An expanded, 32 team, tournament, the 1998 World
Cup, held in France, saw an end to first round groups
where 3 or 4 of the reams advanced, now there would
simply be 8 groups with the top 2 in each group
advancing.
Following their performance at Euro ’96, England,
under new manger Glenn Hoddle, were expected to
coast through their group, and got off to the perfect
start against Tunisia, with Paul Scholes and Alan
Shearer helping them to a 2-0 win. However, a 2-1
defeat to Romania, notable for the fact that Michael
Owen, England’s teenage prodigy came off the bench
to grab England’s goal. This left England needing
to beat Colombia to advance, and goals from Darren
Anderton and a superb David Beckham free-kick saw
England home, it would be a unforgettable tournament
for Beckham, and for Owen, who’s goal against Romania
put him firmly in the frame to start in the knockout
phase.
Not for the first time, Scotland found themselves
in the same group as Brazil, Brazil had beaten Scotland
in Italia 90 and Scotland were looking to find revenge
on them. The two sides met in the opening match
of France 98, with the Scots losing 2-1. Their cause
was not helped by a Tommy Boyd own goal, however
once John Collins equalised for Scotland they looked
hopeful for a point, but eventually Brazil’s class
came through. Scotland’s second match was against
Norway, which they only managed to draw. However
Scotland really fell apart in their final match
against Morocco. They lost that match 3-0 and that
meant they finished bottom of their group with only
a single point. Even if Scotland would have beaten
Morocco it still wouldn’t have been enough as Norway
beat Brazil joining them in the second round. Scotland
kept up their record of being eliminated at the
group stage of every world cup for which they had
qualified.
Shocks of the first round included Nigeria and
Paraguay going through to the second phase at the
expense of Spain and Bulgaria, Bulgaria had reached
the semi-finals in the 1994 world cup. France and
Argentina were the only two teams to emerge from
the group phase with unblemished records. Germany
were also through to the knockout phase, comfortably
winning their group which featured Yugoslavia, USA
and Iran. The Italians were amongst the pre tournament
favourites and they played well in the first round
achieving seven out of nine possible points.
England’s match against Argentina proved to be
the most dramatic game of the second round, it had
the atmosphere of a cup final and both teams knew
only one of them could make the quarter finals.
Both sides had penalties early on in the match,
which kept them team’s level at 1-1. Michael Owen
then scored arguably the best goal of the 1998 world
cup, picking the ball up in a very deep position
and ran at the heart of the Argentine defence before
smashing his shot into the top corner of the net,
announcing himself to the world. Argentina levelled
just before the half time interval from a clever
free kick, and after David Beckham’s sending off
for a petulant piece of retaliation on Simeone,
the balance of the match looked more in favour to
Argentina. Sol Campbell thought he had won the match
for England in extra time with a header, however
the goal was ruled out for an innocuous looking
infringement. The match went to penalties, where
England suffered heartache again with another shoot-out
defeat. David Batty was the England player to miss
the crucial penalty kick on this occasion. Yet the
blame fell not on Batty, but on Beckham, vilified
in the media for the sending off, redemption would
be a long road back.
Brazil and Denmark coasted through the second
round, Brazil comfortably beat Chile 4-1 and Denmark
beat Nigeria with the score line also being 4-1.
All the other second round matches were won by
the odd goal. In France’s case it was the golden
goal, the first in world cup history, that clinched
victory for them. Laurent Blanc scored the winner
for France in the second round match against Paraguay.
France looked short of firepower in the match against
Italy, needing penalties to progress into the semi-finals.
Croatia were the dark horses of the tournament,
playing in the most spectacular fashion during the
quarter finals. They thrashed Germany 3-0, which
sent them through to the semi-finals. Holland beat
Argentina 2-1 thanks to a late goal by Dennis Bergkamp,
which was along with Owen’s goal was the best goal
of the 1998 world cup. The ever-dangerous Brazil,
with Ronaldo on top form, came out on top 3-2 after
a brilliant match against Denmark.
The first semi-final match saw the favourites Brazil
match up against another top team Holland. With
the score finishing 1-1 after extra time, Brazil
won it in the penalty shoot out. France sent Croatia
out of the world cup by beating them 2-1. Their
goal scoring problems were highlighted on the day
by full-back Lillian Thuram, who notched up the
two goals that won the game. Davor Suker scored
his sixth goal of the tournament, which earned him
the ‘Golden Boot’ award. Croatia marked off their
tremendous performance by beating the Dutch in the
third place play off 2-1, Zenden immediately gave
the Dutch the lead in the first minute however goals
by Prosinecki and Suker crowned Croatia with the
title of third place in the 1998 world cup finals.
The final looked appetising with the best team
of the tournament Brazil matching up against the
hosts France. Rumours over Ronaldo’s fitness were
quashed once his name was on the team sheet to face
France. The world’s top striker, however, didn’t
perform on the night and nearly all the Brazilian
side was lacking the magic they had shown throughout
the world cup. France finally showed the attacking
firepower they have which they hadn’t produced in
their previous three matches. Zinedine Zidane scored
to headed goals and Emmanuel petit sealed victory
for the French. France won the match 3-0 and the
World cup was won by the host nation France sparking
a week of celebrations, led by Michel Platini, organiser
of the world cup, and France’s greatest ever player,
robbed of the world’s greatest prize 16 years before.
Partner sites - Thyroid Medication Football Years Stop Smoking Height Increase Health Website