FIFA World Cup in 1998. Teams, match results

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was held in France, at once in several cities, and the strongest teams from around the world brought together the honor of their countries. However, only one could win, so they all fought in full force, until the last seconds fighting for every ball. This championship became the sixteenth in history, and he passed, as usual in the summer. The song of The Cup of Life performed by Ricky Martin (the English version of his hit La Copa de la Vida) is the official anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Did this tournament differ from all previous ones? He was not just different, but was revolutionized, because in the final part of the tournament for the first time there were not twenty-four teams, but as many as thirty-two. However, the 1998 World Cup was memorable, of course, not only this, but also a huge number of exciting matches.

Location

Everyone can imagine where the FIFA World Cup was held in 1998 - it happened in France. But it should be noted that the matches of the final part of the tournament were held at once in ten cities of the country. This involved as large stadiums, such as the Velodrome in Marseilles (60,000 spectators) or the Parc des Princes in Paris (49,000 spectators), and the small ones - Park Lesquiers in Bordeaux and La Mosson in Montpellier (accommodating no more than 35 thousand spectators). The biggest stadium of the tournament was the Stade de France in Saint Denis, which seats 80,000 spectators. As you can see, the cities and stadiums where the championship was held were very diverse, but they were united by the spirit of the tournament, which literally lifted the whole country for a month. The French were rooting for their national team, but a huge number of people from other countries came to support their favorites.

Group stage

The 1998 FIFA World Cup, as you already know, has been expanded to 32 teams - respectively, and the number of teams has been increased to eight. As a result, two teams emerged from each group, who then played each other in 1/8 finals. In Group A were the favorites of the Brazilian championship in the company of Norwegians, Moroccans and Scots. Expected of the group left the Brazilians and Norwegians with six and five points respectively.

In Group B there were Chileans, Italians, Austrians and Cameroonians, and there were also no surprises here - the Italians and Chileans withdrew from the group, except that the Chile team did it barely, having played three games in a draw, although it was expected much more.

In group C were the hosts of the championship, which easily passed into the next stage, having won all the games of victory. The company was made by the Frenchman Danes, leaving behind South Africa and Saudi Arabia. But in group D there was a first surprise - in the playoffs did not leave the national team of Spain, which lost the opening of that championship, the Nigerian national team, which eventually took the first place in the group, and on the second was Paraguay. Bulgaria with one point finished in last place. In group E there was a very tight struggle, and until the last moment it was not clear who will go to the playoffs. As a result, with the same number of points in the next stage were the Dutch and Mexicans, and the Belgians with the North Koreans flew out of the tournament.

In group F, almost everything was clear from the very beginning - Germany and Yugoslavia were very strong, only the US could make them at least some kind of competition - but they failed, like Iran. Another unexpected breakthrough happened in group G - the national team of Romania was strong, and in a group with England, Colombia and Tunisia, it was foreshadowed by a hard struggle for survival. But in the end, the Romanians were the first, leaving behind the Colombians, as the British took the second line. Well, in the last group - H - the Argentines quietly came from the first place, the Croats from the second, and Japan and Jamaica were left out of the tournament. After the group stage, the 1998 World Cup was transferred to the 1/8 finals.

1/8 finals

At this stage, the football teams that took the first two places in their groups, played each other "on the fly." One match was played, and the winner went to the next stage of the tournament. The favorite of the tournament team of Brazil defeated the Chile team with a devastating 4: 1 thanks to the doubles of Sampaio and Ronaldo, and their future opponents Danes defeated the Nigerians with the same score - distinguished Muller, Laudrup, Sand and Helveg. Golants with much greater difficulty defeated the Yugoslavs - 2: 1, Bergkamp opened the score, Komlenovich equalized, and only on the second added minute, Davids snatched victory for his team.

The match between the Argentines and the British was very spectacular - in the very beginning of the match the teams exchanged a penalty shot, after which Owen brought England forward, and Sanetti equalized the score. In the end, everything was decided in a series of post-match penalties, where the Argentines were luckier. The Italians defeated the Norwegians 1: 0 (goal on Vieri's score) in their brand-name catenaccio style, and the French experienced a real shock at the stadium "Felix Bollar", which they will remember for a long time - in regular time in the match with Paraguay there were no goals, and only in Blanc was able to score a golden goal in the second half. The Germans suddenly began to concede in the course of the match to the Mexicans, but Klinsmann and Bierhoff were able to decide the outcome in favor of the German team. Well, the Croats defeated the Romanians with a score 1: 0 - Shuker scored the only goal from the penalty spot. In accordance with the rules of the tournament, the football teams already knew their opponents in the next stage.

1/4 finals

Very interesting match gave the fans of Brazil and Denmark - in the second minute Jorgensen brought the Danes forward, but Bebet equalized the score in ten minutes. Then Rivaldo scored the second goal to the Danes, who in the second half were able to equalize through Laudrup's efforts, but Rivaldo completed the double and brought the Brazilians to the semi-finals - 3: 2. The Dutch repeated their previous match, but already with the Argentines as rivals - Kluivert scored first, but after five minutes Lopez equalized the score, and only in the added time, in the last third minute Bergkamp pulled out the victory. The French also played a similar match, failing to identify the winner with the Italians in both the main and extra time. Well, on the penalty shooter the hosts won, because at the decisive moment Di Biagio got to the crossbar. But in the last match the Croatians presented a surprise, which defeated the Germans 3: 0 (Yarni, Vlaovic and Shuker scored goals).

1/2 finals

In the semifinals there were two incredible battles, which revealed the two best teams, and also identified two teams that will play in the match for third place. In the match between the Brazilians and the Dutch, Ronaldo opened the scoring, and the Netherlands team was able to equalize it only three minutes before the end of the meeting - the author of the goal was Kluivert. In the penalty shootout the hero of the day was Taffarel, the goalkeeper of the Brazilians, who repulsed two out of four with a Dutch punch, while the Brazilians themselves implemented all four. The first half of the match between the French and the Croats passed without goals, but the second started very smartly - at the 46th minute Shuker opened the scoring, and at 47 Thuram leveled it. And the same Thuram, who became the hero of this match, brought France forward, thanks to which she won 2: 1, reaching the final in the end.

Match for third place

The match for the third place was tense - Croatia came forward already in the 13th minute thanks to the goal of Prosinechka, but after eight minutes Zenden equalized the score. On the 35th minute Shuker again led the Croats forward, and until the end of the match the score was unchanged - 2: 1, the Croatian national team received bronze medals.

The final

But the finale between the favorites and the hosts was unexpectedly one-sided. Already in the first half, Zinedine Zidane made a double at the gate of Taffarell, and on the third added minute, Emmanuel Petit buried the Brazilians - 3: 0, and the French win the home world championship.

Top scorer

Davor Shuker from Croatia was the best scorer of the tournament, scoring six goals in seven matches. But it's also worth noting Christian Vieri and Gabriel Batistutu, who lagged behind Shuker by only one goal, but they did not have two matches.