World Cup benefited from May 15 deadline - Blatter

BERLIN, June 23 (Reuters) Ruling body FIFA's decision to order that last season's club programme be completed by May 15 has been a major factor in creating open, attacking soccer at the World Cup, said president Sepp Blatter.

''In past World Cups players came to the tournament tired after long seasons with their clubs,'' Blatter told reporters today. ''But our decision to have all club football completed by mid-May has raised the quality of the game.

''The players are not jaded or tired, they have had time to recuperate after their tough seasons, they had a rest from playing and they came here hungry again to play football.

''The quality of football has been good, the spectacle has been good and the atmosphere around the World Cup has been impressive.'' Blatter had particular praise for the less fancied teams including Ghana, Angola, Ivory Coast and Togo, the four African teams taking part for the first time.

''Ghana have done what Senegal did in 2002 and qualified for the second round in their first World Cup and now they have the honour of playing Brazil (in the last 16),'' he said.

BEST PERFORMANCE ''For me the best performance was from the Ivory Coast team, who were in a very strong group and played very well.'' Blatter also praised Trinidad&Tobago for holding Sweden to a draw and preventing England from scoring for 80 minutes before finally losing that match and bowing out.

He said the lack of a challenge to the European and South American teams was a minor disappointment, as was the elimination of the United States.

''For a team ranked so high in the world, fifth, they did not perform so well,'' said Blatter.

''Also the Europeans and South Americans have not really been challenged yet and that is a bit of a shame.'' Asked if the FIFA rankings were a fair reflection of the best teams in the world, Blatter said: ''They will be slightly modified after this World Cup.'' From July 12 the new rankings will be based on a team's performance over four years, not eight.

REUTERS DH KN1835