Overview:

Entering France ’98, French coach Aime Jacquet and his team had more than their share of doubters and critics, considering Jacquet had searched in vain for more than three years for a forward who could score consistently at the international level. History says that virtually all World Cup champions have someone who can put the ball in the net on a regular basis.

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

Entering France ’98, French coach Aime Jacquet and his team had more than their share of doubters and critics, considering Jacquet had searched in vain for more than three years for a forward who could score consistently at the international level. History says that virtually all World Cup champions have someone who can put the ball in the net on a regular basis.

Well, as it turned out, France wrote some history of its own during that June and July. By capturing the 16th World Cup with a stunning 3-0 victory over defending champion Brazil on July 12, 1998, France became only the seventh country to win soccer’s most prestigious prize, joining Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay  and England in an exclusive club.

France also became the first country to win at home since Argentina pulled off that feat in 1978. What made the victory even more amazing was that it was accomplished by a team that relied on teamwork more than great stars. There was no question that Zinedine Zidane was the focal point, but it was the team defense, particularly the fabulous back four. The midfield could possess the ball for long periods of time, and despite a team-wide inability to shoot the ball past the opposing goalkeeper, France rose to the occasion. The team’s ability to overcome its faults and play as a team—which had become almost a cliché as the 21st century loomed — stood as the French’s greatest triumph.

That, plus the inclusion of players from former colonies and the sons of immigrants made this a lesson for the rest of the world that so many players with diverse backgrounds not only can play together, but they can excel as well. Much had been said of the ethnic mixture of the team, although Jacquet downplayed that factor, saying he saw  only soccer players, not someone’s heritage.

The defense included Ghananian-born Marcel Desailly and Lilian Thuram, of Guadeloupean heritage. The midfield boasted such diverse backgrounds as New Caledonia (Christian Karembeu), Senegal (Patrick Viera), the Basque region (Didier Deschamps), a player of Algerian descent (Zidane) and even French (Emmanuel Petit). The forward line had French-born Thierry Henry and Argentine-born David Trezeguet.

The French triumph climaxed a 33-day tournament that won’t rank with Mexico ’70, considered the greatest World Cup ever, or even Spain ’82, but probably right behind the latter along with Mexico ’86. As good as USA ’94 was, there was little question that France ’98 topped it.

There were many factors and heroes. While France isn’t considered a great soccer country, it was accessible from the rest of Europe and from parts of the rest of the world. Thousands of fans poured in from neighboring countries to cheer on their heroes or just bask in the glory and madness that is considered the World Cup. There was some madness off the field. Newly elected FIFA President Sepp Blatter, like a little boy with a game in which he can change the rules any time he wanted, did exactly that, admonishing referees for not awarding enough red cards one day and publicly criticizing them the next. It confused the hell out of the men in the middle, action that should have been taken many months before the opening kickoff at St.-Denis on June 10.

Referees always seemed to be in the middle of things as the players, many of whom apparently went to acting school in their spare time, fell, stumbled and showed varying degrees of pain on their faces, doing their damnedest to feign injury to get a free kick for their side or a yellow or red card for an opposing player. Some of these players were so well schooled, they even deceived referees on several occasions. Just ask Blanc.

Despite those problems, the World Cup sometimes took on a life of its own. Beyond France, the most surprising side was Croatia, which finished third after losing to France in the semifinals, 2-1, and then bested the Netherlands by the same score. Davor Suker finished as the leading scorer of the tournament with six goals, beating opposing goalkeepers in six of his seven matches. Argentine goalkeeper Carlos Roa, hero of the second-round shootout victory over England, holds the distinction of keeping Suker off the scoreboard.

There were other heroes and emerging stars as well. Michael Owen, only 18 years old, scored what was arguably the goal of the tournament on an amazing 50-yard run in that Argentine match.

