Christoph Kayser
Germany
How will Germany do?
They’ll be with England in the final and win on penalties, no? (Laughs.)
Who are your key players?
Since Ballack is not playing, there’ll be two players taking over central midfield: Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira, who is a really young player. He’s going to be, hopefully, the new surprise.
Where will you be watching?
For the German matches, I guess the German restaurant, Brauhaus, at the Beach Rotana.
Moataz
Palestinian, supporting Spain
How will Spain do?
Either they’ll win it easily, or Argentina might do something. Spain have an excellent midfield. Unbelievable. Argentina has the strength, but they have a very bad coach (laughs). He’s a legend, but he’s not a coach.
Who are your key players?
Xavi, from Barcelona. He’s a very good player, and I play the same position as him on the field. I’ll learn from him.
Where will you be watching?
Emirates Palace, most probably. But I’ll have a projector at home and I’ll gather everyone there.
Seth Amoafo
Ghana
How will Ghana do?
We’re not going to win it, but we’ll do the country proud.
Who are your key players?
Boateng, Essien and Muntari. Obviously Ayew – he’s a great left-foot player; technique – top notch!
Where will you watch?
For the big games I’ll go to NRG, in Le Méridien. Yeah, definitely. That’s the place to watch football!
Salim Hani
Lebanon, supporting Brazil
You’re from Lebanon – why do you support Brazil?
Why not? If you go to Lebanon, most of the people support Brazil.
Who are Brazil’s big players?
I hope Kaka will be fit; Robinho as well. The new player, Nilmar: I hope he goes, he’s very good. And Ronaldinho – has he still got it? Nobody knows.
Where will you be watching?
For us Lebanese, we all go to Al Jannah in Khalidiyah. It’s very nice. It means ‘paradise’!
Simon Tan
Singapore, supporting England
Hasn’t Singapore got a good team?
We’re 127th on the FIFA world rankings. We’re not very good internationally, but we’ve beaten Man Utd and Spurs.
Who are you looking out for?
I’m disappointed that David Beckham isn’t playing. I’m not gay, but I kind of adore him!
Where will you watch it?
Here at the Dome. We’ll have a big screen at the cafeteria and we’ll serve food. Anyone can come and join in!
For more information on The Dome@Rawdhat, a purpose-built football facility on Airport Road (opposite Zayed Sports City), head to www.thedome.ae
King Kevin
We sent Becky Lucas to ask former England player and manager, Kevin Keegan, a few pressing questions
Apart from England, who do you think has got a good chance of winning?
The obvious two in most people’s minds are Spain and Brazil, because they’re the top ranked teams, apart from England. Obviously I want England to do well and think they will do well. I think Argentina would be my idea of a dark horse. I think they’ve under performed in the last six months to a year, but if you look at the players they’re very strong, so it’ll be great to see if they can get their act together and make it to the final or semi finals.
What about the England squad, what do you think of them?
If they can get their strongest team out and everybody fit: Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Jon Terry and Gareth Barry and sort out all the niggly knocks… They’re the eighth ranked team in the world so they should get to the quarter finals; after that, it depends how they play on the day. I think Wayne Rooney is very important – if he has a good tournament then I think England will [win].
Which England player should we be keeping an eye on?
The obvious one is Rooney, as he’s still very young and he’s still got the world at his feet. A dark horse, one that might get into the team if he makes the squad, is Johnson from Manchester City – look out for him; he’s very quick and unknown. As far as the other teams go, I’m sure they’ve all got great players. Messi will be, for me, the outstanding player because I think in Europe and the world he is just that: absolutely outstanding.
Head to timeoutabudhabi.com now to see Becky interview the man himself.
