World Cup Preview: We are the World

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ermany is another side that has seen better days. It spent the qualifying games struggling to find its feet, and it's still trying to figure out what to do with them. Coach Rudy VOller has lost Jens Nowotny to injury, but at least he'll have Michael Ballack and Dietmar Hamann to run the creaking German machine. Saudi Arabia, a perennial qualifier, isn't a threat to Germany, but Cameroon's Indomitable Lions are another story. They are the reigning Olympic and African champions. Still, Cameroon is looking long in the tooth. The other team in this group is Ireland, which ran through the first round in '98 undefeated, and last year knocked the Netherlands out of the Cup. Mick McCarthy's men are made of stern stuff, and indefatigable captain Roy Keane is always capable of something inspiring.

Playing in Group B, Spain could sleepwalk its way to the next round. With quality players like Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Luis Enrique Martinez Garcia and Gaizka Mendieta, the Spaniards should cream Paraguay, as well as Slovenia, the smallest country to qualify; and South Africa is hopelessly out of its depth with striker Sean Bartlett lost despite Benni McCarthy's recent run of form. Spain as ever oozes class. The only question seems to be: Will the Spaniards choke in the quarters this year or wait until the semis?

As for the co-hosts, their chances of glory are limited. That said, the J. League, now in its 10th year, has vastly improved the quality of Japanese football, and the national team has progressed impressively under famed French coach Philippe "the White Witch Doctor" Troussier. In a recent friendly, Japan beat Poland. Shinji Ono, who transferred from the J. League to Holland's Feyenoord, is a hugely promising young talent, and AC Parma midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata is world-class. The team will need others to step up, though, if they are to beat Belgium or Russia in the first round. The Belgians and Russians aren't flashy but they're hard as nails. South Korea has a big-time coach in Dutchman Guus Hiddink, yet none of the players are in the same class as the man in charge. "Do you want me to play myself," an exasperated Hiddink yelled at reporters after a loss to Costa Rica. Playing in Group D with Poland, Portugal and the U.S., Korea will probably have to beat or tie the Americans to advance, a task that eluded them in a friendly earlier this year. The Yanks aren't going anywhere. The team can claim only one great field player in Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna. The U.S. might have the tournament's best goalkeepers, though, in Kasey Keller and Brad Freidel, who both play in England's Premiership. They'll be much needed. Poland, the first European team to qualify, may be one of the first out unless it improves its recent form.

The class of this group is clearly Portugal?a side ready to retake its place at the top of the game. As midfielder Luis Figo points out, the core of the team has played together since their under-19 days. And following Portugal's controversial exit against France in Euro 2000, they are aching to prove they are as good as the French. Portugal has a case. The midfield tandem of scary-fast Figo and cunning Rui Costa is as powerful a combo as any in the game. Although perfectly able to score themselves, each can also dish with pleasure to the team's true finishers Nuno Gomes and Pedro Pauleta. Figo's gimpy ankle is a worry, but if he's healthy, so are Portugal's hopes.

So let a month of 64 games begin?5,760 minutes of the best football in the history of the world. And in the intensity of those goals and saves, tackles and passes, take a moment to admire not just the matches and the beauty of play, but also to feel the passion you harbor for your side and your nation. Savor that conviction that you come from the greatest country on earth and the most imaginative culture and the finest people and, my God, Allah be praised, dios mio, hontoni ne, isn't it apparent by how your people play the game? Remember that these cultures?our cultures?can coexist. Peacefully. Harmoniously. When we play a game.

And what a game it is.