Tuesday, October 30, 2007


The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th staging of the World Cup, was held in France from June 10 to July 12 after 60 years to celebrate the third edition scheduled in 1938. France was chosen as hosts by FIFA on July 1, 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final. France won their first title, the 7th nation to win a World Cup, and the first host nation to win the tournament since Argentina did it in 1978.

Qualification
The format of the competition was different from 1994, as the finals were expanded from 24 to 32 teams. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four. The eight group winners and the eight group runners-up would qualify for the knockout stage. The golden goal rule was also introduced to decide knockout matches which went into extra time. Another change in the rules came into effect at this World Cup, stating that as regulation time was about to expire in any period of play the fourth official would use a handheld electronic display to show how many minutes of stoppage time were to be played. This practice has continued since then, after being well received by media and spectators alike.
The tournament opened with 1994 FIFA World Cup champions Brazil's 2-1 victory over Scotland. Norway pulled the shock of Group A, topping the holders 2-1 after two late goals. Still, both teams advanced to the next round. Italy easily won Group B, with Chile's three draws enough for them to get through. The Italy-Chile clash which ended 2-2 saw Italy's Roberto Baggio cast aside the spectre of his miss in the penalty shootout in the final 4 years earlier: this time around his highly controversial spot-kick earned Italy a draw.
France swept Group C, with the lone blemish being the red card expulsion and two-game suspension of Zinedine Zidane in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia. Denmark also moved on from the group. Nigeria was the surprise winner of Group D, dubbed the Group of Death, as Spain once again failed to live up to high pre-cup expecations. Nigeria beat them 3-2 in a thrilling game and moved on to the next round together with Paraguay.
Netherlands and Mexico moved on from Group E, a group that saw four games end in draws. Germany and Yugoslavia made easy work of Group F.
A late goal for Romania saw them beat England 2-1 and take the top spot in Group G; the English finished second. Argentina swept Group H, joined by Croatia in the second round.
In the second round, Italy beat Norway 1-0 and Brazil made easy work of Chile, 4-1. Laurent Blanc of France scored the first Golden Goal in World Cup history as the hosts beat Paraguay 1-0. Denmark surprised Nigeria, crushing them 4-1. Germany beat Mexico and Netherlands topped Yugoslavia by identical 2-1 scores. Croatia upset Romania 1-0. Argentina beat England on penalties after drawing 2-2 in a game that saw a goal from 18-year-old Michael Owen. The game was marred by England's David Beckham being sent off after kicking Diego Simeone.
France beat Italy in the quarter-finals on penalties after a scoreless draw. Brazil topped Denmark 3-2 in an exciting game. Croatia pulled perhaps the biggest shocker of the tournament, crushing Germany 3-0. The Netherlands-Argentina match was marred by violence; the Netherlands was reduced to 10 men early on after a tackle injured Diego Simeone and he had to be carried off the field for treatment. Late in the match, Argentina star Ariel Ortega received a red card for head-butting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after van der Sar confronted Ortega on the latter's play-acting attempt to draw a penalty[1]. Shortly after Ortega's sending off, Dennis Bergkamp of the Netherlands scored a goal to eliminate Argentina, 2-1.
In the semi-finals, Patrick Kluivert equalized late for the Netherlands to make it 1-1, but the Dutch couldn't pull it out in the penalty shootout, sending Brazil to the final. They were joined by France, as defender Lilian Thuram scored two goals to offset Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker's opener for Croatia. The Croats beat the Dutch for third place.
For the first time ever, the final featured the host nation and the defending champions. Zinedine Zidane scored two headers from corners in the 26th minute and in first half stoppage time respectively, and Emmanuel Petit added a late goal in second half stoppage time to give France a 3-0 win over Brazil. Brazil's star player Ronaldo played poorly, having a mysterious fit the night before and many questioned his reinstatement in the starting lineup. An estimated one million people took to the Paris streets to celebrate through the night. France became the seventh world champions, joining Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England and Argentina.
The official theme song for the event was La Copa de la Vida by Ricky Martin.

Summary
The official mascot of this World Cup was Footix, a cockerel with the words "FRANCE 98" on the chest. Its body is mostly blue, like the host's national team shirt and its name is a portmanteau of "football" and the ending "-ix" from the popular Astérix comic strip.

Mascot
Ten stadia were used during the tournament:

Venues

Flag of Morocco Said Belqola
Flag of Egypt Gamal Al-Ghandour
Flag of Niger Lucien Bouchardeau
Flag of Mauritius Lim Kee Chong
Flag of South Africa Ian McLeod
Flag of Saudi Arabia Abdul Rahman Al-Zeid
Flag of the United Arab Emirates Ali Bujsaim
Flag of Japan Masayoshi Okada
Flag of Thailand Pirom Un-Prasert
Flag of France Marc Batta
Flag of Austria Günter Benkö
Flag of Italy Pierluigi Collina
Flag of Scotland Hugh Dallas
Flag of England Paul Durkin
Flag of Spain José Garcia Aranda
Flag of Germany Bernd Heynemann
Flag of Russia Nikolai Levnikov
Flag of Switzerland Urs Meier
Flag of Portugal Vítor Melo Pereira
Flag of Denmark Kim Milton Nielsen
Flag of Norway Rune Pedersen
Flag of Hungary László Vágner
Flag of the Netherlands Mario van der Ende
Flag of Poland Ryszard Wojcik
Flag of the United States Esfandiar Baharmast
Flag of Mexico Arturo Brizio Carter
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago Ramesh Ramdhan
Flag of Australia Edward Lennie
Flag of Argentina Javier Castrilli
Flag of Paraguay Epifanio González
Flag of Brazil Márcio Rezende de Freitas
Flag of Chile Mario Sanchez Yanten
Flag of Peru Alberto Tejada
Flag of Colombia John Toro Rendon Match officials
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1998 FIFA World Cup squads.

