Football World Cup 1998 / England

The English national football team at the 1998 World Cup in France :

qualification

After the semi-finals at the European Championships in 1996 in their own country, the qualification for England began with a dream start. England managed three wins in a row: two away wins against the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia and one home win against Poland. This was followed by the first home defeat against the biggest rival in the qualifying group, Italy. After that, there were only wins and a draw. So again Moldova, Georgia and Poland were beaten before it finally came to a 0-0 in Italy.

Since Italy lost points in the away game in Poland (0: 0) and in the away game in Georgia (0: 0) after the victory in England, the draw in Italy was enough for England to take first place in Group 2. The direct qualification for the finals in France was successful.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	England	15: 2	19th
2	Italy	11: 1	18th
3	Poland	10:12	10
4th	Georgia	7: 9	10
5	Moldova	2:21	0

Moldova	-	England	0: 3
England	-	Poland	2: 1
Georgia	-	England	0: 2
England	-	Italy	0: 1
England	-	Georgia	2-0
Poland	-	England	0: 2
England	-	Moldova	4-0
Italy	-	England	0-0

English contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	David Seaman	Arsenal FC	09/19/1963	4th	0	1	0	0
13	Nigel Martyn	Leeds United	08/11/1966	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Tim Flowers	Blackburn Rovers	02/03/1967	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Sol Campbell	Tottenham Hotspur	September 18, 1974	4th	0	1	0	0
3	Graeme Le Saux	Chelsea FC	10/17/1968	4th	0	0	0	0
5	Tony Adams	Arsenal FC	10/10/1966	4th	0	0	0	0
6th	Gareth Southgate	Aston Villa	09/03/1970	2	0	0	0	0
12	Gary Neville	Manchester United	02/18/1975	3	0	0	0	0
18th	Martin Keown	Arsenal FC	07/24/1966	0	0	0	0	0
21st	Rio Ferdinand	West Ham United	07/11/1978	0	0	0	0	0
midfield player
4th	Paul Ince	Liverpool FC	10/21/1967	4th	0	1	0	0
7th	David Beckham	Manchester United	05/02/1975	3	1	0	0	1
8th	David Batty	Newcastle United	12/02/1968	4th	0	0	0	0
11	Steve McManaman	Liverpool FC	02/11/1972	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Darren Anderton	Tottenham Hotspur	03/03/1972	4th	1	0	0	0
15th	Paul Merson	Middlesbrough FC	03/20/1968	1	0	0	0	0
16	Paul Scholes	Manchester United	11/16/1974	4th	1	1	0	0
17th	Rob Lee	Newcastle United	02/01/1966	1	0	0	0	0
striker
9	Alan Shearer	Newcastle United	08/13/1970	4th	2	1	0	0
10	Teddy Sheringham	Manchester United	04/02/1966	2	0	0	0	0
19th	Les Ferdinand	Tottenham Hotspur	December 8, 1966	0	0	0	0	0
20th	Michael Owen	Liverpool FC	December 14, 1979	4th	2	0	0	0
Trainer
	Glenn Hoddle		October 27, 1957

Preliminary round

England were "seeded" by FIFA in the group game draw, despite having not qualified for the previous tournament in the USA. However, England was able to reach the quarter-finals in 1986 and even finished fourth in 1990. The teams from Romania, Colombia and Tunisia were drawn for the English.

Everything went according to plan against Tunisia, England won 2-0. The following game against Romania was then lost with a goal in the last minute. The public in England now vehemently demanded the use of the two young stars David Beckham and Michael Owen, who even managed to beat Romania 1: 1 in the meantime. In order to make it into the round of 16 perfectly, England needed a win against Colombia in the third round game, which could also win against Tunisia and had lost against Romania. The game ended 2-0 for England. England finished second in the group behind Romania, who at the same time saw a 1-1 draw against Tunisia to win the group.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Romania	4: 2	7th
2	England	5: 2	6th
3	Colombia	1: 3	3
4th	Tunisia	1: 4	1

England	-	Tunisia	2-0
Romania	-	England	2: 1
England	-	Colombia	2-0

Finals

In the last sixteen they met Argentina. The meeting of the two teams from the quarter-finals in 1986, in which Diego Maradona scored the famous goal with the " hand of God ", is still remembered . Gabriel Batistuta was able to bring the Argentine team into the lead with a penalty in the 6th minute . This did not last long, however, as Alan Shearer was able to equalize with a penalty kick in the 10th minute. This was followed by the brilliant performance of the then 18-year-old Michael Owen , who was able to bring England into the lead for the first time in the 16th minute after a wonderful solo. Just before half-time, Argentina was able to equalize again through Javier Zanetti .

Then, in the 47th minute, the likely key scene of the game occurred. After a foul, David Beckham retaliated by kicking and was sent off by Danish referee Nielsen. At home, Beckham then met with pure hatred.

Neither in regular time nor in extra time could a team decide the game. In extra time, the decimated English were denied a goal by Sol Campbell , which would have meant victory by Golden Goal. A penalty shoot-out followed, in which David Batty then missed the decisive penalty. Argentina could move into the quarter-finals. For England the tournament was over.

Argentina

-

England

2: 2 n.v. (2: 2, 2: 2), 4: 3 i. E.