Dennis Bergkamp, who at times gave new meaning to the term invisible man, might argue with that as he scored a marvelous goal of his own, taking in a 50-yard cross-field pass from Frank DeBoer, dribbling around a defender and beating Roa with two minutes to spare for a Dutch 2-1 victory in the quarterfinals.

The Nigerians entertained fans before their defense, or lack thereof, betrayed them. Denmark, which played so conservatively in the first round, upended the Nigerians in the second round, 4-1, and gave the Brazilians a run for their money losing in a pleasing quarterfinal confrontation, 3-2.

Of course, if you subscribe to the theory of sports relativity, for every hero there must be at least one goat. England midfielder David Beckham, fiancé of the Spice Girls’ Posh Spice, was red-carded for a silly foul on Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone early in the second half of a tied match. Argentina went on to win in a shootout as England, forced to change its attacking tactics, circled the wagons and prayed for a miracle. Ariel Ortega, who wears the same number 10 shirt as the mercurial Diego Maradona, sometimes reminded spectators of the retired superstar’s genius and madness against the Dutch, headbutting goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar and seeing red for it.

The Germans did not play up to expectations as, for an unprecedented second consecutive World Cup and for the first time the event had been held in Europe since World War II, they finished out of the Final Four. The Italians’ defense wasn’t up to par with some of their recent vintage and except for Christian Vieri and an occasional Roberto Baggio, had severe problems finding the back of the net.

The most disappointing side? To Americans, it was the woefully underachieving U.S. team that produced whiners in wine country. To the rest of the world, Brazil was a big disappointment. While good enough to win its group with a 2-1 record and advance to the final with unlike-Brazil victories, the Brazilians did not live up to the pretournament hype of four-time winner and defending world champions.

Perhaps they had a premonition of what was to come. After barely getting past a scrappy Scotland side in the France ’98 opener, the Brazilian team visited Euro Disney. Heading for Disney World is a tradition a team or a most valuable player does after winning a tournament, not after winning the opener.

Something was missing. Perhaps it was trying to defend its title off continent. No country has ever done that. When the Brazilians emerged victorious in Sweden in 1958, they went on to win their second title closer to home in Chile four years later. Or perhaps it was the high expectations and the low realizations of the Brazilians’ 21-year-old superstar Ronaldo. On paper, it appeared he had a fine World Cup, scoring four goals and helping to set up three others. He was the next great giant of the game, someone to follow in the footsteps of Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Eusebio and even Pelé.

But when it counted the most – the championship game – Ronaldo failed spectacularly. The bottom line: He was hardly a factor and his teammates weren’t too far behind. Beautiful soccer it wasn’t; then again, they don’t give out points in the World Cup for pretty play, but rather for wins.

Group A

Brazil escaped Le Stade de France with three points and a 2-1 victory over Scotland on June 10, kicking off France ’98 with a mediocre performance more befitting an also-ran rather than a contender or a defending champion. The Brazilians managed to secure the win on an own goal by Scottish defender Tommy Boyd, who accidentally knocked the ball into his goal from four yards during a scramble in the penalty area in the 73rd minute.

“It’s the worst moment of my life,” Boyd said. “But I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Defender Cafu, the last Brazilian to touch the ball, on the other hand, was so elated that he did a flip in the air. “You could see the way they reacted after they scored the goal,”

Scotland coach Craig Brown said. “They seemed to be relieved and delighted because they realized it was a difficult game. They were fortunate to have won the game.”

Cesar Sampaio scored with the match only four minutes old, but the Scots equalized on John Collins’ 38th minute penalty kick.

Still, Brazil had few problems securing passage to the second round with a 3-0 victory over Morocco. As expected, that left it to the three other teams to battle for second place.

One of the most dramatic and controversial opening-round finishes came in the waning minutes of the Brazil-Norway encounter on a hot and steamy night in Marseille. With the Norwegians facing a 1-0 deficit in the final ten minutes and desperately needing a win to advance, they got their wish, but not without astonishment by the fans and international media. First, Tore Andre Flo put in the equalizer in the 83rd minute and then Kjetil Rekdal fired home a penalty kick in the 88th minute.

