World Cup

Watching World Cup soccer on a 50-inch screen at the Best Buy in Arundel Mills last week, Brian Sturm was gazing through clunky-looking glasses at what could be the next big thing in popular entertainment. Sturm, a 34-year-old financial analyst who considers himself a "huge" sports fan, was brought into the store by the games and the offhand remark of a friend who said the 3D display at Best Buy would show him sports in a way he never had seen before. "The picture is amazing, and I'm not a 3D kind of guy," Sturm said.

Motivation level high Paul Doyle Hartford Courant After a sometimes lethargic performance against the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.S. doesn't seem primed for much success in the World Cup. And with the Americans slipping to 18th in the FIFA rankings, expectations couldn't be lower. That's why the U.S. can sneak out of the first round in South Africa. After opening with a doozy - England on June 12 - the Americans have Slovenia and Algeria.

If this serious and sober newspaper were published in, say, Milan or Sao Paulo, this editorial would not be about soccer's World Cup in general. It would be about tactics and lineups for today's final match.Americans have had a chance to see the intensity that surrounds soccer in the rest of world as the World Cup is being played in this country for the first time -- such intensity that lineups have been second-guessed publicly not just by editorialists but by the president of Mexico, the prime minister of Italy and the Brazilian coach's mother.

Results: Yugoslavia 1, Iran 0Croatia 3, Jamaica 1Argentina 1, Japan 0Yesterday's star: Robert Prosinecki, Croatia, scored in 53rd minute to break 1-1 tie en route to 3-1 win over Jamaica. The goal gave Prosinecki scores for different teams in a World Cup, having scored for Yugoslavia in a victory over the United Arab Emirates in 1990.History: Japan, Jamaica and Croatia all made their World Cup debuts yesterday. Injuries: Striker Marcelo Salas, who scored both of Chile's goals in its opening tie with Italy, gave teammates a scare yesterday when he left the practice field holding his right thigh.

Group A Denmark Best finish: Quarterfinalist, 1998. 1998 showing: Lost in the quarterfinals to Brazil. Coach: Morten Olsen. Players to watch: Ebbe Sand, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Thomas Helveg. Outlook: Without giant goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, now retired from international play, and brothers Brian and Michael Laudrup, Denmark isn't what it was four years ago. Still, the Danes have plenty of heart and two top-notch forwards in Sand, the 2001 German Bundesliga top goal scorer, and Tomasson, who is headed for AC Milan after winning the UEFA Cup with Feyenoord, so who knows?

Just a couple more days until the biggie, the World Cup, takes permanent possession of the psyches of 2 billion of the world's inhabitants and . . . what do you mean you never heard of the thing?OK, if that's the case, I'm here to fill you in on a few things you might find interesting as you ponder the question, what's all the noise about?First off, the 24-nation tournament will rage from June 17 through July 17 with ESPN and ESPN2 on hand to cover 41 games and ABC doing 11. Univision will do all 52 games in Spanish.

How does hosting a World Cup sound to you, Baltimore? Sound like a pretty good idea? Bring a lot of visitors to the city? Generate a lot of ka-ching for hotels, bars and restaurants? Then where were you Saturday night, when a crowd of just 36,569 showed up at M&T Bank Stadium for the big soccer friendly between Manchester City and Inter Milan? Understand this isn't to say a crowd that size is anything to sneeze at. Forty thousand is fine for, like, a big dog show.

MARCELO BALBOAPos.: DefenderAge: 26Home: Cerritos, Calif.Highlights: 10 goals in 90 international appearances. . . . Has four international goals this season. . . . Highest-scoring defender in U.S. history. . . . Substitute against Czechoslovakia in 1990 World Cup, then started two remaining games. . . . Against Romania, in third World Cup game this year, probably will tie Bruce Murray's record for U.S. international appearances.

In summing up the selection process to host a World Cup, the president of soccer's governing body put it in simple terms. "Football is not only about winning, football is also a school of life where you learn to lose," FIFA President Sepp Blatter told a worldwide television audience and those gathered in Zurich, Switzerland, for Thursday's announcement of the 2018 and 2022 sites. The U.S. bid committee learned that lesson minutes later, losing out as host of the 2022 event to tiny Qatar.

Believe it or not, some things are better left untouched by technology: "Monopoly" is one of them.Case in point is the new CD-ROM game, "Monopoly: World Cup France 98 Edition," now available from Hasbro (www.hasbro- interactive.com) for $30.Much in this classic game is the same - the object, the game rules, the four corner spaces and their functions. Victory still belongs to the player remaining after all other players have gone bankrupt.A lot is different, too. Most notably, the World Cup theme.