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Title fight Brazil meets France prematurely for No. 1 spot
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The French already beat Brazil for the World Cup in 1998 and pushed it off its No. 1 pedestal in the world rankings last month. Now it is favored to beat it again in the Confederations Cup. A loss to the Selecao in the semifinal Thursday though could hand the top spot in FIFA's ranking back to the Brazilians. One thing the French haven't done during their three-year ascendancy in world soccer though is lose respect. "Brazil has the best soccer culture of the world," said coach Roger Lemerre ahead of the clash in Suwon, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside the South Korean capital. "The game will be on the front pages around the world," he said. It should have been the dream final of the tournament but while France did its part by winning Group A, Brazil stumbled and finished runner-up to co-host Japan in Group B. In the other semifinal, Japan will host Australia at Yokohama, which is the venue for Sunday's Confederations Cup decider and also for the 2002 World Cup final. Even though Brazil played two scoreless draws and scored only two goals compared with France's nine in the preliminaries, Lemerre doesn't want to make too much of it. The vagaries of the world ranking system even might have momentarily put Brazil on top again. "The FIFA standings are moving every day," Lemerre said. At the eight-team tournament, Brazil won once and played two draws while France won big twice but lost 1-0 with its B-team against Australia. That shocking defeat didn't do its ranking any good but it was a wake-up call for the players, who came into the event tired after a long European season. "Captain Marcel Desailly really rallied the troops," said defender Bixente Lizarazu. France fielded its best available side here, which still lacks many top stars, against Mexico and came out with a thrilling 4-0 win. "The goals really set ourselves free," said Eric Carriere, the international rookie who scored a double against the Mexicans. "We've got the best attack," said Lemerre, also reflecting on the opening 5-0 win. It has kept stress levels down and reinstilled the steady confidence which has turned France into the world's soccer powerhouse. It is a favorite over Brazil especially because of that. Brazil has struggled throughout the season, is still fighting to get a World Cup qualifying ticket following a string of disappointing results, and the fact that it couldn't score against Canada nor Japan has further sapped morale. "Against France, the ball is going in," Brazilian Ze Maria vowed. "Enough is enough." That might be counting without France's defense, which conceded just one goal in the first round. If France is missing many of its top stars, the same goes for Brazil and Thursday's semifinal might be a better indication of how deep the pool of talent is in both countries. Its rise to greatness started with the 3-0 thrashing of Brazil at the 1998 World Cup final and last year it added the European championship crown with a 2-1 win over Italy. A string of great results, capped with a 4-0 thrashing of Portugal last month, combined with Brazil's mediocre run, pushed it to the top of the world rankings.
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