Referee: Kim
Milton Nielsen (Denmark)
Linesmen: Halim Abdul Hamid (Malaysia) and Mohamed
Al Musawi (Oman)
Argentina had
won five of their last six penalty shootouts in the past decade, though
they had been beaten on the last occasion, 4-2 by Brazil in a 1995 Copa
América quarter-final in Rivera, Uruguay, after a 2-2 draw. Prior
to that, they had progressed to the World Cup Final in 1990, following
two successive shootout victories, including against the hosts, Italy,
in Naples. They defeated the European Champions, Denmark in Mar
del Plata in 1993, to lift the Artemio Franchi Trophy and then repeated
their World Cup feat in the 1993 Copa América in Ecuador, beating Brazil
and Colombia on penalties to reach the final, where they beat Mexico in
Guayaquil. England had one solitary shootout success, in the 1996
European Championship quarter-final against Spain at Wembley, by 4-2,
following a goalless draw after extra time. Germany beat them from
the spot in the semi-final and their most recent experience of a
shootout was in the previous month’s pre-World Cup tournament in
Casablanca, when Belgium defeated them 4-3 after a goalless
draw.
Goalkeepers:
Carlos Roa (Real
Mallorca (Spain) and Argentina) aged 28.
David Seaman
(Arsenal and England) aged 34.
Roa had only
broken into the Argentine national team, the previous year, but in his
first World Cup, he had kept clean sheets in the first three games and
then only been beaten by a penalty and Owen’s wonder
goal.
Seaman had won
the Premiership and F.A. Cup ‘double’ with Arsenal, keeping a clean
sheet in both the semi-final and final of the F.A. Cup. Thanks to
Euro ’96, he was far more experienced in penalty shootouts in major
tournaments. This was his 44th England appearance. In 1996,
he had faced 12 penalties at Wembley in the European Championship,
saving two (against McAllister of Scotland and Nadal of Spain), with
another Spanish kicker, Hierro hitting the bar. Testimitanu, of
Moldova, had also hit the bar from a spot-kick in England’s first World
Cup qualifying match, in Chişinău, in the first game after the Germany
shootout. Seaman then faced a penalty after only five and a half
minutes of this match. It was converted by Batistuta, who shot
right-footed, low to the left, where although Seaman dived full-length
and got both hands to it, the power of it was such that he could only
deflect it down, from where it bounced up into the inner
side-netting.
Kickers (Argentina):
1)
Sergio Berti (aged 29) – River
Plate
2)
Hernan Crespo (aged 22) – Parma
(Italy)
3)
Juan Sebastian Veron (aged 23)
– Sampdoria (Italy)
4)
Marcelo Gallardo (aged 22) –
River Plate
5)
Roberto Ayala (aged 25) –
Napoli (Italy)
Berti had
replaced Simeone after two minutes of extra time, having only played
prior to that for the last eight minutes of the previous game, against
Croatia. He had helped River Plate win the previous year’s
Argentinian Apertura League Championship, their third successive
title.
Crespo was
making his World Cup debut, after replacing Batistuta in the 70th
minute.
Veron had
completed all four games for Argentina in the
tournament.
Gallardo had
missed two penalties in consecutive games in the previous year’s Copa
America in Bolivia, but then also converted a spot-kick in both
games. One was a last-minute equaliser, which eliminated Ecuador
in Cochabamba, whilst the other proved to be just a consolation goal
in the quarter-final against Peru, four days later in Sucre. He
went on to help River Plate win their third successive title, the
Argentine Apertura League Championship and had replaced Lopez in the
70th minute, to make his third successive appearance in the
tournament.
Ayala had
completed all four games for Argentina. His club, Napoli had
been relegated after finishing bottom of the Italian Serie
A.
Two of
Argentina’s most experienced penalty shootout takers, the captain,
Simeone, and top-scorer, Batistuta, who had opened the scoring with
his second penalty of the tournament, had been substituted during the
game.
Kickers (England):
1) Alan Shearer
(aged 27) - Newcastle United
43rd
appearance, his
tenth-minute penalty was his twentieth international goal and his fourth of the
year for England.
After three
successive seasons as the Premiership’s top scorer, he missed the
first half of the 1997-98 season with an injury to his ankle
ligaments.
Returned to
score eleven goals for club and country in all competitions, and scored
the goal which took Newcastle United to the FA Cup
Final.
