Brazil-Norway preview

I think that today's match between Brazil and Norway has the potential of being a great match. Norway has been playing some excellent football led in particular by the two stars Martin Ødegaard and Erling Haaland, while Brazil has shown the potential to get far, even as their name is not among the biggest favourites, with Vinicius Jr. as the main star so far. Norway's attacking prowess is without question, but their defense has more than once proven shaky during the tournament, something that Ancelotti has probably eyed. Raphinha still appears to be doubtful, but may be replaced by Neymar, something that could prove either a huge risk, or a huge opportunity. 

It is notable that Norway is one of the few countries in the world that has never lost to Brazil. They have only played four times, with two victories for Norway and two draws. In 1998 they faced one another in the group stages of the World Cup that France later won against Brazil in the final. Norway won 2-1 with two heroic goals within the last ten minutes of the match by Tor-Andre Flo and Kjetil Rekdal, after Bebeto had brought Brazil ahead. Brazil still won the group, but the victory meant that Norway advanced to the round-of-16, where they were eliminated by Italy.

So no matter what happens it will be history!

Another thing: after a disgraceful match with a team that refused to play football like Paraguay, I hope to see two teams of real sportsmen for whom fighting does not mean to be violent pricks (like Paraguay), but who will compete hard, as equals and with mutual respect. 

Good luck to both and may the best team win!

Greatest World Cup matches: France-Brazil (1998)

