Stylish French and The Deja Vu in 1998

France hosted the 1998 World Cup tournament. The last time this had happened was in 1938 when Italy had become the first country to win back to back titles (Brazil were the only other team to achieve this in 1962). Italy never looked like repeating the feat in 1998 and so all eyes were on Ronaldo and Brazil once again.

France had always held a special place in my heart from that first trip in 1975 when the Leeds United team was also marching across Europe in the European Cup. Michelle and I had visited Paris in the springtime of 1987 and enjoyed a romantic weekend on the banks of the Seine. Similarly I had been at Elizabeth’s house in Leeds in 1982 when Bryan Robson had scored so early for England against the French.

After Euro ’96 in England when Terry Venables and his team had done so much to resurrect English football pride (and Stuart Pearce’s self-confidence) after the disastrous Graham Taylor years, there was, again, a sense of real hope for the English team in France 1998. Yes, England had lost on penalties again and yes it was to Germany, obviously, but the thought was that England had some good young players like David Beckham and Michael Owen and a proven goal-scorer in Alan Shearer.

We had some good young players in our home team too. Sam had arrived in the October of 1994 and Hayley was conceived as a direct result of Leeds United getting to the 1996 Coca Cola Cup Final at Wembley – my first and only visit to the old stadium. Unfortunately Howard Wilkinson could not conceive of a way of beating Aston Villa and Tony Yeboah simply fired long-range blanks on that sad day.

It was Leeds’s first visit to a Wembley Cup Final since the terrible disappointment of losing to Sunderland in 1973 – apart from two Charity Shield matches where Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan had been, well, uncharitable, and then Eric Cantona had showed that not everything from France was bad when his hat-trick inspired a Leeds win against Liverpool in the autumn of 1992.

If Howard’s Way proved to be a cul-de-sac in the end, George Graham’s was a lay-by and Leeds United turned to David O’Leary to revive their fortunes with an exciting, attacking style of football.

England were more laboured in the 1998 World Cup and depended more on set-plays than open play to eventually score the goals that would take them through to the last sixteen. New England manager, Glenn Hoddle, had faith in his own abilities and, much to his surprise, Beckham and Owen proved to be the real stars of the show.

My young family watched with me in Cambridgeshire as first Owen scored his fabulous goal against Argentina and then the whole team held out for so long (as did England) after Beckham had been sent off for his ‘foot of God’ retaliation which, if we’re being totally honest, Huw and I and most other Englishmen had wanted someone to do since 1986.

Either fate or faith healer Eileen Drury had written that England would lose on penalties of course and so it came to pass – with Leeds United’s David Batty missing the vital kick; something he didn’t do very often. In the Final, there was a media frenzy over whether Ronaldo had had some kind of fit before the match or whether he just required dental treatment.

In the event, Brazil met France – the first time the host nation had met the holders in a World Cup Final – and a very determined Zinedine Zidane who used his shaven head to great effect, mugging Brazil from two corners as Les Bleus won 3.0.

Blue was definitely the colour in 1998 as it had been 28 years earlier when Chelsea beat Leeds United in the FA Cup Final and Brazil had set a marker in the World Cup that so many subsequent national teams, including this one and even the winners in 1994, simply could not match for style.

See also:

1994: http://sportales.com/soccer/hot-and-happy-states-in-1994/

1990: http://sportales.com/soccer/none-shall-sleep-in-italia-90/

1986: http://sportales.com/soccer/did-god-exist-in-1986/

1982: http://sportales.com/soccer/the-rain-and-spain-in-1982/

1978: http://sportales.com/soccer/i-cried-but-not-for-argentina-in-1978/

1974: http://sportales.com/soccer/by-the-1974-world-cup-i-had-grown-but-we-had-declined/

1970: http://sportales.com/soccer/the-1970-world-cup-the-end-of-a-golden-age/

1966: http://sportales.com/soccer/i-was-six-in-1966-and-thought-the-world-cup-was-just-for-fun/

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