WORLD CUP A TO Z: UNDERSTANDING THIS YEAR'S TOURNAMENT HIS WAY IS ELEMENTARY.

Byline: Rob Miech San Gabriel Valley Tribune

The World Cup, from A to Z, according to Paul Caligiuri, a UCLA graduate and a member of the Galaxy:

A is for Atlas Lions. What country goes by that nickname? Morocco.

B is for Bafana Bafana, or ``The Boys'', is South Africa. Because of apartheid, it had been banned from the Cup for 28 years.

C is for Cameroon. It had a dreamy tournament in 1990 in Italy, beating defending champ Argentina and then Brazil to reach the quarterfinals. Don't look for the Indomitable Lions to repeat those feats, though, in France.

D is for Doctor Khumalo, who played with the MetroStars in '97 and is back for another tour with South Africa.

E is for Eiffel Tower. Had to squeeze in a monument somewhere.

F is for France, which last played host to host to soccer's grand event in 1938 when Italy defeated Hungary 4-2 in Paris for its second consecutive trophy.

G is for Gazza, as Paul Gascoigne is known throughout the United Kingdom. He was left off England's roster Tuesday.

H is for Holland, which will be powered by Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overomes.

I is for Italy. It has two outstanding players in Fabrizio Ravanelli (Marseille) and Christian Vieri (Atletico Madrid), who might battle to be this Cup's Roberto Baggio.

J is for Jamaica coach Rene Simoes, a Brazilian. He has been criticized at home for giving eight spots on his roster to England-based players of Jamaican heritage, including Frank Sinclair of Chelsea.

K is for Kasey Keller, the U.S. goalie who has achieved rare fame in England, first with Millwall and then Leicester City in the Premiership. He must be peerless for the Americans to advance.

L is for Laudrups, as in the brothers Michael and Brian, who play for Denmark. Michael was on the '86 team that advanced to the second round in Mexico.

M is for Muller, Gerd. The leading World Cup career scorer.

N is for Norway, which defeated Brazil 4-2 in May 1997. Many of the Norwegians play in Europe's top-flight leagues, so they won't be intimidated by the defending champs.

O is for Olympic champion Nigeria, which boasts Taribo West, a stellar defender for Inter Milan, and Nwankwo Kanu, who is fully recovered from heart surgery.

P is for Pickles, the dog, which became an overnight star when he and his owner found the missing World Cup trophy outside their Norwood, London, home in March 1966.

Q is for Quite a mess in Iran, which is working on its fourth coach since the fall. The Iranians doused Maldives 17-0 in qualifying, but they've gone 1-2-1 in their past four games.

R is for Ronaldo Luis Nazario da Lima. But the 21-year-old Brazilian is known by his first name alone. Wish you were that famous? With the whole world watching, he will be tested. And he will rise to the occasion.

S is for Spanish coaches, who voted Luis Enrique (Barcelona) as the top player in that league this season.

T is for The last four World Cups played on European soil, all won by European teams.

U is for Ulf Kirsten (Leverkusen) of Germany. He was banned for nine weeks and fined about $5,000 in December when videotape proved he elbowed Schalke's Thomas Linke in his jaw.

V is for Viktor Ikpeba (Monaco), who was chosen as Africa's player of the year. He will need help from Benedict McCarthy (Ajax Amsterdam) to get South Africa into the second round on its first try.

W is for Watch what you say. Kazuyoshi Miura, the only Japanese player to log time in Brazil and Italy, was cut this week by coach Takeshi Okada after he said the national team had a tendency to crumble.

X is for Xenophobia. It could escalate to a fever pitch if the hooligans to the north are successful in crossing the channel.

Y is for Yugoslavia, which is known as the Brazil of Europe because of its flair for style.

Z is for Zinedine Zidane, who will pace a French attack that hopes to exploit its home-court advantage. Zidane, Dennis Bergkamp and Roberto Carlos were finalists for the FIFA Footballer of the Year award, which Ronaldo won a second consecutive time.