Worldcup 1998 : Participants, Final Draw, December 4 1997.

Thursday 4 December
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Brazil-Scotland opens World Cup '98
Spain, Nigeria, Paraguay, Bulgaria in 'group of death'

Four-time titlist Brazil will start the defense of the World Cup against Scotland, which has never been past the first round in seven tries.

The Group A June 10 matchup at the new 80,000-capacity Stade de France at Saint-Denis outside Paris was announced at Thursday's draw ceremony.

In other eye-catching games, host France will play debutant South Africa in Marseille on June 12 in its first match of the WorldCup finals and three-time titlist Germany will start with a game against the United States in Paris June 15.

The draw, conducted for the first time in the open air, threw up four easy groupings, two tough ones and two well-balanced ones. With half the teams going out after the opening round of group matches,nations such as England, 1994 semifinalist Bulgaria and the United States looked in danger of going home early.

England, which had hoped to be seeded and avoid some of thepowerhouse teams, was grouped with Romania and Colombia in Group G but at least would be confident of beating Tunisia.

Bulgaria was forced to play Spain, Olympic titlist Nigeria and improving South American nation Paraguay.

The United States faces powerhouses Germany, a three-time titlist and European champion, and Yugoslavia, which reached the finals by twice crushing Hungary in the playoffs.

The Americans also must face Iran. The two nations have been at diplomatic loggerheads since radical Iranians seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran 18 years ago.

Iran was the last team to qualify for the 32-nation finals, beating Australia in the final playoff game on Saturday.

Netherlands and Belgium, which played each other in the qualifying round, open against each other June 13 in Saint-Denis in Group E.

The eight groups are:

Group A -- Brazil, Scotland, Morocco, Norway.
Group B -- Italy, Chile, Cameroon, Austria.
Group C -- France, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Denmark
Group D -- Spain, Nigeria, Paraguay, Bulgaria.
Group E -- Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Mexico
Group F -- Germany, United States, Yugoslavia, Iran
Group G -- Romania, Colombia, England, Tunisia
Group H -- Argentina, Japan, Jamaica, Croatia

Brazil and Italy, who played out the last final in 1994, look well placed to make it to the last 16.

After playing Scotland, the Brazilians face Morocco and Norway, and will be confident of gaining one of the two qualifying places.

The Italians, who squeezed into the finals after a playoff against Russia, face Chile in their opening game June 11 in Bordeaux. Theythen go on to meet Cameroon June 17 at Montpellier and Austria June 23 in Stade de France.

Although Cameroon has made it for the third time in a row, it looks nowhere near as strong as when it made the quarterfinal in 1990.

The French also look favored to reach the second round, especially on home territory.

After meeting the South Africans, they face Saudi Arabia June 18 at Stade de France and finally under-achiever Denmark June 24 in Lyon.

Argentina, a two-time titlist, plays against three debutants but one of them, Croatia, is an impressive newcomer with some big stars.

The South Americans, who won in 1978 and 1986, start against Japan June 14 at Toulouse, then meet Jamaica June 21 at Parc des Princes in Paris, and then have their only tough game, against the Croatians, June 26 in Bordeaux.

"This is the highest quality group, the English group is also complicated but I believe that our group is the most difficult," said Spanish coach Javier Clemente.

"I always said we would have to watch out for the Africans, and it turns out that we have to play Nigeria, the best of them, and we have to play them at 2 p.m., which is the hottest time of the day.

"We have not been given any of the easy options in our group, and it would be a mistake to think of Paraguay in that way. Paraguay is a little bit worse than Colombia but only just."

Dutch coach Guus Hiddink said he was amazed his team had to play Belgium again. They also met in the last finals in the United States where the Belgians won 1-0 in the first round.

"It's curious. As I flew to Marseille from Brussels I thought it could just happen that we meet each other. It is very curious."

"After what happened in America we must be careful. They are still a good team and they have good defenders."

South African defender Sizwe Motaung was upbeat about his team's draw.

"We are happy with the draw and I can assure you we will make South Africa proud," he said. "It is important for us to score a goal against the hosts to put us on a good footing.

"The preparations in the South African camp are going well and the guys are capable of making it."

The Yugoslavs, who were banned from playing in the last World Cup as part of U.N. sanctions arising out of the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, were pleased with the draw.

"I think we got the opponents we have wished for. I am pleased and I believe that Yugoslavia will qualify for further competition," said trainer Slobodan Santrac.

His deputy, Ilija Petkovic, also was upbeat.

"We have good hopes in this group," he said. "The Germans are thefavorites, of course, but we should be better than Americans and Iran."

Goalkeeper Ivica Kralj said the first match with Iran June 14 at Saint-Etienne was the most important of the three.

"I believe we are better than Iran and the Americans," he said. "We will do our best to beat the Germans, but those are just wishes for now."