France had always been a reluctantly great footballing nation. With great teams, from their 1958 bronze winners to their legendary squad from the 1980s, the title of champions of the world had nevertheless eluded them, in spite of the huge amount of enormously talented players that were being produced in the excellent youth academies of the countries. Although the 80’s team had retired, new stars were there to take over in the 1990s: Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin and Yuri Djorkaeff were only a few of the many stars. France had nevertheless been unable to capitalize on this talent: France did not qualify to the world cups of 1990 and 1994, and at the 1992 European Championship they had fallen in the first round to the underrated Danes. However, the French were committed to build a new team to do well in the World Cup at home in 1998. Gerald Houllier had been fired after the debacle at not qualifying for the 1994 World Cup, and his place was taken over by Aimé Jacquet, who started building up a new team around the young star Zinedine Zidane. He did not select some of the major French stars like Jean-Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona and David Ginola for the 1996 European Championship, where the French with a defensive style made it to the semifinals. Although the team was heavily criticised for being too defensive, it soon became obvious that it was a very solid and stable team, and when the world cup started, the French entered as one of the favourites.
And indeed, the Blue and multiethnic team swept all opposition aside in the first round: three victories against South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Denmark saw France through to the last-16. The following two matches were more difficult: first, France faced Paraguay, a solid and defensive team centered around the legendary goalkeeper José Luís Chilavert. France won a hard-fought victory 1-0 after extra time.
In the quarterfinal the French hosts played Italy in one of the classics of international football. Another hard-fought match where France won on penalty kicks after a goalless draw.
In the semifinal France played the sensational Croatians, who were playing their first World Cup and had made it to the semifinals. In another difficult match France won 2-1 on two goals by the Parma defender Lilian Thuram – the only two international goals of his career.
Thus, France was ready for its first World Cup final ever, at home in Paris, and ready to face the defending Brazilian world champions.
Brazil had as always entered the tournament as heavy favourites for the title. But it was obvious from the start that the team was less stable than the 1994 team, although with a stronger attacking force that included the veteran Bebeto, FC Barcelona’s offensive midfielder Rivaldo, and the the Inter striker Ronaldo, who at the time was the best player in the world, already having been awarded the FIFA world player of the year award in 1996 and 1997.
The Brazilian team opened with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Scotland, before going on to defeat Morocco 3-0. Although they had qualified for the next round before their last match against Norway, their 1-2 defeat showed them as vulnerable. The last-16 match against Chile was won with 4-1, but the quarterfinal again showed the Brazilians in trouble against European teams that gave the Brazilians little space and punished defensive mistakes. Still, Brazil managed to win 3-2 against Denmark, before facing the Netherlands in the semifinal. Again in a difficult match, Brazil managed 1-1 after extra time, and won on penalty kicks.
Although not playing brilliantly, Brazil had nevertheless made it to the World Cup final, but was to play one of the worse matches in their history against a French side whose outstanding players were highly motivated, riding on a wave of intense national excitement, that came to its full expression during the national anthem being played in a full Saint Denis stadium in Paris.
While the French were being pushed forward, Brazil was having problems before the match: there were rumours surging about Ronaldo, who was said to have had a breakdown only hours before the match, and should not have been able to play (other Brazilian players later said that they feared for Ronaldo’s life). However, the rumours also said that Ronaldo had been forced on the pitch by his and the Brazilian team’s main sponsor, Nike, who obviously also denied it all.
This was indeed the culmination of the commercialization of the world cup that had been going on since the 1980’s, had reached a pinnacle at USA 1994, and was now firmly established: All the rumours about Ronaldo were perhaps more a symptom of the fact that the World Cup no longer belongs to the fans or the teams, but now belongs to the sponsors.
This final was to see Adidas (France) against Nike (Brazil).
France started the final in complete dominance, offensively, and putting pressure on the Brazilians. Captain Didier Deschamps had a good long range effort, and after only four minutes the Auxerre striker Stephane Guivarch had a great chance when he was played open by a splendid Zinedina Zidane pass, but missed. Brazil was quite anonymous against the overwhelming French attacks, although Ronaldo had a creeping shot and Rivaldo an excellent header, that were both saved well by the charismatic and confident French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez from AS Monaco.
Finally, in the 27the minute the French pressure bore fruit: Real Madrid’s Roberto Carlos gave away a corner-kick (and got himself a yellow card on the way for kicking the corner-flag in frustration) that was taken by Arsenal’s Emmanuel Petit. He kicked it towards the near post where Zinedine Zidane got in front of Leonardo and headed hard into goal.
1-0 to Brazil by the Algerian-descended Zinedine Zidane from Juventus, who had been the best player of the tournament, but had until then not scored a goal.
France continued the pressure after the goal, and at the end of the first half Zinedine Zidane scored for the second time, something that had not happened in a World Cup final since Mario Kempes for Argentina in 1978.
France was leading 2-0 at half-time and had been far superior to the Brazilians.
In the second half the pressure was on the Brazilians, and coach Mario Zagallo put in the offensive Denilson for Leonardo. The French on the other hand, could pull back and threaten the Brazilians on counter-attacks. Within the first fifteen minutes of the second half the Brazilians had two good chances, one to Ronaldo and another one to Bebeto, who was given a free chance by a Barthez blunder, but his shot was cleared by Marcel Desailly.
On the other side, Guivarch had a huge chance for a third for France, but shot over the goal, and was soon replaced by Cristophe Dugarry.
Soon, Brazil was given new hope when Marcel Desailly, who had been one of France’s and the world’s best defenders during the tournament, was given his second yellow card for a challenge on Cafú. Down to ten men, Aimé Jacquet replaced Yoiri Djorkaeff with the more defensive Patrick Vieira, and explicitly played in counter-attacks. The Brazilians were nevertheless still unable to threat the French goal and instead, in the dying minutes of the match Emanuel Petit scored after a good French counter-attack, thereby sealing the French victory.
France, one of the greatest footballing nations never to win, had finally taken the World Cup title in their first final ever.
And Adidas was victorious as well...
This was one of the world cup finals with the greatest qualitative difference between the two sides ever; France was simply far superior on all aspects of the game, while it was probably one of the poorest matches a Brazilian side has ever played.

