The challenge for England against Colombia at the Spartak Stadium on Tuesday evening is to emulate the feat of Glenn Hoddle’s side 20 years ago: win.
Whereas Gareth Southgate hopes to progress to the World Cup quarter-finals, Hoddle needed victory in Lens to ensure passage to the last 16 of France 98.
The England XI sent out by Hoddle was captained by Alan Shearer and featured Michael Owen making his full competitive debut and David Beckham his first start of the tournament.
Southgate was also in the squad but after being selected for the opening game, a 2-0 victory over Tunisia in Marseille, he did not feature again until the last-16 meeting with Argentina.
Despite the opening win, England had to beat Colombia after losing the middle Group G match 2-1 to Romania. Owen had equalised on 81 minutes, after replacing Teddy Sheringham, only for Dan Petrescu’s goal in the closing moments to claim three points.
That strike came following an error by Graeme Le Saux. “It was probably the hardest game for me against Colombia because of the mistake,” he says. “I got absolutely hammered from all quarters and knew I couldn’t afford to put myself in a position to make a mistake.
“That feeds into the narrative about how players feel about playing for the national team. If the environment, whether it be the mood within the group or the national sentiment, is one of trying to find the scapegoat [it’s difficult] and obviously in ’98 that’s what happened with Beckham. You could tell that was the whole backdrop.”
Le Saux is referencing Beckham’s red card in the meeting with Argentina in Saint-Étienne, but that was to come later. The defeat by Romania meant England’s fate rested on their ability to handle the pressure of needing to beat Colombia, as will be the case in Moscow.
Hoddle retained the 3-4-1-2 of previous matches. This had Darren Anderton and Le Saux as wing-backs, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell and Tony Adams in defence, Beckham and Paul Ince in midfield, and Paul Scholes behind Owen and Shearer, with David Seaman the No 1.
Just as Southgate wants England to dominate the ball, via three centre-backs, Hoddle believed the formation would allow his team to do the same against a side managed by Hernán Darío Gómez, who was in charge of Panama at this World Cup.
Le Saux says: “There’s a style in which the South American teams play, which is something we’ll have to adapt to. That’s why Colombia came into this tournament as one of my dark horses.”
He also points to comparisons between Colombia’s record scorer, the 32-year-old Radamel Falcao of José Pekerman’s team, and Carlos Valderrama of the side he lined up against.
“When we played them they seemed to be coming towards the end of their cycle. Valderrama was 36 and slightly past his peak and like [Falcao] had the ability to do something special. So you have to show them a huge amount of respect.
“The funny thing with Valderrama was he had loads of bracelets on. He literally jangled. Every time he received the ball you could hear him. It was like a sleigh because you could hear all his bangles jiggling about. Then his hair had its own sort of gravitational field, so you could sense him coming either by listening or feeling that his hair was somewhere in your vicinity.”
After 20 minutes, England proved they were up to the occasion. Owen dispossessed Luis Antonio Moreno along the right, ran down the wing and crossed towards Scholes. Jorge Bermúdez headed away but only to Anderton, who lashed home from a tight angle. Nine minutes later, Beckham bent a 20-yard free-kick past Faryd Mondragón and the contest was over.
The next match against Argentina was unhappier all-round; for England and, on a personal level, for Beckham and Hoddle. Two minutes into the second half, the midfielder kicked out at Diego Simeone and was sent off.
England held on at 2-2 for penalties but lost the shootout 4-3, following David Batty’s miss. Beckham became the national scapegoat Le Saux mentioned and Hoddle never managed at a major tournament again. He lost his job in February 1999 following comments he made about his religious beliefs in a newspaper interview.
Regarding England’s challenge against the current Colombia team Le Saux says: “With some of the usual suspects going out early it seems between the traditional national sides who are successful and those you’d say are the minnows the margins have got much smaller. There’s a new world order.”
England’s hope is to beat Colombia, and take a further step towards showing they belong in it.
