BRAZIL
He's no idiot: You've got to feel sorry for Mario Zagallo. He's the only guy who's been involved with all four World Cup championship teams, yet he gets little respect.
Zagallo played for the first two Brazilian champions, coached the '70 team and was Carlos Alberto Parreira's right-hand man at USA '94.
Zagallo came under heavy criticism after the loss to the United States at the Gold Cup, and cries of ''Idiot! Idiot!'' rang out through Maracana after Brazil lost to Argentina in late April.
Zagallo doesn't mind all the criticism: ''Let them keep on criticizing me because it brings me luck.''
Who's the boss? The appointment of the great Zico as Zagallo's ''assistant'' after the Gold Cup debacle begs the question, what is his role? Many believed Zico, dubbed ''the White Pele'' during his playing days, was brought in to run the team.
It will be interesting to see the reaction within the team if Zagallo picks Zico's pals like Bebeto and Leonardo, both out of favor this year.
Outside help: Brazil has had great forwards like Leonidas, Pele, Garrincha, Romario and now Ronaldo. Another constant in all great Brazil teams has been top-notch outside backs: Djalma Santos and Nilton Santos in '58 and '62, Carlos Alberto in '70, Junior in '82, Josimar and Branco in '86, Jorginho, Leonardo (until he clocked Tab Ramos), Cafu and Branco in '94.
Left back Roberto Carlos may be the most dangerous long-distance shooter in the '98 tournament. How well Brazil does may depend on Cafu's return to form. Failure to get solid play out of the wing backs was a key reason for Brazil's disastrous showing at the '98 Gold Cup.
Brazil in brief
World Cup appearances: 15. Best finish: Champion (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994). Record (W-T-L): 49-13-11. How it qualified: defending champion.
SCOTLAND
The Scottish curse: No team has had more bad luck in the World Cup than Scotland. Seven times it reached the finals, and seven times it went out in the first round.
The Scots actually have a decent draw this time – they've lost just once in 11 games against Norway and are favored to beat Morocco – though they've gotten good draws in the past and faltered. Case in point: 1978. Ally MacLeod's team beat eventual runner-up the Netherlands but could not make up for a loss to Peru and a tie with Iran. This after the ''Ally's Army'' record boasted, ''We'll really shake them up, when we win the World Cup''
Coach Craig Brown has purposely tried to keep things low key this time. That's a big reason why he brought his team to New Jersey for training camp, as far away from media and fans as possible.
Where's the offense? Brown's team is solid enough in the back, having allowed about a goal every three games since '94.
The lack of firepower up front is a bad omen, though. In three straight tournaments – 1974, 1978 and 1982 – the Scots went out on goal difference.
Kevin Gallacher is coming off another solid year at Blackburn Rovers, but injuries cloud his World Cup campaign.
Tartan Army rewarded: Scottish fans are legendary for their good spirit and loyalty. When Scotland qualified for the '78 World Cup, a story, later proven to be untrue, circulated that fans were going to travel to Argentina by submarine to support Ally's Army.
This year, the Scottish FA rewarded Tartan Army faithful who traveled to Estonia for the qualifier that never was – the home team couldn't make it to the stadium on time – by giving them tickets to all three games in France, out of its allotment of just 10,000 tickets.
Scotland in Brief
World Cup appearances: 7. Best finish: first round. Record (W-T-L): 4-6-10. How it qualified: Europe – Austria 0-0, 2-0, Latvia 2-0, 2-0, Sweden 1-0, 1-2, Estonia 0-0, 2-0 (best second-place finisher).
NORWAY
Go with the Flos: Four years ago, it was 6-foot-5 Jostein Flo to whom Norway lofted long balls.
This time, it's his brother, Tore Andre, who will be the focal point of the Norwegian attack. Tore Andre, the young Chelsea striker, is even bigger, but better on the ball.
(Cousin Havard should start in midfield.)
The Norwegians have long been admirers of English soccer and the long-ball game. Before the advent of satellite television, the only soccer most Norwegians saw was English league soccer.
Today, 25 Norwegians are on the books of English clubs.
California connection: Espen Baardsen, the Californian who signed with Tottenham out of high school, figured he had a better shot of playing for his parents' Norway than he did for the U.S., what with Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel, both in their 20s, ahead of him.
He traded in his U.S. U-20 jersey, hoping to one day make the Norway team. Never would he have believed that he'd make the Norway World Cup team.
Baardsen's success with Norway's U-21 team convinced coach Egil ''Drillo'' Olsen to choose Baardsen.
For the time being, Norway's No. 1 keeper is Frode Grodas, the No. 3 keeper at Spurs, behind Baardsen and regular starter Ian Walker.
Drillo the 68er: In socialist France, where sportswriters like to refer to him as a soixante-huitard, in reference to the '68 student demonstrators who rocked Paris, Olsen is too radical for most citizens.
Drillo – who got his nickname for his hard shot during his playing days – wants everyone to be clear about his political leanings: ''I am not a Socialist. I am a Communist.''
Norway in brief
World Cup appearances: 2. Best finish: first round. Record (W-T-L): 1-1-2. How it qualified: Europe – Hungary 3-0, 1-1, Finland 1-1, 4-0, Switzerland 1-0, 5-0, Azerbaijan 5-0, 1-0 (Group 3 champion).
MOROCCO
At home in Europe: Four years after a disastrous '94 World Cup, where they were one of two teams to lose all three games, the Lions of Atlas, under Frenchman Henri Michel, are Africa's top-rated team behind Nigeria.
The team is dominated by European-based players, with an increasing number of them products of the large Moroccan communities in Western Europe.
Star Mustapha Hadji turned down a chance to play for France's U-21 team in order to go with Morocco to USA '94.
Dutch-born striker Ali El Khattabi didn't speak French or Arabic when he joined the team last fall.
Remember Monterrey: The Lions of Atlas figure to be heavy underdogs in Group A. But they entered the Mexico '86 finals as longshots in a group featuring England, Poland and Portugal and they won the group, becoming the first African team to advance to the second round.
An exile returns: Michel's great mistake in his career was taking over for Michel Hidalgo as French national team coach when he did.
It's long since been forgotten that Michel led a team of nobodies to France's only world championship, the gold medal at the '84 Los Angeles Olympics.
A third-place finish at Mexico '86, the last hurrah for Platini, Giresse, Tigana and company, was a big disappointment after the European Championship title two years earlier in Hidalgo's farewell. By the end of 1988, Michel was gone, the victim of a brutal putsch.
Except for a short spell at Paris St. Germain, he's never coached in France.
Morocco in brief
World Cup appearances: 3. Best finish: round of 16 (1986). Record (W-T-L): 1-3-6. How it qualified: Africa – Sierra Leone 4-0, 1-0, Ghana 2-2, 1-0, Gabon 4-0, 2-0 (Group 5 champion).