Surprises in store

Pele -- Stars more interested in club soccer

LONDON (AP) -- World Cup superstar Pele fears for the standard of play at this summer's championship but believes it will be full of surprises.

The three-time winner, who burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old in 1958, believes that the Brazilian team he served for four World Cups will, for a change, be something of a dark horse in the 17th championship and outsiders such as Portugal and Cameroon might prove strong contenders.

But Pele is alarmed that the thousands of fans who travel to Japan and Korea for the May 31-June 30 championship to see 32 nations chase soccer's biggest title could be let down by what they see.

He fears many of the players are so tied to their clubs by lucrative contracts that they no longer perform 100 percent for their countries.

"One of my concerns is the quality of football," Pele told World Soccer magazine. "I was worried about what I saw in the friendlies that the teams have been playing over the past few months.

"Many of the players were more concerned about their club tournaments. They were frightened of getting injured because that would upset their club coach and that, in turn, would have given the club's directors an excuse to stop them going off to play for their country again.

"It's more difficult for the Latin American countries because, if they wanted their best players, they had to send to Europe for them. If they didn't, they had to use home-based players who knew they had little chance of making the final squad of 23."

Pele cited examples that title candidates Argentina, Paraguay and rookie Ecuador played warm up games far away from their homelands.

"If teams do not play in the sort of emotional atmosphere their own fans produce, how can they consider that adequate preparation for a World Cup?" Pele said.

"There's nothing quite like the passion of a World Cup crowd. You need to rehearse properly just as actors need to get the feel of a theater ahead of opening nights."

Pele believes that holder France, Argentina, Italy and England will be major forces in the competition ahead of four time titlist Brazil.

"I am certainly not writing off Brazil," said Pele who believes that, because of the format of the competition and the likely results of the group games, the leading contenders might meet each other in the second rounds or quarterfinals.

"Maybe that is good news for Brazil because I expect to see a very different side in Korea and Japan compared with the one that struggled through the qualifying competition.

"Out traditions mean Brazil in the finals are a very different force to Brazil in the preliminary matches or in friendlies.

"Spain, Portugal and Croatia could be among the surprises. I also think one of the African teams, perhaps Cameroon, because of their experience, could easily reach the semifinals. It's one of the most open tournaments for a long time."

France, grouped with rookie Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark, aims to become the first team since Brazil in 1958 and '62 to win the World Cup twice in a row. It also holds the European Championship.

With players such as Zinedine Zidane, scorer of a stunning volleyed winner for Real Madrid in the Champions Cup final on Wednesday, and Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry from English league and cup winner Arsenal, the French still have the biggest stars as well as the most impressive depth of quality.

The toughest group involves star-studded Argentina, England, Sweden and Nigeria.

Argentina also has such a depth of attacking talent that coach Marcelo Bielsa has left young Barcelona forward Javier Saviola and Juan Roman Riquelme of Boca Juniors out of the squad but included Claudio Caniggia, a veteran of the 1990 competition when the team lost to Germany in the final.

The English were full of confidence after scoring a 5-1 win over Germany in Munich last September but haven't won in five games since qualifying and currently is going through an injury crisis with five players either ruled out or doubtful for the finals.

Italy was runner up to France in the 2000 Euros under Dino Zoff and, with Italian soccer's most successful club coach, Giovanni Trapattoni, now in charge, has emerged as another major contender.

The Italian defense remains miserly, the midfield well organized and Trapattoni has a wealth of talent in attack with Inter's Christian Vieri, Juventus' Alessandro Del Piero, Roma's Vincenzo Montella, and Francesco Totti and AC Milan's Filippo Inzaghi all available. The coach has disappointed some fans, however, by leaving behind veteran Roberto Baggio.

Three-time winner Germany only made it into the finals through the runners up playoffs and Rudi Voeller's team has been hit badly by injuries to creative midfielder Mehmet Scholl, central defender Jens Nowotny and maybe defender Christian Woerns. But it may have one of the players of the tournament in midfielder Michael Ballack, who was a standout player all season for Champions Cup runner up Bayer Leverkusen.

Brazil struggled through qualifying and also hopes to make up for a dismal performance in the France '98 final when it was beaten 3-0 by the French.

Ronaldo is back after virtually two years out with knee injuries but there are doubts about the fitness of Rivaldo on whom their hopes heavily depend. If the "three Rs" strikeforce of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho stay fit and strike form, the Brazilians could be taking their titles record to five.

Luis Figo is the standout player in the Portugal squad while neighbor Spain has another of the world's leading stars, striker Raul Gonzalez.

African Nations Cup and Olympic gold medalist Cameroon appears the best of the outsiders but the other teams will do well to reach the quarterfinals.