American referee Esse Baharmast ruled that Brazilian defender Goncalves had fouled Flo, although very few, if any spectators at Le Stade Velodrome, seemed to have witnessed the same play. Baharmast was vilified in the international media, until replays from Swedish television showed that Goncalves had taken down his opponent by his shirt from an angle that wasn’t captured on live TV.

Group B

Italy, behind a hot Vieri (a goal in each of the three matches), went undefeated, tying Chile, 2-2, on a controversial

penalty kick by Roberto Baggio in the 84th minute, and defeated disappointing Cameroon, 3-0, and Austria, 2-1. Chile reached the second round the hard way—tying all three of its matches. In fact, the Chileans seemed to be the most snakebit of all teams, losing a 1-0 lead to Austria two minutes into stoppage as Ivica Vastic scored.

Many observers wondered where the referee found all that extra time to add on.

Group C

The French started their amazing rollercoaster ride on a high note at Le Stade Velodrome in soccer-mad Marseille, rolling to a 3-0 triumph over an inferior South African side that really had no chance. In their next match, at the new Le Stade de France in St.-Denis in suburban Paris, the French cruised to another relatively easy win, a 4-0 romp over Saudi Arabia. That victory, however, came at great cost, when the team’s midfield general, Zidane, stomped on midfielder Fuad Amin. His punishment? A red card and a two-game suspension. They also lost forward Christophe Dugarry to a leg injury until he came on in the waning minutes of the final.

No one realized at the time, but incredibly the game would mark the last time a French forward—Trezeguet found the back of the net in the 69th minute – would score a goal in the tournament.

The resilient French continued on their personal Tour de France, outlasting Denmark, 2-1, in Lyon, in their final opening-round encounter to become only one of two sides (Argentina was the other) in the 32 team tournament to finish the first round unbeaten and untied.

The Danes managed to reach the second round on the strength of a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia and a 1-1 draw with South Africa. The only real history the Saudis produced was firing coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, the former New York/New Jersey MetroStars coach who guided Brazil to the world championship in 1994, after only two games and with one match remaining.

Group D

This competition’s Group of Death—turned out to be the death of the quadrennially underachieving Spanish side, which failed to advance as coach Javier Clemente verbally sparred with the media.

Goalkeeper Andoni Zubizaretta, whom many critics claimed was over his head in this cup, found a way to make the worst mistake at the very worst time. Take, for instance, Spain’s 3-2 loss to Nigeria. The Nigerians played a free-wheeling game, sometimes allowing gaping holes in their midfield and defense. But Nigeria took advantage of Spain’s defensive deficiencies as Zubizaretta gave away one goal when he batted in Garba Lawal’s shot from a severe angle in the 73rd minute. It was difficult to stop the game-winner — a marvelous 25-yard drive by Sunday Oliseh 12 minutes from time. To celebrate the win, coach Bora Milutinovic attended the post-match press conference in traditional Nigerian garb. By the time Spain recovered its soccer senses—a 6-1 drubbing of Bulgaria in its final match – it already had been eliminated.

Nigeria, Olympic gold medalists two years prior, won the group, edging Bulgaria, 1-0, but losing to previously punch-less Paraguay (two scoreless ties) and outspoken goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, 3-1, in the final match.

Group E

Mexico went down to the final seconds literally in one of the most thrilling opening-round matches. Rallying from a two goal deficit, Mexico managed to tie the favored Netherlands, 2-2, in the last game of the group to stay alive. The heroics were provided by Luis Hernandez (he would sign with the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer two years later), who found the back of the net four minutes into stoppage time.

