Alright, so the other day, I found myself with a bit of free time, which doesn’t happen often, let me tell you. And I got this itch, this proper urge, to go back and watch something from the archives. My mind, for some reason, just landed on the England v Argentina 1998 World Cup match. Don’t ask me why, it just popped in there. Maybe I saw something on the telly that jogged my memory, or maybe I was just feeling a bit nostalgic for a time when football felt… different.
Digging Out the Past
So, first things first, I had to actually find the darn thing. Now, I’m not one for all this fancy streaming stuff for everything. I’ve got a collection of old recordings, some on dusty DVDs, others on even older things I’d rather not mention. Took me a good half hour rummaging through boxes in the loft. Finally, success! There it was, a bit battered, but the disc looked okay. I popped it into my old player, hoped for the best, and settled down on the sofa. The wife just rolled her eyes, said something about “living in the past,” but she knows what I’m like with these things.
The Rewatch Experience
I pressed play. The picture quality wasn’t brilliant, a bit grainy, you know, proper 90s. But it all came flooding back. The kits, the haircuts – oh, the haircuts! – and the sheer raw energy of it all. I remembered watching it live back in ’98. I was younger then, obviously, full of hope, probably down the pub with my mates, a pint in hand, shouting at the screen.
Watching it again, decades later, was a different experience. Quieter, for one. Just me and the ghosts of ’98. I found myself noticing different things this time around.
- The Early Goals: Batistuta’s penalty, clinical. Then Shearer, bang, another penalty. The game started at such a frantic pace. You just don’t see that kind of end-to-end chaos as much these days, or maybe I’m just getting old.
- That Owen Goal: Even now, knowing what’s coming, that Michael Owen goal… wow. I actually leaned forward. The speed, the control, the finish. It was just pure, unadulterated youthful brilliance. Still gives me a buzz watching it. I remember the pub erupting back in the day. This time, it was just a quiet “yep, still got it” nod from me.
- The Turning Point – Becks: Ah, David Beckham’s red card. Watching it again, it still feels a bit soft, doesn’t it? Simeone definitely made a meal of it, went down like he’d been shot. But Becks, bless him, he was young, he reacted. You could see the frustration. And boy, did that change the game. England were playing so well up to that point. I felt that familiar pang of “what if?”
- The Battle: After that, it was a proper scrap. Ten-man England digging in. I found myself appreciating the defensive effort more this time. Sol Campbell was a rock, him and Adams. They threw their bodies in front of everything.
- The Disallowed Goal: Oh, that Sol Campbell header near the end. I’d almost forgotten the sheer deflation of that moment. Watching the ref blow the whistle, I still felt a knot in my stomach. Shearer’s little nudge on the keeper, was it enough? Debatable, even now. But in that moment, for England fans, it was agony.
- Penalties, Again: And then, the inevitable penalties. My heart still sank a bit. Ince, Batty… you know the story. Argentina were just better from the spot on the day. No shame in it, but it still stings a little, even all these years later.
What I Reckon Now
So, after the credits rolled, or rather, after the disc finished, I sat there for a bit. It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s just a game of football from over twenty years ago. But it brings back so many memories, so many emotions. Rewatching it, I wasn’t as caught up in the blind nationalistic hope I probably was back then. I could appreciate the skill from both sides a bit more, even Argentina’s. Batistuta was a phenomenal player. Zanetti, Veron… quality.
My main takeaway from this little trip down memory lane? It was a classic, no doubt. Full of everything that makes football the dramatic, heartbreaking, exhilarating thing it is. And while the result still sucks for an England fan, the journey of that match itself, the sheer rollercoaster of it, was something else. It reminded me why I fell in love with the game in the first place. Definitely worth the effort of digging out that old disc. Might even watch another one next week, if I can find the time between mowing the lawn and taking the bins out.
