Like Super Bowl tickets, the tickets for the World Cup semifinal in Saint-Denis (as well as the tickets for the quarterfinal that my brother and I attended at Giants Stadium in 1994) are souvenir tickets, to add to that sense of it having been a really big deal. I absolutely loved them, and kept them both through the years. Even now, admittedly, I take them out every now and then to simply look at them, and appreciate the fact that my brother and I managed to go to such huge events, and in consecutive World Cups, to boot! The two nations that we are citizens of hosted the World Cup tournament back-to-back, which made me feel almost like an experienced aficionado after the semifinal with Croatia!
France wore their blue (home) jerseys for the game against Paraguay along with their traditional white shorts and red socks. Denmark wore their white jerseys and red shorts.
The last two days, I posted blog entries with video coverage of the first two World Cup contests that host and eventual champion France played in 1998.
Now, I have caught up in terms of dates, which is what I intended to do. It was on this day, 17 years ago, that France played in their toughest contest yet in the World Cup. They took on a tough Danish team, and it was a much tighter game than either of the two previous ones, which France won by a combined score of 7-0.
But now, it was getting tougher. Denmark provided the first really tough contest for the l'Equipe de France. The first, but not the last. France would struggle to beat Denmark to secure winning the group, and they then moved on to the elimination round. Once there, they would basically escape with a win against Paraguay, in what turned out to be the first ever "Golden Goal" victory in World Cup history. That meant that "Les Bleus" advanced to the quarterfinal round, where they would fight through a scoreless tie against Italy to go to penalty kicks. France scraped by there, too. Then, the game that my brother and I attended, the semifinal against Croatia, another narrow 2-1 victory.
Four close wins in a row.
Indeed, France would not win in blowout fashion again until, ironically, they managed to defeat the defending world champions Brazil in the Final.
France v. Arabie Saoudite 1e Tour
18 juin 1998 - Coupe du Monde - Stade de Gerland (Lyon)
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