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| FRANCE 98

foyued GU ROBE vrdg ou POW BT

HOMAN SANAIE

his World Cup Final was the
best one of the 1990s. In
the last two World Cup

Finals only one goal was scored. This
year France humiliated the defending
champions, Brazil, in the final by a
score 3-0, The packed crowd at the
Stade de France enjoyed every minute
of the game.

France got to the final by winning
Group C, defeating South Africa, Saudi
Arabia and Denmark and in the second

_ round by beating Paraguay I—O in over-
time. Then they played Italy in the
quarter-final. The game

in the semis. Before the game Ronaldo
was sent to hospital because he had a
panic attack. Some reports say that he
swallowed his tongue, but that still has-
nt been confirmed.

The rest of the Brazilians weren't up
for the game because they thought
Ronaldo wasn't going to play in the
game. The Brazilian coach, Mario
Zagallo, gave the World Cup officials
his starting line-up, but Ronaldo wasn’t
on it. However, thirty minutes later
Zagallo gave the World Cup officials a
new starting line-up and Ronaldo was
on it.

Throughout the game the Brazilians

The Final

were still not up for the final because
they were worried that Ronaldo would
get hurt and not play. You could see by
their play that they were never really in
the game.

The French team had problems of
its own. Their best defender, Laurent
Blanc, was suspended for the final
because he punched a Croatian player
in the semis. Defender Frank Leboeuf
took Blanc’s place in the starting line-
up.

The first goal of the game was
scored off a corner kick by Zinedine
Zidane of France in the 27 minute.

France's second goal also came off a

 

ended scoreless, but France
defeated Italy in a penalty
shoot-out 4—3. In the semifi-
nals they beat Croatia 2—I

to reach the final.

Brazil got to the final by
winning Group A, defeating
Scotland and Morocco, but
losing to Norway. They
defeated their South
American rivals Chile 4—I in
the second round. In the
quarter-final they defeated
Denmark 3-2, and in the
semifinals against the
Netherlands the game ended
I—I. Then Brazil defeated
the Dutch 4~2 in a penalty
shoot-out to reach the final.

Brazilian superstar

 
  
 

a knee injury he
versus Netherlands

 

Predictions: How did we do?

Throughout the winter semester, Hamish Knox and Homan

Sandie made their predictions for the World Cup. Let’s see
how they did:

Hamish Knox Groups Homan Sanaie
2/4 Group A
1/4 Group B
0/4 Group C
1/4 Group D
4/4 Group E
2/4 Group F
2/4 Group G
2/4 Group H
2/4 Semifinalists
0/2 Winners of SF
0/2 Finalists
0/1 Winner of World Cup
16/43 Overall
37.2% Percentage

Now we know who is the soccer expert. If you want to
P y
gamble on sporting events you know who to ask.

corner kick, scored by
Zidane in the first minute
of extra-time in the first
half.

Their third goal came in
the third minute of extra-
time in the second half by

midfielder Emmanuel

4/4 Petit.
4/4 The final score was 3-0,
as4 hich-was Besa
1/4 which was Brazil's worst
4/4 defeat ever in the World
af VC “
2/4 An estimated 1.7 billion
2/4 people watched the final.
3/4 This is France's first
2/2 World Cup championship.
2/2 They have already qualified
0/1 for the 2002 World Cup
32/43 | with co-hosts Japan and
74.4% | South Korea.
Qualifications for the
next World Cup will start
in the year 2000.

 

 

August 1998 Page 30 Cup du Monde