1) John Collins Penalty v Brazil, 1998, Opening Game Without question, the single most exciting World Cup moment for any Scotsman under the age of 30 and quite possibly even 40 year olds would struggle to name a finer moment. Not since Archie Gemmill slalomed past 16 mesmerized Dutch wizards to stroke the Scots 3.1 up against the greatest team that ever lived in Argentina in 1978 had Scotland enjoyed such a joyous moment, as that penalty a full 30 years later. The ultra cool Collins slotted home shortly before half time against the reigning champions to bring the Scots level at 1.1 in a match we would ultimately lose 2.1 thanks to the hapless Tom Boyd who was more than a little unfortunate to see the ball come off his face and in to an empty net. Two years earlier, we had suffered so painfully in England as the traitor Gary McCalister (I spelled his name incorrectly because 1) he missed THAT PENALTY and 2) I am far too lazy to check) failed to beat the Seaman protecting the English net at Euro '96. Collins however was made of sterner stock. His face was quite the picture about 10 seconds before he found the back of the net and he looked every inch the man who carried the weight of a nation, still sodden in tears from the pain of 2 years earlier. His complexion was stone cold grey but the stunner from Collins followed shortly, as he rippled the back of Taffarel's net to send the Scots into something approaching bewilderment. Hyperbole asside, this was a real moment of joy for Scots fans and considering they have not since returned to a major finals, it is understandable that it remains a small moment of pride for us weary Scots who yearn for another day in the spotlight. Click to set custom HTML 2) Frank Lampard disallowed goal v Germany 2010, South Africa As it turns out, the one positive of never qualifying for major tournaments is that not only can you enjoy a summer of football free of stress and torment (as I had discovered in my youth) but England are almost always there and always good for a laugh and no greater instance of English injustice could be found than in the German retribution that took place in South Africa in 2010. I was in a lovely bar in Rome, watching the game with a bunch of knowledgeable American soccer fans who had spoken of their love for David Beckham, comparing him to amongst others, Wayne Gretzky and while their sheer weight of knowledge threatened to spoil my enjoyment of the match, such an occurrance was rendered impossible with what was about to follow. 44 years on from 1966 and the infamous Geoff Hurst "goal", Frank Lampard beautifully chipped in a fabulous equalizer only for the officials to rightly disallow the goal, despite it being 3 yards over the line. I say rightly because it would have been an injustice if England had taken anything from that game and it was more than the Germans deserved 44 years on. Germany romped home 4.1 and England were sent packing in style as their inept displays had justified. This was Scottish success on the highest possible stage. 3) Ronaldo, World Cup 2002 El Fenomono, my and Bobby Robson's favourite player of the era and this was HIS tournament and BO's. £10 on at 20/1 odds for top goalscorer in January of 2002 (while he was still injured) rates amongst my most satisfying victories in the betting world as Ronaldo rediscovered his magic and romped him to tournament top goalscorer. Not only did he score a wonderful 8 goals to hold off rivals Klose and Rivaldo, but he also managed to score 2 against Costa Rica on a day that remains...well, let's put it this way, it was Bo's first introduction to lady love as well as luck, as Ronaldo joined Bo in scoring with/against Central American opposition... Indeed Ronaldo's performances (the less said about my own, the better) were full of joy and quality and despite a truly appalling hair cut, his style remains unique and he goes down as a true legend of the game and the World Cup and one of Bo's biggest ever hero's. Which I am sure is the accolade he most craved. As for the Central American's? they were both shit. 4) Zinedine Zidane v Marco Materazzi, Germany '06 Not much can be said that hasn't been spoken already about the legend of Zidane and a moment in sports that goes down as one of the most shocking, saddening, stunning, staggering...more words with s...sexy, sophisticated...sort of, scandalous stories to ever emerge at a World Cup. The image of the great man walking past the beautiful World Cup Trophy on his way for an early shower after planting his bald coupon square in the solar plexus of Marco Materazzi remains and forever will be one of the most iconic images in sport. Moments beofre that fateful walk of shame/glory, his world and career had ended in a flash of sheer madness that had me standing about 4 inches from the TV for a solid 5 minutes during the entire uproar as the replays emerged of a giant bald headed man ducking down to flatten an Italian sissy. It was a remarkable end to a career and while many spoke of "disgrace" and "shame" it is worth remembering that Zidane had already scored 2 goals in a winning World Cup final only 8 years earlier and perhaps he did not have any more room in his trophy cabinet or indeed, perhaps simply being Zinedine Zidane entitled him to do whatever he pleased. It is to the eternal credit of the French that he was never denounced and is and always will be one of their favourite sons. 5) England v Argentina, 1998, France I was going to write a big piece about this game but I am pretty tired of laughing about England. This was though a truly great game; Owen's wonder goal, Beckham's red card, some brilliant Argentine goals and another Sol Campbell goal disallowed for seemingly nothing all added up to a fabulous World Cup spectacle. Oh, and England lost on penalties. What more could you ask for? Also included the truly genius commentary of the late Brian Moore and Kevin Keegan; "Will he score Kevin? yes or no? (as DAVID BATTY steps forward to take a penalty that England need to score, or they are elimiated) "YES!" "OH NO!!!" Quite possibly the stupidest question ever asked on air to anyone. And yes it really is the correct video below :) Comments are closed.
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