opening wave of matches in the 2002 World Cup.

Trinidad & Tobago's Marvin Andrews netted the very first goal of the competition after nine minutes of his country's 5-0 first-leg victory over the Netherland Antilles, the day before Bermuda opened their goal account in Road Town.

The matches marked the beginning of a long road, which will see 195 national associations trying to join co-hosts Japan and South Korea and defending champions France in the finals in over two years time. The 10 CONMEBOL associations in South America will be the next to launch themselves into action with the first of 90 preliminary round matches set to begin on March 28.

African nations in CAF will start their qualifying phase in April with a series of 25 home and away cup ties that will reduce the 50 participating associations to 25.

Europe will join the fray in late summer with nine groups from UEFA opening their accounts. No fixtures have been announced yet for Asia or Oceania.

The 700-800 qualifying matches are expected to far surpass the 643 games that attracted 15 million spectators to watch the preliminary rounds ahead of the 1998 finals in France.

SOCCER SOC