All To Play For - A Very British Football Redux TL

[MatthewFirth]

Brazil vs Netherlands

France vs England

 

[NTF aka Seb]

Brazil (p) 1-1 Netherlands
France 2-0 England

 

[Unknown]

My picks: Brazil and France...

 

[QTXAdsy]

Chapter 66
It's Not Gone Well
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Following their narrow victory over Wales, England were now in another World Cup Semi-Final for the first time in eight years. As one would expect, mass interest picked up across the country as now they were just a game away from a final with Brazil, the latter having making it there from the day before following victory over the Dutch. While many were dreaming of achieving a double with them having already bagged a European title in their cabinet already, there were a few who were sceptical of the Three Lions getting anything as throughout this World Cup, they had made heavy work of their victories against teams that on paper they should've all beaten quite easily with the game with Wales being key evidence to that and France was anything but those teams previously never mind being the host nation.

That all being said, the host nation hadn't really impressed many either during the Knockout stage with them having to make do with an extra time winner against Paraguay in the last sixteen before winning on penalties against Italy after a dull 0-0 draw in the Quarterfinals. As a result with the ropey form both were in, it wasn't really encouraging that neither side were given a good chance for a final with Brazil no matter whoever won this game. Still, it didn't stop both sets of supporters feeling confident of reaching the final though it was unknown who was feeling more pressure to get to the final being either the hosts or the current European champions though when the two sides walked out of the tunnel, one of these two teams would be back here within a few days time. After the anthems, handshakes and rowdy fans all making a right din in the Saint-Denis stadium, the game began and for those hoping for it all to kick off from the very start, they were left to be disappointed.

France were looking to be a better team with them being more on the ball, but their final touches seem to let them down whenever they got close to scoring with one such howler within the first five minutes of the game when Zidane was handed a ball that was chipped over by Emmanuel; with Zidane standing just outside the English penalty box, few predicted anything less than a goal. That being said, he went on with the volley and he blasted his shot flying up over on his left and this would lead onto a chorus of mass groaning of disbelief from the French supporters. As frustrating as it was for the French, the Three Lions weren't doing better either with Paul Ince trying to pass a ball up towards Beckham which turned out to a weak shot that was easily incepted by Deschamps for France to go on the counter. Now cue was the groaning from the English side of the stadium.

Paul Ince trying to stop Emmanuel during the early moments of the game.
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Regardless of the outcome of the final result, the opening period of the game wasn't going to be remembered fondly and frustrated viewers would have to wait a further ten minutes until something of note happened when Sol Campbell was booked for a challenge on Zidane which would lead for France being awarded a free kick some twenty-five yards out from the box. It was a moment for Campbell to regret as that booking would see the English defender suspended for the final should England get there and it looked to get worse for England as Zidane prepared to take the free kick. With a sharp run up, Zidane curled it up over the English wall and the noise in the stadium started to rise as the ball came down and looking set to land in David Seaman's goal, but instead the ball clattered against the corner post and bounced out for an English goal kick.

The Three Lions had been let off the hook this time, but they were playing their luck out that was surely going to run out sooner than later. Zidane's miss would though be the moment in which the game did start to come to life with England having a more positive spell with Gascoigne, Beckham and Sheringham being the driving force in pushing England forward with the latter player nearly getting the opener after Blanc accidently let the ball slip from his feet and into the path of the charging Englishman, though to the relief of every Frenchman there, their goalkeeper Barthez manged to prevent it from going in by knocking out for an English corner. It was in fact England's best chance of this game so far. It wouldn't take long though from after a failed corner kick, England went back onto the attack in the twenty-third minute with Ince driving forward but was fouled by Petit, but to the dismay and anger to Terry Venables, the Spanish referee waved play on for France to advance.

Paul Ince could only watch as Petit barrelled forward before chipping a cross up to Zidane who had waved at him on to give him the ball. Then with a great and powerful volley of a shot from outside the penalty box, he slammed home the ball into the back of the net in which Seaman could do nothing to prevent it from going in to the left side of the net. France were a goal up on England but it was controversial to say the least over the foul that was never given and England's captain, Alan Shearer, tried to voice his complaints to the referee over what had happened there, but instead the referee ordered him back to the centre circle for England to kick off. Years later, stories of how FIFA had rigged the seeding system for a meeting for France and Brazil to reach the final would note that moment as part of match rigging would come into play but that would be a few decades yet down the line...

Zidane celebrates with his teammates after getting the opening goal
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After all the promise they had shown prior to that sucker punch of a goal, it wasn't hard for the English to feel hard done by that their efforts had all but come to nothing and the frustration was starting to show for England as some of the players began to make tedious fouls with Beckham most notably in the twenty-ninth minute when he forced off Karembeu to give England a throw in and Beckham starting of a verbal match with the Frenchman and the referee had to rush in to try and stop the fight and allow the game to carry on. A real tense affair it was starting to become by all concern. Interestingly, Karembeu would go off in the thirty-first minute and be replaced by Thierry Henry which did raise a few eyebrows as to why this was the case.

Nonetheless, France carried on probing the English defence in trying to find a breakthrough to give them a second goal that would surely help them secure this match, though the English were giving all they got in trying to push the Les Bleus back and attempt to find an equaliser. It would however good old Gascoigne that nearly brought home the goods when in the thirty-seventh minute, he went charging down the centre of the field showing off some of that magic he was known for in years prior and once he found himself within the French half and some fifty yards away from the centre circle, he attempt to fire home a ludicrous volley shot that looked like it had no chance of going in. Yet as the ball went flying through the air, a look of panic appeared on the French keeper's face as Barthez and to jump up to his right to knock the ball out from so very nearly going in.

It was a damn brave effort from the colourful Geordie that had it gone in would've not only would've seen England back in this game, but could've been the goal of the tournament. Just some three minutes later, France would hit back with a shot of their own when Djorkaeff tried to replicate Gascoigne's effort, but the only difference was the ball flying aimlessly over the bar. From the dull and unimpressive opening part of the game earlier, this Semi-Final as defiantly turning into a thrilling encounter with it proving to be an end to end game that surely had another goal or two in it wherever it was to be in the dying moments of the first half or perhaps sometime in the second half. England might've been a goal down, but they were surely as hell far from out of the game as the first half came to a close and England manager Terry Venables was glad they had kept it at only 1-0, though he and many of his fellow countrymen had to wonder how different things might've been if Gascoigne's brave effort had actually gone in. As it stood, France were just another forty-fine minutes away from reaching a World Cup final on home soil...

Gascoigne attempts his brave volley shot

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Though the French would return to play hoping to add more to their slender lead, it would be England however that came out with a lot more gusto in the second half with them looking determined to get back in this game and hoped that the French would not respond to them. Venables had also made a change at the break as he brought off Beckham to be replaced by David Batty and this did lead to a slight upturn in England's fortunes as France, despite looking rather good for their lead, didn't seem to look all that confident despite what some thought otherwise and even looked somewhat confused as what to do with a 1-0 lead. Then in the fifty-second minute after much English pressing, Michael Owen made his way dancing round French defence and charged down towards the French penalty box and saw many English supporters rise up with expectations on their mind as he looked set to find the back of the net for England, however he would be brought down by a rash challenge by Blanc in the box which not only saw the French defender get booked but saw the referee point to the spot, penalty for England.

Joy was on the faces of the English supporters as to them, getting a goal now would only be what they deserved and when Owen went up to the spot to take it, few expected anything less than a goal now. What followed next was perhaps one of the craziest moments ever in a World Cup as Owen ran up to take his spot kick as he slammed it to the right, but Barthez guessed correctly and got his hands onto it. But rather than celebrate along with many of the delighted French supporters and several players on the field, the French keeper yelled at his teammates to run up the field as he quickly kicked the ball up the field far as he could in which nearly the whole England team were caught napping as France charged up the other end of the field with Henry leading the way as he crossed it up to Zidane who now stared down Seaman as he ran forward, but he would then kick it to his left to Petit, who was now inside the English penalty box.

This move totally outfoxed the English goalkeeper making him fall over and leaving Petit no trouble than to simply knock in the ball and make Seaman watch in dismay as the ball found it's way inside the goal. In the just the space of thirty seconds, Owen's missed spot kicked that otherwise would have had England level had now led in the most bizarre of reasons for Les Bleus to somehow find a way to lead the game 2-0 now. A cruel thing to happen to any losing team. To add to this, some sound from the England bench was heard with those reacting with shock and anger to the sudden goal with Venables being heard the most with him looking over to his assistant coach and crying out, "Bloody hell, it's not gone well!" A quote that was to become a popular headline among certain English newspapers and England fans of a certain age in the aftermath.

Petit celebrates getting France's second goal
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It was now just pure frustration that could seen on the faces of the English players and their supporters as it now looked very likely that despite their best efforts, they were about to exit this World Cup at the hands of the host nation who to some of them felt that France had only gotten quite lucky with the goals they scored. Gascoigne especially looked angry by what had happened as when France managed to get their second goal, he fell to his knees and punched the ground in frustration, though it was a reaction that many of his fellow countrymen all shared in that moment. While France didn't seem to bother (mercifully) to try and add to their comfort tally, England were now were looking so dejected that they struggled to keep their concentration going and as such, silly mistakes such as bad passes and woefully crosses became a common sight for England in the second half, hardly the stuff of the European champions even though there were some who felt that they had lucked it out in that tournament two years ago.

