France 98 is already in its tenth day and already the current champion, Brazil and the host country, France have qualified for the second round. The performance of those two countries during the qualifying round have been very impressive indeed and has given renewed hope to their fans that they will go all the way and play in the World Cup Grand Final on July 12th 1998 at the Stade de France,the biggest arena ever built.

For some of the other countries that are participating in this year’s tournament it’s the end of the dream to claim the solid gold trophy which rewards the champion nation for the next four years. Results so far indicate that Saudi Arabia in Group C cannot make it to the next round. South Korea will probably suffer the same fate unless it can beat Belgium in Paris on the 25th of June.

Nigeria, the Current Olympic Champion, heads the table in Group D with Spain, the most favoured team to win this Group before the start of the tournament, in last position. It will have to win against Bulgaria on June 24th to have any chance of staying in the competition.

In Group H, Croatia and Argentina will certainly advance to the next stage with the first placing being decided when those two countries meet on June 26th in Bordeaux. The Scots have a faint chance of making it to the next round if they come out winners against Morocco at St Etienne on the 23rd of June, whereas Holland, with the biggest winning score so far in the tournament (5-0) against the South Koreans is ahead of Mexico in Group E, with Belgium also a strong contender to qualify. However they will have to wait the outcome of the game between the two current leaders of this Group on June 25th at St Etienne.