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FRANCE !
The 16th FIFA World Cup held in France turned out to be one of
the best ever. 32 nations participated for the first time, and
the same questions were asked as in 1982 when the number was
increased from 16 to 24. Was this a qualifier too many? The
answer had to be "No". There were no humiliating
scorelines and it turned out to be one of the tightest World
Cups of all time, which confirmed how tough the international
game had become. The popularity of the tournament has increased
every time, and the total TV audience of the 64 matches was
estimated to be 37 billion(!) viewers, averaging 578 million
viewers per game, with the final itself watched live by 2
billion people, or every third human being! Simply staggering
numbers which outclass any other TV event.
The tournament got underway with Brazil beating Scotland 2-1 at
the Stade de France a beautiful stadium built for the occasion
with an 80.000 capacity. Norway were supposed to be Brazil's
main opponent in their group. Having drawn to both Scotland and
Morocco, Norway had to beat Brazil in their last match to
qualify for the next round. And so they did! A Rekdal penalty
gave Norway a 2-1 win, and Brazil's first defeat in a first
round match for 32 years. Rigobert Song of Cameroon became the
first man to be sent off twice in World Cup history. He received
a marching order against Brazil in 94, now he received another
one against Austria.
Host nation France had little trouble in their group, winning
all their games, even though Zidane was sent off against Saudi
Arabia. Spain was this World Cup's biggest disappointment. They
failed to reach the second round. Even though they hammered
Bulgaria 6-1, it didn't help, because Paraguay won thier game.
South Korea yet again failed to win a World Cup match, Holland
topped that group in front of Mexico, while Belgium went home
undefeated. The ageing German side recovered from 0-2 down to
2-2 against Yugoslavia and eventually won the group. USA lost
all their games and failed to live up to coach Sampson's
predictions that they were underestimated. England and Romania
qualified from group G, while Argentina won all their games
without conceding a goal in group H. Batistuta scored a
hat-trick in their 5-0 victory over Jamaica and became the only
player to do so in this tournament. Croatia finished in second
place and also qualified.
10 of the 16 nations qualified for the second round were
Europeans.
Italy beat Norway 1-0 after a goal by Christian Vieri. His 5th
goal in just four matches, may be we would have the first
topscorer to get past the 6 goal mark for 24 years? Ronaldo gave
a very good performance in Brazil's 4-1 victory over Chile,
scoring two goals. Chile's star Marcelo Salas scored their
consolation goal. His 4th goal of the World Cup. Laurent Blanc
became the first man to decide a game on Golden Goal when he
scored for France against Paraguay. Argentina beat England on
penalties in one of the best World Cup matches of all time.
Michael Owen scored perhaps the best goal of the tournament when
he gave England 2-1. But Ince and Batty failed to convert their
penalties and England went out.
Penalties were also necessary in the France - Italy game. France
won and Italy went out for the third World Cup running - on
penalties! Brazil beat Denmark in an entertaining match 3-2, and
Holland beat Argentina 2-1 after a brilliant Bergkamp goal in
the last minute. Just seconds earlier, Ortega had been sent off
for headbutting the Dutch keeper van der Sar. It was a sad
ending for one of the best players in this World Cup. It was
also a sad ending for Lothar Matthäus who played his 25th World
Cup match (record). Croatia won 3-0, the Germans had one player
sent off in the first half, but the best team won.
Brazil played Holland in Marseille in the first of the
semifinals. Ronaldo gave Brazil the lead, Kluivert equallized
three minutes from the end. No goals in extra-time meant
penalties again. Ronald de Boer missed the decisive penalty for
Holland, and Brazil were in the final again. The day after in
the Stade de France, the hosts were one goal down, when Lilian
Thuram struck twice to turn the game and send France to a first
ever World Cup final. Never had he scored for France, then what
an occasion to score his first two in! Croatia were having a
brilliant World Cup and Davor Suker in particular. He scored his
6th goal of the tournament in the bronzematch against Holland, a
goal that gave him the Golden Boot as top scorer. Croatia won
the game 2-1. In the final itself, France outplayed Brazil and
won 3-0 after goals by Zidane (2) and Petit. A matchreport is
available under the "Final" link in the left column.
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