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Argentina kicks out England
Penalty shootout ends with Argentina's Roa denying Batty
Posted: Tuesday June 30, 1998 05:48 PM
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Celebration: Argentina coach Daniel Passarella (right) embraces Juan Veron after Javier Zanetti put home the equalizer in the first half |
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- The rematch more than lived up to the hype with Argentina
beating England 4-3 in
penalty kicks after the teams played to a 2-2 draw in a contest that added
just another chapter to the World Cup rivalry between these two teams.
Argentina goalkeeper Carlos Roa denied David Batty in the final round of
the penalty shootout, diving to his right and punching the ball away to
give his country a berth in the quarterfinals.
After the first shots for each country in the shootout went in the goal,
England's David Seaman denied Hernan Crespo who was aiming for the right
corner of the goal and then Roa stopped Paul Ince, who aimed for the same
corner.
Juan Veron then stepped up and blasted a right-footed shot into the top
left corner of the net past Seaman, but Paul Merson matched Veron's shot
with a blast tot he left corner that Roa got his hand on but could not
deflect out of the goal.
Marcello Gallardo was up next and he curled his shot into the left netting
of the goal. But fellow teenager Michael Owen also ripped a shot into the
upper left corner of the net.
That left it up to the fifth shooters, and Roberto Ayala found the right
corner of the net for Argentina before Batty was denied by Roa to send
Argentina through.
Meeting for the first time since their memorable encounter in the 1986
World Cup quarterfinals, the two teams played to a 2-2 draw through the
first 120 minutes.
England had much of the momentum in the first half, but the English lost
most of it in the opening moments of the second half when midfielder David
Beckham was given a red card for kicking Argentina captain Diego Simeone.
Forced to play a man down, England had to pick its spots, allowing
Argentina to control the tempo and the flow of much of a scoreless second
half.
England appeared to take a 3-2 lead late in the second half when Sol
Campbell headed in a cross, but the goal was disallowed when the referee
ruled that England's Alan Shearer had knocked down Argentina's goalkeeper
Carlos Roa.
Sheer excitement: Alan Shearer (9) put England on the scoreboard with a penalty-kick goal in the 10th minute | |
After a scintillating first 45 minutes, the two teams seemed set to enter
the locker room at halftime with England up 2-1 until Argentina's Javier
Zanetti scored off a set play just before the end of stoppage time.
On a free kick from 22 yards out, Argentina striker Gabriel Batistuta, who
scored the first goal of the game on a penalty kick in the sixth minute,
made a dummy run over the ball and the English defense fell for it. With
everyone following Batistuta, Argentina's Juan Veron found Zanetti all
alone on the right side, and he turned and beat England's goalkeeper David
Seaman for the equalizer.
Up until Zanetti's goal, the half had belonged to 18-year-old English
striker Michael Owen.
Owen, who may not be old enough to remember Argentina's 2-0 win over
England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals, scored a magnificient goal to
give England the lead in the 11th minute and was responsible for England's
first score, drawing a penalty kick for being taken down in the box.
Owen's go-ahead score was the goal of the tournament, rivaling Diego
Maradona's score in the '86 match when he slalomed 60 yards through the
English team for the second goal. Owen 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.
In the 10th minute Owen made a run into the penalty area with the ball,
only to be taken down. The referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot,
and Alan Shearer converted to draw England even at 1-1.
Lineups
Argentina: Carlos Roa; Nelson Vivas, Roberto Ayala, Jose Chamot; Javier
Zanetti, Diego Simeone (Sergio Berti 92), Juan Veron, Matias Almeyda, Ariel
Ortega; Claudio Lopez (Marcello Gallardo 69), Gabriel Batistuta (Hernan
Crespo 69).
England: David Seaman; Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Sol Campbell; Darren
Anderton (David Batty 97), David Beckham, Paul Ince, Paul Scholes (Paul
Merson 79), Graeme Le Saux (Gareth Southgate 71); Alan Shearer, Michael
Owen.
Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen, Denmark
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