In fact, the Cup itself is fine, bringing together the soccer champions of each continent. The problem, according to many coaches, players and fans, is that soccer simply has too many Cups for the stars to handle.

Take the plight of the Brazilian team. On Sunday last they won the Copa America. The following day, the players returned to Brazil to meet with the President, then hopped a plane to Mexico to start training for the Confederations Cup. And when this one's over, most will fly straight to Europe to join their clubs' pre-season.

No wonder most of Brazil's top stars backed out. Absent are the three forwards, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Amoroso, wingers Roberto Carlos and Cafu, and starting central defender Antonio Carlos.

Luxemburgo has consistently refused to discuss the stars' absence, saying he will onlytalk about players who are here. As for the usefulness of the Cup, he would only muse: ``They exist, so we have to play in them.''

Other teams were more blunt. ``It's poorly timed. The players are stretched in every direction,'' said US coach Bruce Arena.

Fifa President Joseph Blatter acknowledged yesterday that ``some of today's stars are missing,'' but added that ``we will be discovering the stars of the future.''

German soccer star Bixente Lizarazu, who stayed behind to train with Bayern Munich, as did forward Oliver Biefhoff, said the number of international matches is getting overwhelming. ``Nobody will remember who won or lost these matches,'' Lizarazu said.

``Pretty soon we're going to have 200 matches in a year. That's too much, it won't work." Originally, the cup was scheduled for January, but world champions France said they couldn't make it. The organisers postponed it to late July. France said they couldn't make the new dates either -- and asked European champs Germany to go in itsplace.

German soccer officials ``weren't very enthusiastic,'' according to coach Erich Ribbeck. But with a bid to play host to the 2006 World Cup in the works, he said it would have looked bad to bow out.