams that finish second get another chance to qualify through one-off play-offs against one of the runners-up in the other groups or the Asian Zone runner-up.

Italy, another former winner, were paired with Romania, no longer the force they were five years ago, Lithuania, Hungary and Georgia.

The draw was also relatively kind to Scotland, whowill fancy their chances against top seeds in their group, Belgium.

But coach Craig Brown admitted that the team to beat could be Croatia, despite their decline since they reached the last four at France '98. The other teams in Group six are Latvia and minnows San Marino.

The Netherlands, possibly Europe's strongest current team with the exception of World Cup holders France, also got a tough draw.

They are in a six-team group with Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Andorra and Estonia.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.