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France are champions. The brilliance of Zidane finally shone

through as Brazil were left wondering where it all went wrong. Ronaldo

should never have been on the pitch. Bebeto and Dunga started to look

their age.

Edmundo showed he would not win any FIFA Fair Play Awards. But let’s not

take anything away from France. They proved you can win a World Cup

without a quality striker and that it’s possible to win games with only

ten men on the pitch.

As for the other highlights of the World Cup, everyone will remember

Michael Owen’s goal for a long time. Chilavert’s free kick was another

moment of genius. Holland played some beautiful football, while Nigeria

showed what a potent force they could be in years to come.

Greg Houfe, from BSkyB, is another World Cup winner. He managed to head

the inaugural World Cup Crazy competition by virtue of the tie-breaker

question. His prediction of there being 128 goals in the World Cup was

slightly closer than that of David Marshall (the leader at the half-way

mark) and Joel S.

Greg now has to become a token French supporter as his prize is the

World Champions’ shirt. Steven Moss and Karl Taylor Robinson join Joel

and David as the four runners-up. They all receive that highly sought

after prize, a signed photo of Carlton Palmer.

There were a number of surprises in the World Cup Crazy competition.

No one predicted that Davor Suker would win the Golden Boot. Only two

people thought France would score more goals than any other team in the

tournament. Many people picked Ronaldo as the contender for the BBC Goal

of the Tournament, while in the end he wasn’t even in the top three.

Football is not always that unpredictable though. Ninety-two per cent of

you knew that France would top Group C and 94% that Holland would win

Group E.

So that’s it for another four years. The whole of France, and Greg

Houfe, will be dancing in the streets for weeks to come, while the rest

of us begin to forget about football.

Well, until August 15 when the Premier League kicks off. We can’t

wait.

FRANCE ’98 THE RESULTS

1 England gained 6 points in Group G 2%

2 England scored 5 goals in Group G 28%

3 England’s first goal in the World Cup was scored by Alan Shearer 57%

4 England’s top scorers were Alan Shearer and Michael Owen with 2 goals

each 69% Shearer; 16% Owen

5 17 players actually appeared for England 19%

6 Scotland gained 1 point in Group A 10%

7 Scotland scored 2 goals in Group A 29%

8 Scotland’s first goal in the World Cup was scored by John Collins 10%

9 Scotland’s top scorers were John Collins and Craig Burley with 1 goal

each 5% Collins; 2% Burley

10 16 players actually appeared for Scotland 18%

11 France won the World Cup 5%

12 Brazil were the losing finalists 9%

13 Holland and Croatia were the two losing semi-finalists 0%

14 Davor Suker won the Golden Boot 0%

15 The Golden Boot winner scored 6 goals 19%

16 Italy topped Group B 68%

17 France topped Group C 92%

18 Nigeria topped Group D 6%

19 Holland topped Group E 94%

20 Germany topped Group F 88%

21 Argentina topped Group H 77%

22 Dennis Bergkamp scored the BBC Goal of the Tournament 5%

23 France scored the most goals in the World Cup (15 goals) 1%

24 The USA team exited the World Cup with the worst record (no points

and minus 4 goals) 2%

25 Paraguay scored the quickest goal of the World Cup 1%

26 Out of Shearer (England), Batistuta (Argentina), Bergkamp (Holland)

and Ronaldo (Brazil), Batistuta scored most goals 20%

27 Of Salas (Chile), Nilis (Belgium), Flo (Norway) and Asprilla

(Columbia), Salas scored most goals 48%

28 Of Djorkaeff (France), Boksic (Croatia), Bierhoff (Germany) and

Casiraghi (Italy), Bierhoff scored most goals 35%

29 Of Seaman (England), Kopke (Germany), Barthez (France) and Taffarel

(Brazil), Barthez conceded the fewest goals in the first round matches

18%

30 Bulgaria were the first team to have a player sent off 1%

31 The score in the final was 3-0 0%

Tie-breaker

32 There were 171 goals scored in the World Cup Finals 0%

Here are the final results:

1=   Greg Houfe             16

1=   David Marshall         16

1=   Joel S                 16

4=   Karl Taylor Robinson   15

4=   Steven Moss            15

6    Neil Wyatt             14

7=   Roy Weavers            13

7=   Sebastian Biggins      13

7=   Steve French           13

7=   Bob S                  13