28 Years Later
It's June 10, 1998. I'm rushing home from school in order to catch the first game of the 1998 World Cup. The World Champions Brazil kicking off the tournament. The tradition for years being that the Champions would kick off the tournament, something that would last until 2006, when Germany opened the tournament as hosts. Their opponents that day? A country of about five million, playing in their eighth World Cup. They'd made every one since 1974, with the exception of 1994, the previous one in the United States. Their sixth appearance in seven World Cups. Scotland. A brave effort that day in the Stade de France saw a narrow 2-1 defeat, with a John Collins penalty cancelling out a César Sampaio opener after five minutes, before the ball cannoned off Tom Boyd for an own goal in the second half to give the defending Champions the win. Scotland would then take on Norway - another country who have had a long absence from this stage, just ended, and draw 1-1 through a Craig Bur...