The joy of lifting the Word Cup trophy in front of home support has been enjoyed on 6 occasions since the start of the tournament. The 1998 FIFA World Cup has been the most recent to witness this magic.
France was the host and Brazil was the defending champion. It was a final scripted in the footballing heavens and little could be done to destroy the anticipation of the match; but this was all before the final had kicked off.
Rewind to the qualifying stages. This was the first World Cup which featured 32 teams. It opened the doors for teams from Asia, Africa and North America to stake a claim for a spot in the tournament. And they did oblige. South Africa, Jamaica and Japan made their debuts in the World Cup. Croatia had recently been recognised as a country (independent from Yugoslavia) but was barred from the previous edition of the World Cup. They appeared as Croatia for the first time in 1998. In essence it was a debut, and they made sure their presence was felt; but more on that later.
The group stages were rife with competition but saw the progression of the usual suspects. Brazil topped Group A while Italy did the same in Group B. Hosts France put in convincing performances to win all their matches and top Group C. Nigeria just about managed to top Group D as did Netherlands in Group E, Germany in Group F and Romania in Group G. Argentina also enjoyed all victories in the group stages to come out on top of Group H but close on their heels were Croatia. Among the top seeded teams to not make the knockout stages were Spain and Colombia who took early flights back home.