France 1998: England fall to Argentina but French hold their nerve to triumph in Paris final

After what for me was a disappointing finals in the hotbed of football achievement, the good 'ol US of A, 1998 saw the return of the showpiece event to European soil.

More pleasing though, was the return of England after an eight-year absence from the world stage.

And unfortunately, like the rest of this country, my expectations of a renaissance that would see Glenn Hoddle's team lift the World Cup trophy for the first time in 32 years, were vastly over-ambitious.

Sadly, so were hopes that this World Cup would be trouble-free, a reality which never materialised once English 'fans' had gone on the rampage in Marseille.

Followers of Germany were also accountable for the disturbances in the southern city, but a lingering memory for me will be the images of thugs clashing in the streets and poor French policemen suffering at their hands.

Fortunately, come the end of the tournament, the streets of the country would again be filled - but this time, by people rejoicing in a historic success for the gallant hosts.

Anyway, rewinding back to the tournament's opening encounter, an apparent mismatch between reigning champions Brazil and Scottish underdogs, anticipation had well and truly reached boiling point come the time of the first whistle.

Craig Brown's side turned in a brave performance and were ultimately a tad unlucky to slip to a 2-1 defeat, but in a group that also included both Norway and Morocco, progression was always a big ask.

They did at least return home with a point, claimed from a 1-1 draw with Norway in their second game, although that was as good as it would get.

Norway would eventually join Brazil in the last 16 after a late fightback saw them highlight the champions' vulnerability with a 2-1 success.

England, meanwhile, would make it through to the knock-out stage, albeit with a heartbreaking late defeat to Romania sandwiched in the middle of impressive wins.

Having waited for what seemed like an eternity for England's first game to come round, they eventually secured three points from a professional 2-0 beating of group whipping boys Tunisia.

Alan Shearer headed home the opener to settle their nerves just before the interval, although it would not be until the game's final minute that the win would be sealed by Paul Scholes' picture-book curler.

As England moved north to Toulouse, it was the turn of Hoddle's men to suffer at the wrong end of a 90th minute decider.

Having fallen behind to Viorel Moldovan's opening strike, Hoddle had thrown the precocious talent of Michael Owen on in a last-ditch attempt to save the game.

And the Liverpool youngster repaid his manager's faith with a scrappy goal on the turn with just seven minutes left on the clock.

My memories of the game after this are quite hazy (blame that sultry temptress Stella Artois), but I do vividly recollect everyone's favourite pundit Kevin Keegan stating that: "Only one team's going to win it from here and that's England".

Nice one, Kev.

As it was, Chelsea's Dan Petrescu turned out to be the hero, stealing in amidst some static English defending to poke the ball home at the near post.

He may not have been allowed back to Stamford Bridge had that goal consigned England to the exit door.

Hoddle's men had one chance left and they would take it - beating Colombia 2-0 in Lens with classic goals from Darren Anderton and David Beckham.

The Spurs playmaker smashed home a dipping half volley on 20 minutes, before a Beckham special curled into the corner of the net, making the mercurial Manchester United man a national hero - for the time being.

Elsewhere in the opening round, World Cup watchers were treated to some stunning games.

Nigeria's 3-2 victory over the heavily-fancied Spain would be the major shock of the group stage, with Sunday Oliseh's rasping drive from distance settling matters in the 78th minute.

We also got to see France get their finals campaign off to a flyer with three wins, a feat matched only by Argentina, who didn't even give up a goal.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the tricky Mexican, gave us the best moment of skill in the round, enticing two defenders at a time, before leaping between the enclosing double act with the ball between his feet, and continuing his run in the clear.

Italy, Holland and Germany all advanced as group winners, but none looked to be firing on all cylinders, whilst the lesser lights of Croatia, Paraguay and Chile all reached the second round as well.

Another man to make a name for himself would be Jose Luis Chilavert, the captain of Paraguay, who displayed his attacking tendencies - even as a goalkeeper.

Taking all advanced set-pieces, he almost scored the goal of the tournament with a crushing 30-yard free-kick that so nearly sneaked into the top corner.

One team that would not sneak into the next round, though, would be the United States, who returned across the Atlantic without a point to show for their efforts.

And their dismal campaign was capped by a 2-1 defeat to bitter historical adversaries Iran, in a game which broke all television viewing-figure records.

Come the end of the opening stage, perennial big-stage chokers Spain would be the biggest team to be going home, unable to recover from that opening defeat by Nigeria.

Even the 6-1 tonking of Bulgaria in their final game wasn't enough.

Chilavert and Paraguay were the team to have beaten the Spaniards into the last 16 and their reward was a game against France.

It would prove to be coach Aime Jacquet's toughest test, as a disappointing 90 minutes of action saw the game into an extra period.

However, France always had that little extra and eventually booked a spot in the last eight thanks to Laurent Blanc's golden goal.

This was the high for Blanc - but the low was yet to come.

Italy and Germany both edged into the last eight with unimpressive victories, whilst Croatia, Denmark, Holland and Brazil joined them with far more inspiring efforts.

The Danes were probably the surprise package, with a thumping 4-1 success over the exciting Nigerians, and Brazil also looked in good nick with a win by the same margin over South American rivals Chile.

However, the second stage did lack a real spark - that was until a dramatic night in St Etienne.

If you can't ever make it to the game itself, watching such a high-profile match alongside over 2,500 people inside a crammed bar can't be far off being second best.

The atmosphere ahead of the game was intense, but it remained optimistic from England fans hopeful of gaining revenge for Maradona's 'Hand of God' in Mexico.

However, it took just six minutes for all the positivity around me to drain as a debatable foul in the England box resulted in Gabriel Batistuta firing past David Seaman from the penalty spot.

Attention quickly shifted focus to the other end of the field, where the trickery of Owen won an equally-questionable spot-kick for England, which Alan Shearer despatched with venom.

But if that wasn't good enough, six further minutes elapsed before England were in dreamland.

And if the world didn't know who Owen was yet, it was going to take barely 15 seconds for him to catapult up the list of most-wanted strikers.

Picking the ball up in midfield, he sped past the challenges of highly-respected defenders Jose Chamot and Roberto Ayala, before his diagonal run drew goalkeeper Carlos Roa and he fired high into the top corner.

It was one of the defining goals of the World Cup, and probably the piece of brilliance by which Owen will always be remembered.

Still, England looked dangerous on the break and they came close to adding a third goal.

But they were made to pay by a clinical free-kick by Javier Zanetti, from the edge of the penalty area in first-half stoppage-time. Two-two.

It's hard to believe that the next 45 minutes would be as dramatic - but they were.

Within 90 seconds of the restart, Beckham would sour his reputation and, unfairly, become a national pariah.

Felled by a petty Argentine challenge, impetuosity got the better of the midfielder and he let out a kick on the legs of Diego Simeone.

Despite being milked for all it was worth by the canny Simeone, it was an act that deserved punishment by a dismissal. And so it was.

From then on it was backs to the wall for the English defence, marshalled by Sol Campbell.

And the then Tottenham man almost sealed a stunning triumph with a towering header. He rose highest to meet a deep centre, but as the ball passed Roa and settled snugly in the back of the net, I sensed something was wrong.

Celebrations had started around me, the commentators had gone mad, and England appeared to have reached the last eight.