England were needing a hero and it was here that Venables made another substitute in the sixty-sixth minute when he brought off Gascoigne (gaining a round of applause from the English supporters for his efforts) and replaced him with Paul Scholes as a way of having both fresh legs and mindset to try and help England kick start an unlikely comeback. Scholes would almost make a fantastic impact just three minutes after his introduction when Batty set him up with a chipped cross that landed inside the French penalty zone and Scholes went to fire it, but sadly only hit the side netting and France were lucky on that occasion. However in the seventy-fourth minute came a small but tiny ray of hope for England.

In that minute of the game, the Three Lions would win a free kick on the edge of the field and Paul Ince would take it and send it flying up towards the crowded French box and saw many leaping up in the air all trying to get their head on the ball. But only one would and that would be Scholes himself who would time his header perfectly and hammered homed the ball into the bottom right of the French net and this would unleash a mass of St George and Union flags suddenly unfurling all as one from the delighted English supporters who now could sense that not only they had gotten a deserved goal, but now looked just a little bit more hopeful to get another two goals without reply. One thing was for certain now...game on.

Scholes' utter delight of getting England back into the game
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By now doubts and fears were creeping into the mindset of the French players as the momentum was now with England following that goal and it looked very likely now that England would score again and pull off an unlikely comeback. Venables sat on the bench with a smug look written across his face, after all the criticism he and the players had gotten prior to this game, he felt that way England were player was surely a way of answering all their critics and had to wonder what they were thinking of right in this very moment. In the seventy-ninth minute with England now causing France a lot of problems on their backline, the English miracle looked set to happen when Owen managed to thread the ball through Thuram's legs and saw the ball reach Shearer in which he had a good area on the right side of the penalty area to score from and let one fly.

The ball did hit the net...but rather the side of it and Shearer had his hands on his head over his despair of what could've been, or rather should've been, the equaliser for England there. The miss itself would see the game swing in favour of the French once again as now France looked more set in trying to block out and frustrate the rather than go in for the kill and get another goal to put the game to bed. With now five minuets to go until the end of the game, it was proving to be an utter nail biter of a final few minutes in which no one could predict what would happen, either France could hold on, England not only getting a last minute goal to drag the game into extra time or maybe even two goals to stun the hosts and knock them out there and then.

At one point France looked like they might've scored thanks to a header from Zidane in the eighty-seventh minute, but Seaman pulled of a brilliant save to deny the hosts beating him again, in the eighty-ninth minute, England came very close again when Owen hammered home towards the goal, however his shot like what had happened previously went off the crossbar. And thus, would prove to be England's final good chance as after 3 minutes of tense added time, France held on to hold onto victory and book their place in the final. England's World Cup adventure was over. It was a bitter pill to swallow for England, after the highs of 1996, it had all come crashing down in France and that would be the last time this century that the England team would play in a World Cup.

French players celebrate on beating England and reaching the final
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As the Les Bleus players and their supporters, perhaps in this moment in time the whole country celebrated happily, England's players and supporters could only imagine but think of 'what if' they had more luck and the they knew the game could've been all so different if it had been for one or two attempts that could've seen England possibly win this game, even when they were 2-0 down at one point. For Venables, he was unsure what the future held for him as with Euro 2000 was just around the corner and thoughts of defending their crown now had to come first before any thoughts of another crack at the World Cup would take place.

The loss itself and bitter feeling from that game would follow England in the third-place game against the Dutch as still heart broken from the game, they lost badly in a 2-0 defeat in which the Dutch got revenge over their 4-1 thrashing at Wembley just two years prior and thus, the Netherlands would win third place and thus see them get their best finish since the 1974 World Cup and England's 1998 challenge ended on a whimper. But now, the world entered a new millennium and who knew what the future hold for the Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland...it would be all to play for in a new century...

Final results of the knockout stage of the 1998 World Cup

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A late and final update for 1998! Now before any of you ask anything, yes I didn't update for the usual Wednesday update for I was down south on holiday at Alton Towers to enjoy in my other main hobby, theme parks. I have been thinking about making a TL for Alton Towers but that is another story. Anyway, this game pretty much is the same as in the old TL with several tweaks and clean ups made so on the whole with this ATL 1998 WC, not much difference here with France still winning and Ronaldo not all that well for the final.

However, next update will be special for that we will be looking into something different that wasn't there in the last update...Euro 2000! Oh yes, this time we will be covering it in the next update for in the old TL, I skipped it as it would go pretty much the same as OTL but I decided that not only to have England do better there but also have Scotland there. How will that happen if both were in the same play-off IOTL? Find out next time as we move into the next century! Until next time!

 

[QTXAdsy]

Chapter 67
New Century, Same Old Football

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The new century was here and with it, new possibilities for the future was here and thankfully the threat of the millennium bug and Y2K proved to be unfounded. To kick start the new millennium, what about a European Championship to decide who would be the first European Championship winner of the new century and for the Home Nations, all four were hoping to play a part in Euro 2000, the first of which would be a co-hosted tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium. Sir Terry Venables had been hoping after the World Cup to lead his crowned England team to defend the trophy and during the qualification process while in a group featuring Turkey, Finland, Moldova and fellow Home Nation Northern Ireland though the latter would fail to qualify. At first all seemed rather good during the first half of the qualification stage until half way through things started to go wrong behind the scenes involving a now fractured relationship with Venables and the FA.

After the glory of 1996 and a rather respectable showing at the last World Cup, one would of thought that with the amount of clout and goodwill the England manager had the freedom to not only introduce changes to the FA but also benefit for the long term for the national team with breeding youth talent for the good of England he hoped would be his legacy with the national team. However as anyone who knows the history of the English game, the FA were in those days notorious for not wanting to embrace change or new ideas for the game with perhaps one of the most famous being of the FA refusing to let Brian Clough become England manager despite being a firm favourite with the press and fans alike and Venables' attempts to encourage change within the game during the would actually be the straw that broke the camel's back in what had happened by then was a complete lack of common ground on the future of the national team.

It is said that this mistrust would actually start before the start of Euro '96 in which Venables would leave the job after the tournament due to much heavy criticism labelled at him and the team though it was only when the Three Lions went out and won the whole thing that public demand pretty much kept him in the job and Venables was only too happy to ride on the wave of joy following victory on home soil though it was known within the FA that Venables' many interviews claiming how he now had the clout to have England level with teams on the continent with future development gave the impression that the England boss was not only trying to muscle his way into the higher ranks of the FA, but that his comments could have been interpreted as a subtle dig at those men within the organisation.

Venables during the pre match conference prior to the game with Moldova in which would be unexpectedly his last game as England manager
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Despite some good performances from England, they were only with hindsight just papering over the cracks in the relationship with the England manger and the FA and it was during the start of the Euro 2000 campaign in which on the surface seemed good with England looking certain to win the group and automatic qualification that things really start to get worse in the relationship. After Euro '96, Venables had asked when the grassroot level for the youth academy would start and the answer he got would be towards the end of the decade and at first that seemed to be the case though the truth was that the FA had unfortunately become a victim of their own success following Euro '96 that and thought nothing could go wrong and instead were at best indifferent to Venables' demands and clearly didn't like to be told otherwise how to run the beautiful game in England.

By the end of the decade, very little, if anything, had been done and to say that the England boss was left frustrated at the lack of process and this would finally lead to boiling point after England's 3-1 victory in Moldova on October 14th in which Venables had pretty much gotten fed up with what he felt was a real lack of desire from the FA and would confront the then FA chairman Keith Wiseman about this just outside the England changing room of all places. Both manager have remained tight lipped about what happened next but according to Alan Shearer, an argument had broken out between the two men though over something which they couldn't quite hear well due to the moment taking place outside their dressing room. However after the argument got louder, apparently it escalated into a fist fight between the two men which had security having to separate them. For the FA, this was the moment to strike.

The following morning, many in England would awake to find the shocking news that Venables had been sacked as England manager. Among the average English supporter and even the public at large, many reacted with outrage as to them this sudden piece of news had come out of nowhere and the FA would find itself in hot water over this action with many of them blaming the FA over them acting like control freaks and while this view was somewhat true, it was only a half truth as this was the true breaking point for something that had been building up overtime and even if this fight in Moldova never happened something else would have happened that would have seen Venables gone.

Out of all of those on the FA board, Keith Wiseman, who had been the one to ultimately cause this to happen would be the one that gained the most flack though oddly this was only just one thing in the line of what would be very controversial set of circumstances in which the FA chairman would be accused of bribery which would just two months later in January 1999, Wiseman would be forced to resign over a now infamous bribery scandal that would be the biggest scandal the FA had ever faced and to some who were still bitter over the sacking of Venables, it could have been seen as karma but for others, the marked the end of a sorry state of affairs and now the quest to find a new manager for the job was now the main objective to get the qualification campaign back on the road. Between Glen Hoddle and Kevin Keegan, it was then in January that the FA made their choice by appointing Keegan as the new manager for England.

Keegan during the early days as manager of England​

To some, Keegan was a welcomed if somewhat predictable choice for the FA. The former England legend had become a hero in the North East in which he had brought the glory days back to Newcastle United and it was just as this point that felt the time was right to end his time at Newcastle on a high - on the other hand though, he did come off as something of a 'yes man' for the FA, something that the latter wanted after what had happened with Venables. That said despite England ultimately winning the group to archive automatic qualification, it wasn't exactly plain sailing as they more or less stumbled their way to qualification but nonetheless, most felt that things could only get better in Belgium and the Netherlands in the following year though the feeling of the sudden loss of Venables still weighed heavily on the minds of the England players...

