by Nick Holt
So who did? Brazil were hard to discount, even without the injured Romario, for the seventeen-year-old from 1994 was now one of the world’s most feared attackers. Argentina looked a good side in qualifying, and these two seemed the most likely threat to the best European sides; Germany, as always, France, the host, disappointing at Euro ’96, Holland (ditto), Spain (ditto) and Romania, an exciting team if maybe a bit past their very best. There were a few wagers placed on Norway and Yugoslavia, too.
GROUP A
Scotland had the honour of kicking off the new World Cup against Brazil. Against expectations they did rather well, equalising an early goal with a debatable penalty (coolly converted by John Collins). In the second half a blanket defence did well to stifle a Brazil team that ran out of ideas. Against the blistering pace of Ronaldo, Scotland’s ancient central defenders dropped deep and made Brazil play passes in, which they intercepted and cleared with great skill and enthusiasm. In front of them the Scottish midfield tried to keep the ball when they finally got it, and Gordon Durie put in a heroic shift as the lone front man. Tom Boyd, who had an exceptional game, was the unfortunate scorer of the own goal which settled the game, inadvertently knocking the ball into the net after Leighton saved well from Cafú. For once Scotland were not the architects of their own downfall, although worse was to follow.
Morocco earned a well-deserved point off Norway, twice taking the lead. Mustafa Hadji scored a fabulous goal coming off the left and shooting past Grodås and Hadda’s volley was almost as good. Norway had little to offer but hefty crosses towards Flo, but they scored from two of these, both as a result of goalkeeping misjudgements.
Olsen responded to Norway’s poor performance by dropping a striker (Solskjaer, his most skilful player) and picking an extra midfielder. He was that good a coach. Scotland again ate up the long balls thoughtfully pumped in at their dominant centre-halves. Early in the second half Håvard Flo sneaked some space to stoop and nod in a loose ball, but Norway were undone by a mirror of their own tactics when Weir’s long ball found Burley with space and time to look up and lob Grodås.
Brazil, still massive and intimidating in the centre of their defence, but more skilful at the other end than in 1994, made short work of Morocco. Which makes it odd that Scotland, so redoubtable in defence thus far, should be torn apart by Morocco in their last match. The defenders, forced to play up the pitch as Scotland needed a win were at last exposed for lack of pace. Hendry and Weir had a nightmare, Leighton, so good against Brazil, let in a soft strike from Hadda, and Burley was sent off for a crude tackle from behind. A very painful night and it was the last agonising night Scotland experienced in the World Cup Finals. They haven’t qualified since and it looks a pipe dream at the time of writing, for all the galvanising effect on morale of the admirable Gordon Strachan.
Egil Olsen had not been too complimentary about the Brazilians, mocking their defending and insisting he was a better coach than Mario Zagallo. His team strove to back up his boasting in their last group match, needing a win to grab second place in the group.
Ronny Johnsen was superb against Ronaldo, timing his tackles well and not allowing the quicksilver striker to turn; not a huge surprise, he was brilliant at Manchester United for a couple of years until injury hampered his career. The midfield ran and ran against Rivaldo and company, and the huge Júnior Baiano was made to look a bit of a clodhopper by Tore André Flo. Flo was a hugely under-rated player, probably because his goals-per-game ratio was below the very best, but he led the line really effectively. Mobile and strong as well as tall, he shrugged Baiano off on numerous occasions while his colleagues flooded up in support. (If that’s Júnior Baiano I wouldn’t like to meet Senior Baiano, quipped Ron Atkinson – he had a point, the man was colossal.)
Brazil scored first when Denilson recovered from a fall when fouled and crossed for Bebeto while Norway expected the referee to intervene. Bebeto had a woeful tournament but couldn’t miss this. The lead lasted five minutes until Flo beat Baiano again and scored with a shot across Taffarel. Another five minutes and Flo had his shirt pulled by the Brazilian defender. Rekdal blasted the penalty into the side of the goal so hard it was irrelevant which way Taffarel went (he chose correctly but got nowhere near the ball). For now Olsen’s self-aggrandising baloney seemed justified, but I’m unconvinced Norway would have won had Brazil needed something from the game, for all their heroics.
