Leo, Pele, Van Basten in one German lobby.
By: Shaun Fuentes.[/size]
The glitz surrounding the 2006 World Cup draw went to a higher level on Thursday evening as several head coaches of nations taking part in the championship began arriving in Leipzig at the Westin and Renaissance Hotels in time for Friday’s occasion.
Among them was none other than Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker who arrived at the Westin with the other Dutch-born coaches Guus Hiddink (Australia), Dick Advocaat (Korea Republic) and Marco Van Basten (Netherlands) as well as T&T assistant coach Wim Rijsbergen who was also a past Holland World Cup player.
Beenhakker caused as much a rush from the media as that reserved normally for the coaches of the bigger known teams as England and Brazil. Sven Goran Eriksson, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Marcelo (Lippi), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Portugal), Karel Bruckner (Czech Republic), Zico (Japan), Luis Aragones (Spain), Bruce Arena (USA) as well as Hiddink were all checked in at the Renaissance Hotel. Beenhakker, not only known as a past Dutch National Team and Real Madrid coach, but now noted for leading T&T as the smallest nation ever, to World Cup qualification, maybe had to stop for half dozen interviews from different television crews before he could eventually check in at the front desk.
At his earlier arrival a half hour before at the Westin, Beenhakker was also greeted by Bora Mulitinovic and the legendary Pele also passed by as he tried to depart the lobby with another large number of mediamen following him.
“We don’t know who it’s going to be. Let’s just wait and see who we will be playing,” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.
“It’s the same process for all the other teams. They all want to know who will be the three other teams they will face in the tournament and aside from the teams that have been seeded, there’s not much else to say until tomorrow.”
He spoke of the site selected for T&T’s training base in Rottenburg, referring to it as “lovely with really good facilities and excellent training grounds.”
Beenhakker, who coached Van Basten at the 1990 Finals in Italy, along with Warner and the rest of the T&T contingent attended a FIFA banquet dinner at the Messe Leipziger Messe, same venue for the draw.
Meantime, SOS Children’s Villages looking forward to the Final Draw where 320 million television viewers in 145 countries will be watching the glamour-filled 90-minute gala event.
'6 villages for 2006' is both the motto and the aim of SOS Children's Villages for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. With the cooperation of FIFA and the support of a number of sponsors and contributors, six new SOS Children's Villages should be built by the end of next summer's finals.
The Final Draw in Leipzig will provide an excellent platform for this ambitious project, the purpose of which is to provide homes for orphaned children around the world. During the gala, a two-minute film about the project, containing a request for donations, will be shown. Scenes from the building of the first SOS Children's Village in Ukraine will be featured, along with footage from Mexico and South Africa.
"This is our first chance to reach an audience of millions," enthused Georg Willeit, Managing Director of SOS Children's Villages in an interview with FIFAworldcup.com.
The charity has set a target of raising 18 million euros by the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, which will be enough to build six villages and run them for five years. This will provide accommodation for 800 children in addition to the 5,000 who are already being housed in other buildings. This campaign has been well received around the world, with six million euros – a third of the target – having been raised already.