In contrast the chaos with the England team at the time, things were rather quiet with Scotland as despite having taken Scotland to major final a few years ago, the Tartan Army had been grown rather tired of Craig Brown as manager and for good reason. The fact that his teams still seemed to lean heavily more on experience than youth didn't help anything with the joke of the team being nicknamed as 'Dad's Army' (a joke that had followed the team following the last World Cup) though Brown would point out though that he was starting to bring youth through however he did admit that the big clubs in Scotland weren't bringing through homegrown talent as before and given that this was the time that many clubs were starting to bring in foreign talent that would make up most of a team wasn't exactly helping anyone.

To make matters worse, Scotland's own qualification campaign for Euro 2000 had been a pretty lacklustre one in which they would come a distance second place to the Czech Republic though to be fair, this was the Czech side that was undergoing its golden generation and had won every single game in qualification so in some ways no shame in that. That said the rest of their performances in qualification were rather tedious to many in the Tartan Army though they didn't manage to gain a play-off spot in which they would be drawn with Slovenia in which didn't start all too well in which they draw 1-1 at home in the first leg before squeaking through with a tense 1-0 victory away that sent Scotland through to Euro 2000, though much like England, they had stumbled their way to qualification. Of course, all questions about how good either Home Nation were were quickly forgotten about when the draw was made in December for just like in last European Championship, England and Scotland were drawn together in Group A with Portugal and Romania...cue to long hype that would last until the following summer.

Keegan and Brown posing for photos following the draw for Euro 2000 in Brussels

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The two rivals were to have, much like at Euro '96, the much anticipated meeting was to be the second game in the group for both of them but before all that there was the small matter of getting off to a good start in which England would start first by playing Romania while Scotland would have a difficult task of having to take on a much lauded Portugal side and while for Scotland very few, if any, gave the Scots a chance to get something from that game, manager Craig Brown pointed out that by getting the hardest team out of the way then they could focus better on the other two in which he felt Scotland would have a chance though it is unclear if this was really the best advice possible one could give for the team.

England's opening game with Romania was expected to many as a victory for the Three Lions though it must be said that following the last time the two had faced each just a few years ago at the World Cup, some of the English press were rather arrogant towards the Romanians by underestimating them in some ways and this arrogance that anyone might have had was to be given a shock awakening when after just five minutes from a poorly defended corner, Moldovan would open the scoring after five minutes and now England were on the backfoot with barely anything of the game played. Romania did not only keep England out for much of that first half but were causing problems that could have even added to their lead and it was only thanks to Alan Shearer in the twenty-eighth minute that England would get back on level terms though to show how bad England were in that game, that goal was actually England's only shot on target so far compared to three for the Romanians.

England though pull themselves together in which from a free kick deep into injury time, Beckham would swing the ball into the box in which the head of Michael Owen would blast it into the back of the net and put England in front and release some relief for them as that would be the last act before the first half. The second half however would see Romania fight back and despite looking like they would score, they failed to do just that though England too didn't do much better by just defending most of the second half but nonetheless, England had started off with a victory though it must be said that the reaction from even the jingoistic English press on these occasions was actually rather muted as even they and many others hadn't been impressed by that performance and knew they would have to be better for the next game.

England vs Romania prior to the opening match of the group
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If things had been lucky for England, things for Scotland on the other hand would be simply disastrous. With the situation earlier in the day that England had started off with victory and in theory only needing a draw with the Scots to not only put themselves through but maybe even knock them out depending on how things went with Scotland's game with Portugal. What happened in the opening moments of the game utterly bewildered both sides in which in the seventh minute, Neil McCann would open the score thanks to some slack defending from Portugal and Scotland were in front. However, it would turn out that Scotland had peaked too soon as before long in that first half, goals from Figo and João Pinto would have Portugal turn the game round pretty soon Scotland would in a difficult situation.

The Scots were utterly ripped to shreds throughout that match and they just could not find a shot on target, actually, McCann's goal would be Scotland's only shot on target and Scotland's humiliation was completed when in the fifty-ninth minute Nuno Gomes would add Portugal's third with that, Portugal had gotten off to a flyer to win 3-1 with Scotland now a long way back and in no shape or form to face England for the next game. The Scottish press would utterly tear into the team for such a poor performance though much of the anger would be directed at Craig Brown for his tactics with the Daily Record newspaper would sum up the feeling with the headline of 'Brown and Out', though some would say that this was unfair criticism given that this was that Portugal team they had been beaten by.

Nonetheless though, it would be a few days later until the Auld Enemies would reunite for the first battle of Britain clash of the new millennium and would take place in the unlikely setting of Charleroi, a location that drew much concern from both nations saying that the stadium wasn't big enough for such an occasion with the thousand of supporters making their way there and that the police would underestimate the deep seated rivalry between the two. Sadly, trouble was almost certain to happen in which the now infamous riots of Charleroi saw running battles between England and Scotland fans that was a sad reflection of the infamous Frankfurt riots of 1974 and it clearly wasn't either supporter's finest moment though both lay the blame not on one and the other but also the media for hyping it up for being more than a football match.

England vs Scotland in Charleroi at Euro 2000
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With such major tension in the air with much to play for and with the news of the troubles between supporters before the game, neither side really looked right at it in the first half for other than some nice crosses here and there, both sides failed to find the back of the net and it was in many ways a repeat of that last group stage encounter at Euro '96 though unlike on that occasion in which both sides needed a victory to be sure of going through, England here just needed a point while needed all three. That said, it seemed that thinking this would be foregone conclusion were to be in for a rude awaken in which in the fifty-third minute from a cross from Barry Fergusson, Don Hutchison (an Englishman no less ironically) would header in the break through goal for Scotland and in the end, that was all that Scotland needed as England would not recover from that goal and the Scots held on to a shock 1-0 victory over England, their first since 1994.

Reaction in Scotland was, understandably, one of utter ecstasy and all the harsh negativity that surrounded the team from the last game was quickly swept under the carpet; any victory over England no matter the surrounding situation easily overrides anything before it. For the Tartan Army, almost overnight all their doubts about Craig Brown pretty much ended that evening as he had gained the ultimate revenge story they had wanted to get since that heart-breaking final at Wembley and to some victory over England would have been that for Scotland but what it had done was not only give Scotland a fighting chance to reach the knockout stage but also throw a spanner in the works for the Three Lions.

And so it came for the final set of group games in which England and Scotland were both tied on level points and even a draw was would complicate things as it would come down to goal difference. In some ways, a victory for both might not be enough for one of them given how tight things were. As it would happen with the first half hour of both games being played at the same time, it looked as though it would be going in England's favour as they lead Portugal 2-0 while Scotland were 1-0 down and it all seemed that the feeling that England were going through were about to become a reality. In the thirty-fifth minute, Portugal would pull a goal back while just a few minutes before the end, Scotland would actually get level with Romania thanks to a penalty and things didn't seem all that certain now...

England vs Portugal during the final group game

When it came to the second half with just a few seconds played, Scotland would actually take the lead after some really bad defending for Romania and now suddenly they seemed more certain that they were the ones that would go through...that was just for a few minutes in which Romania would strike back with a quickfire equaliser to level the game at 2-2 and now Scotland had to hope that Portugal would do themselves a favour in getting a result over England. A few more minutes later in the fifty-fourth minute, Scotland fans would hear the news that Portugal would score the equaliser and had come back from the dead after being 2-0 down and now the group was really anyone's by this point.

Scotland knew they had to just hold onto a draw to hopefully put them through and as the game was going on, the Scotland players in the seventy-first minute would notice the Tartan Army roaring in delight over some wonderful news...Portugal had pull off a dramatic turn around to lead 3-2 and as it stood, Scotland were going through and would deny England a place in the next round and some had already started to celebrate, however to some, it all seemed just a little bit too good to be true and in the case of Scotland, that is always for good reason. With England facing defeat and elimination in the face, Scotland were doing just enough to hold for the draw needed, that was until David Weir would make a horrendous and stupid tackle on the penalty box right on the eighty-eighth minute on one Romanian player and the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot...penalty for Romania!

The Tartan Army felt like covering their eyes in horror as they knew that they had surely thrown this game away and had accidently given their arch rivals a life line to sneak through in second place behind Portugal. As Ganea would step up to take the penalty, Scotland's last hope would lie with their goalkeeper Neil Sullivan who had make sure the Romanians didn't take the lead. A truly tense time for all concern as everyone waited for the referee to blow his whistle and when he did, Ganea would fire the ball to the left...and Sullivan saved it! The roar from the Tartan Army that greeted that saved was as loud as a goal being scored for Scotland and Sullivan pretty much won himself a free pint out of any bar in Glasgow for sure. Soon enough, the full time whistle would be blown with the game ending 2-2 and the party only really started when the news of Portugal beating England 3-2 came through and that meant that Scotland would finish above England and would deny them a place in the knockout stage. Revenge really was a dish served cold.

Overjoyed Scotland fans in Charleroi following their draw with Romania that confirmed their place in the second round
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For England, the final outcome was a disaster. Not only had they failed miserably at defending their European crown and having falling in the group stage, but to have lost out to the Scots of all teams was really an utterly unbearable situation in which many England fan knew that they would not hear the end about this for a long time and Keegan would come under fire from many sides who wanted him out of the job but that in itself would be another story for later on. For now though, the Tartan Army were going to make the most of being the sole British side left at Euro 2000 and now some started to dream of glory. Who could blame them?

