The other traditional European soccer powers largely escaped playing each other.

Making book

Brazil was tabbed a 4-1 favorite Tuesday by bookmaker William Hill to win the 2002 World Cup: 4-1: Brazil 9-1: Argentina, Italy, Spain 10-1: France, Netherlands 11-1: Germany 14-1: England 33-1: Croatia, Nigeria, Sweden 40-1: Ukraine, Yugoslavia 50-1: Norway, Romania, Uruguay 66-1: Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Mexico, Portugal 80-1: Czech Republic 100-1: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Ghana, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, South Korea 125-1: Turkey 150-1: Australia, Austria, Greece, Japan, Morocco, Poland, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland 200-1: Tunisia, U.S. 250-1: Wales 500-1: Northern Ireland 750-1 and upwards: All others

Germany, a three-time champion, and England, which beat Germany for its only title when it hosted the 1966 World Cup, have a long history of showdowns at major championships.

In their last championship match, Germany beat England in the semifinals of the 1996 European Championships, before going on to win the title.

"Obviously we are in a five-team group so we have two games less," England manager Kevin Keegan said. "It will be tough ... very interesting. We know an awful lot about each other, the Germans and ourselves."

The draw in a modernistic, ship-shaped Tokyo exhibition hall started the countdown to the first World Cup to be shared by two hosts, Japan and South Korea.

A record 195 nations took part in the draw, while Japan and South Korea, as hosts, and France, as defending champions, qualify directly.

The qualifying process, which begins in March and involves hundreds of matches, will eventually produce 29 other finalists.

Konishiki, a Hawaiian-born sumo star, had a gentler hand with the draw of other European favorites.

Italy, another-three time champion who was not among the top nine seeded European teams, faces a potentially tough match against Romania, the seeded team in its group.

Croatia, bronze medalist at last year's World Cup in France but also not seeded, will have Scotland and Belgium as its toughest rivals.

Another seeded team, Yugoslavia, will have a tough job in playing against Russia and Slovenia, a former republic in the old Yugoslav federation which upset mighty Ukraine to qualify for next year's European Championship.

The Netherlands, a perennial World Cup favorite but never a champion, got into a group that also includes Portugal and the Republic of Ireland.

Germany, the reigning European champion, and England also have Greece, Finland and Albania in their Group 9.

Italy's Group 8 also includes Lithuania, Hungary and Georgia.

Yugoslavia also will have to contend with Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Faroe Islands.

Another seeded team, the Czech Republic, could run into problems against resurgent Denmark and rebuilding Bulgaria. The other teams in that Group 3 are Iceland, Northern Ireland and Malta.

Spain was drawn into Group 7 along with Austria, a team it crushed 9-0 in qualifying for the European Championship, plus Israel, which was also in its European group. Bosnia and Liechtenstein complete the group.

Only groups winners qualify directly for the finals to be played June 1-30, 2002.

Eight runners-up will go into playoff to determine four more finalists, while another runner-up will face an Asian team for the last place that could go to Europe.

Mexico, Jamaica, United States and Costa Rica go straight into the semifinal round from the group representing North and Central America and the Caribbean. The top three teams from the final group advance to the finals.

Five nations will not join the 198 countries taking part in the qualifying tournament: North Korea, Afghanistan, Niger, Burundi and Papua New Guinea.

The qualifying rounds for the World Cup in France in 1998 had 174 countries.

France, the defending champion, and the two hosts, South Korea and Japan, automatically qualify for the 32-team field.

Asia will provide two or three qualifiers, plus Japan and South Korea, the co-hosts.

South American nations were not be included in the draw because they play a league system with the top four qualifying directly and the fifth facing a team from Oceania in a playoff.

Africa will provide five teams, coming through two rounds of group qualifications.