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Best players elect to stay at home for Confederations Cup

The talk around much of France ahead of the start of the Confeder-ations Cup yesterday was still centering on which players are absent for a tournament that some observers say should be eliminated.

On the contrary -- and perhaps more in tune with the competition's objective -- the players and coaches who are here say they have serious work to do, regardless of who's missing.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter led the crowd that was still preoccupied with the absences of Frenchman Zinedine Zidane and Brazilians Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.

The three Real Madrid players are preparing for the final round of the Spanish league season and therefore were left off the two signature teams of the eight-nation tournament.

Blatter accused the Spanish league Tuesday of displaying "a lack of respect" toward international competitions.

"The intentional calendar states that June 15 to July 15 are dates reserved for national teams," he said. "Only one league in Europe keeps playing in this time period -- Spain.

Besides the Spanish league's calendar, another problem plaguing the fourth edition of this event is that it holds little prestige. The last edition in Japan and South Korea in 2001 was a critical test for hosts and teams alike with the World Cup scheduled to be held the next year in the same stadiums.

This time around, there's no World Cup on the horizon and most of the top players are exhausted from a long club season that came on the heels of last year's World Cup.

With that in mind, Blatter said Tuesday that he expects the tournament to be held every four years from 2005 onward, which would reserve it for the year before each World Cup.

Blatter was scheduled to attend the opening ceremonies before France's match against Colombia in Lyon yesterday.

New Zealand, expected to be the weakest team, faces Japan in the actual first game, at the Stade de France just outside Paris.

The top two teams in each four-nation group advance to the semifinals next Thursday. The final will be held at the Stade de France next Sunday.

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said the setup is perfect for his needs three years before the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

"This tournament will really help me to form a nucleus base of players for the [World Cup] qualifying, try new tactics," he said. "It's a good competition and a great stage for such a young team."

Without Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, as well as former captain Cafu and another world-class striker in Rivaldo, Parreira is counting on Paris Saint-Germain's 23-year-old striker Ronaldinho to assume a leading role and help many inexperienced players that will surround him.

"I feel honored," he said. "I'm happy with the new guys. It's a very young team, but it doesn't really matter. They've injected energy and enthusiasm."
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