Final results of England and Scotland's group at Euro 2000

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​

And now for something very new, Euro 2000 covered for TTL and a very different set of circumstances. To put it bluntly, England take OTL Germany's place and likewise with Scotland taking England's OTL place but yet we have some certain results that might look familiar in which the 1-0 victory for Scotland is pretty much the same as OTL's Wembley encounter when Scotland won 1-0 on that time and yes, Portugal still win the group because, well, its that great Portugal team. Now for those wondering where is Germany then, here is their results in this ATL Euro 2000:

​

So yeah, they take Slovenia's place and, much like what happened to Germany in OTL, still flop badly though perhaps are slightly better off here as they were. So yeah, hope you enjoyed that update and here are the fixtures for the next round:
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Spain vs France

Turkey vs Portugal

Italy vs Scotland

Netherlands vs Yugoslavia
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So who will win and why and BTW, for some fun, how do you think you would have reacted to these ATL games here? Until then, catch you all later for the next update!

 

[Unknown]

Picks: Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Netherlands...

 

[NTF aka Seb]

Quarter-finals
Spain 1-2 France
Turkey 0-2 Portugal
Italy 2-0 Scotland
Netherlands 6-1 FR Yugoslavia

The remainder of the tournament proceeds exactly as OTL.

 

[jmmcb94]

Excellent update. Shame Slovenia lose their moment of glory, but at least they'll, hopefully, still get the World Cup in 2002. Also, England losing their only crumb of comfort for this tournament, that at least the Germans did even worse!

Anyway, France, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands to progress.

 

[MatthewFirth]

Spain vs France

Turkey vs Portugal

Italy vs Scotland

Netherlands vs Yugoslavia

 

[QTXAdsy]

Chapter 68
We'll Always Have Charleroi​

There was a saying from one certain English commenter that for the Tartan Army, beating England was perhaps far more important that doing well in any tournament and given the amazing reaction around Scotland following that win over England and subsequently leading to England's early elimination for Euro 2000, it seemed that this statement was actually true. It didn't matter if Scotland were to actually to go on and somehow win this tournament, the fact that Scotland had defeated England and sent them packing was pretty much the tournament for much of the Tartan Army and given the fact they were to play a heavily favoured Italian side that most suspected Scotland had no chance in beating, there wasn't much left for the Scotland fans to do in this tournament.

The fact that the victory had been a revenge game for the Tartan Army following their heart-breaking final loss four years ago and that England were defending champions in this tournament made this victory all the more sweeter and for Craig Brown, a man who when he first got the job that was only the fourth most wanted person for the Scotland job, he had become something of a media darling for the Scottish press and even though he had pulled of an epic task of taking a Scotland team to a final which would have won praise in any country, to simply beat England was really the moment that pretty much vindicated him though he would admit privately years later that he was rather embarrassed by the reaction of the Scottish press treating him as he was some sort of messiah for Scottish football.

Amusingly, the popular Scottish Hogmanay special Only An Excuse would parody this with Craig Brown talking in a press conference saying to the gathered press who had doubted him before to all form an queue and kiss his arse. Granted, that didn't happen in real life though given some of the stick that the man had gone through for many years, the temptation would have been there for sure. Nonetheless, the Tartan invasion would take place in Brussels for their big game with Italy and even though the Scots were well documented in following their team in huge numbers, it was a shock to hear that (for Tartan Army standards) the actually number of Scotland fans in the Belgium capital all just added up to under ten thousand with many saying that after that victory over England, nothing matter and many had heading on for home with only some saying for a bonus if they were to somehow go all the way.

Brown getting praise from the fans just prior to Scotland's Quarter-final game with Italy
​

When the teams came to line up for the match, it was a freighting side the Scots had to face; the Italians had the likes of Totti, Conte, Maldini and Inzaghi just to name a few while to be bluntly honest, the Scots had nothing to match that and some even feared a bloodbath. Given the lack of countless thousands of the Tartan Army one might expect for a Scotland game, the lack of number did probably reflect just how some felt their chances were. From the start, the difference in quality was there to behold; Italy would simply have the Scottish players chasing shadows throughout with barely any touches on the ball and even from looking at this alone, one could feel that this was not going to end well.

Then it all happened in which in the tenth minute of utter dominance of the play from the Italians, Conte would thread through the ball past David Weir who was utterly poor at trying to mark Conte in which the ball ended up at the feet on Totti who with only swift strike into the top left corner of the net, Neil Sullivan could do nothing to stop the ball and with that, Italy had taken an early and well deserved lead and honestly Scotland had been nowhere in this game and now they had a mountain to climb. Scotland did try to make a response with a sudden quickfire counter from Gary Holt in the sixteenth minute who squared the ball towards Kevin Gallacher who did make Scotland's first shot on target but it was easily saved by Italy's Toldo in goals.

After that, normal service in the match resumed in which Italy pretty much bossed the Scots about the field and it was pretty apparent that the combination of several experienced yet old players who were clearly passed it and the youthful yet less experience youngsters in the Scotland team who most had never played at a major tournament until now was being displayed painfully for all to see and with the fact that this Italian team was featuring not only some of the best players in the world but also had all the looks of being models that the contrast between the two teams was rather embarrassing. It just seemed that everything today was all against the Scots with the only thing they could count on was the loud Tartan Army but even they looking frustrated at what they were seeing.

Italy's Cannavaro in action during the game with Scotland
​

Despite all the problems Scotland seemed to have, they did though managed to start defending better with Craig Brown hastily changing the system to a 5-4-1 formation to try and plug un that leaky defence that was at the Azzurri's mercy and to its credit, Italy were struggling to try and find a way through that didn't mean to say that this Italian team was simply going to give up so soon and they knew that they would have to bide their time and hopefully soon by then that Scotland would fall apart. It was then in the thirty-third minute in which it would happen in which Fiore would send the ball looping into the box in which not only did the Scottish defence seemed to fall apart in that moment, Totti would pop up again in which he would let fly with another shot past Sullivan in goals and now after just over half an hour played, Italy were leading 2-0.

It was a frustrating affair for the Scots yet not really surprising seeing them getting utterly bossed around like this. Even so for the Scotland fans who were keeping their expectations low, this was turning into an embarrassment. How was that for a team that did so well against England could turn up like this? Did the players even care or had assumed that with that certain game that was the peak of their Scotland careers and it didn't matter what happened next? In some ways, this Scotland team could be said to be one that had become a victim of their own, arguably, narrowminded success. Nonetheless, there was some rest bite for Scotland in which the first card of the game would turn out to be for Italy's Albertini who would be yellow carded for a tackle on Don Hutchison though the freekick that followed came to nothing. Could it get worse?

Just a few minutes with just two minutes to go until injury time would be needed, the game would indeed get worse from in the middle of the field, Albertini who had previously given away a free kick that might have given Scotland a chance would thread up the field a quite ludicrous crossed ball in which found its way up to Inzaghi who up on that left side of the field had no Scotland player around him and it just showed how Scotland's defence plans had falling apart once again only for this time for the Italian to let fly another shot at goal in which once again poor Neil Sullivan could do nothing to stop that goal from taking place and with the game nearly on the stroke on half time, Scotland were 3-0 down and the game was pretty much good as gone.

Craig Brown trying to shout out orders when all things are going terribly wrong for Scotland​

When that third goal went in, it was at the moment that pretty much the party was over the Scotland; the highs of the victory over England in the group stage was now being replaced with a crushing low with how things were with Italy. The Tartan Army were silent for once as if they had been given a harsh slap of reality and some in the stadium began to jeer their own players at what they were seeing and it was clear that this game was going to end in a bloodbath. A major contrast in 1968 when Scotland defeated Italy in their own backyard and it seemed that the curse of not getting a win over the Italians was set to carry on. To add more to Scotland's woe right on the death of half time, David Weir's frustrations boiled over in which he went in for a dangerous tackle on Totti and was booked for it.

With that, the half time whistle blew and it was more of a relief for the Scots that it hadn't got worse though it was clear that there was no way that Scotland could muster up a huge comeback for the ages as the Italians were more than certain to be going through. The second half that was to follow was one than many of the Tartan Army feared the worst if the first half was anything to go by as the second half began. Things though would start off on the wrong foot though not by going down by a further goal but rather, another foolish tackle by David Weir just five minutes into the second half that would see him get a second yellow card and thus, Scotland were reduced to ten men at the worst possible time.

With that, many now expected further goals from Italy to follow and crush the Scots under their feet. However, that didn't happen...Scotland wouldn't score again in the game though neither did Italy. If it was because Scotland decided to defend for the rest of the game or if the Italians decided to take their foot of the gas to simply not do anymore in the hopes of keeping the team fresh for the Semi-Final encounter that was to follow, whatever the real reason, the game would end with an impressive 3-0 victory for the Italians and Scotland was sent home in brutal fashion, a second half in which Scotland did not get a single shot on target nor seemed to be in the game. The overall reaction for the Tartan Army was mixed to say the least...