Scotland Squad 1998:
GK: Jim Leighton (Aberdeen, 39 years old, 86 caps), Neil Sullivan* (Wimbledon, 28, 3), Jonathon Gould (Glasgow Celtic, 29, 0)
DEF: Tom Boyd (Celtic, 32, 55), Colin Calderwood (Tottenham Hotspur, 33, 28), Matt Elliott (Leicester City, 28, 3), Colin Hendry (Cpt, Blackburn Rovers, 32, 32), Tosh McKinlay (Celtic, 33, 19), Jackie McNamara (Celtic, 24, 6), David Weir* (Heart of Midlothian, 28, 5), Derek Whyte (Aberdeen, 29, 8)
MID & WIDE: Craig Burley (Celtic, 26, 25), John Collins (Monaco, 30, 49), Christian Dailly† (Derby County, 23, 10), Scott Gemmill (Nottingham Forest, 27, 13), Darren Jackson (Celtic, 31, 24), Paul Lambert (Celtic, 28, 12), Billy McKinlay (Blackburn, 29, 25)
FWD: Scott Booth (Utrecht, 26, 16), Simon Donnelly (Celtic, 23, 8), Gordon Durie‡ (Glasgow Rangers, 32, 40), Kevin Gallagher (Blackburn, 31, 36)
GROUP B
This group was closer than it looked on paper. Italy had qualified with less than their usual comfort, and such was their shortage of class forwards they brought back a slightly creaky Roberto Baggio. Their opening match against Chile was a cracker, a real game of two halves.
Italy were all over it in the first half; Baggio looked purposeful and sharp and after only ten minutes his expert touch from Maldini’s long ball put in Vieri, who scored easily. Maldini was captain now, with his father as manager, but accusations of nepotism don’t wash when the son is as good as Maldini. The game turned just before the break when Chile got a lucky break at a corner and Salas equalised. In the second half he and Zamorano started to move the Italian backs around and create space. Acuña used it and sent in a wicked cross for Salas to attack and score. Italy looked shell-shocked, but Baggio kept playing football and brought two great saves out of Tápia (which is Spanish for wall, a perfect name for a goalkeeper). Italy’s equaliser was jammy, a penalty scored by Baggio (which took nerve after his miss in 1994) after he belted a cross at a defender’s arm, but they deserved it.
Austria against Cameroon was abrasive, to say the least, and it was generous on the referee’s part to let the game finish eleven-aside. Polster’s forty-fourth goal for Austria remains a record, but didn’t disguise the fact that he and his team were out of their depth. Cameroon, The Indomitable Lions, were a pale imitation of the 1990 side, once excitingly direct and robust they were now just dirty. Italy sorted them out, the team and Vieri in particular resisting retaliation in favour of humiliation. Cameroon could – and should – have finished with eight men. I must repeat Cris Freddi’s summary for you: For once, Christian had devoured the Lions. Nice one.
Italy beat Austria as well, to top the group, but at a cost, Alessandro Nesta injured his knee, and was out – his replacement was the thirty-four-year-old veteran Giuseppe Bergomi. Robert Baggio, injured against Cameroon, came back as a sub against Austria but didn’t look fluent.
Chile drew all three games to clinch second. Vastel denied them a win with Austria’s second injury-time equaliser, and Cameroon gave them (a) a bit of a runaround and (b) a bit of a kicking in their last match. Cameroon finished the match, and their tournament, with nine men, after Rigobert Song became the first man to get two red cards in the World Cup Finals, and Laureano Etame-Mayer joined him six minutes after coming on as a late substitute. Etame Mayer later played for Arsenal as plain old Lauren, but he wasn’t very good there either.
GROUP C
A stroll in the park for the hosts. South Africa tried hard in the opening game, but their goalkeeper, Hans Vonk was vacillatory and they offered little up front. Dugarry beat Vonk, to a cross for the first and Issa scored a cl
umsy own goal for the second. He played for Olympique de Marseille and wouldn’t have enjoyed looking a klutz on his home ground. Thierry Henry added a third in injury-time – Issa actually put this one over the line but Henry’s chip was going in. Over in Lens, Denmark struggled past Saudi Arabia in Michael Laudrup’s 100th international, the solitary goal in a dire game coming from the strong centre-half Marc Rieper from Brian Laudrup’s cross.
The Danes were poor again in Toulouse against South Africa, conceding an equaliser to a good opportunist strike from Benni McCarthy and losing two men, Molnár and Wieghorst, to red cards, along with Phiri of South Africa. Denmark owed their point to a shocking miss by Mkhalele; South Africa theirs to Lucas Radebe, who just about held a porous defence together. Alongside him Mark Fish was greyhound quick but prone to losing his man, while the full-backs were awful.