Match Stats:

• 12th July, 1998 Saint Denis, Paris
• Attendance: 80,000
• Referee: Said Belqola (Morocco)

France-Brazil 3-0
Goals: 1-0 Zidane (27), 2-0 Zidane (45), 3-0 Petit (90)

Teams:
France: Barthez, Lizarazu, Leboeuf, Desailly (RC, 68), Thuram, Djorkaeff (Veira), Deschamps, Zidane, Petit, Karembeu, (Boghossian), Guivarch (Dugarry)
Brazil: Taffarel, Cafu, Aldair, J. Baiano, R. Carlos, C. Sampaio (Edmundo), Dunga, Rivaldo, Leonardo (Denilson), Bebeto, Ronaldo

Greatest World Cup matches: Argentina-England (1998)

Argentina and England still have the only cross-continental rivalry in international football, and when they play it is bound to be a hyped-up media affair. In the 1998 World Cup in France, both teams entered with enormous expectations.
Argentina had put behind them the disappointing scandals of the 1994 World Cup, and coach Daniel Passarella had assembled a strong team with a list of strong players from some of the top clubs in the world. Some of these players included Sampdoria’s Juán Sebastián Verón, Valencia’s Ariel Ortega and Claudio López, Napoli’s Roberto Ayala, Inter’s Diego Simeone and Javier Zanetti, as well as some extraordinary strikers, notably Fiorentina’s Gabriel Batistuta and Parma’s Hernán Crespo.
In spite of the awesome quantity of quality players, the team had been immersed in controversy, not least because of Passarella’s discipline: players were told to cut their hair or they would be out of the team, something that meant the exit of Fernando Redondo and Troglio. Also, there had been controversy regarding rumours of doping and internal disagreements.
Still, Argentina seemed a team in harmony and very strong, starting the tournament with three victories against Japan, Jamaica and Croatia and a score of 7-0.
After not participating in the 1994 World Cup England was now coached by the former star player Glenn Hoddle, and had qualified ahead of Italy in a close group. The team was good, with players from all the strong teams in the Premier League, notably Machester United’s David Beckham, Newcastle’s dangerous striker Alan Shearer, and Liverpool’s Steve McManaman and Paul Ince. Also, the squad included Michael Owen from Liverpool, an 18-year old rising star who already in his first season for Liverpool had been top scorer in the Premier League, and had in may in a friendly match against Morocco already become the youngest player to score for England.
Glenn Hoddle had on the other hand left out players such as Paul Gascoigne (who went into a rage and had to be restrained when he learned that he had not been selected for the squad) and Phil Neville.
Although it was certainly a team to be reckoned with, the English were not as awesome as other teams, and they didn’t necessarily impress in the first round: after opening with an obligatory 2-0 win over Tunisia, the English went on to lose 2-1 against Romania. In this match Michael Owen, who had been left out in the opening match, had come on and scored England’s goal. He had thus started in for the next match against Colombia, where England won 2-0, with David Beckham scoring a beautiful free kick goal.
Now Argentina and England, who had last faced one another in a World Cup in the legendary 1986 quarterfinal, were to face one another again in the last-16, and the entire attention of the football-world immediately shifted to this match in Saint-Étienne.
The match started dramatically: after five minutes Argentina went ahead when the outstanding Fiorentina striker Gabriel Batistuta brought Argentina ahead 1-0 on a penalty kick.