Some of the Tartan Army in Brussels who stuck to the bitter end of the game with Italy
​

Though most of the Tartan Army felt the game was always going to be tough for Scotland, even so the way the team had utterly fallen apart in the brutal first half was indeed a painful one for the Scottish fans wondering if really if they had gotten on such a high following beating England that it might have papered over the cracks on what was quite honestly a Scotland team that was well below par and was never going to have a chance to go through and win the whole thing. That all said, Euro 2000 has over the years been looked back on by the average Scotland fan more fondly, mainly for not only beating England but beating them as European Champions and leading them to an early exit in the group stage and in many ways, the great revenge match that the Tartan Army wanted following the Euro '96 final had been achieved.

For the final word for the Tartan Army to sum up Euro 2000, the phrase was simple...'We'll Always Have
Charleroi.'
For Craig Brown, he would joke saying that if beating England, not getting to a final as some might thing, was all that needed to finally win the approval of the Tartan Army then he only wished that he had played England in his first game and won then he would never had gotten the amount of stick he would have gotten in the first place. With his contract up for the renewal by December the follow year, his thoughts on his future as Scotland manager would have crossed his mind, however what was more pressing was that he had to get the team prepared for another World Cup qualification in a far away land that was not in either Europe or South America...

For now though, a new century had begun and who knows what was to follow in this new age in which football was about to enter into a far more global market that would have seemed almost unthinkable when England and Scotland first went off to Brazil to play in a World Cup decades ago. The days of Britain saying football was their game had now not only been challenged but arguably snatched from them; a very different world indeed...

Final results of the knockout stage of Euro 2000

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​

And so there we are, Euro 200 done and dusted! Not much to say other than the game is roughly the same as OTL game with Romania except its perhaps worse here s it is that Scotland team that was in many ways had no chance of going as far as they could. So yeah, the rest of the tournament is pretty much the same as OTL so France still go on to win here so no real change here.

So then, next update will not be on the usual update for that I'll be aware for a small holiday so I'm not sure when the next update will be either later on next week or perhaps sooner than later. Either way, hope you enjoyed this update and see you all in the next update and 2002 will be very different from the original TL due to a glaring error I made that I needed to fix, ah the joys of reduxes! Until then, see you all soon!

 

[GeorgeUK]

Hopefully this is a much-needed wake up call for England.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Chapter 69
Far From Home

​

In terms of football, it was a brave new world. For the first time ever in the history of the World Cup, not only was the first World Cup tournament of the new millennium to be played in Asia, but it would also be the first time that two nations would co-host a tournament; South Korea and Japan. For everyone were familiar to the time zones during a tournament either being in Europe or the Americas, it was always going to be a unique and even strange experience as for example for European viewers it meant most games would be broadcast during the morning and there was more than a likely chance that some people opted to pull a sicky at work due to watch the games, and no more so than for the Home Nations who were hoping to make this a good one for themselves.

The previous decade had proven to be a good one for the British teams, a new golden era in some ways. For example the leagues in each Home Nation were on the up; money was rolling in, club teams from England, Scotland and Wales were all making an impact in European football club tournaments, hooligan culture was slowly dying out in which seemed to be banished to the dustbin of history and there had been a few bits of silverware won by the Home Nations, well, mainly England, but Scotland still could've done it in 1996 and even 2000 according to some of their passionate fans even though many others thought otherwise. There was even a football film released in 2001 called Mike Basset: England Manager, a mockumentary comedy that almost any football minded person across the UK will know well about what it is all about. Most of all though was football was becoming cool in the eyes of the general public. With all of this going on, it was all a far contrast to the utter disdain that many had for the game in the late 1970's and 80's when all sort of horror stories and tragedies seem to blight the game.

After France 1998, many hoped that all the feel good factor would keep going for Euro 2000 and a chance of glory, however only England and Scotland made it with actually England finishing third in their group behind Scotland of all teams and made an sorry early exit home; such a poor defence of their European title no less. After this, Kevin Keegan tried to brush off the mounting criticism that was starting to grow though sadly for him thing didn't get any better for their qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup which in their first match at Wembley to Germany, they lost 1-0 and that result would see Keegan step down from the England job and to rub more salt in the wound, it was the last game to be played at the Old Wembley before it's demolition. Who was to help the Three Lions get back on their feet? The answer was none other than a man called Glen Hoddle.

Hoddle posing for a photo some time shortly after taking up the England job
​

To some in the English media, Hoddle's appointment had been a welcomed one though it was not the first time he had been considered for the job before Keegan would ultimately get the nod though many argued that things would have been different if Hoddle had gotten the job in the first place and this would have meant that the shambles of Euro 2000 would likely never had happened though it must be said that though Hoddle had gotten the job, it wasn't a case that the FA thought he was the right man for the job but that there wasn't any other choice. At that time, much of the top flight of English football was seeing many managers being mostly non English or not fully suitable for the job so when it came down to finding the right man for the job, Hoddle was the only that could fit the role for the manager and with that, the FA went for him.

Nonetheless, Glen Hoddle would not help steady the ship and bring about a new, young English side hungry for success and guide England to the World Cup but perhaps what would follow would be perhaps the most memorably game for England in recent years in which a revenge game on the in Munich, England would stun the Germans in which they won 5-1. That result would pretty much destroy any bad will towards the national team with Hoddle becoming something of an unlikely hero to many across the nation and following a memorable 2-2 draw with Greece at Old Trafford, England would win the group to qualify automatically and saw the Germans eventually finish in the play-off spot, though worse was to follow for the Germans once they were to sent in the play offs...

At this same time, Wales and Scotland had both managed to qualify for the play-offs though neither were grouped in to play each other as Scotland were to play Czech Republic in which a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory at Hampden Park in the first leg was followed up by a nervy 1-1 draw in Prague during the second leg which nonetheless saw Scotland book their passage to the Far East. Wales were given perhaps the short straw from the draw in which they were drawn the Germans and many did suspect that the Germans, though nowhere near the same class as previous German sides would still prevail. What followed next would be a result that would send shockwaves across the continent.

Some of the lucky England fans during that certain game in Munich...
​

It all started in the first leg in which Wales would have the game played at the much larger Millennium stadium in Cardiff in which not only was a complete sell out but also was a total partisan atmosphere that did take the German team aback. Perhaps with the fact that they were utterly spooked by he ferocious backing the Dragons had, it would be a strong Welsh performance in which a a solo Ryan Giggs goal in the forty-third minute was all that was needed to win the first leg 1-0 and did raise the pressure for the Germans for the return leg in Dortmound in which they had beat the Welsh by two clear goals to go through to the World Cup. Despite suffering an absolute battering out in Dortmund for the pretty much the whole game by 'parking the bus', Wales though held on for a 0-0 draw which saw the Welsh book their place at the World Cup and left the Germans reeling in what was nothing short of a catastrophe, not that the Welsh supporters cared about that and their newly appointed manager of Mark Hughes would pretty win earn himself a free pint in any pub around Wales for sure.

For what was actually the first time in a generation, Germany would not be seen at a World Cup which seemed unthinkable much like if Brazil and Italy failed to qualify and things would look really strange out there in Japan and South Korea. For the Germans, the embarrassing loss to the Welsh in the play-offs now goes down as one, if not the most, humiliating result in Germany's football history and hardly the sort of stuff needed for the upcoming hosts for the 2006 World Cup and would see an all out mass improvement needed for them. Those who follow the German national side will always point out that the early 2000's were a true dark time for the Die Mannschaft with that result being the utter low point for the team. Still, things can only get better from here...

There would also be Irish representation at the World Cup though sadly not from Northern Ireland who once again came up short in qualifying but instead it would fall for the Republic of Ireland to take the hopes of many out to the Far East in which their maverick captain Roy Keane had even boasted to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United that he was going out to win which may have sounded crazy but then again this was Roy Keane who would likely fight tooth and nail if it meant bringing the World Cup to Ireland though what was to follow out there would go down in infamy but that is a story for later. For the others though, it was a trip to a totally different world that while had not history to football did though have a strong love for the game and were will to show how much they wanted to be part of this new football world...

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​

When the draw was announced, it would something of a repeat of the 1990 World Cup in which England and Ireland would be drawn together in the same group, Group E being called by some as the group of life as it was a fairly weak group that seemed to favour the Three Lions and in some ways the Irish. Indeed, the build up to the tournament especially in Ireland was at in all time high, the chance to give England a bloody nose was always welcomed by many of their supporters. For the England fans, they probably didn't feel anything for those on the other side of the Irish sea and they couldn't have had a better start when they thrashed Saudi Arabia in their opening game 5-0, far more than what they had managed to score than the whole of Euro 2000 in fact. With that, they were looking forward to the most anticipated clash with the Irish and while things might have been all rosy in the England camp, it was actually anything but in the Irish camp.

To say the Irish team had a shocking and controversial build up would be an major understatement in which would happen the moment the team had landed at their training camp in Saipan. Ireland's captain Roy Keane demanded the best for the team and had always regarded some of the decision making from the FAI to be regarded as amateur such as the players forced to travel in economy class while the FAI bosses travelled in first class and his ever souring relationship with manager Mick McCarthy, but what really set him off was the moment he took one look at the horrendous training facilities in Saipan and blew a gasket. What followed would be a well documented event in which after a major bust with with McCarthy, Roy Keane was sent home leaving Ireland without their captain and the blame game started over who was at fault for this sorry affair from kicking off.

