Monaco midfielder Ludovic Giuly added: ``This has spoiled the tournament. No one really wants to play this final. The final will have a bitter, sad taste to it. There will be a lot of sadness. People will want to cry. There will be a lot of emotion. It won't necessarily be the best team that wins.''
Foe, 28, and a 10-year member of the Cameroon national team, collapsed with 15 minutes to go in the semifinal and never regained consciousness. Doctors were still trying to figure out the cause of death Friday evening.
His wife, Marie-Louise, told AFP that Foe had been experiencing gastric problems and had seen a doctor that day.
``He should not have been playing at all. He desperately wanted to play for his country in France, in his adopted home town of Lyon,'' she said.
``But doctors should have stopped him. He'd had dysentry for two or three days. He'd had gastric problems and he knew he probably wasn't well enough to play.
``When he collapsed I never for a moment thought he would die.''
A national day of mourning was declared in Cameroon on Friday. Foe also is survived by three children, the youngest of whom is 2 months old.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the next Confederations Cup may be renamed in Foe's honor.
Manchester City, where Foe was on loan from Olympique Lyon last season, will retire his No. 23 shirt. And French player Thierry Henry pointed to the sky in memory of Foe when he scored in the semifinal win over Turkey.
Foe, whose 6-4 frame earned him the nickname ``Midfield Mountain,'' played in two World Cups, including every minute of Cameroon's three matches in the 2002 World Cup. Manchester City, for whom he scored nine goals in 38 matches, was ready to sign him permanently, but other clubs were interested in getting him from Olympique Lyon.
``We are left with a memory of a charming boy, the embodiment of a love of life,'' said a statement by Olympique Lyon. ``We will keep the memories of his bursts of laughter, the music which came from his dressing room and his kindness off the field.''
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Some might say new Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz just took over the easiest job in soccer. How can he lose with a roster that includes Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul, and David Beckham?
But his predecessor, Vicente del Bosque, knows otherwise. Winning seven trophies in three seasons _ including two league titles and two European titles _ was not enough to please the demanding fans. He was fired last Monday, one day after leading Real to the Spanish Liga title.
When five of the biggest stars wear your jersey, you are expected to win everything. All the time. But Real was ousted in the semifinals of the Champions League by Juventus, and despite the awesome roster, barely won the Spanish title.
Critics said del Bosque was getting stale and that the club needed a more dynamic coach. Queiroz, who briefly coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars in Major League Soccer and spent last season as an assistant at Manchester United, fits the bill. He is media-savvy, has coached all over the world, and was the Portugal junior national coach that led Figo's group to a world title.
One of his first challenges is figuring out where to play newly-signed Beckham in a crowded midfield.
His favored position is right midfielder, but Figo plays there, and Queiroz will not upset his Portuguese protege no matter how much ink the Beckham transfer got.
One solution would be to ask Figo to move to the left, which is where he played earlier in his career. Figo is more versatile than Beckham, and might be agreeable.
``They are two great players,'' Queiroz told Spanish reporters on Wednesday. ``And as I understand it the best football is always played by the best players. The only time I can't see them playing together is when one of them is injured and as the season develops we will have to see which one moves.''

AROUND THE WORLD

* Brazil: Romario, 37, scored a hat-trick to lead Fluminense to a 5-2 win over Guarani in the Brazilian championship. Three Guarani players were ejected after quarreling with police on the field following a controversial call.
Romario was playing his second game since returning from a three-month stay at Al Sadd in Qatar, where he made $1 million, played in only three games and didn't score.
In other news, the Brazilian federation announced it will send the under-23 team, not the national team, to the Gold Cup in the United States and Mexico from July 12-27.
* Romania: Gheorghe Hagi, one of the greatest players in Romanian history, will coach Turkish club Bursaspor. Hagi coached the Romanian national team in 2001 but had been out of the game for 18 months.
``It's time to return to active soccer,'' Hagi told Reuters. ``In a way, I'm going back home to Turkey.''

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(c) 2003, The Miami Herald.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

Special Olympics Afghanistan Athletes to Compete at 2003 World Summer Games in Ireland
WASHINGTON, June 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- From the ashes of war-ravaged Afghanistan, five brave Special Olympics athletes who have struggled against incredible odds have been chosen to compete in the upcoming 2003 World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland, which will be held June 21-29.
This will be the first time that Afghanistan has had Special Olympics athletes, and it is also the first time that Afghanistan will have ever sent a team to any Special Olympics competition. It is also believed to be the first Afghani delegation to compete internationally at any sports event since 1996.
These determined competitors are turning the same stadium where the brutal Taliban regime used to hold mass executions from a place of unspeakable suffering into a field of dreams. They are training to compete in athletics events, which consists ofincluding the 100-and 200-meter run, long jump and other track & field-type events. Their Head Coach is Abdul Karim Azizi, who will also coach the Afghanistan track & field team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
``Given the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, it's nothing short of amazing that we were able to put together a team of athletes for this year's World Games,'' said President of Special Olympics Timothy Shriver. ``The Afghani people are sending a message to the world that they are ready and anxious to retake their place on the stage of international athletic competition, and Special Olympics is proud to help them achieve this admirable goal.''
In Afghanistan, where basic needs such as water and electricity services are incredibly scarce commodities, the recognition, let alone the treatment of persons with mental retardation is all but nonexistent. Children with mental retardation, frequently the most vulnerable in any society, are often abandoned at ramshackle orphanages, where many are left in empty rooms with little human contact or guidance. Nonetheless, three of the five athletes representing Afghanistan will come from two orphanages in Kabul.