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English fans haunted by 'The Kick'
Posted: Wednesday July 01, 1998 08:47 AM
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Caught red handed: Beckham's foul left England with 10 men (AP) |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- Here's hoping the final on July 12 is as exciting
as the England-Argentina
match. Tuesday night in St. Etienne, the best contest of the World Cup
was played with England and Argentina revisiting their 1986 quarterfinal
meeting in a glorious way. That match is remembered for Diego Maradona's
"Hand of God" goal and his spectacular slalom run through the English
defense for his second score. This time it will be "The Kick" that English
fans talk about for years to come. With the score even at 2-2 and the
second half just begun, England midfielder David Beckham was tackled hard
by Argentina captain Diego Simeone, who landed on Beckham's back. Beckham
retaliated by kicking Simeone, earning a red card and changing the momentum
of the match. The English played valiantly the rest of the way with just
10 men, but there is no telling what might have happened had Beckham been
given just a yellow card. For the English had been the aggressors for most
of the match up until that point, and they had to play more for the long
ball the rest of the way. That's not to say England still didn't have
chances to win. Heck, it took Argentina to penalty kicks. But there was a
certain sense of destiny when the red card was awarded that England would
find a way to lose. In the end, it was a superb game which could have
gone on forever. Ending it with penalty kicks was certainly the cruelest of
all possible ways, especially for England fans who recall that their team
was eliminated in the 1990 semifinals by West Germany in a
penalty shootout. So we have our final eight teams -- six from Europe
and two from South America. What is interesting to note, other than the
absence of any African teams, is the lack of any teams from Groups D and G.
Those groups were judged to be two of the tougher ones before the
tournament started. Instead, we have been surprised by the play of Denmark and Croatia, who as
a reward for making it this far have earned the right to play Brazil and
Germany in the quarterfinals, respectively.
Roa's two penalty-kick saves sent Argentina into a frenzy (AP) | |
But who else would they like
to play -- Italy, France, the Netherlands
or Argentina? There are no easy games left in the World Cup. And
England-Argentina simply served as the opening round bell for the real
tournament. Player of the Day: Carlos Roa. The Argentina
goalkeeper came up big when it counted the most -- denying England twice in
the penalty shootout to send his country through to the quarterfinals.
Roa's play on Tuesday was symbolic of his whole team -- not flashy, but
certainly efficient. This Argentina team does not have a superstar, but it
has plenty of stars. Against England, Roa was the biggest one of them
all. Goal of the Day: Michael Owen. The 18-year-old star in the
making scored the goal of the tournament when he collected the ball at the
midfield stripe and went right to goal with Jose Chamot trying to take him
down. But Owen shed Chamot, made a move to his right to beat Roberto
Ayala and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Carlos Roa from 18 yards out. It
was reminiscent of Maradona's slalom goal, only this time it was scored by
a player on the losing team. Quote of the Day: "I don't deny that
the sending off cost us dearly. It was a mistake but these things happen in
football. I am not denying it cost us the game." -- England coach Glenn
Hoddle discussing David Beckham's red card in the 47th minute Outlook
for Wednesday: Sit in the sun, take the day off from work, do whatever
you feel like because we have two days off from World Cup action.
Just
make sure you're back here on Friday by the time Italy and France kickoff
the quarterfinals with an old-fashioned border war.
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