England players line up before their opening game with Saudi Arabia​

It was unprecedented in which normally before a game with England, Irish supporters would be all united in battling a common foe, not there was a major split among the Irish public over if either Keane or McCarthy were in the right and things had not been any better when they Irish stumbled to a 1-1 draw in their opening game with Cameroon and that was the last thing they wanted before a game with England. When it came to the game itself, England would take the lead but a dramatic last minute equaliser from Ireland saw them snatch a point that for one brief moment made many forget about the Saipan Incident. There were rumours around that given the relationship that many of the English players had with their counterparts domestically that they had actually thrown the game to give the Irish a result to boost their chances of staying on but so far it just seems to be nothing but rumours.

Nonetheless, both teams would end up going through in which England defeated Cameroon 2-0 in their final group match to win the group and the Irish would win 3-0 in their respected final group match with Saudi Arabia to follow the English behind in second place. While the English would have a fairly comfortable affair in the group stage that was indeed a damn sight better than what happened just two years ago, the Irish felt that after everything that had happened, it was miracle that they had managed to get through though some felt that had Roy Keane still been in the team, they would have not only beaten England but likely would have won the group. Whatever the reason though, both progressed for the next stage for the World Cup...

Final results of England's group at the 2002 World Cup

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​

If England could boast that they had struck lucky by drawing the group of life, then poor Wales would say that they had the worst luck of being drawn in the group of death which featured the likes of Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria and looking at that group alone was enough to make any Welsh fan shudder for the worst to happen and it was fair to say that not many had any hope of Wales of getting any sort of result from the group, let alone progress their way out of it. Nonetheless Wales' first group game would be with Sweden and in that game, the men in red would get off to a good start when John Hartson would fire them in front after just twenty-four minutes and looked fairly good to get more goals and win.

However disaster struck in the second half when Sweden would score to level the game in the fifty-ninth minute and there was nothing Wales could do to try and get a late winner for thus, the game ended in a draw and while it wasn't the worst result in the world, Wales would feel like kicking themselves over the failure to get their World Cup to a winning start and that wasn't the best thing to go into their next game with which would be against Argentina. It was said that this Argentina team was considered to be one of the favourites to the World Cup this year and that Wales would be swept aside by Argentina though what was most interesting about this game was the Manchester United connection in which Ryan Giggs and Juan Sebastián Verón who had played on the same side at club level would now have to play each other on opposing sides and both would have their own battle on the pitch but they weren't the only ones to focus on.

The game itself would be a real tight affair in which in the thirty-fourth minute, Giggs would take a Welsh corner and Craig Bellamy would header home the opening goal of the match and suddenly it looked like Wales were about to pull off a major shock by beating Argentina. The Welsh would try and keep Argentina out but the La Albiceleste would not give up and at times the game became a tasty affair with tackles flying and some yellow cards being shown yet Argentina couldn't seem to find a goal after the first half had come to an end. However Argentina's efforts would be rewarded in which in the sixty-second minute, Julio Cruz would rip through the Welsh defence and fired in the equaliser and 1-1 would despite a late resurgence from Argentina following that goal, the game would end in a draw and Wales' hopes of going through were now hanging by a thread.

Wales vs Argentina during the 2002 World Cup
​

The final group match for Wales was simply a must win; if they were to beat Nigeria and hoped either Argentina or Sweden beat one or the other then Wales would be surely be able to sneak their way through to the next round, a thought that seemed unthinkable when Wales were drawn in the group in the first place. Though it was frustrating for their supporters that Wales hadn't won a game yet, they had been rather respectably so far yet now was the time they had to win or else. Nigeria in contrast had nothing to play for in which they had lost their two previous games and were now playing for pride and weren't going to simply roll over for Wales that was for sure. What followed would be a tale of frustration for the Dragons.

No matter how hard Wales tried, Nigeria would not let Wales have any chance of scoring and it was so tense as many Welsh fans would keep hearing stories throughout the game that Sweden were beating Argentina and all Wales needed to do was simply win this game and all would be good yet their African opponents might have been going out but they were certainly dragging the Welsh down with them. With a few minutes left in the game with this game still deadlocked, news filtered through that Argentina had scored a late equaliser that ultimately would decide that game yet there was no joy for a frustrated Welsh side who would have their game end in a stuffy 0-0 draw and with that, Wales were out of the World Cup.

It was heart-breaking for the Welsh but there was something good to remember the tournament by as with the fact all their games had ended in draws, Wales would be the only team in the 2002 World Cup to go out undefeated and considering the fact that they were drawn in the group of death, they had actually done pretty well for themselves yet there was frustration among many Welsh supporters over had they managed to win that final game then it was possible that they might have been able to get through. Whatever the thought, what was happening in the present was that Wales would be the first British team to exit the World Cup though there was hope that this team would do well for the next European Championship...

Final results of Wales' group stage at the 2002 World Cup

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​

Despite some fears that Scotland might end up in their own group of death, they were stunned to find themselves in a rather good group which featured the likes of Russia, Tunisia and the co-hosts Japan; on paper Scotland looked certain to be going through. Long serving Scotland manager Craig Brown would extend his contract until the end of this World Cup in which he would be the longest serving Scotland boss for sure and he was sure that against Japan, Scotland would get off to a good start. However in their opening match with Japan, Scotland's cockiness caused them to have the worst possible start as they found themselves 2-0 down after just half an hour and after some tweaking to the formation, the Scots would attack in the second half and would turn the game around thanks to goals from Colin Cameron and Don Hutchinson to help Scotland snatch a point and save them from embarrassment.

It was not the start that was needed and Craig Brown would get a barrage of abuse for how bad they game went for Scotland and he knew that he would have to adjust the team to make sure that they would be able to get all three points for their second game with Tunisia. However, things didn't start any better for Scotland there either as after just ten minutes, Scotland would end up going a goal behind and it seemed that Scotland was set for disaster to befall on them once again as defeat would surely mark the end of their World Cup campaign. However goals from the likes of McCainn, Dodds and Elliot would all help Scotland turn the game around and come out on top as 3-1 victors and surely in with a fighting chance to go through.

Up next for Scotland in their final group game would be Russia and it was clear that this would be a three way shoot out between Scotland, Russia and Japan in which all knew was that if they were to win they'd go through though which of them would be going through as going into this game, both the Scots and Japanese were tied on points and if both were to win their final group games then it would be a case that the case of who would win the group would come down to goal difference and truthfully, this final day of the group was going to go down to the wire.

Scotland team prior to their game with Japan
​

With how the previous games had went for Scotland in which they would always find themselves going behind, many feared the same thing would happen here with the only difference being the pressure would get to the team and that it would be their own downfall as Russia was well and truly up for the game. The game with the Russians proved to be quite an end to end game as the Russians needed to win too to go through and they did a lot more the attacking in the first half which forced the Scots to defend most of the time and despite Russian might, the first half ended 0-0. It was tense with still no clue as to who would be going through and there was only another fourty-five mnutes left to try and see how the group would end up.

The Second half however though would prove to be one of the best Scotland performances of all as the poor Russians by the second half looked exhausted and Scotland wasted no time to blast three goals past the Russians with the goals from Elliot and a double from Neil McCann helped ensure the Scots finished top of the group and dump the Russians out of the World Cup with the latter only being able to muster a late consolation goal. Scotland were through yet no one was sure who had won the group as when the other result was read that Japan had won 2-0 in that game, both Scotland and Japan were tied on level points however thanks to Scotland's better goal difference, they would win the prize of winning the group.

While Wales had just sadly missed out on joining their fellow British counterparts into the knockout stage, having two still going through was still a welcomed sight and after it became apparent seeing on what side of the draw both had been place in, the only way both British sides could meet was if both were to make it all the way to the final...a thought that many across the British isles hoped, that is if both sides didn't bottle it first. Still, for the many supporters who had travelled the long journey to the Far East and were far from home, the high tech world they had been exposed to was quite a culture shock to say the least and they were hoping that they would be staying longer in Asia just so that they could experience this brave new world in detail. Who would last the longest...?

Final results of Scotland's group at the 2002 World Cup

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​

And here we have an earlier update than normal. As I'm leaving tomorrow as of writing to go on a wee holiday, I thought it was right to put up the first chapter of the 2002 WC up earlier so here we are. Now then, for those who followed the original ATL will see that things are very different here in which England and Wales swap groups in which I realised that IOTL, Germany were ranked just above England and ended up in that group of life while England got the group of death though I just realised after doing it that with Wales being ranked lower than England, it was the wrong way round so as part of this redux, it meant a fix to make things a bit more real.

While England's results are pretty much what you expect, I knew that poor Wales would struggle in that group of death though they did draw 1-1 with Argentina in friendly during that year IOTL so I pretty much copied that result for here which does make things more plausible of how things would have panned out and yes, Argentina do make it through here and I do feel that Argentina had some bad luck in which they were didn't deserve to go out as earlier like that so there we go.

Scotland are pretty much the same from the original TL with some wee tweaks made here and there but anyway, time for the fixture list as follows:
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England vs Paraguay

United States vs Mexico

Spain vs Republic of Ireland

South Korea vs Italy

Denmark vs Argentina

Brazil vs Japan

Sweden vs Senegal

Scotland vs Turkey
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So a fairly different last 16 here so who do you think will get through and why? Until then, catch you all next time for the next update in which we'll see how England and Scotland will do here!

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I saw the title to this thread and my first thought was "does someone teach England how to win a penalty shoot out".

 

[Unknown]

My picks: England, Mexico, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, and Scotland...

