Johannesburg: Patrick Vieira was instrumental in France's qualifying campaign for the Football World Cup. But as the biggest sporting extravaganza is about to begin, Viera will watch the action from the sidelines after coach Raymond Domenech cut his name from the squad.
The Manchester City player though holds nothing against his coach and team. However, his money is not on his team but on Spain. In the 2006 World Cup, Vieira had scored a goal on his birthday, June 23, against Togo, thereby taking France to the next round.
"My money is on spain. They have been awesome over the last couple of years. Consistenty has been the name of the game," he told reporters as he sat alongside 1966 England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst.
"The way they qualified for the World Cup was really easy. They scored so many goals, they didn't concede so much," Senegalese-born Vieira said.
"I was born in the African country of Senegal, but my family migrated to France later. And now another African nation is hosting the World Cup and I am quite excited about it. At the same time I am disappointed for not being able to play here. What can be done, there's much you have to come to terms with. The only consolation is that I have a record of having played 107 matches for France and no one can take that away from me," he said.
Leaders don't win matches alone. Also, every tournament sees the rise of new leaders. It could well happen that either Henri or Gallas or Ribery or Malouda or Anelka have shouldered that responsibility," said Vieira, adding that the team was brimming with new talent.
"The first match is crucial. If they can get off to a winning start, France could go the distance," he added.
Hurst, who scored a hat-trick when England won the 1966 World Cup final at home, said the fact Spain could leave midfielder Cesc Fabregas on the bench in recent friendlies demonstrated the squad's strength and depth.
"Cesc Fabregas is a magnificent player and on some of the lead up games he hasn't even started the game so it shows you how strong Spain are," Hurst said.
Hurst added that five-time champions Brazil should not be discounted and England, with manager Fabio Capello at the helm, should at least get to the semi-finals.
"Our half of the draw is quite favourable -- I'd be very disappointed if we don't get at the very least into the semi-final. We're quite capable of that," he said.
Munal Chattopadhyay is an expert football writer. This article has been published with permission from 'Aajkaal'.
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