Andrew Muchineripi World Cup
The sparring sessions are over. The skirmishes have been completed. The time for war is at hand. If you have been holidaying on Mars, fret not. The real World Cup begins on Friday.
With the greatest respect to all those noble qualifiers who have been eliminated, including our beloved Bafana Bafana, the truth is that they were supporting actors, not screen stars.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man, or, in this case, the teams who we all secretly suspected would be there anyway. Nations like Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Holland and Italy belong to an extremely exclusive club.
All are former holders of the trophy that symbolises world supremacy, except Holland – whose great team of the 1970s lost to hosts Germany and Argentina in consecutive deciders.
France are also through to the last eight because home advantage has worked in their favour so far. They also possess many gifted individuals, if not yet an outstanding team.
We always knew there would be surprise packets and Croatia and Denmark fill that role in France 98. Can they advance further than the quarter-finals this weekend? I have my doubts.
After two days suffering from the withdrawal symptoms of no World Cup action, the tournament returns with a vengeance on Friday afternoon when Italy face 11 Frenchmen on the field and close to 80E000 off it at the Stade de France.
Anywhere except the highly impressive new home of French football, one would fancy the Azzurri simply because they have much the better pedigree with three World Cup titles to none.
While Italy put paid to the rapidly rising ambitions of Norway with a 1-0 second-round win courtesy of a fifth goal from Christian Vieri – joint leading scorer with Gabriel Batistuta of Argentina – France struggled to beat Paraguay.
Contrary to what many may feel, I believe the golden-goal victory by the French could work in their favour because it will force the team to focus again on its weaknesses.
Slamming three goals past Bafana Bafana and four beyond Saudi Arabia may have lulled Les Bleus into the false belief that their scoring problems were over. Far from it, monsieurs!
Expect a French team full of fire and desire with midfielder conductor Zinedine Zidane back from suspension to face an Italian team that is good without matching many of its predecessors.
Later on Friday it is Brazil, champions a record four times, against Peter Schmeichel and his Great Danes in the western city of Nantes with the South Americans overwhelming favourites.
Many Brazilians believe their heroes are still stuck in the low gears, and if that is true, I can but offer my deepest sympathy to any team that faces Ronaldo and company in overdrive.
Brazil scored four times against Chile without playing particularly well and it could have been at least six as the woodwork twice foiled World Footballer of the Year Ronaldo.
The Danish team that ripped apart over- confident Nigeria was not the same one that was lucky, in the end, to hold Bafana Bafana, and I fear they may have peaked against the Super Eagles.
It will be billed as Ronaldo, the rising 21-year-old star who has already scaled extraordinary heights, against Schmeichel, probably past his peak but still among the best goalkeepers at France 98.
If France versus Italy is too close to call, Brazil look far too gifted for Denmark, who surely realise that stopping wingbacks (wingforwards would be more appropriate) Cafu and Roberto Carlos is priority number one.
Stopping captain Dunga making those deadly 60m passes would be number two on the list of coach Bo Johansson, and putting five men on Ronaldo number three. After that it should be plain sailing, Bo!
Saturday sees a repeat of the 1978 final in which Argentina beat Holland 3-1 on a Buenos Aires pitch littered with tickertape and the biggest concern for the South Americans must be whether they have got their breath back.
That classic clash with England lasted more than two hours and came one day after the Dutch dodged extra time with a last-minute winner over Yugo-slavia from reformed “bad boy” Edgar Davids.
With the teams capable of beautiful, flowing, mixed-pace football, this match could be the best of the tournament and pits Batistuta against another superb striker in Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp.
Germany and Croatia conclude proceedings on Saturday evening in a rematch of the stormy 1996 European championship quarter-final clash won 2-1 by the Germans. A similar result in Lyon would not surprise me.
Forced to show my hand, I throw the bones and predict that the semi-finals next Tuesday and Wednesday will feature France against Germany at the Stade de France and Brazil against Argentina in the port city of Marseille.
Should Croatia qualify to face Italy and Holland meet Denmark, kindly refrain from seeking my cellphone number because the voicemail will be switched off. Permanently.