African nations could surprise, says Kluivert

Former Dutch star Patrick Kluivert believes an African nation can spring a surprise at this year's World Cup being held in the continent for the first time.

Kluivert was here for the Dubai the launch of the new men's lifestyle magazine LAF (Life After Football) on Tuesday.

"There are lot of great players and great teams. Argentina and Spain are very good contenders, Brazil always. But we have to look out because the African countries, they really play with all their heart. They could surprise," said Kluivert, the former Ajax, AC Milan and Bareclona striker.

"Not only South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana, their players are very strong. They are very good with their feet. They have strong players and good mentality. Individually they may not be as good as European teams. But as a team they want to fight for their country. I think that will make a difference," he said.

Kluivert, who represented the Netherlands from 1994 to 2004 and is their leading all-time scorer with 40 goals, has mixed memories of the 1998 World Cup in which they reached the semifinals.

"First I got a red card against Belgium. Then came back and scored against Argentina and Brazil. It was a mixed feeling for me, but a good feeling," said Kluivert who got his professional trainer's licence in December and has ambitions of being head coach of a club, possibly in the UAE.

"I think individual skills of players at the moment are very good and same as when I played. But most important thing is to stay fit. Lots of players had a long season and it's going to count," said Kluivert when asked to compare great Holland teams.

The Netherlands start as firm favourites in a tight Group E with Japan, Cameroon and Denmark set to fight for second place and were unbeaten in qualifying.

"If every player stays fit, I think Holland can go very far. Most important thing is they have to look match after match instead of saying we are going to qualify the quarterfinal or semifinal," he said.

The Dutch finished second best during their heyday in the 1974 and 1978 football tournaments.

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