Lilliputians Gaining Stature at Global Extravaganza
Despite its reputation as the most popular international sporting event, the World Cup remains a private, exclusive club. In 72 years of this quadrennial tournament, only seven nations have won a championship. The title is akin to a soccer ball kicked around among elite friends.
That is why the first World Cup played in Asia has been stunning for its unpredictability. Past champions like France and Argentina have already been sent home. Gone also is Cameroon, the African power picked by many as a semifinalist. Joining the list of premature exits was Portugal.
Meanwhile, Senegal, in its World Cup debut, advanced to the quarterfinals today. South Korea, which had never won a match in five previous appearances, has galvanized a nation with its ravenous play. Japan also received its first promotion to the knockout phase of the tournament. Even the United States, which lost all three of its games in 1998, reached the second round.
'The gap between the bigger and smaller nations has been getting smaller in recent years, but this has been quite a surprise,' Michael Laudrup, an assistant coach for Denmark, told reporters in Japan.
Numerous opinions have been offered to explain the upsets, many related to the exhausting schedules that the world's top players face with their professional clubs in Europe's top leagues. Many of these players appear to be tired after long club seasons in England, Italy, Germany and Spain, and they lack sufficient World Cup preparation with their national teams.
For instance, the French midfielder Zinedine Zidane, considered by many to be the best player in the world, plays for Real Madrid in the Spanish League. Real Madrid won the Champions League, Europe's top club tournament, on May 15, and his French team opened the World Cup on May 31. That gave France precious little time to develop the elegant, cohesive play that brought it the World Cup championship in 1998.
After his team was shocked, 3-2, by the United States, Portugal Coach Antonio Oliveira said, 'With our players in the European leagues, we only had two weeks to prepare.'
Players grow tired after professional seasons that now run nearly year-round. Midfielder Luis Figo of Portugal, the reigning world player of the year, was clearly exhausted by halftime of the game against the United States. Like Zidane, he had played with Real Madrid in the Champions League final. The world's elite players generally participate in two matches a week in commitments to their league and national teams. This can be draining. A soccer match lasts 90 minutes, nearly twice as long as an N.B.A. game. Each team is allowed three substitutions a match, and a player cannot return to the game once he has gone to the bench. There is no such thing as taking a breather, as there is in football.
Fatigue can make players more susceptible to injuries. Zidane suffered a torn thigh muscle in a tuneup match against South Korea and missed France's first two World Cup matches. Les Bleus exited meekly, failing to score a goal in three matches.
An eternal tug of war exists between club teams and national teams for the services of players. While it remains an honor to play for one's national team, the club teams pay the players million-dollar salaries. Clubs are reluctant to have their assets risk fatigue or injury with their national teams. Real Madrid was so bold as to object to Zidane's playing at less than full health in the World Cup.
'My attitude is, with the national team players, we're borrowing someone else's players,' United States Coach Bruce Arena said. 'They're not our players.'
Stars on the top European club teams participate in so many important matches during their league seasons that the World Cup may not seem as special to them as it may to players from the United States and Senegal, who perform on lesser professional teams, the American captain, Claudio Reyna, said.
'They play in so many big games, week in and week out, this is just another big game to them,' Reyna said. 'When you are playing for a title on a weekly basis, it's probably a bit strange getting up for it, and having that little extra for the World Cup.'
South Korea has only two players on European club teams. Most of its roster competes in a domestic league or in Japan. The South Koreans have been training together for several months, as opposed to several weeks. It showed in their fitness and their teamwork as they surrendered only one goal (to the United States) in three matches of group play.
'They could win a track meet right now, they're so fit,' Arena said.
While league play can be draining, professional experience has been critical in developing talent for the lesser-known soccer countries. Twenty-one of the 23 players on Senegal's World Cup team play professionally in France. While it was a shock to everyone when the West African nation defeated its former colonial ruler in the World Cup opener, it was no surprise to the confident Senegal players.
'No one had confidence in our team, but I always believed we would do it,' said El Hadji Diouf, a Senegalese forward, after his team's 1-0 victory over France, the defending champion.
In 1990, when the United States qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 40 years, it was a team composed essentially of college players. Before its match against Italy in Rome, Coach Bob Gansler went over the Italian roster, listing each player's position and contract, goalkeeper Tony Meola said. 'Their team was worth $120 million,' Meola said. 'Our entire soccer federation was worth $1.5 million at the time.'
Twelve years later, all of the Americans are professionals. Twelve play in Europe, and the rest in Major League Soccer.
Of course, it would be vastly premature to dismiss all of the world's elite teams. Italy, Germany and England are still in contention. Brazil, the only four-time champion, has played wondrously in attack, and its rejuvenated star, Ronaldo, has collected four goals in three matches.
'The longer the tournament goes, I think it favors the stronger countries that have the elite players,' Arena said. 'As they move forward, I think they'll get better. The problem is, can they move forward?'
SOCCER