Both teams wound up tied for the lead with identical 1-0-2 records and five points, but the Dutch got top honors because of superior goal differential (five to two). Belgium didn’t lose, but didn’t win either, playing to draws in all three matches. South Korea, which had never won a Cup match in 44 years, finished 0-2-1 on a team which boasted Laurent Blanc, Lilian Thuram and Marcel Desailly, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. But Lizarazu was a steady and solid influence on the left side.

Group F

Germany and Yugoslavia advanced easily earning wins over inferior teams from the U.S. and Iran. The Americans’ situation turned into a mess. Only 21 seconds into their opener against Germany, Claudio Reyna was upended by defensive midfielder Jens Jeremies. He was never the same player. The aging German side found holes in the U.S. defense recording a 2-0 victory on goals by Andreas Moeller and Jurgen Klinsmann.

The U.S. still had a chance to advance, but it needed to defeat Iran in what was called “The Mother of All Games.” In a game that gave a new meaning to the phrase political football, it was only the second time these two countries met in the sports area since the hostage crisis in 1979. Iran proved to be the superior side, taking a two goal lead as the U.S. produced the wrong type of hat trick, hitting each post and the crossbar en route to a 2-1 victory. Brian McBride had yet another rare feat. He had the lone U.S. score. By the time the Americans took on Yugoslavia, they were a mentally beaten side with many veteran players complaining how they were misused or benched.

Yugoslavia recorded a 1-0 win and moved on. Several days later Steve Sampson resigned as U.S. coach. “This World Cup was a mess. It was a shambles,” midfielder Tab Ramos said. “I think it’s unfair we couldn’t show the progress we made in the last four years.”

In what turned into the match that decided the group title, Germany played Yugoslavia to a 2-2 draw on Oliver Bierhoff’s goal in the 78th minute.

Group G

The one place you didn’t want to be was in any city the English team was in, because their unruly and self-destructive fans probably weren’t too far behind. Like clockwork, English fans rioted in Marseille before their team blanked Tunisia in the first encounter, 2-0, a game that marked the  World Cup debut of Michael Owen as substitute. Owen came on as a sub to score in a 2-1 loss to Romania. England rebounded with a 2-0 victory over Colombia.

Group H

Argentina had a relatively easy time of it playing three countries making their World Cup debut. The South Americans shut out Japan, 1-0, Jamaica, 5-0, and Croatia, 1-0. That was Croatia’s last loss until France in the semifinals. The Croatians, playing in the cup for the first time since the breakup of Yugoslavia, started their amazing run behind striker Suker with wins over Jamaica, 3-1, and Japan, 1-0. Jamaica, the minnows of this competition and one of the small- est countries to participate in a Cup, acquitted itself quite well, edging Japan, 2-1.

Round of 16

After a rocky first-round, Brazil got on track with a solid 4-1 effort against Chile as Sampaio collected a pair of first-half goals and Ronaldo added two more in the final 45 minutes in Paris. Vieri connected for his Cup-leading fifth goal in the 18th minute in Italy’s 1-0 triumph over Norway in Marseille. That early goal forced defensive-minded Norway to push up, allowing Italy to counterattack.

The French survived a close call against Paraguay and world class goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert in Lens, as Laurent Blanc snuck up from his central defender position and scored the game winner in the 114th minute for a 1-0 win, only six minutes from the dreaded penalty-kick shootout.

The Nigerians’ defensive deficiencies were exposed as they finally met their match against Denmark. The Danes grabbed a 2-0 bulge after twelve minutes behind Peter Moeller and Michael Laudrup and never looked back in a 4-1 triumph at St.-Denis.

Argentina managed to get past England in Lyon, 4-3 in penalty kicks after playing to a 2-2 tie after 120 minutes. In their first Cup encounter since Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” goal in 1986, it came down to the quick hands of Argentine goalkeeper Roa, who made a pair of saves in the penalty kick shootout. The teams traded dubious penalties; then it got interesting. First, Michael Owen’s incredible 50-yard jaunt through the Argentine defense created one of  the greatest goals of World Cup history. Then, the Argentines got even on instructions from the bench on a free kick taken by Juan Sebastian Veron. The ball was shuffled to Javier Zanetti, who scored.

