Beckenbauer writes off German and English World Cup hopes

Franz Beckenbauer has written off Germany and England's chances of winning next year's World Cup and believes that his country would avenge their recent humiliating defeat if the two sides met during the 2002 tournament.

The former World Cup winning captain and coach is adamant that England's 5-1 victory in Munich on September 1 was a freak result and that Germany remained the better side.

"If we come up against England we shall beat them. That defeat will not happen again. It will be back to normal with a Germany victory," Beckenbauer was quoted as saying in Friday's Daily Express.

"But neither England nor Germany will win the World Cup, although both will qualify for the second stage," he added.

Beckenbauer was buoyed by his country's performance in reaching the finals, after they thrashed Ukraine 4-1 in Dortmund on Wednesday in the second leg of their playoff match to notch up a 5-2 aggregate victory.

"We played well," he said. "But only two nations can win the World Cup. It will be either France or Argentina, they are the best."

Beckenbauer said that the remaining nations were at an inferior level and that list included Germany and England. Although he felt that Brazil and Italy were capable of reaching the semifinals.

"I remember the Euro 2000 championship and neither England nor Germany disturbed that competition," he said. "England have a new coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, who has different ideas that have changed and improved the side. But like Germany, they will not win the World Cup."

Despite his criticism of the current national side as "just average", Beckenbauer praised Michael Ballack and Sebastian Deisler as good players for the future.

"I do not like to damage the German team with my comments, but the frustration inside of me swells like a volcano," he added.