Captain and
completed all four games in the tournament, scoring
twice.
Scored four
penalties for England, all in major tournaments, including twice
converting the first kick of a shootout, but missed one in previous
year’s World Cup qualifying match in
Poland.
2) Paul Ince
(aged 30) - Liverpool
43rd
appearance, two
goals, both against San Marino in 1993.
Scored eight
league goals in the 1997-98 season.
Started all
four games in the tournament, but was substituted in the last two
group games.
Did not take
part in England’s shootout against Germany in
1996.
3) Paul Merson
(aged 30) - Middlesbrough
19th
appearance, two
goals.
Scored 16
goals for club and country as Middlesbrough reached the Coca-Cola Cup
Final and finished as Football League runners-up to Ipswich
Town.
Made his World
Cup debut as a 78th-minute substitute for Paul
Scholes.
Converted
England’s fourth penalty in the previous month’s shootout, against
Belgium.
4) Michael Owen
(aged 18) - Liverpool
Eighth appearance,
three
goals, his 16th-minute strike was his second in three games and his
26th of the season.
PFA Young
Player of the Year and Premiership joint-top scorer with 18
goals.
Scored 23
goals for Liverpool, including three penalties.
Completed last
two games, after coming on as substitute against Romania to become
England’s youngest-ever World Cup scorer.
Converted
England’s second penalty in the previous month’s shootout, against
Belgium.
5) David Batty
(aged 29) – Newcastle United
31st
appearance, no
goals.
Scored twice
in the 1997-98 season as Newcastle United reached the FA Cup
Final.
A 96th-minute
substitute for Darren Anderton after completing the first two games of
the tournament and the last eight minutes of the previous game,
against Colombia.
Shearer‘s first
international penalty, against the Netherlands in 1996, was side-footed
with his right foot, low into the bottom left corner, beyond the Dutch
‘keeper’s dive. He had converted England’s first penalty against
Spain, four days later, shooting right-footed, rising up to the left
corner, just brushing the Spanish ‘keeper’s fingertips on his left
hand. Against Germany, in the semi-final, he had side-footed, with
his right foot, into the top right corner as the German ‘keeper dived
the wrong way. He had missed a penalty against Poland, in Chorzów,
in 1997, after side-footing it against the bottom of the left-hand post,
with his right foot, though the Polish ‘keeper had taken two steps off
his line and dived the right way, and Shearer’s tenth-minute penalty
against Argentina, at the same end of the stadium as the shootout was to
take place, was also side-footed, with his right foot, into the top left
corner, above and beyond Roa’s dive.
Merson's
penalty against Belgium was side-footed, at medium height to the left,
with his right foot, but the speed was too quick for the Belgian
'keeper's dive.
Owen's penalty against Belgium was
side-footed into the top left corner, with his right foot. The
goalkeeper was quick off his line but could not reach it, as it was too
high for him.
Extra Time
Following David
Beckham’s sending off after only a minute of the second half, England
had to reorganise and performed a courageous rearguard display to keep
Argentina at bay with ten men. By extra time, they were exhausted
from the effort and neither side made any significant chances during the
extra half-hour.
The
Shootout (Argentina first)
1-0 Berti shot left-footed, low to the right,
beyond Seaman’s dive and into the inner
side-netting.
1-1 Shearer shot right-footed, to the left
of centre, into the roof of the net, beyond the outstretched arm of the
diving Roa, who had taken two steps off his line, before the kick was
taken.
Crespo
side-footed, with his right foot, at medium height, to the right, and
Seaman took a big step off his line and beat it away comfortably, with
both hands.
Ince
side-footed, with his right foot, at medium height, to the right, and
Roa, who had been stood in front of the line, took another step forward
before the kick was taken and barely had to dive, to beat it away with
both hands.
2-1 Veron shot right-footed, to the left of
centre, into the roof of the net, beyond the outstretched arm of the
diving Seaman, who again took a big step forward in his attempt to
save.
2-2 Merson side-footed, with his right foot,
high to the left of centre, where Roa’s outstretched left hand could
only push it into the inner side-netting. The goalkeeper had been
booked before the kick, for protesting that the ball was not properly on
the spot and then stood with his right foot in front of the line, before
taking two steps and commencing his dive before the kick was
taken.