The game took a turn early in the second half as Beckham kicked Diego Simeone while he was on the ground. Simeone supposedly saw stars, Beckham a red card.

Germany again pulled off one of their miraculous comebacks, this time against Mexico, overcoming a 1-0 deficit with a pair of second-half goals en route to a 2-1 win in Montpellier. Bierhoff’s six-yard header with four minutes remaining climaxed the rally. The Mexicans could have put this match away in the 62nd minute but they missed two golden opportunities by Jesus Arellano and Hernandez.

In Toulouse, the Netherlands barely got past Yugoslavia, 2-1, on a goal by Edgar Davids two minutes into injury time.

In a battle of Eastern European countries, Croatia continued its winning ways, edging a tough Romanian side, 1-0. But this encounter wasn’t without its own controversy. As time was running out in the opening half, Suker fired in a penalty. When the referee had him retake it because of encroachment, Suker converted that one as well.

Quarterfinals

Zidane returned in the quarterfinals against Italy in St.-Denis, but he did not look entirely fit and never was a factor as the hosts again survived a close one, winning on penalties, 4-3, after playing to a scoreless tie.

With the match only 92 seconds old, Denmark served notice to Brazil it wasn’t going to roll over and die, defending champions or not. The Danes scored on a quick free kick to silence the mostly partisan, yellow-clad Brazilian crowd at La Beaujoire in Nantes. For a good portion of the next eighty-eight minutes, they made life as miserable as they could for the Brazilians, but not before a six-yard header by defender Marc Rieper rattled off the crossbar with 67 seconds remaining in regulation. By then, Brazil had secured a 3-2 lead on Rivaldo’s second goal, in the 59th minute (he also tallied in the 25th minute). Bebeto had a goal in the 10th minute.

One of the most memorable moments did not result in a score, but only a red face and a bruised ego for Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos, who tried a little flair when he attempted to clear a cross out of the penalty area with a bicycle kick. He failed to time his kick properly and missed the ball. Fortunately for Brazil, nothing came out of the embarrassing play.

In Lyon, Croatia surprisingly stopped Germany, 3-0, as the Germans suffered their worst defeat since an 8-3 pasting by Hungary in 1954 (or by the Allied Powers back in 1945). The Germans, who had never failed to reach a Final Four in any of the previous World Cups in Europe, were eliminated in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive time. The Germans had Christian Woerns sent off before halftime as the Croatians struck behind Robert Jarni (45th minute), Goran Vlaovic (80th) and Suker (85th).

On two plays early and late in the Netherlands-Argentina encounter, Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp lived up to the strikers’ reputation of being invisible for eighty-nine minutes and then literally striking in the final minute to win this July 4 firecracker of a match in Marseille, 2-1. In the 12th minute, his diving header set up Patrick Kluivert’s goal. The Argentines seemingly had an advantage when Dutch defender Arthur Numan was red-carded in the 77th minute. But Ariel Ortega, who wears Diego Maradona’s number 10 (now that must explain his brilliance and madness) was himself ejected for head-butting goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar in the penalty area eleven minutes later. Bergkamp trapped a 50-yard cross-field pass from defender Frank De Boer, took a couple of steps around defenders and placed a 12-yard shot past goalkeeper Carlos Roa on the right side.

Semifinals

Compared to their confrontation at USA ’94, there wasn’t much to write home about in the opening forty-five minutes of the Brazil-Netherlands encounter in Marseille. But the game got better and better in this clash of soccer titans. Many soccer observers and members of the media felt this was the real final. Ronaldo gave Brazil a 1-0 edge only seconds into the second half and Kluivert, who spent most of the tournament either sitting out a red-card suspension or firing more errant shots from within the penalty area at the net, drew the Dutch even with three minutes left in regulation. Extra time was up and down before Brazil’s much-maligned goalkeeper, Claudio Taffarel, emerged as the hero, stopping two Dutch shots in the tie-breaker.

