Soccer: Kaiser Franz is the king of ambassadors

It was at Hillsborough that Franz Beckenbauer first made his mark on English football in the 1966 World Cup; a 21-year-old refusing to be overshadowed by his more experienced midfield partner Wolfgang Overath, scoring twice as West Germany eased to a 5-0 win.

Beckenbauer has been crossing England's path ever since, and nothing would give him greater pleasure than to see the two countries meet at the end of the road again, 40 years on, in Berlin on July 10.

Whatever the outcome, the Germans have, of course, already scored a notable victory in the contest to host this summer's finals. Strange to think that the Football Association might have been fretting over whether Wembley, the centrepiece of their doomed bid, would actually be ready in time to stage a World Cup, or whether Cardiff would be on standby. But Germany it is, Beckenbauer's team on this occasion having defeated Bobby Charlton's (and, more controversially, South Africa's).

As president of the World Cup organising committee, Beckenbauer is undertaking an exhausting round-trip of the 31 nations who will be competing alongside the hosts, which cynics have suggested is part of a campaign to become Uefa president in succession to Lennart Johansson. That hardly explains why anyone would want to clock up quite so many air miles.

Exhausted or not, on the London leg Der Kaiser looked as imperious as ever, even at 61 with grey hair and specs. He seemed genuinely to be enjoying himself, and in between lunch at 10 Downing Street and an evening reception at London's magnificent Gibson Hall in Bishopsgate, there was an enjoyable hour of remembrance of things past and reflection on things to come.

Preparations are well on track, he insisted, dismissing reports by a German consumer group about safety at some of the new stadiums as "a nonsense". It is the team's preparations he is more concerned about: "It's a young team with no experience and I'm curious to see how they will do. I really don't know in my mind what I'm expecting from the team.

"Playing two years of friendly games, it's okay whether you go out and win or lose, but to play a World Cup is tremendous pressure. They don't know anything about this yet."

Pressure and World Cups - this man knows about. In 1966, after scoring goals in the quarter-finals and semifinals, there was a worry - it is often forgotten - about whether he would be banned from the final because of a second booking.

The Germans won a case of mistaken identity and their manager, Helmut Schoen, hailed his young midfielder as "one of the greatest talents of Europe", which made it all the more disappointing that he should then be restricted to a marking job on Bobby Charlton; Beckenbauer said he was amused to learn years later that Alf Ramsey had instructed Charlton to do the reverse, and they cancelled out the other.

That strategy also inhibited his view of the game's crucial moment. "A taxi driver asked me today, 40 years later, was it over the line? I was too tired to see, because Bobby Charlton was running like a horse all the game. But England deserved to win."

It is a generous assessment, encouraged perhaps by "some quite nice memories" of later encounters. Like 1968, scoring the only goal in Hanover as West Germany beat England for the first time; 1970, scoring again to spark the astonishing comeback from 2-0 down in the World Cup quarter-finals; 1972 and the first, overwhelming, German victory at Wembley.

Two years later, with England absent this time, Beckenbauer was a World Cup-winning captain. The next epic meeting, the Turin penalty shoot-out of Italia90, set him up to become the first man to win the trophy as player and then coach. His appointment as national team manager with no coaching licence or experience was controversial, and echoes to the present. Have Germany done the right thing in choosing a rookie such as Jurgen Klinsmann (who has further infuriated his detractors by continuing to live in California)? And what experience is required at that level?

"It's helpful to have the international experience, maybe not as a coach but as a player. I did not have the licence but I was 20 years a professional footballer, playing under the best coaches in Germany. So for me it was not a big change.

"When Jurgen took over he was very successful and no one complained about living in Los Angeles. As soon as the team start playing badly and lose games, the criticism comes out.

"He spends time with the players at a training camp or before a game. It's good also that Jurgen is changing some old methods. But it's very simple: you win the games and play well, then you don't have criticism."

Nor does he find it a problem for England that the players know before the tournament that Sven Goran Eriksson has been bounced into leaving. Beckenbauer had announced seven months before the 1990 tournament that he was going.

"They were happy to get rid of me! It's normal with a club or a national team, players play for themselves, their team, their families, not the coach. Also it gives the federation a chance to look for the new coach. In July, coaches are all under contract, so we were lucky to get Jurgen."

And with all that experience, who is he tipping this summer? "My personal top favourite is Brazil because of the way they play and the quality of the players. They are full of world-class players, all with the best clubs in Europe, and the way they finished the Confederations' Cup with a 4-1 victory over Argentina was very, very impressive.

"But in 2002 I said my favourites were France and Argentina, and after the group phase both were going home. Whoever is able to beat Brazil has a good chance. Then England, Italy, Germany, Argentina, maybe Spain, maybe Holland.

"England's defence is excellent, the best in the world, and Rooney was fantastic at the European Championship. I talked to Sven a few months ago and told him he had the best team in Europe. Two days later they played Denmark and lost 4-1!

"But England is top favourite in their group. Then you can meet Brazil in the semifinal and that's very difficult. To be beaten by Brazil is not a disaster. If you get beaten by Trinidad and Tobago, it's a different story . . ."

Not that he is expecting any major shocks, especially given the results from the African Nations' Cup, which suggest that the best teams from that continent will not be at the finals.

"My feeling is that it was an exception for the South Korean team in 2002, who played fantastic football in front of the home crowd, and that it won't happen again. It is clever of Fifa to stop all the leagues on May 15 so teams have time to prepare.

"At the last World Cup, clubs played until almost a week before the World Cup started. The result, for all the great players, was a disaster."

The other factors confirmed by Korea's success in reaching the semifinals were his admiration for Guus Hiddink - "he must be a genius to do a double job with PSV and Australia and be successful" - and an appreciation of football's power for good throughout the world.

His parting shot: "My personal wish is that everyone should say Germany was a good host."

And that if England meet up with them again, it should be as late as possible once more.

- INDEPENDENT