BERLIN, June 21, 2006 (AFP) - Germany have reached the second round of the World Cup by blooding a raft of young players while English hopes rest on the 20-year-old shoulders of fit-again shooting star Wayne Rooney.
In contrast, fading legends such as Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo are highlighting a generation whose powers are on the wane.
Both players are prime examples of stars who have reached the pinnacle of the game, Zidane lifting the World Cup with France at Ronaldo's expense in 1998 and the latter following suit with two goals as Brazil won four years later.
Yet with experts calculating that the 21st century game requires around three times more running in a match than 30 years ago the veterans are struggling to produce one last hurrah.
"Old age is to be resisted," Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero insisted in a treatise written almost exactly two thousand years before the World Cup came into being.
The 30-plus club of France, who fielded the third-oldest team in tournament history in their opening draw with Switzerland, and the 29-year-old Ronaldo, would go along with that in theory.
In practice, it's not so simple.
Zidane cut a dejected figure when substituted near the end of a frustrating draw with South Korea, a second booking ensuring he will not feature on his 34th birthday in the make-or-break match against Togo.
Fellow old-stagers such as Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira have also been shadows of their 1998 selves.
Ronaldo, despite setting up a goal for Adriano against Australia, also has a big question mark against him after going off midway through the second half of the Selecao's first two matches, as young pretenders Robinho and Fred push for a start.
Thierry Henry, a mere stripling at 28, appeared fixated on 'la belle epoque' of 1998 when he referred to Zidane after the Korean draw which left France sweating on a place in the last 16.
"You don't forget about people like Zidane and what they did eight years ago," he insisted
Yet the legs of the survivors of France's title-winning incarnation look all but gone - Henry being a notable exception.
If Les Bleus don't make it to round two, Zidane's professional career will be over.
Age wasn't a problem for legendary Italian shot-stopper Dino Zoff, who famously won the trophy at 40 in 1982, while Cameroon's Roger Milla scored in 1994 aged 42 - albeit in a 6-1 thrashing by Russia.
But the modern game is so fast that cloaking onself in the Cicero mantra is proving a mighty biological challenge.
Germany recognised as much in relegating 37-year-old Oliver Kahn to second-choice goalkeeper - though beneficiary Jens Lehmann is 36 - while Argentina, blessed with a raft of emerging stars, felt able to leave behind Inter Milan star Javier Zanetti.
Holland coach Marco van Basten meanwhile discarded Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf to call up new stars such as Robin van Persie.
For Zidane and company there comes a day when an elder statesman's respect is gained more easily off the field - though Brazil's sprightly 36-year-old skipper Cafu might beg to differ.
Cicero related how "a man of advanced years" was only given a theatre seat at Athens when the Spartans "rose out of respect and gave the veteran a seat."
For a footballer whose best days are behind him that generally means the substitutes' bench.
To misquote British poet Laurence Binyon's wartime oeuvre "For the Fallen," those in the twilight of their careers competing in the harsh glare of the World Cup spotlight are discovering that age does indeed weary them.