BALANCED SQUAD MORE IMPORTANT THAN STAR QUALITY.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH

Brazil had the stars, the glitz and the glamour, the Ronaldos and the Roberto Carloses and the Denilsons, all of that.

What it didn't have was a coherent team. And if the stirring abilities of the Brazilians' individuals seduced the world to believe otherwise, what occurred Sunday night at the Stade de France set everyone straight.

France 3, Brazil 0.

The home team's richly deserved triumph in the World Cup final might have been easier than anyone, even the French, had the right to expect. But that's only because all of us were fooling ourselves.

We believed that any team with Ronaldo, with Roberto Carlos, with Denilson, with Bebeto and Dunga and Rivaldo and Cafu and Leonardo and (add your favorite name here) couldn't lose, that the depth of talent employed by Brazil ensured that it would capture another crown, its second in succession and its fifth since the Cup first kicked off 68 years ago.

But talent only counts for so much, and it wasn't enough to unlock a French defense that, by the end, was without its two primary central backs (suspended Laurent Blanc and red-carded Marcel Desailly); it wasn't enough to out-fight the French in midfield (where Emmanuel Petit, Christian Karembeu and Didier Deschamps won everything); and it wasn't enough to prevent the French (primarily Zinedine Zidane) from creating chance after chance after chance.

With a little more luck, France might have scored seven.

It might have been a different story, true, had Ronaldo been fully fit, but that's just part of the problem. The Brazilians' only hope, it appears, was for the world's best player to carry them to the title. His bum left ankle left him in no shape to compete, and he was never an issue in the match.

France's heroes were many, and not all of them so obvious. Yes, Zidane made this his Cup, with the two headers and his uncanny ability to pick apart opposing defenses. Desailly, the best defender in the tournament - maybe the top player - anchored a defense that dominated the Brazilians, that made them France's fifth shutout victim in seven Cup games.

But it was the role players, and the way they responded to adversity throughout the Cup, that made France the best team here.

How about Lilian Thuram, the ace right back, who scored those two goals against Croatia and, on Sunday, out-battled Roberto Carlos on the wing?

Or Petit, who had a courageous effort in support of Zidane all tournament and as Dechamps' right-hand man, moved to back when Desailly was dismissed and was rewarded with the final goal?

Or Franck Leboeuf, who stepped in for Blanc and provided a flawless performance?

Or Bixente Lizarazu, the other defender - the left back who, Zidane aside, might have been the best player on the field Sunday?

Or Deschamps, the captain, or Karembeu, or snake-bit Youri Djorkaeff, or super subs Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, or Christophe Dugarry? Or Patrick Vieira whose appearance finished off the Brazilians? Or Fabien Barthez, who made his case as a world-class goalkeeper?

``We had to go through everything - didn't we? - in this competition,'' said the much-maligned Aime Jacquet, the coach who rebuilt Les Bleus from the world's greatest failure into champions. ``But we overcame every obstacle.''

``We've beaten adversity. And under pressure, France has showed it's a great team with a lot of heart.''

Amen.

HOSPITABLE HOSTS

A list of host nations that won the World Cup final:

Year Team

1930 Uruguay

1934 Italy

1966 England

1974 West Germany

1978 Argentina

1988 France

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BOX: HOSPITABLE HOSTS (see text)