Host team Germany would seem a good choice to go far, but is in transition. Coach Juergen Klinsmann has gone offensive, dropping the mechanical schemes of recent German squads. Klinsmann, who lives in California, has also introduced American fitness trainers and a psychologist to the training regimen.

He often has been criticized for making so many changes, and if the Germans struggle early, it will be interesting to see if Klinsmann sticks to his nontraditional approach.

"It's important for me to have my peace and to keep some distance," Klinsmann said. "Sometimes you have a better view from outside."

The second World Cup in Germany -- the West Germans won on home soil in 1974 -- will be staged all across the country in a variety of stadiums.

There are glittering new buildings in Munich, Gelsenkirchen and Leipzig, the only former East German city hosting games. Stadiums in Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, Nuremberg and Stuttgart have been modernized.

And the final will be held July 9 in Olympiastadion, originally built for the 1936 Olympics under the reign of Adolf Hitler.

As fans travel along the high-speed autobahn -- from the bustling Berlin and Munich to the Black Forest and historic Nuremberg -- they'll encounter a massive security force that organizers say is prepared to handle issues ranging from safety to racism to prostitution to hooliganism.

"We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism," said Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany's top security official. "We will do everything in our power to prevent the soccer World Cup from being used by extremist organizations to spread their abhorrent thoughts."

NATO will have AWACS surveillance planes patrolling the German skies during the tournament. Soldiers will be on standby with radiation and chemical warfare detection equipment. The German government will reimpose national passport checks at borders to minimize the threat of terrorism.

And 16,000 private guards were hired by FIFA to supplement military and police personnel.

Hooliganism, particularly by English, Dutch and Polish fans, has been a theme security forces are concentrating on eliminating. But Schaeuble also said: "The biggest problem we have is with German hooligans -- we must not lay that at the door of our neighbors."

The well-behaved fans, of course, will provide a boost for the hosts. But there certainly will be plenty of fans on hand from other European contenders: England, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and the Czech Republic.

Perhaps France, Spain and Portugal will overcome their inconsistencies and challenge for the trophy.

This is, after all, the time to produce.

"National teams could do great things in qualifying and win friendly games and what have you, but the acid test of any national team is a World Cup," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. "You can have polls, you can talk about this player, that player, but then you start in a process that began four years ago,with 204, 205 countries and now you're down to 32. That's the real animal."