World Cup Preview: We are the World

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For Japan's sapped economy and bruised ego, there's a lot at stake. The Japanese have laid out $4.5 billion for new facilities, three times what France spent for the whole show. Sure, the Nikkei is lower than a striker who just shanked a penalty, but football has nearly ousted yakyu (baseball) as Japan's national pastime, and the country boasts more players in the premier European leagues than any other Asian nation. South Korea, too, is out to prove it belongs on football's greatest stage. A five-time participant in the finals, South Korea has never made it past the first round and tends toward a dogged, defensive style that has won over few fans. The country is extending a gregarious welcome, however, with 10 spanking-new arenas, ultra-sanitized public restrooms, and stadium-side dog-tasting booths sponsored by the National Dog Meat Restaurants Association. All cultural and culinary traits, apparently, will be celebrated during the games.

Of course, the World Cup arrives in Asia at a time of intense turmoil. While U.S., British and German forces hunt the remnants of al-Qaeda elsewhere in Asia, their football teams will duke it out in the Cup against Muslim countries such as Senegal and Saudi Arabia. Although each host country has pronounced itself ready for anything from bioterrorism to drunken Brits, the prospect of calamity lingers. "Our forces are trained for all kinds of attacks," says Kim Kwang Soo of Korea's National Police Agency Planning Group. To emphasize the point, Korean police have adopted the inspiring slogan "Orderly World Cup, Safe World Cup."

Japanese officials insist that security will be exceptionally tight at the stadiums. But a TIME reporter who was hired as a security agent for a warm-up match between Japan and Costa Rica discovered that absolute chaos ruled at the event. Charged mainly with keeping canned drinks and bottles out of the stadium, the freshly minted guards at Yokahama stadium?most aged under 20?stood dumbly by as crowds of fans stormed past the checkpoints. And what would the World Cup be without a ticket scandal? Japan's organizing committee decided not to sell to travel agents, no doubt remembering how Japanese fans in France were fleeced by crooked tour operators. But plans to hawk individual tickets online proved disastrous, with potential buyers unable to get onto the website. Other irate fans have complained that they still haven't received tickets they paid for months ago. A bum deal, apparently, transcends all cultural barriers.

France won't have the luxury of the home field this time but neither will the other favored teams. And the French team has only got better since '98. It still features largely the same defense that ran roughshod over Brazil in the final plus a mature front line that has now been battle-tested in England's Premiership and Italy's Serie A. Fullbacks Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu can pick up where they left off, augmented by Roma's superb left back Vincent Candela. They should make up for goalkeeper Fabian Barthez' propensity to lose his mind.

This year, France can score from anywhere. Thierry Henry's finishing ability is now a match for his frightening speed. And in David Trzguet?fondly known as Trzgoal?France boasts the highest scoring player in the Italian league. And running the whole show is the maestro, Zidane, fresh from his victory with Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League. One danger: opposing teams may resort to the hatchet to shred French rhythm, if not limbs. "It's becoming clear that this is the kind of physical, even rough treatment the French team is going to have to expect," lamented Desailly, following a brutal "friendly" game against Australia last November. "What are you going to do?most teams don't have the technical abilities we do and contact is one way they cut our advantage." They'll have to hope for staunch protection from FIFA's referees, who issued a record 22 red cards during the '98 Cup.

If Argentina's economy were as richly endowed as its football team, the country could rename itself South Switzerland. With the nation's banks melting down and the currency as porous as the Faroe Islands' defense, victory on the playing field could be the only joy for Argentines for the next four years. Their hopes rest on stars like Lazio's lethal strike pair of Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez. Juan Sebastian Veron is capable of finding them anywhere on the pitch, and behind him is formidable Romanista Walter "the Wall" Samuel. Argentina easily won its qualifying group in South America, but now finds itself in the so-called Group of Death with England, Nigeria and Sweden. As Argentina boasts some of football's most ruthless butchers, it is well armed for the fight.

Certainly, England will provide one. Forget the Falklands War. England's grudge against Argentina runs much deeper. First, Argentina knocked England out of the Cup in 1986 when Diego Maradona shoved the ball into the goal with what he modestly called "the hand of God." Then, in 1998, Argentina defeated England again after midfield star David Beckham was sent off for a dumb but arguably minor foul. This time, wonder boy Beckham is again the story. Six weeks ago, Deportivo La Corua's Argentine midfielder Aldo Duscher felled Beckham in a game against Manchester United, breaking a bone in the Englishman's foot. Nonetheless, Beckham expects to be fit when England confronts Argentina June 7.