SO YOU phoned and phoned. You hung on the line listening to that relentlessly engaged tone. Or maybe you were smarter and just knew there was no chance. France 98. The World Cup. Scotland against the glorious samba stars. History in the making? Ha. Only for the select few. In the flesh anyway. Hang on though, tickets might be rarer than hens' teeth, but there's still a way.

Thanks to the glories of The Herald's virtual football, two people will be winging their way to the sun-soaked World Cup to watch Scotland against Morocco. For this is a football game with a twist. Play our computer-generated match and you could end up in France - in the flesh for the real thing.

The prize includes flights for the winner and his or her guest from Glasgow. You'll be whisked to Stade de Geoffrey-Guichard for a champagne reception followed by a four-course lunch and a free bar. Then you'll be taken to your specially reserved seats to watch what will probably be Scotland's most crucial match.

With Craig Brown naturally playing his cards a wee bit close to his chest and Mario Zagallo a bit preoccupied with his own blend of problems we've signed up our own top managers. They pick the squads. You predict the results. And what could be fairer than selecting a footballing legend from each of the two nations involved. In the blue corner there is no less than Slim Jim Baxter. Who could ever forget his magnificent performance at Wembley in 1967? Our greatest performer in arguably our finest hour.

Facing him is another legend. If he didn't invent the free kick that bent viciously outside the defensive wall, Roberto Rivelino was its greatest exponent of the seventies and maybe of all time.

The wonderfully gifted Brazilian terrified a host of international defences when he lined up to hit the ball from just about any distance. There could hardly be anyone better to choose the Brazilian side for us.

Both managers have already selected their virtual players for when Scotland meet Brazil in downtown Glasgow next Monday. Their squads are listed below. All you have to do is predict how you think the game will go and complete a tie-breaker.

To help you on your way our managers have provided a few insights into how they think their top players will perform.

Mr Baxter has specifically dropped the managerial cliches for this occasion. It may well be a game of two halves but there's a bit more to it than that, he says. ''Overall I can't really see Scotland beating Brazil, but I still expect them to go through to the next round. I was never scared of anybody in my life and surely we are not frightened of Norway and Morocco

''I am going for a 3-5-2 formation to play Brazil. I can't see past Jim Leighton in goal. The defence didn't lose many goals in qualifying. I know people say they played nothing, but I don't agree. There are no duds at this level.

''I liked Lambert a lot. I thought he had a real chance when he played with St Mirren and it was no big surprise to see what happened to him when he went to Dortmund. Maybe I will use him to mark Rivaldo. That'll cut off some of the supply to Ronaldo and Romario. As a rule I am not in favour of man marking, but Lambert can do it well.

''The good thing about him is he never gives the ball away. That applies to Burley and Collins too. We will need that quality against Brazil. The whole idea is to deny them the ball. I'll concede our problem might be scoring goals, but Kevin Gallacher did well in the qualifiers.''

Rivelino is currently a hard hitting TV commentator who has no qualms about criticising the man in charge of his country's team these days, Mario Zagallo. With Romario out injured, Brazil are expected to replace him with Bebeto but Rivelino thinks differently. ''Bebeto is too old to play alongside Ronaldo,'' he says. ''I would pick Edmundo.''

A critic of the 4-4-2 style adopted by Zagallo, Rivelino still reckons it would be foolish to change the system at this late stage. Consequently his chosen 11 will line up in that fashion because ''to change now would take us nowhere''.

He still wants to see attacking flair in the style that was

prevalent in his days, starting with the game against the Scots.

At the end of the day, however, this game relies more than a little on the computer's brain. It will be played over 90 minutes on the most up to date, powerful football programme money can buy: World Cup '98 by EA Sports. It's taken the computer gaming world by storm. Every aspect of the match is simulated in real time, with running commentary and full squads. To complicate things a little we can adjust the characteristics of individual players to make them a bit more aggressive or just to give them an off-day.

To run it Priceless Computing of Commerce Street in Glasgow has built a Pentium II 400 computer that's faster than a speeding bullet. Specifically designed to get the best out of this game it has the latest 3D card installed, which promises graphics as rich as the real thing, and a 21in screen. It will be as near to watching the actual game as you can get. With that in mind a small section of the Tartan Army will be invited into The Herald's offices to add that necessary bit of colour and passion to the event.

We'll announce the result next Tuesday - the day before Scotland meet Brazil for real.

JIM BAXTER'S SCOTLAND SELECTION

3-5-2

Leighton

Calderwood, Boyd, Hendry

McNamara, Burley, Lambert, Collins, Dailly

Durie, Gallacher

ROBERTO RIVELINO'S BRAZILIAN BLEND

4-4-2

Tafarell

Cafu, Baiano, Aldair, Roberto Carlos

Giovanni, Sampaio, Dunga, Rivaldo

Edmundo, Ronaldo

HOW TO ENTER

n This unrepeatable prize will go to the reader whose prediction matches most closely the way the game turns out on computer. We are looking for the final score; the half-time score; scorers, if any; times of goals scored, if any; yellow cards, if any; red cards, if any. If more than one reader predicts all these factors correctly, we will award the prize to the reader who provides, in the opinion of the Editor, the most entertaining summation of the game, in no more than 20 words.

The closing date for entries is 3pm next Monday, June 8. Write to us at World Cup Competition, The Herald, 195 Albion Street, Glasgow, G1 1QP, fax us on 0141 552 2128, or e-mail to heraldmail@cims.co. uk. Normal Herald competition rules apply. The Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to the competiton. No correspondence can be entered into. No purchase neccessary.