France beat Saudi Arabia easily but had Zidane sent off for a crude foul. He claimed a personal slur had goaded him – not the last time we would hear that sort of lame excuse from Zizou. He had already set up Henry’s opener with a brilliant piece of sleight of foot, and his dismissal merely evened up the numbers after Al-Khilaiwi’s debatable red for a tackle on Lizarazu. In his defence the Bayern Munich full-back didn’t make a meal of it but Brizio Carter, a FIFA favourite despite being an appalling ref eree, was quick to flash red and appease his masters. South Africa avoided last place with a 2–2 draw against Saudi Arabia, but they would have won but for more shoddy refereeing. The Saudis, disappointing again, were given two soft penalties and created nothing. France beat Denmark to top the group, but only because Denmark were awful again. Some of the Danes were clearly unhappy with their Swedish manager; Schmeichel was publicly critical. The midfield, even Michael Laudrup, looked stale and unimaginative, but Per Frandsen, who had just had an outstanding Premier League season with Bolton, was left on the bench.
GROUP D
Bulgaria against Paraguay wasn’t a great game, but it had a couple of Chilavert free-kicks to liven things up. Bulgaria didn’t look anywhere near as good as in 1994, and Stoichkov was in petulant mode, not match-winning mode, not that the two were necessarily mutually exclusive with him. They went out with a whimper, beaten by Nigeria and crushed by Spain.
By then Spain were desperate. A defeat by Nigeria after a catastrophic error from the great Zubizarreta was followed by a dull draw against Paraguay, in which Chilavert displayed his goalkeeping talents – he was much more than a show-pony.
Bora Milutinovic left out half his first eleven against Paraguay having already qualified for the second stage (and won the group). The Spanish press cried foul but that was sour grapes; Nigeria had every right to rest players, and they still came back from a goal down (scored in the first minute) to level and then dominate the rest of the first half. They found Chilavert in good order again, and Paraguay came back strongly – their need was greater. There was a feeling Spain hadn’t picked their best side, and there had been some disappointing performances, Hierro and Luis Enrique honourably excepted. The fact is they went out because of their own shortcomings, not through poor officiating or bad luck. But I’m pretty sure France would rather have lined up against Paraguay in the next round.
GROUP E
Easy. Dull. Dull. Easy. Easy (preposterous scoreline). Dull.
South Korea were very ordinary and when their goalscorer was red-carded a minute after giving them the lead against Mexico, they fell apart. Belgium and Holland plodded at each other in a laborious parody of previous brilliant incarnations. Collina, not an easy referee to fool, sent off Kluivert for the merest brush against Staelens. Kluivert’s brooding demeanour did him no favours in these incidents but that doesn’t excuse Staelens’ cheating. Belgium let a two-goal lead slip against Mexico, while Holland looked more the part as they crushed South Korea. Holland also let a two-goal lead over Mexico slip after an embarrassingly one-sided first half. The embarrassment at the end was all over the face of Jaap Stam, the world’s most expensive centre-half, who slipped and let in Hernández for the equaliser. Belgium should have had a hatful against a Korean side who had just had their popular coach sacked, but they missed chances and Yoo Sang-chul scored from a free-kick and knocked them out.
GROUP F
Another boring group, with never a shred of doubt which two sides would go through, even though neither played well. Germany looked strong, as always, resilient, as always, and full of themselves, as always when Matthäus played. Yugoslavia looked talented, as always, capricious, as always, and argumentative, as always when Mihailovic played.
Klinsmann was still sharp for a thirty-three-year-old, but Bierhoff, a hero in 1996 with two goals in the European Championship Final, looked wooden. The midfield had too many players like Hassler and Møller who tended to flit in and out of a game. Yugoslavia were too slow despite their immaculate technique, and desperately needed someone who could run with the ball as well as pass.
The USA had gone backwards since the tournament in their country, and had nothing up front where Brian McBride, a hardworking target man rather than a goalscorer, toiled with minimal support. Iran were negative and disappointing. The match between the two weaker sides, billed as a potentially explosive affair, was defused by the common sense of both sets of officials and the players, not by the asinine rhetoric of the politicians and FIFA dignitaries. An exchange of gifts and no bad tackles; job done, can we get on with the football now, please? If only real threats were this easy to defuse.
Beating up Caribbean island teams in qualifying is very different from taking on top European and South American sides, as the USA found out here. They needed to get more players up to a standard where they could play in the top leagues in Europe and get experience against class opposition. The MSL had just got going in the USA, but it needed longer to bed in before it started to yield a generation of players capable of making that transition.