Squads

Results
All times local (CEST)/(UTC+2)
First round

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Football World Cup 1998 Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place match

Final

All-star team

Flag of Croatia Davor Šuker
Flag of Argentina Gabriel Batistuta
Flag of Italy Christian Vieri
Flag of Brazil Ronaldo
Flag of Chile Marcelo Salas
Flag of Mexico Luis Hernández
Flag of Brazil Bebeto
Flag of Brazil César Sampaio
Flag of Brazil Rivaldo
Flag of France Thierry Henry
Flag of Germany Oliver Bierhoff
Flag of Germany Jürgen Klinsmann
Flag of the Netherlands Dennis Bergkamp
Flag of Argentina Ariel Ortega
Flag of Belgium Marc Wilmots
Flag of Croatia Robert Prosinečki
Flag of Denmark Brian Laudrup
Flag of England Alan Shearer
Flag of England Michael Owen
Flag of France Emmanuel Petit
Flag of France Lilian Thuram
Flag of France Zinedine Zidane
Flag of Italy Roberto Baggio
Flag of Jamaica Theodore Whitmore
Flag of Mexico Ricardo Peláez
Flag of Morocco Salaheddine Bassir
Flag of Morocco Abdeljalil Hadda
Flag of the Netherlands Phillip Cocu
Flag of the Netherlands Ronald de Boer
Flag of the Netherlands Patrick Kluivert
Flag of Romania Viorel Moldovan
Flag of South Africa Shaun Bartlett
Flag of Spain Fernando Hierro
Flag of Spain Kiko
Flag of Spain Fernando Morientes
Flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Komljenović
Flag of Argentina Claudio López
Flag of Argentina Mauricio Pineda
Flag of Argentina Javier Zanetti
Flag of Austria Andreas Herzog
Flag of Austria Toni Polster
Flag of Austria Ivica Vastić
Flag of Belgium Luc Nilis
Flag of Bulgaria Emil Kostadinov
Flag of Cameroon Patrick Mboma
Flag of Cameroon Pierre Njanka
Flag of Chile José Luis Sierra
Flag of Colombia Léider Preciado
Flag of Croatia Robert Jarni
Flag of Croatia Mario Stanić
Flag of Croatia Goran Vlaović
Flag of Denmark Thomas Helveg
Flag of Denmark Martin Jørgensen
Flag of Denmark Michael Laudrup
Flag of Denmark Peter Møller
Flag of Denmark Allan Nielsen
Flag of Denmark Marc Rieper
Flag of Denmark Ebbe Sand
Flag of England Darren Anderton
Flag of England David Beckham
Flag of England Paul Scholes
Flag of France Laurent Blanc
Flag of France Youri Djorkaeff
Flag of France Christophe Dugarry
Flag of France Bixente Lizarazu
Flag of France David Trezeguet
Flag of Germany Andreas Möller
Flag of Iran Mehdi Mahdavikia
Flag of Iran Hamid Reza Estili
Flag of Italy Luigi Di Biagio
Flag of Jamaica Robbie Earle
Flag of Japan Masashi Nakayama
Flag of Mexico Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Flag of Mexico Alberto García Aspe
Flag of Morocco Mustapha Hadji
Flag of the Netherlands Edgar Davids
Flag of the Netherlands Marc Overmars
Flag of the Netherlands Pierre van Hooijdonk
Flag of the Netherlands Boudewijn Zenden
Flag of Nigeria Mutiu Adepoju
Flag of Nigeria Tijjani Babangida
Flag of Nigeria Victor Ikpeba
Flag of Nigeria Garba Lawal
Flag of Nigeria Sunday Oliseh
Flag of Nigeria Wilson Oruma
Flag of Norway Dan Eggen
Flag of Norway Håvard Flo
Flag of Norway Tore André Flo
Flag of Norway Kjetil Rekdal
Flag of Paraguay Celso Ayala
Flag of Paraguay Miguel Angel Benítez
Flag of Paraguay José Cardozo
Flag of Romania Adrian Ilie
Flag of Romania Dan Petrescu
Flag of Saudi Arabia Sami Al-Jaber
Flag of Saudi Arabia Yousuf Al-Thunayan
Flag of Scotland Craig Burley
Flag of Scotland John Collins
Flag of South Africa Benni McCarthy
Flag of South Korea Ha Seok-Ju
Flag of South Korea Yoo Sang-Chul
Flag of Spain Luis Enrique
Flag of Spain Raúl
Flag of Tunisia Skander Souayah
Flag of the United States Brian McBride
Flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Siniša Mihajlović
Flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Predrag Mijatović
Flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Stojković
Flag of Morocco Youssef Chippo (for Norway)
Flag of Scotland Tom Boyd (for Brazil)
Flag of South Africa Pierre Issa (for France)
Flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Siniša Mihajlović (for Germany)