by Nick Holt
England thought they had won it with a Golden Goal, but Sol Campbell’s fine header was ruled out because Shearer fouled the goalkeeper. It was a good decision, although Roa might not have reached the cross, but habits are hard to break, and Shearer had been fouling goalkeepers at set plays and getting away with it for a decade.
Of course it was inevitable that England would lose the penalty shoot-out. Maybe if Hoddle had used Lee or McManaman instead of Batty, particularly as they weren’t struggling to hold the line . . . but that’s carping. Mind you, either of these two would have taken a better penalty than poor old Batty – but then, so would I. That Ince was the other player who saw his shot saved was unjust.
When Argentina beat England in 1986, it was a shrug of the shoulders and acknowledgement that the better team won. Not this time. This hurt. England were terrific and courageous and deserved to go through. Within a year the manager was gone, let down by his propensity for airing his rather self-righteous personal opinions. England had lost two good managers in succession to character judgements, so now they went for a good old-fashioned patriot in Kevin Keegan.
England Squad 1998:
GK: David Seaman (Arsenal, 34, 40), Nigel Martyn (Leeds United, 31, 7), Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers, 31, 11)
DEF: Tony Adams (Arsenal, 31, 51), Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur, 23, 16), Rio Ferdinand (West Ham United, 19, 3), Martin Keown (Arsenal, 31, 18), Graeme Le Saux (Chelsea, 25, 20), Gary Neville (Manchester United, 23, 27), Gareth Southgate (Aston Villa, 27, 25)
MID & WIDE: Darren Anderton (Tottenham, 26, 18), David Batty (Newcastle United, 29, 31), David Beckham (Man Utd, 23, 15), Paul Ince (Liverpool, 30, 39), Rob Lee (Newcastle, 32, 17), Steve McManaman (Liverpool, 26, 21), Paul Merson (Middlesbrough, 30, 18), Paul Scholes (Man Utd, 23, 7)
FWD: Les Ferdinand (Newcastle, 31, 17), Michael Owen (Liverpool, 18, 5), Alan Shearer (Cpt*, Newcastle, 29, 31), Teddy Sheringham (Man Utd, 32, 33)
QUARTER-FINALS
You can imagine how this went. I fell asleep after about an hour and haven’t bothered watching the video since. Very unprofessional of me, but life’s too short . . .
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.22
3 July 1998, La Beaujoire, Nantes; 35,500
Referee: Gamal El-Ghandour (Egypt)
Coaches: Mário Zagallo (Brazil) & Bo Johansson (Sweden)
Brazil (4–4–2): Claudio Taffarel (Atlético Mineiro); Marcos Evangelista, known as Cafú (Roma), Aldair Nascimento (Roma), Raimundo Ferreira, known as Júnior Baiano (Flamengo), Roberto Carlos da Silva (Real Madrid); Carlos César Sampaio (Yokohama Flügels), Leonardo Nascimento de Araújo (Milan), Carlos Bledorn, known as Dunga (Cpt, Júbilo Iwata), Rivaldo Vitor Borba (Barcelona); Ronaldo Nazário (Internazionale), Roberto Gama, known as Bebeto (Botafogo). Subs: Denilson de Oliveira (São Paulo) 64m for Bebeto; Emerson da Silva (Bayer Leverkusen) 71m for Leonardo); José Roberto da Silva, known as Zé Roberto (Flamengo) 87m for Rivaldo
Denmark (4–4–2): Peter Schmeichel (Manchester United); Søren Colding (Brondby), Jes Høgh (Fenerbahçe), Marc Rieper (Celtic), Jan Heintze (Bayer Leverkusen); Thomas Helveg (Udinese); Martin Jørgensen (Udinese), Allan Nielsen (Tottenham Hotspur), Michael Laudrup (Cpt, Ajax); Brian Laudrup (Rangers), Peter Møller (PSV Eindhoven). Subs: Stig Tøfting (MSV Duisburg) 45m for Nielsen; Ebbe Sand (Brondby) 66m for Møller; Michael Schjønberg (Kaiserslautern) 87m for Helveg
Cautioned: Roberto Carlos (Bra) 11m, Helveg (Den) 19m, Aldair (Bra) 37m, Colding (Den) 40m, Tøfting (Den) 72m, Cafú (Bra) 81m
This was a belter. Like the England game in the previous round, it was kick-started by early goals and never let up.
This wasn’t as good a Danish team as the eighties version. They had the creative influence of the Laudrup brothers and a great goalkeeper (who had an average tournament and a poor game), but they didn’t have anywhere near as good a defence as that overseen by Morten Olsen and they didn’t have a scary centre-forward like Elkjaer. But then this wasn’t a vintage Brazilian side either, just a very good one.
