No noise. No nonsense. Just England.
Hosted by France
England: Round of 16
How England performed
England's qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France produced six wins, a draw and a defeat in Group 2, with 15 goals scored and only two conceded. Shearer led the way with five qualifying goals, and the campaign closed with a goalless draw against Italy, who had beaten England 1–0 in the earlier meeting.
At the finals, Glenn Hoddle's side, captained by Alan Shearer, began with a 2–0 win over Tunisia through Shearer and Scholes, lost 2–1 to Romania despite Owen's goal, and then beat Colombia 2–0, Anderton and Beckham scoring. In the round of 16 England met Argentina in a match that finished 2–2 after extra time, Shearer scoring a penalty and Owen adding a second in the 16th minute. England lost the penalty shoot-out 4–3 and went out with two wins, a draw and a defeat from four matches, having scored seven and conceded four. It fell short of the fourth-place finish of 1990.
England fixtures
Moldova
0–3
England
England won
England: Barmby 24', Gascoigne 25', Shearer 61'
Moldova: None
England
2–1
Poland
England won
England: Shearer 24', Shearer 37'
Poland: Citko 7'
Georgia
0–2
England
England won
England: Sheringham 15', Ferdinand 37'
Georgia: None
England
0–1
Italy
England lost
England: None
Italy: Zola 19'
England
2–0
Georgia
England won
England: Sheringham 43', Shearer 90'
Georgia: None
Poland
0–2
England
England won
England: Shearer 6', Sheringham 90'
Poland: None
England
4–0
Moldova
England won
England: Scholes 28', Wright 46', Gascoigne 80', Wright 90'
Moldova: None
Italy
0–0
England
England drew
England
2–0
Tunisia
England won
England: Shearer 42', Scholes 89'
Tunisia: None
Romania
2–1
England
England lost
England: Owen 81'
Romania: Moldovan 47', Petrescu 90'
Colombia
0–2
England
England won
England: Anderton 20', Beckham 30'
Colombia: None
Argentina
2–2
England
England drew
a.e.t., 4–3 pens
England: Shearer 10' pen, Owen 16'
Argentina: Batistuta 6' pen, Zanetti 45+1'
England statistics
Full England squad
| No. | Player | Pos | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Seaman | GK | Arsenal | – |
| 2 | Sol Campbell | DF | Tottenham Hotspur | – |
| 3 | Graeme Le Saux | DF | Chelsea | – |
| 4 | Paul Ince | MF | Liverpool | – |
| 5 | Tony Adams | DF | Arsenal | – |
| 6 | Gareth Southgate | DF | Aston Villa | – |
| 7 | David Beckham | MF | Manchester United | 1 |
| 8 | David Batty | MF | Newcastle United | – |
| 9 | Alan Shearer C | FW | Newcastle United | 7 |
| 10 | Teddy Sheringham | FW | Manchester United | 3 |
| 11 | Steve McManaman | MF | Liverpool | – |
| 12 | Gary Neville | DF | Manchester United | – |
| 13 | Nigel Martyn | GK | Leeds United | – |
| 14 | Darren Anderton | MF | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 |
| 15 | Paul Merson | MF | Middlesbrough | – |
| 16 | Paul Scholes | MF | Manchester United | 2 |
| 17 | Rob Lee | MF | Newcastle United | – |
| 18 | Martin Keown | DF | Arsenal | – |
| 19 | Les Ferdinand | FW | Tottenham Hotspur | – |
| 20 | Michael Owen | FW | Liverpool | 2 |
| 21 | Rio Ferdinand | DF | West Ham United | – |
| 22 | Tim Flowers | GK | Blackburn Rovers | – |
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