World Cup history - France 1998

Zidane holds the World Cup high up in front of the home crowd

The 1998 World Cup was lit up by the best team France has ever produced.

The final was woefully anti-climactic as a subdued Brazil struggled to match their hosts in Paris in a 3-0 defeat.

But that did not detract from the achievement by Zinedine Zidane and co who swept all before them on home soil to secure France's first title.

England went out in the second round after David Beckham was sent off against Argentina, while Scotland once again failed to make the second stage.

Scotland had played in the World Cup's opening match, doing their reputation no harm as they went down 2-1 to Brazil.

But a 1-1 draw with Norway and a crushing 3-0 defeat to Morocco left Craig Brown's team bottom of Group A and on the first plane home.

England progressed to the second round, victories over Tunisia and Colombia sufficient to overcome the disappointment of defeat to Romania.

Glenn Hoddle's team went through as runners-up, behind Romania, but that pitched them against Argentina as opposed to Croatia.

A 2-2 draw included one of the best English World Cup goals ever, by Michael Owen, and one of the most infamous incidents in the shape of Beckham's red card for a kick at Diego Simeone.

The game went to penalties, David Batty missed and British interest in the competition was over.

Ronaldo mystery

France had to rely on a golden goal - the first in the World Cup's knockout stage - from Laurent Blanc to see them through their second-round game against Paraguay.

And, when penalty kicks settled their quarter-final against Italy, it looked like fate was smiling on Aime Jacquet's team.

Croatia, easy victors over Germany in the quarter-finals, were despatched at the semi-final stage and Paris braced itself for the mother of all parties.

Brazil had required penalties to get past Holland in their semi-final and the game had taken its toll.

And on the day of the final mystery surrounded the "convulsion" Ronaldo suffered the night before the game.

The striker was first left off the team-sheet and then reinstated after rushing to the Stade de France when a hospital check-up gave him the all clear.

He played but was clearly not fit and France punished Brazil's spluttering performance with a simple 3-0 win, two goals coming from captain Zidane and one from Emmanuel Petit.

Croatia beat Holland in the third-place play-off and their star striker Davor Suker won the Golden Boot with six goals.

RESULTS & STATISTICS

Group A

Brazil 2-1 Scotland Morocco 2-2 Norway Scotland 1-1 Norway

Brazil 3-0 Morocco Scotland 0-3 Morocco Brazil 1-2 Norway

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Brazil	3	2	0	1	6	3	6
Norway	3	1	2	0	5	4	5
Morocco	3	1	1	1	5	5	4
Scotland	3	0	1	2	2	6	1

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Group B

Italy 2-2 Chile Cameroon 1-1 Austria Chile 1-1 Austria

Italy 3-0 Cameroon Italy 2-1 Austria Chile 1-1 Cameroon

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Italy	3	2	1	0	7	3	7
Chile	3	0	3	0	4	4	3
Austria	3	0	2	1	3	4	2
Cameroon	3	0	2	1	2	5	2

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Group C

Saudi Arabia 0-1 Denmark France 3-0 South Africa South Africa 1-1 Denmark

France 4-0 Saudi Arabia France 2-1 Denmark South Africa 2-2 Saudi Arabia

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
France	3	3	0	0	9	1	9
Denmark	3	1	1	1	3	3	4
South Africa	3	0	2	1	3	6	2
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	1

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Group D

Paraguay 0-0 Bulgaria Spain 2-3 Nigeria Nigeria 1-0 Bulgaria

Spain 0-0 Paraguay Spain 6-1 Bulgaria Nigeria 1-3 Paraguay

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Nigeria	3	2	0	1	5	5	6
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	5
Spain	3	1	1	1	8	4	4
Bulgaria	3	0	1	2	1	7	1

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Group E

South Korea 1-3 Mexico Holland 0-0 Belgium Belgium 2-2 Mexico

Holland 5-0 South Korea Belgium 1-1 South Korea Holland 2-2 Mexico

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Holland	3	1	2	0	7	2	5
Mexico	3	1	2	0	7	5	5
Belgium	3	0	3	0	3	3	3
South Korea	3	0	1	2	2	9	1

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Group F

Yugoslavia 1-0 Iran Germany 2-0 USA Germany 2-2 Yugoslavia

USA 1-2 Iran Germany 2-0 Iran USA 0-1 Yugoslavia

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	6	2	7
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	4	2	7
Iran	3	1	0	2	2	4	3
United States	3	0	0	3	1	5	0

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Group G

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

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

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Romania	3	2	1	0	4	2	7
England	3	2	0	1	5	2	6
Colombia	3	1	0	2	1	3	3
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	4	1

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Group H

Argentina 1-0 Japan Jamaica 1-3 Croatia Japan 0-1 Croatia

Argentina 5-0 Jamaica Japan 1-2 Jamaica Argentina 1-0 Croatia

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	0	9
Croatia	3	2	0	1	4	2	6
Jamaica	3	1	0	2	3	9	3
Japan	3	0	0	3	1	4	0

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Second round:
Italy 1-0 Norway
Brazil 4-1 Chile
France 1-0 Paraguay (aet)
(France won on golden goal)
Nigeria 1-4 Denmark
Germany 2-1 Mexico
Holland 2-1 Yugoslavia
Romania 0-1 Croatia
Argentina 2-2 England (aet)
(Argentina won 4-3 on penalties)

Quarter-finals:
Italy 0-0 France (aet)
(France won 4-3 on penalties)
Brazil 3-2 Denmark
Holland 2-1 Argentina
Germany 0-3 Croatia

Semi-finals:
Brazil 1-1 Holland (aet)
(Brazil won 4-2 on penalties)
France 2-1 Croatia

3rd/4th place play-off:
Croatia 2-1 Holland

Cup Final:
France 3-0 Brazil

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Leading scorer: Six goals: Davor Suker (Croatia)