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World Cup 1998

France 98 was the new improv... sorry expanded World Cup Finals. Now raised to 32 teams the Group Stage would have 8 groups of 4 with only the first and second placed teams to qualify for the Round of 16. After no British teams in USA 94 we again British representation, with Scotland and England making the short trip. Scotland's qualification had been as the best of the nine group runners-up in the European zone; whilst England had managed to top their group at the expense of Italy after that battling 0-0 draw in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Group Stages

Scotland kicked off the tournament with a 2-1 reversal to reigning World Champions Brazil in the Stade de France. Carrying on with their usual tradition, the Scots were level at 1-1 until Tom Boyd put through his own goal with 15 minutes left to hand victory to Brazil. They then manged a 1-1 draw with Norway before succumbing 3-0 to Morocco in St Etienne - of which venue there will be more of later. Brazil topped the group with six points from two wins and Norway qualified with 5 points from a win (against Brazil) and two draws. Scotland finished bottom with a single point.

England's campaign started with a 2-0 victory over Tunisia in the heat of Marseilles. They then suffered a 2-1 reversal against Romania, Dan Petrescu's 90th minute winner coming just ten minutes after 12 year old Michael Owen had seemingly rescued a point for Glenn Hoddle's men in Toulouse. Moving north to Lens, England scored a famous victory over Colombia with Darren Anderton (aka sick-note) and David "much more talented than his wife / talented unlike his wife / not his wife (delete as applicable)" Beckham with a sumptuous free kick - and all with half an hour. The night is especially memorable for this author as he fell asleep on the train home and had to spend £35 on getting home from the station he finally ended up at. In the final analysis, Romania and England qualified for the Round of 16 and I probably could have got myself a hotel room for less than £35.

In the 6 other groups Italy and Chile qualified at the expense of Austria and Cameroon; France, with a 100% record and Denmark were too good for South Africa and Saudi Arabia; Nigeria and Paraguay squeezed out Spain and Bulgaria; the Netherlands and Mexico scored too many points for Belgium and South Korea; Germany and (most of what was left of) Yugoslavia were far too strong for Iran and the USA; and finally Argentina and Croatia were too good for Jamaica and Japan.

Round of 16

The first game of the Round of 16 was a typically Italian job - a 1-0 win over Norway - in fact that's typically Norwegian too. The next game saw a bit of South American bullying as Brazil thrashed Chile 4-1 in the Parc des Princes. Then hosts France were held to a goals 90 minutes before edging out Paraguay with a Laurent Blanc goal in extra time. Next up, in the Stade de France, Denmark overwhelmed Nigeria 4-1. The next two games both finished 2-1, Mexico were 1-0 up against the Germans who left it late to edge them out 2-1, Jurgen Klinsmann and Olivier Bierhoff their scorers. Then the Dutch beat Yugoslavia, with goals from Bergkamp and Davids sandwiching Komljenovic's goal for the Yugoslavs. In Bordeaux, Croatia nicked a 1-0 win over Romania before the attention of the world was focussed upon the Stadium Geoffroy-Guichard in St Etienne.

To say that the start was explosive is a little bit of an understatement. To say that the rest of the game was too is almost lazy on the part of the author. However, explosive it was and nobody who watched it could ever say that they didn't enjoy it. Things started with a bang when Gabriel Batistuta scored the first goal, from the spot, after just six minutes. England hit back almost immediately when Alan Shearer also scored from the penalty spot after Michael Owen had gone down in the penalty area. Then just six minutes later England were 2-1 up after Owen scored that goal. The scores were level on the stroke of half time as Javier Zanetti scored from a cleverly taken free kick. Of course what happened two minutes in to the second half is part of football folklore, but the facts are that David Beckham was sent off after flicking his boot at Diego Simone and England were then faced with playing the rest of the game a man down. That they did so without further goals is a testament to the English qualities of organisation and hardwork. So we had the dreaded penalty shoot out. Eight years after exiting from Italia 90 in the same way, David Batty became England's latest fall guy missing the tenth penalty with the teams locked at 4-4 - Paul Ince and Hernan Crespo had previously missed.

Quarter Finals

The first quarter-final was a dour affair - hosts France and Italy could not be separated in 120 minutes of football, so again we took to the penalty spot. After missing the last penalty in shoot out that decided the World Cup Final of 1994 this time Roberto Baggio went first for Italy and although he scored his attempt, Luigi Di Biagio eventually became the Azzurri's fall guy, missing to leave France as winners 4-3. A much more exciting game followed as Denmark took an early lead over Brazil through martin Jorgensen. Bebeto equalised after ten minutes and Rivaldo sent them in to half time with a 2-1 lead. Brian Laudrup equalised for the Danes after 50 minutes before Rivaldo scored the winner on the hour mark.

In the south, at Marseilles, the Netherlands took advantage of Argetina's tired legs in a 2-1 win (both sides finished with ten men) - Dennis Bergkamp's winner on 89 minutes was just sublime. In the final quarter-final, there was somewhat of a shock as Balkan upstarts Croatia thumped Germany 3-0 Robert Jarni scored bang on half time before Vlaovic and Suker wrapped things up with goals in the 80th and 85th minutes.

Semi Finals

In the first semi-final between Brazil and the Netherlands, scores were tied 1-1 at the end of the ninety with goals from first Ronaldo and then Patrick Kluivert at either end of the second half. An extra half an hour couldn't separate the teams, so again it was down to penalties to decide. Brazil prevailed 4-2 with Cocu and Ronald de Boer missing the third and fourth attempts for the boys in orange. In the second semi-final, the French had Lilian Thuram to thank for both goals in their 2-1 win over Croatia after Suker had given them the lead.

Final

This was a bit of an anti-climax of a match to be honest. The score is probably fair based upon play and France were well deserved winners. That their talisman Zinedine Zidane should grab two of the three goals, almost identikit ones from in-swinging corners on 27 and then 45 minutes, is only just. Arsenal's Emmanuel Petit scored the third as the clock wound down at the end of the game. The French were so much in control that they could even afford to play the last 20 minutes with ten men after Marcel Desailly's dismissal for two yellow cards. So that was that, two days before Bastille Day 1998, France were crowned World Champions in Paris. It really doesn't get much better than that.