Michael Laudrup started the fun with a quick free-kick to his bro, who knew exactly where Martin Jørgensen was and cut the ball back for the winger to ram home. Good goal, good start, Brazil would have to play properly.
Ronaldo was only passed fit to play in the morning, and he only looked seventy per cent, but even that was pretty good. France would have picked him at forty per cent. His first contribution here was a little dart to the left and reverse pass into the space he had created for Bebeto. Bebeto produced his one classy moment of the competition with a pinpoint finish. Brazil enjoyed a good spell, but attacks kept breaking down because Ronaldo was sluggish or Bebeto wasn’t up with the game. When Dunga robbed Helveg and fed Rivaldo the Barcelona player dispensed with the guys ahead of him, took a few strides and chipped the ball over Schmeichel as he came out; with Rieper getting across quickly there was no need for the goalkeeper to come, Rivaldo had only one angle so Schmeichel just needed to guard his near post.
Denmark didn’t quail, and they were still in contention at half-time, and more so five minutes into the second half. For twenty minutes the Danish midfield had kept the ball really well and Brazil had struggled to get much change. Jørgensen drove through the middle and chipped the ball out to the right, where Brian Laudrup hammered a thoroughbred finish past Taffarel. As the ball came over Roberto Carlos could easily have jumped and headed the ball away or for a corner or at least made it hard for Laudrup. What did he do? He tried an overhead kick. Silly boy.
Rivaldo had clearly decided this one was down to him, and he ran fully thirty yards before pumping a long range effort past Schmeichel, who was a bit late getting down. Denmark replaced Møller, who had done very little, with Sand and immediately looked threatening again. Helveg took a pass from the right and played an instant ball to Sand, who had slipped Roberto Carlos; Sand immediately picked out Marc Rieper on the penalty spot and cut the ball sharply to him. The ball was fractionally behind Rieper but he screwed his foot around it and jammed it only just wide of the post. It happened in the blink of an eye and took out seven Brazilian players; it was superb football. Rieper, playing as a supplementary forward in the closing stages, missed Denmark’s last chance when he headed Brian Laudrup’s cross onto and over the crossbar.
It was a breathless game where both sides had the beating of the opposition defence. Denmark were desperately unlucky to lose but it would have been equally hard to begrudge Brazil a place in the last eight, they looked the most complete team.
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.23
4 July 1998, Vélodrome, Marseilles; 55,000
Referee: Arturo Brizio Carter (Mexico)
Coaches: Daniel Passarella (Argentina) & Guus Hiddink (Holland)
Argentina (4–4–1–1): Carlos Roa (Mallorca), José Chamot (Lazio), Roberto Sensini (Parma), Roberto Ayala (Napoli), Javier Zanetti (Internazionale); Matías Almeyda (Lazio), Juan Sebastián Verón (Sampdoria), Diego Simeone (Cpt, Internazionale); Ariel Ortega (Valencia); Gabriel Batistuta (Fiorentina), Claudio López (Valencia). Subs: Mauricio Pineda (Udinese) 67m for Almeyda; Abel Balbo (Roma) 90m for Chamot
Holland (4–4–2): Edwin van der Sar (Ajax); Michael Reiziger (Barcelona), Jaap Stam (PSV Eindhoven), Frank de Boer (Cpt, Ajax), Artur Numan (PSV Eindhoven); Ronald de Boer (Ajax), Edgar Davids (Juventus), Phillip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven), Wim Jonk (PSV Eindhoven); Patrick Kluivert (AC Milan), Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal). Sub: Marc Overmars (Arsenal) 64m for R de Boer
Cautioned: Stam (Hol) 10m, Numan (Hol) 17m, Chamot (Arg) 22m, Sensini (Arg) 60m
Dismissed: Numan (Hol) 76m (second yellow); Ortega (Arg) 87m (diving + attempted headbutt)
Not as good a game as England against Argentina, despite the obvious high skill quotient involved when these two meet. Argentina had the best of the first half, with Ortega hitting the post with a snorter and Batistuta going close with his standard solitary contribution. It was level at half-time after Bergkamp knocked down a Ronald de Boer cross for Kluivert to score; otherwise Kluiv
ert had a nothing game, he was still only twenty-one and not quite ready for this. Argentina responded quickly with a López goal from Verón’s long pass – it was a great ball but the marking was dire.
The game stayed tense in the second half, but it seemed to be drifting towards extra-time when Arthur Numan, already booked, went tanking into Diego Simeone. About time too, watching England fans shouted, but it was a reckless moment from a player who had a really good tournament up to now.