3-2 Gallardo side-footed, with his right
foot, into the bottom left corner, and leapt off the ground to get more
power into the shot. Seaman took a step off the line and then another
big step before the ball was kicked, but the ball still eluded his
full-length dive.
3-3 Owen side-footed, with his right foot,
hit the left post, just below the angle between post and bar, but it
deflected into the roof of the net, as Roa again took a step off his
line before the kick was taken, before diving the wrong
way.
4-3 Ayala side-footed, with his right foot,
low to the right, where it bounced on the six-yard line and on the
goal-line, bobbling up into the corner of the net. Seaman took a step
off the line before it was kicked, but seemed to expect it to go to the
opposite side and was subsequently wrong-footed, so his eventual dive
was well short of the ball.
Batty
side-footed, with his right foot, at medium height, to the left of
centre, where Roa blocked it with both hands, after jumping up and down
on the line and then taking three steps before the kick was
taken.
If
Batty had scored, who would have taken England’s sixth
penalty?
The sending off
not only deprived England of one of their best dead-ball kickers
(Beckham had converted England’s third penalty in the previous month’s
shootout), but it also forced Hoddle to change to a more defensive
approach for the rest of the game, in the light of Argentina’s numerical
advantage. Consequently, when it came to choosing the penalty takers,
there were barely five contenders who could remotely be described as
being attack-minded. The remaining four outfield players (Adams,
Campbell, Neville and Southgate) were all defenders. Southgate was
unlikely to be considered after his trauma of two years earlier and the
fact that he had still never scored from a spot-kick. Only Adams had
previously scored for England, he had just captained Arsenal to the
Premiership and FA Cup ‘double’, scoring three goals and he had scored
in a successful European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final shootout for Arsenal
in 1995, though he had not taken part in either of the Euro ’96
shootouts. Campbell had scored an FA Cup goal for Tottenham Hotspur
that season and had had a header disallowed against Argentina. Seaman had taken a shootout penalty for
Arsenal in the 1993 FA Charity Shield at Wembley, but his weak effort
had been saved.
Gary Neville had
not scored for Manchester United for over a year, but, according to his
autobiography, published in 2011, he was lined up to take England's next
kick, in the event of Batty scoring (thanks to Mike Coxon for spotting
that).
Why did England
lose?
Carlos Roa’s
blatant gamesmanship played a large part in England’s eventual demise.
Although the referee penalised him for protesting that the ball was not
on the spot before Merson’s kick, he did not notice that Roa was
stepping off his line before every single England kick was taken. It would have taken a brave official to halt the celebrations to order
the deciding kick to be retaken, but Roa had taken an incredible three
steps before Batty’s foot had connected with the ball. In fact, he
was in danger of missing the ball completely, because he dived so early
and did not even have to put his arms out as the ball was already
heading towards his chest. Roa was fortunate that in Ince and
Batty, he was facing players who were inexperienced penalty
takers. Ince had not taken part in England’s Euro ’96 shootout
against Germany and had also opted out of Internazionale’s kicks, when
losing to Schalke in the 1997 UEFA Cup Final. He had been one of
England’s best players against Argentina, though, and by taking
England’s second penalty, he must have been confident. However, he
could not have envisaged that the goalkeeper would have been standing in
front of the line, even as Ince was beginning his run-up. Having
been awarded the yellow card, Roa then managed to position himself with
just one foot in front of the line, helping him to get a hand to
Merson’s kick, but England’s three strikers hit the ball too well to
give him a chance of saving and Owen even sent him the wrong way. Why Batty was given the fifth kick is a mystery. He had never
taken a penalty in his first-class career and his few goals were from
open play, so to take what is always a deciding kick was a massive risk,
as big a risk as Gareth Southgate’s kick, two years earlier, at
Wembley. It has to be said that Seaman was also stepping off his
line before Argentina’s kicks were taken and his strategy seemed to be
to take as big a stride as possible to narrow the angle in the hope that
he could reach the ball if the kicker was not accurate enough. Crespo was the only one to fall into this trap. Ayala’s kick was
arguably worse, but he got away with his ‘daisy-cutter’, because Seaman
could not work out which side he was going to put it, until it was too
late.
It was to be
hoped that a new generation of players and a foreign coach, with a more
scientific and positive approach to penalty shootouts might bring
England some luck, when they were next called upon to decide a game in
this way. Alas, the old frailties were to re-surface yet again,
with a vengeance, in the middle of the next
decade.