But England had in fact started with the best pace, and four minutes later, Newcastle’s Alan Shearer equalized for England after a penalty kick after the 18-year old young Michael Owen was brought down by Roberto Ayala. It looked very much like a dive by the young Englishman, but the Danish referee Kim Milton gave the penalty anyway.
The match was thus levelled when the 18-year old Michael Owen took matters into his own feet, and scored one of the best goals of world cup history only 16 minutes into the first half: he received a long ball in the Argentine half and slalomed his way towards goal, outrunning the Argentinean defender José Chamot, and elegantly getting around Roberto Ayala in full speed, he kicked the ball perfectly into goal with no chance for the goalkeeper Carlos Roa.
It was incredible work by the youngster, and England was ahead.
The match moved back and forth, with chances for both teams, but nothing happened until the very last minute of the first half; Argentina was given a free kick just outside the English penalty area. In a set kick, Juán Sebastián Verón completely surprised the English defense when, instead of shooting on goal he passed the ball to Inter’s Javier Zanetti standing inside the English area just at the edge of the defensive wall, who turned quickly and elegantly curved the ball around the English goalkeeper David Seaman.
2-2 at halftime in what had been a splendid first half, and the second half started with drama: Diego Simeone had made a foul against Beckham, who in frustration kicked out after Diego Simeone. The Argentinean totally overdid his pain, but the Danish referee was standing right next to the situation, and gave Simeone a yellow card and David Beckham a direct red card.
Beckham’s reaction was obviously thoughtless, and he was blamed for the eventual loss: a headline described the team as: "10 Heroic Lions, One Stupid Boy”, while Beckham for months was followed by hateful taunts wherever he went in England. It was probably a period that matured the elegant and posh player, as he had to win back the confidence of his fans (and he eventually did, as all great players do, acting with more modesty and concentrating on his excellent footballing skills).
England was now pushed back on the defensive against the experienced Argentineans. Indeed, England defended heroically, and even managed to get some big chances, among them an annulled goal by the Tottenham defender Sol Campbell.
The dramatic match ended 2-2, and when the extra time ended goalless, the match had to go into what was a nerve wrecking penalty shootout.
It was looking good for England when the Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman saved Argentina’s second shot, by Hernán Crespo. However, the kicks were levelled already on the next shot when Carlos Roa saved the shot from Liverpool’s Paul Ince.
Everybody scored on the following kicks right up to when Newcastle’s David Batty was to kick the last penalty for England, at the score 4-3 for Argentina. Carlos Roa saved, which meant that Argentina won.
While England went home, Argentina fell in the next round against the Netherlands 2-1 (the victory goal by Dennis Bergkamp was one of the best goals in World Cup history). This quarterfinal between England and Argentina was thus not a match between the two best teams in the world; but the drama, the media hype and the fact that some of the best players in the world were there (and notably Beckham to make the mistake that oddly made him so unpopular in England) turned this into another match to add to the mounting classics of this the only cross-Atlantic rivalry that goes far beyond football; it is about something much deeper that England and Argentina have more in common that any other nations on planet-football: football-passion and –arrogance.