Back again at St.-Denis for the semifinals, Suker drew first blood for Croatia only 25 seconds into the game, which woke up the French. They retaliated barely sixty-six seconds later when defender Lilian Thuram, who had not scored once in 38 previous international appearances, scored. The storybook finish continued in the 70th minute when Thuram struck for his second goal of the match, six minutes before Blanc was sent off for an alleged foul on Croatian defender Slaven Bilic. The French, however, held on for a 2-1 win.

Did anyone say “destiny’s darlings”?

Third-place match

If they did, no one was listening. Seemingly eighty percent of the world picked Brazil to win the title, even though the South Americans weren’t performing at 100 percent efficiency. As meaningless third-place World Cup matches go, the only real drama at the July 11 encounter between Croatia and the Netherlands was whether striker Suker would get his sixth goal. He did, breaking a three-way tie for the scoring lead in Croatia’s 2-1 victory at Parc des Princes in Paris. Ronaldo, who had four goals, was the only player in the July 12 World Cup final between Brazil and France who had a realistic shot of tying or surpassing the Croatian for the scoring title.

Even though there was little at stake, the partisan French crowd got into the match, hooting Bilic with boos, hisses or whistles every time he touched the ball, as well as during pre-game introduction and the bronze-medal ceremony afterward, for his great acting on an alleged foul that led to the banishment of Blanc. Few fans, however, booed Suker, whose goal in the 40th minute had a double meaning. Not only did it boost him past Vieri and Batistuta in the scoring race, it also broke a 1-1 tie. Bilic started the counter up the right wing. The ball eventually came to Zvonimir Boban in the middle and he shuffled a short pass to Suker on the left side. He took a step into the penalty area and curled a shot into the lower left corner past keeper Edwin Van Der Sar. As though he realized he had clinched the title, Suker raised his arms triumphantly and then crossed himself.

“Suker’s goal was a masterpiece,” Croatian defender Igor Stimac said. “I hope he winds up as the best goal scorer in the World Cup.”

Suker unselfishly turned playmaker on Croatia’s first goal in the 13th minute, starting the counterattack to Zvonimir Boban, who raced down the left wing. He crossed the ball into the middle to Robert Jarni, who then shuffled a short pass to Robert Prosinecki. Prosinecki, who was mysteriously benched in the semifinal loss, then went through three defenders before tucking in an 8-yard shot. Only seven minutes later, the Dutch equalized on a great individual effort by Boudewijn Zenden, who bolted down the right wing, suddenly made a turn toward the middle of the field and with Jarni on his back, rifled home a 24-yard blast past goalkeeper Drazen Ladic for one of the Cup’s most spectacular goals.

Final

Call it the ultimate French kiss. After French  captain Didier Deschamps was handed the FIFA World Cup trophy,

he kissed it and held it triumphantly over his head. He then handed it to Zidane, who planted one of his own on the precious 18-karat gold cup. No one would have blamed Zidane had he kissed it a second time to symbolize each of the goals scored in France’s stunning 3-0 victory over heavily favored defending champion Brazil at Le Stade de France in St. Denis on July 12.

In the most surprising World Cup championship victory since West Germany upset the Magic Magyars of Hungary for the 1954

title, the French were world champions of soccer, thanks not only to Zidane’s legendary goal scoring heroics, but the unrelenting hard work of his teammates and several timely and sometimes spectacular saves by goalkeeper Fabien Barthez as well.

By the time forward Emmanuel Petit scored three minutes into stoppage time, France had secured its place in history, becoming only the seventh country to win a world title, along with four-time champion Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay and England. The victory touched off the wildest celebration in France this side of the end of World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto streets of Paris, mobbing the Champs-Elysees to celebrate the stupefying result.

