Tough draw beckons European teams

Tough draw beckons European teams
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO, DEC 6: The countdown to the 2002 World Cup officially starts tomorrow, when Fifa conducts the preliminary draw for hundreds of qualifying matches that will eventually produce 32 teams to contest the final round in Japan and South Korea.

The draw, in a ship-shaped modernistic Tokyo exhibition hall, will be watched with anxiety in Europe, which provides the bulk of finalists.

With such traditional soccer powers and former champions as Italy and England not among the top-seeded group of nine nations, the draw could set up potentially tough campaigns for some of the European teams.

In theory, the draw might produce such a `group of death' that includes three-time champion Germany, three-time champion Italy, 1998 bronze medalist Croatia, and Slovenia, which upset mighty Ukraine to qualify for the 2000 European Championship.

The top-seeded group consists of Spain, Romania, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and Yugoslavia.

The second-tier group consists of Austria,Portugal, Italy, Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, England, Turkey and Denmark.

Uefa, the European governing body of soccer, determined the seedings according to the results of the 1998 World Cup in France and qualifying for the Euro 2000.

The 51 European nations will be divided into nine groups. The winners advance to the finals.

Eight runners-up go into playoffs to produce four more qualifiers. Another European runner-up goes into a playoff with the third-placed team from the final Asian qualifying competition, leaving Europe with either 13 or 14 teams at the 2002 World Cup, plus France, the defending champion that has an automatic berth.

Japan and South Korea, as co-hosts, also have automatic berths. Two rounds of qualifying involving 40 nations, beginning with 10 groups of four teams each, will produce two direct qualifiers from Asia.

The winners of the groups advance into two groups of five, with the winners advancing to the finals. The two runners-up meet in a playoff and the winner plays a europeannation for the final spot.

South America, the only other confederation ever to produce a world cup champion apart from Europe, won't have to worry abou tomorrow's draw: the 10 nations will play a league system, with the top four finishers advancing to the finals.

The fifth-placed team could also clinch a place in a playoff with a team from the Oceania group.

The 10 South American teams will each play 18 games -- a huge headache for top European clubs that employ many South American stars who have to be released for national team duty.

The 50 African nations taking part will be drawn into a knockout first round, with the 25 winners to be later drawn into groups of five. Each group winner qualifies.

The Oceania competition comprises 10 teams in two groups of five, with the winners meeting in a playoff to determine which team will face the fifth-placed South American team.

With 35 teams battling for three places, the Concacaf zone has the most complicated qualifying system of group and knockoutgames. The United States, Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica join the qualifying in the semi-final stage.

A record 198 countries have entered the preliminary draw, up from 174 for the 1998 World Cup.

Only five Fifa members deciding not to apply -- North Korea, Afghanistan, Niger, Burundi and Papua New Guinea.

North Korea's decision to stay away effectively rules out the reclusive nation from staging any games or fielding a joint team with South Korea, according to Lennart Johansson, Fifa's chief of World Cup competitions. Qualifying games start in March and the process will be finished by the end of 2001.

The final tournament will be played June 1-30, 2002, at 20 venues evenly divided between South Korea and Japan. The opening match will be in Seoul, South Korea, the final in Yokohama, Japan.