YOKOHAMA, Japan — Does anybody want to play Argentina?
Tunisia this week pulled out of a friendly game against Argentina scheduled for Wednesday in Japan. And now the two-time world champions are desperately seeking some opposition before their opening World Cup game against Nigeria on June 2.
News reports in Buenos Aires said Saudi Arabia could be an option, but Argentine sports daily Ole said it's more likely the team will have to settle for games against three Japanese clubs.
In recent weeks, Argentina had difficulty lining up exhibition games. Other nations competing at the World Cup feared playing the strong Argentines, one of the tournament favorites.
BRAZIL BOAST: Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari thinks his team is capable of winning the World Cup a fifth time despite weak play during qualifying.
"When we started the qualifying tournament, we did not act as a team, and that affected our performance," Scolari said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "Now we have a very good team. I think the situation is entirely different."
SENT HOME: Daniel Kennedy of Portugal's World Cup squad returned home Tuesday because of what the team said was a medical problem.
Team spokesman Jose Carlos Freitas, speaking from Macau, refused to comment on whether the action was tied to drugs.
HOME ADVANTAGE: Japan lost all three games in the '98 World Cup, its only appearance, but the co-hosts are expecting much more this time.
French coach Philippe Troussier's team will have home-field advantage, with its June 4 opener against Belgium in Saitama its first major test.
"Mission: Not Impossible," is how the headline read in Wednesday's Asahi Shimbun newspaper, with Troussier talking up his team's chances.
FINAL LIST: Though teams had to submit their final 23-man player list on Tuesday, last-minute substitutions can be made in extreme cases.
FIFA will publish the official player list on Friday.
STICKING HOOLIGANS: The Central Japan Railway Company has assembled a team of 20 to spread glue over stones at two stations near Shizuoka Stadium. Cameroon plays Germany there on June 11, with Belgium and Russia facing each other June 14 at the venue.
The stones reduce train noise, but officials fear they could also become weapons in the hands of hooligans.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: The Paraguayan Soccer Association has taken Australian meat and boxes of local tea to the World Cup to feed the players.
Association president Oscar Harrison said the squad, currently training in Matsumoto, Japan, had taken 1.8 tons of baggage to the World Cup, including "yerba mate," Paraguay's tea-like drink, plus meat, maize and cassava melons.
Harrison said the team hoped to take Paraguayan meat to the tournament, but because the South American nation's beef industry is not completely free of foot and mouth disease, Australian meat was substituted.
Paraguay faces Spain, South Africa and Slovenia in its first-round group, based in Korea.