If there was a moment for Argentina to seize the game that was it, but they stayed in the same gear. Phillip Cocu was the archetypal utility player, but without the pejorative connotation of jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none that phrase implies, and he dropped effortlessly into the defence. Crucially, the Dutch had watched England and saw how more effectively England defended with two forwards still on the pitch, so they left Kluivert and Bergkamp on.
With three minutes left on the clock, Ortega did a belly flop in the penalty area, and lifted his hands in the time-honoured gesture. Referee Carter lifted his, to issue a caution for diving. Edwin van der Sar must have offered some choice observation because Ortega rather comically tried to head-butt a man at least ten inches taller than himself. The card turned to red.
Two minutes later Frank de Boer hit one of his auto-targeted missiles (best long passer out of defence the game has seen? Discuss . . .) about fifty yards towards Dennis Bergkamp, charging into the right-hand side of the penalty area. There were three touches with the right foot from about eight yards out at a tight angle with Roberto Ayala breathing down his neck. The first persuaded the ball to lie, the second to turn and sit up, the third, with the outside of the boot, told Roa to go fetch it out of the back of his net. One man and his ball control; absolutely brilliant. And buckets of schadenfreude across the living rooms of England. Is that a mixed metaphor? Or just nonsense? Just go with it, I’m excited having just watched the footage for the umpteenth time. For me, Maradona scored the second-best goal in World Cup history in 1986. This topped it. Buenos noches, Argentina.
Germany were hampered by a red card for Wörns for a late tackle on Suker, and they worked over-time to compensate, giving their best performance of the tournament, despite the scoreline. (This wasn’t the view aired commonly at the time, but watching the match again Germany were competitive and in the game until the second goal, despite the Croatian’s superior technique and pace.) But they created no real clear chances, apart from Hamann’s stinger that hit the post. Croatia had more edge, and scored two good goals from wide positions as well as a rare right-footer from Suker, who looked a bit shocked when it went in. It was the end of a generation for Germany, and they would have to keep papering over the cracks for the next few years. There was some blue sky; Hamann and Jens Jeremies looked players for the future and there was a good goalkeeping replacement for Köpke in Oliver Kahn (some felt he should have played in France).
Croatia were solid at the back, accurate in midfield and razor sharp in the penalty area, and worth their place in the semi-final.
SEMI-FINALS
The Brazil–Holland game was a strange affair. Both teams played well, but both seemed to be holding something in reserve. Maybe a few players were carrying injuries, and a few were on a yellow card, but no one got hold of the game and said mine, I’m gonna win this!
Kluivert had his best game yet; he equalised with a superb header from Ronald de Boer’s cross and gave Júnior Baiano almost as torrid a time as had Flo. Alongside him, however, Bergkamp was oddly subdued, as was Rivaldo at the other end, although Ronald de Boer diligently offered cover to Reiziger to help deal with the threat.
Frank de Boer and Stam were excellent, marshalling Ronaldo well except in two key moments, once when he slipped the pair of them and scored from Rivaldo’s clever pass, the other when Edgar Davids got back to make an outstanding saving tackle, which Ronaldo declined to try to turn into a penalty. Bebeto, anonymous, was replaced by Denilson, and for Holland van Hooijdonk came on from Zenden – an odd change as Zenden, in for the injured Overmars, had provided great ammunition for the strikers and roasted Zé Carlos (in for Cafú) on half a dozen occasions.
Brazil were the better – or marginally less tired – team in extra-time, and Holland are always the worse team in a penalty shootout, with a record even worse than England. How very Dutch. Cocu and Ronald de Boer were the unfortunates. Maybe Ronald and Frank should have swapped shirts, they were pretty much indistinguishable except for the name and number on the back and Frank scored his penalty.
World Cup Heroes No.29
Lilian Thuram (1972–)
France
One hundred and forty-two games Lilian Thuram played for France, first at right-back then in the middle of the defence. Those games spanned fourteen years, from 1994 to 2008, including four European Championships and three World Cup Finals tournaments. In all that time, in all those games, he scored two goals for his country. How unlucky were Croatia?
Forget what you may have read about the 1998 World Cup being dominated by Zidane’s brilliance; that was just the final. The 1998 World Cup was dominated by great defenders, mainly French, and Thuram was one of them. The balance in that defence was perfect: a bulwark ball-winning centre-half (Desailly), a ball-playing sweeper (Blanc), a speedy attacking full-back (Lizarazu) and a balancing Mr. Reliable on the other side (Thuram).