Match Stats:

• 30th June 1998, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
• Attendance: 30,600
• Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)

Argentina-England 2-2 (After Extra Time)
Goals: 1-0 Batistuta (6) (pen)1-1 Shearer (10) (pen)1-2 Owen (16)2-2 Zanetti (45)

Penalty kicks:
Argentina-England 4-3

• 1-0 Berti
• 1-1 Shearer
• Crespo misses for Argentina
• Ince misses for England
• 2-1 Verón
• 2-2 Merson
• 3-2 Gallardo
• 3-3 Owen
• 4-3 Ayala
• Batty misses for England

Teams:
Argentina: Roa; Ayala, Chamot, Almeyda, Simeone (Berti), Ortega, Verón, Vivas, Zanetti, Batistuta (Gallardo), López (Crespo)
England: Seaman; Campbell, Le Saux (Southgate), Ince, Adams, Beckham (RC 47), Neville, Anderton (Batty), Scholes (Merson), Shearer, Owen

Greatest World Cup matches: Croatia-Germany (1998)

The sad dismemberment of Yugoslavia in the 1990’s also led to the dismemberment of one of the best national football teams in Europe. Yugoslavia was already a footballing power when a golden generation of players emerged in the late 80s. The team did well in the 1990 World Cup, eliminating Spain and reaching the quarter-finals, and was set for glory for the 1992 European Championship, when the UN boycott forced the Yugoslavs to withdraw. Their replacement, Denmark, won the tournament…
In the 1996 European Championship Croatia was the first ex-Yugoslav republic to participate, and made it to the quarter-final, establishing themselves as a power to be reckoned with. And the team was indeed full of physically strong and technically extraordinary players which included: the team’s captain Zvonimir Boban was a star at AC Milan (and a hero in his country after he had attacked a policeman in a match in the Yugoslav league in 1990 to defend a fan of his team Dinamo Zagreb); the extraordinary young defender Dario Simic from Dinamo Zagreb, who was soon to change to Inter Milan; the ageing Robert Prosinecki who had represented Yugoslavia in 1990 and had a successful career in among others Red Star Belgrade and Real Madrid, was now in Dynamo Zagreb; and the veritable goal-making machine from Real Madrid, the extraordinary Davor Suker.
The Croatian side had started its first World Cup with two victories against the rather weaker sides of Jamaica and Japan respectively, and already qualified for the next round, had lost 0-1 to Argentina. In the last-16 the Croatians defeated another Balkan team, Romania, and were now to face Germany in what would be the true test of their strength. Two years previously, when Croatia had played their first major tournament as an independent nation at the 1996 European Championships, they had been eliminated by Germany in the quarterfinals, and the Germans had gone on to win the tournament.
After a disappointing exit from the 1994 World Cup, the Germans had risen to the top of Europe in 1996, and were now again considered a serious contender for the world title. The team had a number of veterans from their last title, in 1990, notably their captain, the legendary Lothar Matthäus, who was playing his record-breaking fifth World Cup. But other veterans included the Borussia Dortmund defender Jurgen Kohler, Karlsruhe’s small midfielder Thomas Hässler, and Tottenham’s now legendary striker Jürgen Klinsmann.
In spite of the advanced age of the team, they had not had major difficulties continuing from the first round: they had started by defeating the USA, and then tying Yugoslavia 2-2 before defeating Iran in the match that gave them the top spot in the group. In the last-16 the Germans had shown that they should never be written-off: 1-0 down against Mexico until 15 minutes before the end of the match, Klinsmann and Udinese’s Oliver Bierhoff both scored to give Germany the spot in the quarterfinals against Croatia in what many obviously expected to be a repeat of the Euro 1996 quarterfinal.
It became a great football match which Germany started best: in the first half they completely dominated and had some big chances, including a couple of great shots by Thomas Hässler and a close header by Bayern Munich’s Didi Hamann that was spectacularly saved by the Croatian goalkeeper Drazen Ladic.
But in the 40th minute of the match one event changed the match: the Croatians sent a long ball to Davor Suker, who was clumsily tackled by the German defender from Bayer Leverkusenn Christian Wörns. Wörns had until this point undoubtedly been one of the best players of the tournament; an incredibly stable sweeper on the last line of defence for the Germans. But his clumsy tackle on Suker (who completely overdid his acting as well) earned him a direct red card, and was a huge weakening of the German team that had otherwise looked nearly unbeatable until then. It was obvious that Wörns’ exit immediately gave the Croatians more space, and within the next five minutes they had their first chances.
In the 45th minute, the Germans gave the Parma midfielder Mario Stanic a lot of room to run down toward the German area. He passed the ball to the Real Betis’ winger Robert Jarni, who was given plenty of time outside the German penalty area. His shot was not particularly hard, but was out of range for the German goalkeeper Andreas Köpke.
It was a big surprise, but Croatia was ahead 1-0 at halftime.
Second half was extremely entertaining as a 10-man German team showed their best side by attacking well and never giving up, but the Croatian side being extremely dangerous in the counter-attack and the increased space they were getting by the German offense.
The Germans had some extraordinary chances, among which was an incredible shot by Oliver Bierhoff and a shot on the post on a free-kick by Didi Hamann. On the other side there were excellent chances to Davor Suker and to Valencia’s Goran Vlaovic in what had become a very entertaining match.
Ten minutes before the end of the match Croatia finally scored in what seemed to seal their victory on a shot out of range for Köpke from Goran Vlaovic. As the Germans stubbornly pushed forward, Davor Suker scored a third for the Croatians five minutes later, after expertly controlling the ball inside the German area and placing the ball under Köpke.
Suker was to become the most scoring player of the tournament.
This was one of the most painful defeats Germany had ever suffered, and the following years caused a renewal in the German national team. Croatia on the other hand had arrived on the world stage and were to play the hosts from France in the semi-final. They lost 2-1, but in the match for bronze they defeated the Netherlands. Croatia was ranked 125th in the world in 1995 when they were admitted to FIFA, and was third three years later, making the team the best mover in ranking in World Cup history.
The result also meant a lot for the evolving identity of the newly independent Croatia: the wave of national pride that swept the country, and was also summarized by the Croatian coach Miroslav Blazevic, who said that his small and valiant country had found its identity through football.

