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Eriksson and Klinsmann contented
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson breathed a sigh of relief after the World Cup draw in Leipzig handed his team a relatively easy first round group. "It could have been much worse," he said after being grouped with Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and his native country, Sweden. Germany's coach Juergen Klinsmann took the same view after the hosts were drawn with Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador. "We asked to avoid Holland and Australia and we did that," Eriksson told the BBC. "Of course we have to play Sweden, whom we have not beaten for a very long time -- that seems to be our destiny. But that is life, sooner or later we have to beat them. "At least on paper we are the favorites with Sweden but you never know in the World Cup." England suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss to the Swedes in a friendly earlier this year. The draw means England, presuming they finish in the top two in their group, are likely to face either Germany or Poland in the second round. Eriksson was confident England could win the group and avoid a last-16 clash with Germany. "I think Germany will win their group, I think they are in an easy group for the host nation," he said. "For sure it is better to play Poland than Germany in the second round." The draw means it is possible England could face Brazil in the final but Eriksson did not want to speculate that far ahead "I would take that at once to play Brazil in the final but the way is long and it is not right to talk about the final. Now we have to prepare for our group matches. "We have difficult games but I am happy with the group. It could have been worse, much worse." Klinsmann happy"It could have been worse. We're happy. We think this group is absolutely do-able," said German coach Klinsmann. "Every opponent will be difficult. We know that. There are none that one can underestimate. Every game will be a huge challenge but it could have been worse. "Ecuador will be tough. They beat Brazil in qualification. Costa Rica was third behind the USA and Mexico...and naturally Poland will also be hard -- they played very well to qualify in England's group. "It will be hard, but now we have something tangible to aim at and work for. We want to get the public on our side...We have a young team. They need the support and I think the draw has been helpful. Klinsmann said Germany may now review plans to play only European teams in friendlies before the World Cup and may look also at South or Central American teams. He said Group C, which includes Argentina, Ivory Coast and the Netherlands, as well as Serbia & Montenegro, looked like the toughest group. Tricky for ItalyItaly have a tricky World Cup group that includes two teams above them in the FIFA rankings, coach Marcello Lippi said after the draw. The Italians were drawn in Group E with the Czech Republic, the U.S. and World Cup newcomers Ghana. "I'm not disappointed. I'm satisfied. It's a tricky group, but they are all strong teams at this level," Lippi said. "We knew we'd be facing some tough matches even before the draw. "We can say that we have two teams (the Czech Republic and the U.S.) that are ahead of us in the FIFA rankings. That's not a big problem. "We're improving all the time and we'll been even better by the time the tournament starts next year." 
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