 

[NTF aka Seb]

Round of 16
England 3-0 Paraguay
United States 2-0 Mexico
Spain (p) 1-1 Republic of Ireland
South Korea (a.s.d.e.t.) 2-1 Italy
Denmark 0-3 Argentina
Brazil 2-0 Japan
Sweden 1-2 (a.s.d.e.t.) Senegal
Scotland 0-1 Turkey

Quarter-finals
England 1-0 United States
Spain 0-0 (p) South Korea
Argentina 1-2 Brazil
Senegal 0-1 (a.s.d.e.t.) Turkey

Semi-finals
England 1-0 South Korea
Brazil 1-0 Turkey

Bronze match
South Korea 2-3 Turkey

Final
England 0-1 Brazil

 

[MatthewFirth]

England vs Paraguay

United States vs Mexico

Spain vs Republic of Ireland

South Korea vs Italy

Denmark vs Argentina

Brazil vs Japan

Sweden vs Senegal

Scotland vs Turkey

 

[jmmcb94]

I still can't believe this World Cup is 20 years old now! The worst part is, I can even remember the day the Scotland-Russia match would've happened ITTL and what I was doing that day; almost certainly would've been a half day if Scotland had actually been playing, I think we can safely say.

Anyway, England, USA, Spain, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal and Scotland to progress.

 

[Math]

Chapter 69
Far From Home

​

In terms of football, it was a brave new world. For the first time ever in the history of the World Cup, not only was the first World Cup tournament of the new millennium to be played in Asia, but it would also be the first time that two nations would co-host a tournament; South Korea and Japan. For everyone were familiar to the time zones during a tournament either being in Europe or the Americas, it was always going to be a unique and even strange experience as for example for European viewers it meant most games would be broadcast during the morning and there was more than a likely chance that some people opted to pull a sicky at work due to watch the games, and no more so than for the Home Nations who were hoping to make this a good one for themselves.

The previous decade had proven to be a good one for the British teams, a new golden era in some ways. For example the leagues in each Home Nation were on the up; money was rolling in, club teams from England, Scotland and Wales were all making an impact in European football club tournaments, hooligan culture was slowly dying out in which seemed to be banished to the dustbin of history and there had been a few bits of silverware won by the Home Nations, well, mainly England, but Scotland still could've done it in 1996 and even 2000 according to some of their passionate fans even though many others thought otherwise. There was even a football film released in 2001 called Mike Basset: England Manager, a mockumentary comedy that almost any football minded person across the UK will know well about what it is all about. Most of all though was football was becoming cool in the eyes of the general public. With all of this going on, it was all a far contrast to the utter disdain that many had for the game in the late 1970's and 80's when all sort of horror stories and tragedies seem to blight the game.

After France 1998, many hoped that all the feel good factor would keep going for Euro 2000 and a chance of glory, however only England and Scotland made it with actually England finishing third in their group behind Scotland of all teams and made an sorry early exit home; such a poor defence of their European title no less. After this, Kevin Keegan tried to brush off the mounting criticism that was starting to grow though sadly for him thing didn't get any better for their qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup which in their first match at Wembley to Germany, they lost 1-0 and that result would see Keegan step down from the England job and to rub more salt in the wound, it was the last game to be played at the Old Wembley before it's demolition. Who was to help the Three Lions get back on their feet? The answer was none other than a man called Glen Hoddle.

Hoddle posing for a photo some time shortly after taking up the England job
​

To some in the English media, Hoddle's appointment had been a welcomed one though it was not the first time he had been considered for the job before Keegan would ultimately get the nod though many argued that things would have been different if Hoddle had gotten the job in the first place and this would have meant that the shambles of Euro 2000 would likely never had happened though it must be said that though Hoddle had gotten the job, it wasn't a case that the FA thought he was the right man for the job but that there wasn't any other choice. At that time, much of the top flight of English football was seeing many managers being mostly non English or not fully suitable for the job so when it came down to finding the right man for the job, Hoddle was the only that could fit the role for the manager and with that, the FA went for him.

Nonetheless, Glen Hoddle would not help steady the ship and bring about a new, young English side hungry for success and guide England to the World Cup but perhaps what would follow would be perhaps the most memorably game for England in recent years in which a revenge game on the in Munich, England would stun the Germans in which they won 5-1. That result would pretty much destroy any bad will towards the national team with Hoddle becoming something of an unlikely hero to many across the nation and following a memorable 2-2 draw with Greece at Old Trafford, England would win the group to qualify automatically and saw the Germans eventually finish in the play-off spot, though worse was to follow for the Germans once they were to sent in the play offs...

At this same time, Wales and Scotland had both managed to qualify for the play-offs though neither were grouped in to play each other as Scotland were to play Czech Republic in which a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory at Hampden Park in the first leg was followed up by a nervy 1-1 draw in Prague during the second leg which nonetheless saw Scotland book their passage to the Far East. Wales were given perhaps the short straw from the draw in which they were drawn the Germans and many did suspect that the Germans, though nowhere near the same class as previous German sides would still prevail. What followed next would be a result that would send shockwaves across the continent.

Some of the lucky England fans during that certain game in Munich...
​

It all started in the first leg in which Wales would have the game played at the much larger Millennium stadium in Cardiff in which not only was a complete sell out but also was a total partisan atmosphere that did take the German team aback. Perhaps with the fact that they were utterly spooked by he ferocious backing the Dragons had, it would be a strong Welsh performance in which a a solo Ryan Giggs goal in the forty-third minute was all that was needed to win the first leg 1-0 and did raise the pressure for the Germans for the return leg in Dortmound in which they had beat the Welsh by two clear goals to go through to the World Cup. Despite suffering an absolute battering out in Dortmund for the pretty much the whole game by 'parking the bus', Wales though held on for a 0-0 draw which saw the Welsh book their place at the World Cup and left the Germans reeling in what was nothing short of a catastrophe, not that the Welsh supporters cared about that and their newly appointed manager of Mark Hughes would pretty win earn himself a free pint in any pub around Wales for sure.

For what was actually the first time in a generation, Germany would not be seen at a World Cup which seemed unthinkable much like if Brazil and Italy failed to qualify and things would look really strange out there in Japan and South Korea. For the Germans, the embarrassing loss to the Welsh in the play-offs now goes down as one, if not the most, humiliating result in Germany's football history and hardly the sort of stuff needed for the upcoming hosts for the 2006 World Cup and would see an all out mass improvement needed for them. Those who follow the German national side will always point out that the early 2000's were a true dark time for the Die Mannschaft with that result being the utter low point for the team. Still, things can only get better from here...

There would also be Irish representation at the World Cup though sadly not from Northern Ireland who once again came up short in qualifying but instead it would fall for the Republic of Ireland to take the hopes of many out to the Far East in which their maverick captain Roy Keane had even boasted to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United that he was going out to win which may have sounded crazy but then again this was Roy Keane who would likely fight tooth and nail if it meant bringing the World Cup to Ireland though what was to follow out there would go down in infamy but that is a story for later. For the others though, it was a trip to a totally different world that while had not history to football did though have a strong love for the game and were will to show how much they wanted to be part of this new football world...

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​

When the draw was announced, it would something of a repeat of the 1990 World Cup in which England and Ireland would be drawn together in the same group, Group E being called by some as the group of life as it was a fairly weak group that seemed to favour the Three Lions and in some ways the Irish. Indeed, the build up to the tournament especially in Ireland was at in all time high, the chance to give England a bloody nose was always welcomed by many of their supporters. For the England fans, they probably didn't feel anything for those on the other side of the Irish sea and they couldn't have had a better start when they thrashed Saudi Arabia in their opening game 5-0, far more than what they had managed to score than the whole of Euro 2000 in fact. With that, they were looking forward to the most anticipated clash with the Irish and while things might have been all rosy in the England camp, it was actually anything but in the Irish camp.

To say the Irish team had a shocking and controversial build up would be an major understatement in which would happen the moment the team had landed at their training camp in Saipan. Ireland's captain Roy Keane demanded the best for the team and had always regarded some of the decision making from the FAI to be regarded as amateur such as the players forced to travel in economy class while the FAI bosses travelled in first class and his ever souring relationship with manager Mick McCarthy, but what really set him off was the moment he took one look at the horrendous training facilities in Saipan and blew a gasket. What followed would be a well documented event in which after a major bust with with McCarthy, Roy Keane was sent home leaving Ireland without their captain and the blame game started over who was at fault for this sorry affair from kicking off.

England players line up before their opening game with Saudi Arabia​

It was unprecedented in which normally before a game with England, Irish supporters would be all united in battling a common foe, not there was a major split among the Irish public over if either Keane or McCarthy were in the right and things had not been any better when they Irish stumbled to a 1-1 draw in their opening game with Cameroon and that was the last thing they wanted before a game with England. When it came to the game itself, England would take the lead but a dramatic last minute equaliser from Ireland saw them snatch a point that for one brief moment made many forget about the Saipan Incident. There were rumours around that given the relationship that many of the English players had with their counterparts domestically that they had actually thrown the game to give the Irish a result to boost their chances of staying on but so far it just seems to be nothing but rumours.

Nonetheless, both teams would end up going through in which England defeated Cameroon 2-0 in their final group match to win the group and the Irish would win 3-0 in their respected final group match with Saudi Arabia to follow the English behind in second place. While the English would have a fairly comfortable affair in the group stage that was indeed a damn sight better than what happened just two years ago, the Irish felt that after everything that had happened, it was miracle that they had managed to get through though some felt that had Roy Keane still been in the team, they would have not only beaten England but likely would have won the group. Whatever the reason though, both progressed for the next stage for the World Cup...