Match Stats:

• 4th July 1998, Stade Gerland, Lyon
• Attendance: 39,000
• Referee: Rune Pedersen (Norway)

Croatia-Germany 3-0
Goals: 1-0 Jarni (45), 2-0 Vlaovic (80), 3-0 Suker (85)

Teams:
Croatia: Ladic; Stimac, Bilic, Asanovic, Soldo, Jarni, Simic, Boban, Stanic, Suker, Vlaovic (Maric)
Germany: Köpke; Wörns (RC, 40), Heinrich, Kohler, Tarnat, Jeremies, Matthäus, Hässler (Kirsten), Hamann (Marschall), Klinsmann, Bierhoff

Greatest World Cup matches: USA-Iran (1998)

The history of football goes parallel to the history of the world, and sometimes football matches have been more noted for their political significance than for their footballing importance. The USA against Iran in the first round of the 1998 World Cup in France was such a match.
Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, the two countries had no diplomatic relations and relations had been (and continue to be) quite tense. In that regard, it raised some eyebrows then the two countries drew each other in the first round, together with Yugoslavia and Germany. Undoubtedly, Germany and Yugoslavia were considered the favourites in a group where Iran and USA were nothing but footballing dwarfs. Still, the match drew a lot of attention, in particular in the football-crazed Iran, where a victory against the USA apparently meant more than even progressing to the next round.
In the USA, football (or soccer) remained a small sport, although it was growing after the successful 1994 World Cup. A Major Soccer League had been started in the country, and many of its players were getting experience playing in Europe. Although still a minor player in footballing terms, there was no doubt that it was a growing power. In spite of this, the team had before the tournament and been full of internal intrigues that was truly affecting the team on the pitch.
The team had started the tournament by losing 2-0 to a strong German side.
Football in Iran is immensely popular, and in the 1970s Iran dominated the Asian championships and in 1978 also qualified for their first World Cup. However, the political turmoil and war with Iraq also influenced the national football side, that throughout the 1980s was absent from international football (they did not even play qualifiers for the 1982 and 1986 World Cups). But in the 1990s Iranian football began to recover, something that culminated in 1997: in a close 2-game play-off against Australia, Iran qualified for the World Cup in France, and the country celebrated wildly.
Iran’s team was without doubt very talented. The star was Arminia Bielefeld’s Ali Daei, who was soon to join Bayern Munich, and is still the player that has scored most goals on international matches ever (109 goals, ahead of Ferenc Puskas and Pelé). But there was also the charismatic and strong midfielder Karim Bagheri, also from Arminia Bielefeld, the FC Cologne striker Khodad Azizi, and the young super talent from Bochum, Mehdi Mahdavikia.
Iran had started the tournament with a narrow 1-0 loss to Yugoslavia. Therefore the second match where the USA and Iran faced one another was crucial: the loser would be definitely out of the tournament even before the last match. However, this circumstance was largely overshadowed by the media attention around the political situation between the two countries.
Before the match, both teams showed some of the greatest sportsmanship, exemplifying to both their hostile governments that football is not politics. The team’s players presented each other with flowers and gifts, and the team picture was taken together.
Nonetheless, in sporting terms, both teams needed a victory, and both started out carefully, seeing off each other, with sporadic chances and fighting strongly. In particular the Iranians were motivated by the largely Iranian crowd cheering them on, and they increasingly dominated the match. Only five minutes from halftime, a cross from Javad Zarincheh into the US area was beautifully headed into goal by a completely unmarked Hamid Esteli, from the Iranian club Bahman F.C. Esteli’s euphoric celebration was reminiscent of Tardelli’s when he scored in the 1982 World Cup final.
In the second half the North Americans had to put more pressure to get an equalizer as the match grew in intensity. The Iranians fought hard, stood well in defence, and were increasingly dangerous on their counter-attacks with their quick strikers. It was in one of these counter-attacks that Iran went ahead 2-0: Ali Daei elegantly got between three US players and made a deep pass to Mahdavikia. The US defence was completely torn apart and Mahdavikia had the option to pass to a team-mate who was alone in the centre, but instead he rushed straight towards the North American goal and shot hard in the low corner.
The last eight minutes of the match were perhaps much more dramatic that they should have been. Instinctively the Iranians pulled back to defend, while the US pushed all forward. Soon after the Iranian goal, the first warning came when the French-American defender David Regis hit the post in an open position. And only three minutes before time the Columbus Crew striker, Brian McBride scored on a diving header. At the score 2-1 the Iranians were very nervous, and the Americans had some good chances. But the score held to the end of the match.
The victory was very important for Iran, as it also represented their first World Cup victory ever. But after losing their final match 2-0 to Germany, they were out of the tournament. The US also lost 1-0 to Yugoslavia in their last match, and thus exited the tournament with three loses as the worse team together with Japan.
This match was the most important ever between footballing midgets.
The US has continued with huge advances in football, qualifying for every world cup since, and even making it to the quarter-finals in 2002.
Iran participated in the 2006 World Cup, but lost to Mexico and Portugal and tied Angola.

