A midsummer night’s dream: Pages from World Cup ’98

Referee Kim Milton Nielsen sends off England’s David Beckham for kicking out at Diego Simeone

The teams took the field again after a riveting 1^st half but just two minutes into the second half and an incident occurred which is remembered by English fans with disdain up to this very day, and which is thought to have practically sealed the fate of England in that match. The Argentine captain Diego Simeone pushed Beckham to the ground in a clear foul and in a match where tempers were already high, Beckham felt provoked and kicked out at Simeone. Although, it had hardly scratched Simeone, he apparently decided to take a shot at the Oscars and lay on the ground as if in unbearable pain. The referee showed him the yellow card no doubt, but he gave Beckham a straight red and the entire English supporters gave out a gasp. The anchor of their midfield was gone, and it was but a matter of time now before the Argentine attack took the English defence for a ride.

But in a great display of defensive skills, the English defence prevented the Argentina forwards to come anywhere near the goal. So impenetrable did the English defence look that the Argentine coach substituted both his forwards in the 68^th minute but even the two fresh pair of legs couldn’t seem to do much damage. In the dying moments of the match, Sol Campbell headed the ball home past Roa and the English supporters went up in raptures. But the theatrics had not yet ended for the day as the referee disallowed the goal stating that the English captain, Shearer had fouled Roa prior to the goal. Thus, there was no change in the score line and it read 2-2 at full time. The match now proceeded to extra time.

This was the first World Cup where the golden goal rule had been introduced and just a single goal from either side in extra-time, and the other team would have to say goodbye to the cup. But both the teams took a defensive strategy, and the match went into the much dreaded penalty shootout where luck and nerve mattered as much as wit and dexterity.

While Berti, Crespo, Verón, Gallardo and Ayala came forward to take the kicks from the Argentine side, Shearer, Ince, Merson, Owen and Batty took the penalty kicks for England, in that order. England gained the upper hand when Crespo’s shot was saved by Seaman but the very next minute, Ince’s shot was saved by Roa. The remaining spot kicks were converted by Argentina and finally the score read 4-3 with one shot remaining for England.

Could the English finally put their shootout failures of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 Euro Cup behind them? This was the question in every body’s mind as Batty got ready to take the kick. But his feeble shot was easily saved by Roa and England were knocked out of the World Cup, again. As it turned out, the penalty shootout jinx has followed England ever since then right up to last year’s Euro Cup where they were knocked out by Italy in the quarter finals.

Thus once again, England’s pursuit for cup glory had ended in a glorious failure. As it turned out, even Argentina’s good run came to an end in the quarter-finals as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Dutch, thanks to a last minute winner by Dennis Bergkamp. Curiously, both England and Beckham got a shot at revenge when these two teams met again at the group stage of the subsequent edition of the cup in Germany, 2002 which England won 1-0 owing to Beckham’s 44th minute penalty. But let’s save that story for another day.

Three more World Cups have been played since that thrilling summer night of ’98 and still World Cup glory has eluded both these Titans. “El Ángel Gabriel” Batistuta is a legend of the past now as the world chants Lionel “Leo” Messi’s name. Owen and Beckham have already bid adieu to the beautiful game, and England is yet to find players who could fill their large shoes. Frank Lampard is in the twilight of his career, and Wayne Rooney hasn’t done much in Cup games to brag about either.

So, as the 2014 World Cup carnival in Brazil draws near, one can’t help looking back at the summers long gone by, the legends that have come and gone, and the matches that have been lost and won, and make surmises about “what if?”. Amongst all the World Cup memories, the England-Argentina rivalry will always stand out as having produced some of the most scintillating moments in Cup history. And hopefully, there’s plenty more to come and both these teams will one day regain their lost glory. So three cheers to the “Three Lions” and three cheers to “La Albiceleste” because no matter what people say, the best ain’t over yet.