France start countdown to 2002 World Cup

Mike Collett

A year and a day before they start their defence of the World Cup, reigning World champions France face South Korea on Wednesday to set the Confederations Cup "warm-up" tournament in motion.

On May 31 next year France will kick off the 2002 World Cup finals, so Wednesday's opener in the southern city of Taegu for the eight-team Confederations Cup tournament is an important milestone.

France, South Korea, Australia and Cup holders Mexico face each other in their opening round group being held in three of the 10 Korean World Cup venues of Taegu, Suwon and Ulsan.

Japan, Brazil, Cameroon and Canada are playing their matches in two of Japan's 10 World Cup venues of Ibaraki and Niigata.

The top two teams from each group advance to the semifinals being played in Suwon and in Yokohama, the venue for next year's World Cup final.

The losing semifinalists meet in a third-place playoff in Ulsan, with the title being decided in Yokohama on June 10.

REAL INDICATION
The 16 matches in this competition are not only important for the teams likely to be back here along with France next year, but also for the technical staff responsible for running the stadiums and the World Cup itself.

FIFA, world soccer's governing body, will be keeping an eye on all aspects of the Confederations Cup and in many ways the logistical considerations are far more important than what happens on the field.

But all eight teams are keen to do well, and French coach Roger Lemerre said: "It is good to be playing competitive matches again after so many friendlies.

"This might not be the World Cup, but it is an important stepping stone, and it is always healthy to win another trophy."

France are without some of their key players like star playmaker Zinedine Zidane and first choice goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, but their squad is still a strong one.

It includes the likes of European Cup winners Bixente Lizarazu and Willy Sagnol of Bayern Munich, Patrick Vieira of Arsenal, Christophe Dugarry of Bordeaux and Nicholas Anelka of Paris St Germain.

Lemerre has also included eight uncapped players in his 23-man squad including Bastia's Frederic Nee, the leading scorer in the French first division this season with 16 goals, and a late stand-in for injured Arsenal forward Thierry Henry.

REAL DOG-FIGHT
Brazil, France's predecessors as world champions but now involved in a real dog-fight to qualify for next year's finals,

were the first team to arrive for the tournament a week ago.

They beat J-League side Tokyo Verdy 2-0 in a warm-up friendly in Tokyo on Saturday thanks to second-half goals from Washington and Julio Batista.

It was by no means a vintage "samba-soccer" performance but coach Emerson Leao explained some of his players still felt jet-lagged and others had never played against an Asian team before.

Like France, Leao is planning to play some younger players here in the absence of established stars like Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo.

"Victory here would be a big confidence boost," he said, targetting Cameroon as probably their main first round rivals.

"Although we might be missing some players, others will get their chance to make their mark. We also are looking for revenge over Cameroon after they beat us in the Olympics last year."

Japan may have something to say about Brazil and Cameroon dominating their group.

Japan's French coach Philippe Troussier has been putting his squad through a series of tough physical workouts in preparation for the competition and as ever, there will be a huge, if somewhat unrealistic, expectation on them to do well.

Japan will be looking for an improvement in their recent results after being beaten 5-0 by France and 1-0 by Spain in Europe recently, while their co-hosts South Korea will also be looking to do better after some patchy recent performances.

MOST-CAPPED PLAYER
Korea's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink will be relying on a squad mainly composed of domestically-based players and some from the J.League, and they will do well to reach the last four.

Mexico, who beat Brazil 4-3 to win the Confederations Cup in 1999, arrived in Korea chastened by their 4-0 defeat to England in Derby on Friday.

But at least Claudio Suarez should have something to celebrate on Wednesday.

He is expected to be in the lineup for their opening match against Australia in Suwon when he will be capped for the 157th time, equalling the world appearance record currently held by Hossam Hassan of Egypt.

The only thing certain about Australia's appearance is that they won't be running up 20 and 30-goal winning margins as they did in their Oceania group qualifiers recently.

Archie Thompson, who set a World Cup record by scoring 13 times when Australia beat American Samoa 31-0 on April 11 is in the squad, as are a number of European-based exiles including Middlesbrough's Mark Schwarzer and Paul Okon and Hayden Foxe who recently completed his long drawn-out move to West Ham.