View attachment 761557
Final results of England's group at the 2002 World Cup

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​

If England could boast that they had struck lucky by drawing the group of life, then poor Wales would say that they had the worst luck of being drawn in the group of death which featured the likes of Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria and looking at that group alone was enough to make any Welsh fan shudder for the worst to happen and it was fair to say that not many had any hope of Wales of getting any sort of result from the group, let alone progress their way out of it. Nonetheless Wales' first group game would be with Sweden and in that game, the men in red would get off to a good start when John Hartson would fire them in front after just twenty-four minutes and looked fairly good to get more goals and win.

However disaster struck in the second half when Sweden would score to level the game in the fifty-ninth minute and there was nothing Wales could do to try and get a late winner for thus, the game ended in a draw and while it wasn't the worst result in the world, Wales would feel like kicking themselves over the failure to get their World Cup to a winning start and that wasn't the best thing to go into their next game with which would be against Argentina. It was said that this Argentina team was considered to be one of the favourites to the World Cup this year and that Wales would be swept aside by Argentina though what was most interesting about this game was the Manchester United connection in which Ryan Giggs and Juan Sebastián Verón who had played on the same side at club level would now have to play each other on opposing sides and both would have their own battle on the pitch but they weren't the only ones to focus on.

The game itself would be a real tight affair in which in the thirty-fourth minute, Giggs would take a Welsh corner and Craig Bellamy would header home the opening goal of the match and suddenly it looked like Wales were about to pull off a major shock by beating Argentina. The Welsh would try and keep Argentina out but the La Albiceleste would not give up and at times the game became a tasty affair with tackles flying and some yellow cards being shown yet Argentina couldn't seem to find a goal after the first half had come to an end. However Argentina's efforts would be rewarded in which in the sixty-second minute, Julio Cruz would rip through the Welsh defence and fired in the equaliser and 1-1 would despite a late resurgence from Argentina following that goal, the game would end in a draw and Wales' hopes of going through were now hanging by a thread.

Wales vs Argentina during the 2002 World Cup
​

The final group match for Wales was simply a must win; if they were to beat Nigeria and hoped either Argentina or Sweden beat one or the other then Wales would be surely be able to sneak their way through to the next round, a thought that seemed unthinkable when Wales were drawn in the group in the first place. Though it was frustrating for their supporters that Wales hadn't won a game yet, they had been rather respectably so far yet now was the time they had to win or else. Nigeria in contrast had nothing to play for in which they had lost their two previous games and were now playing for pride and weren't going to simply roll over for Wales that was for sure. What followed would be a tale of frustration for the Dragons.

No matter how hard Wales tried, Nigeria would not let Wales have any chance of scoring and it was so tense as many Welsh fans would keep hearing stories throughout the game that Sweden were beating Argentina and all Wales needed to do was simply win this game and all would be good yet their African opponents might have been going out but they were certainly dragging the Welsh down with them. With a few minutes left in the game with this game still deadlocked, news filtered through that Argentina had scored a late equaliser that ultimately would decide that game yet there was no joy for a frustrated Welsh side who would have their game end in a stuffy 0-0 draw and with that, Wales were out of the World Cup.

It was heart-breaking for the Welsh but there was something good to remember the tournament by as with the fact all their games had ended in draws, Wales would be the only team in the 2002 World Cup to go out undefeated and considering the fact that they were drawn in the group of death, they had actually done pretty well for themselves yet there was frustration among many Welsh supporters over had they managed to win that final game then it was possible that they might have been able to get through. Whatever the thought, what was happening in the present was that Wales would be the first British team to exit the World Cup though there was hope that this team would do well for the next European Championship...

View attachment 761558
Final results of Wales' group stage at the 2002 World Cup

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​

Despite some fears that Scotland might end up in their own group of death, they were stunned to find themselves in a rather good group which featured the likes of Russia, Tunisia and the co-hosts Japan; on paper Scotland looked certain to be going through. Long serving Scotland manager Craig Brown would extend his contract until the end of this World Cup in which he would be the longest serving Scotland boss for sure and he was sure that against Japan, Scotland would get off to a good start. However in their opening match with Japan, Scotland's cockiness caused them to have the worst possible start as they found themselves 2-0 down after just half an hour and after some tweaking to the formation, the Scots would attack in the second half and would turn the game around thanks to goals from Colin Cameron and Don Hutchinson to help Scotland snatch a point and save them from embarrassment.

It was not the start that was needed and Craig Brown would get a barrage of abuse for how bad they game went for Scotland and he knew that he would have to adjust the team to make sure that they would be able to get all three points for their second game with Tunisia. However, things didn't start any better for Scotland there either as after just ten minutes, Scotland would end up going a goal behind and it seemed that Scotland was set for disaster to befall on them once again as defeat would surely mark the end of their World Cup campaign. However goals from the likes of McCainn, Dodds and Elliot would all help Scotland turn the game around and come out on top as 3-1 victors and surely in with a fighting chance to go through.

Up next for Scotland in their final group game would be Russia and it was clear that this would be a three way shoot out between Scotland, Russia and Japan in which all knew was that if they were to win they'd go through though which of them would be going through as going into this game, both the Scots and Japanese were tied on points and if both were to win their final group games then it would be a case that the case of who would win the group would come down to goal difference and truthfully, this final day of the group was going to go down to the wire.

Scotland team prior to their game with Japan
​

With how the previous games had went for Scotland in which they would always find themselves going behind, many feared the same thing would happen here with the only difference being the pressure would get to the team and that it would be their own downfall as Russia was well and truly up for the game. The game with the Russians proved to be quite an end to end game as the Russians needed to win too to go through and they did a lot more the attacking in the first half which forced the Scots to defend most of the time and despite Russian might, the first half ended 0-0. It was tense with still no clue as to who would be going through and there was only another fourty-five mnutes left to try and see how the group would end up.

The Second half however though would prove to be one of the best Scotland performances of all as the poor Russians by the second half looked exhausted and Scotland wasted no time to blast three goals past the Russians with the goals from Elliot and a double from Neil McCann helped ensure the Scots finished top of the group and dump the Russians out of the World Cup with the latter only being able to muster a late consolation goal. Scotland were through yet no one was sure who had won the group as when the other result was read that Japan had won 2-0 in that game, both Scotland and Japan were tied on level points however thanks to Scotland's better goal difference, they would win the prize of winning the group.

While Wales had just sadly missed out on joining their fellow British counterparts into the knockout stage, having two still going through was still a welcomed sight and after it became apparent seeing on what side of the draw both had been place in, the only way both British sides could meet was if both were to make it all the way to the final...a thought that many across the British isles hoped, that is if both sides didn't bottle it first. Still, for the many supporters who had travelled the long journey to the Far East and were far from home, the high tech world they had been exposed to was quite a culture shock to say the least and they were hoping that they would be staying longer in Asia just so that they could experience this brave new world in detail. Who would last the longest...?

View attachment 761559
Final results of Scotland's group at the 2002 World Cup

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​

And here we have an earlier update than normal. As I'm leaving tomorrow as of writing to go on a wee holiday, I thought it was right to put up the first chapter of the 2002 WC up earlier so here we are. Now then, for those who followed the original ATL will see that things are very different here in which England and Wales swap groups in which I realised that IOTL, Germany were ranked just above England and ended up in that group of life while England got the group of death though I just realised after doing it that with Wales being ranked lower than England, it was the wrong way round so as part of this redux, it meant a fix to make things a bit more real.

While England's results are pretty much what you expect, I knew that poor Wales would struggle in that group of death though they did draw 1-1 with Argentina in friendly during that year IOTL so I pretty much copied that result for here which does make things more plausible of how things would have panned out and yes, Argentina do make it through here and I do feel that Argentina had some bad luck in which they were didn't deserve to go out as earlier like that so there we go.

Scotland are pretty much the same from the original TL with some wee tweaks made here and there but anyway, time for the fixture list as follows:
---------
England vs Paraguay

United States vs Mexico

Spain vs Republic of Ireland

South Korea vs Italy

Denmark vs Argentina

Brazil vs Japan

Sweden vs Senegal

Scotland vs Turkey
---------
So a fairly different last 16 here so who do you think will get through and why? Until then, catch you all next time for the next update in which we'll see how England and Scotland will do here!

ENGLAND x Paraguay

United states x Mexico

Spain x Ireland

South Korea X Italy

Denmark X Argentina

Brazil x Japan

Sweden x Senegal

Scotland x Turkey

quarter finals:

England X United states

Spain x Italy

Argentina X Brazil

Scotland X Sweden

semifinals:

Argentina X Scotland

England X Italy (in penalties)

Third place:

Scotland X England

Final:

Argentina 1 (Batistuta) x 1 Italy (Vieri) (5-6 in penalties)

 

[Unknown]

Just thinking about the Bradford City fire (which presumably will still happen in TTL)--at least there wasn't perimeter fencing at Valley Parade stadium; the tragedy would have been far worse if that had been the case, IMO...

 

[jmmcb94]

If I may spool back a few tournaments, was re-reading 1994 earlier and spotted a mistake: you said you-know-who's WC song...

made even 'classics' such as Ally's Tartan Army seem decent in comparison

...except, with Mr McLeod not being Scotland manager ITTL, that song would be butterflied away!