The world’s most popular sporting event gets under way Friday morning when defending champion France plays Senegal in the World Cup opener.

The soccer tournament is being played in Japan and South Korea.

The United States will be seeking redemption after its embarrassing performance in the 1998 World Cup in France when the Americans lost all three of their matches in the round robin segment and were sent packing.

The U.S. will be in a round robin grouping with Portugal, South Korea and Poland and will have to finish first or second to advance to the round of 16. Their first game will be against Portugal on June 5 at 5 a.m.

But there is reason for optimism this time around according to some knowledgeable local soccer fans who will be losing considerable sleep and putting their VCRs to the test for the next month.

Due to the time difference, all of the games will start between 1 a.m.- 8 a.m. our time.

“We are more of a mature team with better team chemistry than in 1998,” said University of Maine assistant director of athletics Jim Dyer, who used to coach the Maine men’s soccer team.

“There were some internal problems in 1998 and the wheels fell off the cart,” added Dyer. “I know [U.S. coach] Bruce Arena, I worked on committees with him, and he’s not the kind of guy who will stand for that.”

Dyer said Arena will insist on the players putting the team first ahead of their individual goals.

“They will all be on the same page,” said Dyer. “And Bruce Arena has always produced winners.”

Dyer feels the fact all of the U.S. players are playing in good professional leagues, including several in Europe, will “help tremendously.”

He said the U.S. will be particularly strong in goal with Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller “but we’re suspect at the outside back positions.”

Ellsworth High School boys coach Brian Higgins watched the U.S. in their final tuneup, a 2-0 loss to The Netherlands at Foxboro, Mass., and said, “I was pretty impressed with our side except for a couple of lapses in the back. We competed pretty well with them. [Twenty-year-old U.S. striker-midfielder] DaMarcus Beasley impressed me as much as anybody.”

Husson College women’s soccer coach Keith Bosley said, “I think we have a good chance to get to the second round if we finish our scoring chances. We will create them. In 1998, we had some players who were too mature [over the hill]. We’ve got creative forwards now like [Clint] Mathis and [Landon] Donovan. Our forwards are aggressive. And Claudio Reyna can be a [top-quality] playmaker in the midfield if we can free him up so he doesn’t have to take a heavy defensive-midfield posture. But I’m worried about our right backs.”

Bosley added, “We can be competitive with any team in the world now. We will beat them all the time? No. But we can once in a while.”

Englishman and former Manchester City goalkeeper Gary Walker, the manager of the Maine Sports Complex in Hampden, said the U.S. won’t be as well-prepared as some other teams “because a lot of them play in the MLS [Major League Soccer] and it isn’t as competitive as the European leagues.

“But the U.S. is progressing. They have some players with great ability,” added Walker. “And they’re in a good group in terms of progressing through it. But it will be difficult for them after the first round.”

The consensus is that Portugal is the best team in the group but the U.S. will have a legitimate chance to beat Poland and South Korea although the South Koreans will have the home-country advantage. As for the favorites, France and Germany were mentioned prominently along with Italy and Argentina. Brazil was also mentioned.

“If I had to pick one, I’d go with France again,” said Walker.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 1-800-310-8600, 990-8231 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.