The semi-final against Croatia was boring. Most of France’s games in the 1998 World Cup were boring. The first half was stale, the second flared into life when Suker scored for Croatia almost immediately after the break. Thuram replied almost immediately for France when a certain goal-shy defender dispossessed Boban, the Croatian captain, played a one-two with Youri Djorkaeff and beat Ladic on the angle. The game remained interesting for another twenty minutes until Thuram cut inside Robert Jarni and scored with his other foot. After that France slammed the door shut on Croatia, even after Laurent Blanc was so unjustly sent off, victim of a spiteful (and out of character) bit of play-acting by Slaven Bilic.
Thuram played for only four clubs, Monaco, Parma, Juventus and a last hurrah at Barcelona. He was integral to each of his main clubs, one of the first names on the team sheet week in, week out. He was like watching a defender with Gary Neville’s brain and Rio Ferdinand’s physique and ability. He rarely got injured, rarely complained and rarely had a bad game.
When France failed at the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 European Championships, coach Raymond Domenech called upon a few of the old guard to come out of retirement – they were Zidane, Makélélé and Thuram. Now playing at centre-half alongside the younger, quicker William Gallas, Thuram helped France get to the final. He was as good at thirty-three as he was in 1998 at twenty-six.
Thuram retired in thirty-eight when the same heart defect that killed his brother prematurely was detected. He has spent much of his time since espousing equal rights in France, supporting same-sex rights and immigrant rights. A bit more imaginative than the usual post-career bit of punditry.
THIRD-PLACE MATCH (11 July)
Croatia seemed to want it more than Holland. The winning goal secured the Golden Boot for Suker, but Zenden’s was special, cutting inside Jarni and spanking a rising shot past van der Sar.
WORLD CUP FINAL No.16
12 July 1998, Stade de France, Paris; 75,000
Referee: Saïd Belqola (Morocco)
Coaches: Aimé Jacquet (France) & Mário Zagallo (Brazil)
France (4–3–2–1): Fabien Barthez (Monaco); Lilian Thuram (Parma), Marcel Desailly (Milan), Frank Leboeuf (Chelsea), Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich); Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid), Didier Deschamps (Juventus), Emmanuel Petit (Arsenal); Youri Djorkaeff (Internazionale), Zinedine Zidane (Juventus); Stéphane Guivarc’h (Auxerre). Subs: Alain Boghossian (Sampdoria) 57m for Karembeu; Christophe Dugarry (Olympique de Marseille) 66m for Guivarc’h); Patrick Vieira (Arsenal) 75m for Djorkaeff
Brazil (4–4–2): Claudio Taffarel (Atlético Mineiro); Marcos Evangelista, known as Cafú (Roma),
Aldair Nascimento (Roma), Raimundo Ferreira, known as Júnior Baiano (Flamengo), Roberto Carlos da Silva (Real Madrid); Carlos César Sampaio (Yokohama Flügels), Leonardo Nascimento de Araújo (Milan), Carlos Bledorn, known as Dunga (Cpt, Júbilo Iwata), Rivaldo Vitor Borba (Barcelona); Ronaldo Nazário (Internazionale), Roberto Gama, known as Bebeto (Botafogo). Subs: Denilson de Oliveira (São Paulo) 45m for Leonardo; Edmundo Alves de Souza (Fiorentina) 74m for César Sampaio
Cautioned: Júnior Baiano (Bra) 33m, Deschamps (Fra) 39m, Desailly (Fra) 48m, Karembeu (Fra) 56m
Dismissed: Desailly (Fra) 68m (second yellow)
There were more column inches devoted to the pre-match hysteria than to the game itself. Ronaldo was having a nap in the afternoon before the game and had a seizure – probably induced by stress, the medics later said. His room-mate, Roberto Carlos, called the team doctors rather than the manager, which doesn’t speak volumes for Zagallo’s standing with the players, although it was Roberto Carlos, so who knows. The doctor’s couldn’t find anything physically wrong, but Ronaldo was packed off to hospital for a check-up, where he was given the all-clear.
With the wisdom of hindsight he shouldn’t have played, even if he was physically able, and it’s debatable whether doctors now would have allowed it, after incidents like Marc Vivien Foé’s death and Fabrice Muamba’s near-fatal experience. His head cannot have been in the right place; he wanted to play and one can only assume Zagallo couldn’t bear the consequences of leaving him out and Brazil losing. The obvious replacement, Edmundo, had hardly featured and had a reputation for losing it at crucial moments (his nickname was The Animal!). Zagallo went for the cosy option and Edmundo stood down.