Match Stats:

• 21st June 1998, Estade Gerland, Lyon
• Attendance: 39,100
• Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland)

USA-Iran 1-2
Goals: 0-1 Estili (40), 0-2 Mahdavikia (84), 1-2 McBride (87)

Teams:
USA: Keller; Hejduk, Pope, Dooley (Maisonneuve), Regis, Wegerle (Radosavljevic), Moore, Ramos (Stewart), Jones, McBride, Reyna
Iran: Abedzadeh; Mahdavikia, Khakpour, Bagheri, Estili, Daei, Azizi (Mansourian), Mohammadkhani (Peyrovani), Zarincheh (Sadavi Sad), Pashazadeh, Minavand

Brazil-France World Cup clashes

On Saturday Brazil and France will play their fourth encounter in a World Cup. They have always played exciting matches, with France so far having won twice, and Brazil once. The matches have been the following:

• Semifinal, Sweden 1958: France had an extraordinary side with Raymond Koppa and Just Fontaine. The latter is still the player to have scored most goals in one World Cup, with 13 in this one year. In the semifinal however, they were up against one of the most legendary Brazilian sides of all time. Brazil won 5-2, and later became World Champion against Sweden. One young 17-year old Brazilian scored three goals to defeat the French: Pele.
• Quarterfinal, Mexico 1986: Brazil and France were filled with some of the World's most talented players, and in this quarterfinal played one of the most entertaining matches ever seen in a World Cup. It ended 1-1 in ordinary time, althoguh 5-5 would probably have been a more fair score. Legendary Brazilian Zico missed a penalty 10 minutes before the end of the match, and after extra time, France won on penalty kicks.
• Final, France 1998: France had never been World Champions until they hosted it this year. In the final they were to face the defending champions of 1994, Brazil, who had had a quite mediocre performance, but nevertheless made it to the final. However, the Brazilians were no match for the motivated Frenchmen, who crushed Brazil 3-0 in one of the most uninteresting finals of all time.

I am certain that the quarterfinal match on Saturday will be another for the history books. France is motivated after their win against Spain, while Brazil has been looking vulnerable until now. The game could go to either side.