Two Zinedine Zidane headers thwart Brazil give Les Bleus maiden title
Despite playing a central role in the establishment of the World Cup, France had always fallen short at the tournament. That changed on one glorious night in Paris in 1998.
FIFA sanctioned the use of the Golden Goal in the World Cup for the first time in France in 1998.
The hope was that the “golden goal” — the linguistically more positive term used in soccer — would promote attacking play and reduce the likelihood of a penalty shootout, which many in the game considered to be an unfair way of deciding matches.
In a round of 16 match in Lens between host France and Paraguay.
The French, without the suspended Zinedine Zidane, struggled to break down the stubborn Paraguay defense and the prospect of a penalty shootout loomed.
But with only six minutes left in extra time, France defender Laurent Blanc shot past Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert to secure victory. All of France breathed a sigh of relief that its national team had avoided an early exit from a tournament it would go on to win.
After again using it in 2002 at the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, FIFA reverted back to the traditional 30-minute period of extra time in Germany in 2006, followed by penalties if the scores were level.
After a strong start to the tournament it was hosting for the second time, France struggled in the knockout stages. It only managed to make the final after defender Lilian Thuram scored the only two goals of his 142match international career to give France a 2-1 come-frombehind victory over Croatia.
The prevailing view was that beating defending champion Brazil would prove to be beyond Les Bleus. After all, Brazil had Ronaldo, the undoubted player of the tournament.
But France strolled to its maiden title, two first-half headers from the great Zinedine Zidane easing the nerves in the Stade de France. A third goal from Emmanuel Petit in injury time was the cue for wild celebrations across the country, with the team hailed for its multi-ethnic heritage.
In scenes reminiscent of Paris’ liberation from Nazi occupation in 1944, more than 1 million people stormed the Champs-Elysees to celebrate.
For Brazil, the final remains a mystery.
The team just never got going, its underperformance blamed on the health of Ronaldo. To the shock of just about everyone, coach Mario Zagallo left his main striker out of his starting line-up, apparently for health reasons. Years later, Ronaldo said he had a seizure earlier in the day.
However, just before the match, another team sheet was submitted, this time with Ronaldo’s name on it. Whatever happened, Ronaldo was a very different player that night and Brazil was a very different team.
Ronaldo would get another chance four years later to put the ghosts of Paris behind him. He did just that.