England beat Germany in hotels race

David Bond, Deputy Political Editor @djbond6873|South Korea

13 April 2012

Once their supremacy on the football pitch was matched only by their invincibility in the race for holiday sun beds.

Now it seems Germany's declining football reputation, so beautifully demonstrated by England's 5-1 win in Munich, is echoed by their waning efficiency in other areas.

Although the World Cup finals are still more than six months away, England have beaten them to the best training camps in Japan and South Korea and claimed a crucial psychological victory.

Two days before the draw for next summer's tournament, the Football Association announced that it has snapped up the best facilities.

While Rudi Voller's team were still battling for their place in the finals with a two-legged play-off win over Ukraine earlier this month, the FA was making sure it got first refusal on the hotels from which Sven-Goran Eriksson will plot England's World Cup campaign.

England won't know whether they will play their group games in Korea or Japan until the draw is made here on Saturday morning, but Tord Grip - Eriksson's right-hand man - and David Davies, the FA's director of internationalaffairs, have been looking at two potential sites.

Their preferred choice is a hotel on the exotic South Korean island of Jeju.

Even if they are drawn to play in Japan, Eriksson's team are likely to spend a week acclimatising to Far East conditions on Jeju. But if they do have to move on to Japan they have prebooked rooms on Awaji Island.

Davies claimed today both hotels and training camps were wanted by not only the Germans but also Argentina.

He said: "This has been a tournament before the tournament, with countries looking for the best and most suitable facilities. We like to think we've been at the front of this contest in that I know the hotels and training camps we have first option on are the most sought after.

"Germany, Argentina and Portugal all wanted to stay at the places where we have already got first refusal. We know several have taken out second and third refusal on the places we have already secured. We had to start this work before we qualified - if we had waited who knowswherewewould have been. There is a limited supply of the sorts of training grounds and hotels that we would want so we are pleased to be first."

With England captain David Beckham and striker Michael Owen two of the biggest names among fans in Asia, security was England's No 1 consideration.

The 50-room, Mediterranean-style Paradise Hotel on Jeju will allow the FA's security advisers to close ranks around Eriksson's players.

But Davies said: "We are not trying to create Fortress England. We are taking part in a World Cup and we recognise the responsibilities we have towards the people of Japan and Korea. Having said that, security must be No 1 priority not least because of the 11 September."

With terrorism now being treated as a more serious threat than hooliganism in the wake of events in America and the war in Afghanistan, FIFA today told the Korean and Japanese governments to make sure security for the competition is as tight as possible.

David Will, who is on the security committee and is Britain's only FIFA executive committee member, said: "The direction security is now moving is towards making stadiums and fans safe."

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