United States Squad 1998:
GK: Brad Friedel (Liverpool, 27, 56), Jürgen Sommer (Columbus Crew, 29, 8), Kasey Keller (Leicester City, 28, 33)
DEF: Jeff Agoos (DC United, 30, 87), Marcelo Balboa (Colorado Rapids, 30, 126), Mike Burns (New England Revolution, 27, 73), Tom Dooley (Cpt, Columbus Crew, 36, 77), Frankie Hejduk (Tampa Bay Mutiny, 23, 11), Alexei Lalas (Metro Stars, 28, 98), Brian Maisonneuve (Columbus Crew, 24, 7), Eddie Pope (DC United, 24, 23), David Regis (Karlsrühr, 29, 2)
MID & WIDE: Chad Deering (Wolfsburg, 27, 10), Cobi Jones (LA Galaxy, 27, 107), Pedrag Radosavljevic (Kansas City Wizards, 34, 24), Tab Ramos (Metro Stars, 31, 80), Claudio Reyna (Wolfsburg, 24, 59), Earnie Stewart (NAC Breda, 29, 47)
FWD: Brian McBride (Columbus Crew, 25, 21), Joe-Max Moore (New England Revolution, 27, 68), Roy Wegerle (Tampa Bay Mutiny, 34, 39), Eric Wynalda (San Jose Clash, 29, 100)
GROUP G
I shall do more than pay this lip service, as with the last two groups, but only because England were involved. The excitement level was nil, the football was ordinary and two teams were so clearly better than the other two there was little tension, unless you were an England fan who refused to believe Hoddle’s team could beat a pedestrian and unambitious Colombian side.
The opening match was played in the miserable aftermath of some disgraceful behaviour in the centre of Marseilles, a violent enough city without a thousand hooligans adding to the mix. Awful scenes, and in the first instance some of the draconian measures bandied about by the Daily Mail fraternity didn’t seem so ridiculous. England made their customary heavy weather of seeing off the group minnows, but the goal came eventually, Shearer powering a header past a goalkeeper who reacted late. Scholes added a late second to complete a sound performance and England were on their way.
A banner paying tribute to Andrés Escobar was the most positive thing Colombia produced in their opening match, and Hagi’s only significant contribution set up Adrian Ilie for a terrific run and finish. Ilie looked an exciting prospect when he first came on to the scene, but his career was one of diminishing returns rather than gradual
improvement.
England and Romania were evenly matched in the second match. The first half was a stalemate; the wing-backs cancelled out and Ilie’s shot that hit the bar looked suspiciously like a misplaced cross. Hagi, kept quiet by Ince and Batty in the main, created a goal with his only major contribution again, a lovely cross which Moldovan controlled and volleyed with great technique. England improved when Owen’s pace was added to Shearer’s strength – Sheringham looked out of form and confidence – and a good move ended with the ball breaking kindly for the eighteen-year-old to score.
Hoddle was criticised for not starting with Owen in the match against Romania, but it was good use of the youngster to use him as an impact substitute initially. The manager’s comments about Owen’s immaturity to the media, however, were crass and typical of his total lack of man-management skills. With mature, confident players, Hoddle was an ideal coach, technically sound, tactically intelligent and sophisticated. With more brittle individuals, he was a disaster – insensitive and tactless and oblivious to lack of confidence when he had so much faith, both in his God and himself. The trait had manifested in his treatment of Paul Gascoigne, prior to the tournament; Hoddle’s decision to leave him out was correct, the manner in which he did it was humiliating, summoning players to his room one by one for a show-and-tell moment. Kindergarten stuff. And if Hoddle was right about Gascoigne, he ruined Matthew Le Tissier as an international player. The Southampton player was a genius, but a smidge small-minded. Rather than ease him in gently to international football, Hoddle threw him in against Italy in a World Cup qualifier and then carped when Le Tissier didn’t deliver. Giving him a “last chance” in a B international, Hoddle then ignored the results – Le Tissier scored a hat-trick and stole the show – and ignored Le Tissier. A major opportunity lost to capitalise on the form of one England’s most talented mavericks of the last forty years. And further indication that Hoddle had a problem with players he knew had talent the equal of his own – stories abound of the manager’s burning need to show off his own skills in training. A major talent as a player, and a potentially great manager, Hoddle was let down in both careers by his failings as a character.