“All of France was behind us,” French coach Aime Jacquet said. “Everybody saw today that France was able to play with pride, heart and determination. We’ve been working for this for two years. We fully deserve it.”

It wasn’t an easy climb to the top of international soccer’s mountain. The French had no world-class scoring threat up front. Their defense wound up decimated, starting the match without their second-best defender, Laurent Blanc (red-card suspension), and finishing without their top backline player, Marcel Desailly (67th minute ejection).

The first 15 minutes gave an indication of what was to come as the Brazilians played at half speed while the French attacked from both flanks. The South Americans, with an ailing Ronaldo (left ankle), seemed content bringing the ball up through defender Cafu and midfielder Leonardo on the right wing, ignoring their stars, defender Roberto Carlos and playmaking midfielder Rivaldo.

The French broke through in the 27th minute after Carlos tried to knock defender Lilian Thuram’s ball over the right touchline. The ball rolled over the end line for a corner kick. Petit’s corner kick inswinger found Zidane, who leaped over Leonardo and headed the ball from six yards into the lower corner past goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel.

Two minutes into stoppage time, Zidane struck again with a virtual duplicate of the goal on the left side. This time Youri Djorkaeff provided the corner as Zidane headed the ball home from seven yards.

“The French were better,” Brazilian coach Mario Zagallo said. “We lost the game in the first half. We were only able to put together two attacks.”

The question on everyone’s mind was whether Ronaldo should have played. Only hours before the match, Ronaldo was taken to a hospital, reportedly for tests on his left ankle. He was cleared to play forty-five minutes before the game. Depending on what report you believed, Ronaldo had either an ankle injury, convulsions, or came down with a stomach ailment on the day of the game. There were reports that Ronaldo had vomited and that there were arguments in the locker room about whether Ronaldo should play.

There were rumors and accusations that Nike had pressured Ronaldo and Zagallo to play the superstar. Nike, which had a 10-year sponsorship deal for a reported $200 million with the Brazilian Football Confederation, said in a statement that it “wants to emphasize that the report of such involvement is absolutely false.”

That statement was released by Nike’s Italian branch in Rome after receiving a directive from the company’s headquarters in the U.S. Ronaldo, who had signed an eleven year, $125 million deal with Inter Milan, was the major focus of Nike’s ad campaign at France ’98.

Ronaldo admitted he was tired of all his outside activities. He was found sprawled on the floor trembling — mentally and physically — by roommate and defender Roberto Carlos in their hotel room five hours before the 9 p.m. kickoff, according to inside sources. Ronaldo was taken to a hospital for tests.

“There’s too much pressure,” Ronaldo said. “I need to change my life. I need a better life.”

Whatever the ailment, the 21-year-old superstar striker hardly played up to his stature as the world’s greatest soccer player as the French inflicted on the Brazilians their worst loss in World Cup history. Remember, four-time champion Brazil had lost but 12 times in the Cup entering the confrontation.

“I knew he was hurt,” Zagallo said. “I knew I was taking a gamble. Ronaldo should not have played.”

Seemingly always in the world spotlight, an ineffective Ronaldo was an invisible man, barely a shell of himself. He had only one serious chance, a three-yard shot from a severe angle on the right side that French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez saved in the 56th minute.

Zagallo originally unveiled a lineup with temperamental forward Edmundo in the place of Ronaldo. “Psychologically, everyone became distraught and overwhelmed,” Zagallo said. “When it seeped through into the team, the motivation went down.”

That’s when Zagallo decided to put Ronaldo into the lineup. Before he finished talking to the media, Zagallo, who had been either a coach or a player in Brazil’s four championships, got into an argument with a Brazilian reporter.

“I’m explaining something,” Zagallo angrily said. “I don’t want to go down to your level. You (Brazil) owe me a lot. I have characterand dignity. What about you?”

Then Zagallo stormed out of the press conference, probably the most forceful thing anyone associated with the team did all night.