France 98 will be
remembered for two things- the performance of the home nation as
they beat Brazil to take the World Cup and a certain goal scored
by a kid from England. It came from Michael Owen and saw him
hailed " the new Pele." By whom? None other than Pele
himself!! Edson Arantes Do Nascimento possibly the gretest player
of all the time and a man who earlier in the year became
"sir" Pele when given an honorary knighthood by the
Queen, sigled out Michael as the successor to his throne.
"Michael Owen was the GREAT player of the Wrold Cup. At 18
he obviously needs a little more experience but Ronaldo is 21 and
is supposed to be the best player of the tournament. Owen was
better," said the legendary Brazilian. Quite an accolade,
but after seeing the lad from Liverpool's performances during the
game's greatest competition it was hardly a suprise.
Pele too the tournament by storm way back in 1958. Someone who
remembers seeing the 17-year-old as he helped Brazil win the
trophy was Northern Ireland goalkeeper Harry Gregg. Forty years
ago he was his country's hero in a sensational tournament when
Northern Ireland got further than any of the other Home Nations.
After watching Michael in action in France, Harry was rubbing his eyes with feeling he had seen it all before: "He has the same aura, the same charm as Pele had when I first saw him," Gregg says. "It is terrible to burden a boy called owen with the name like Pele but he is refreshing and pele was the same. The difference is when you think about that great Brazilian side in comparison with the grey English team of the present time.
" You had
players like Didi,Vava, the great Garrincha, Bellini, Djalma and
Nilton Santos, so Pele was making his debut in a much more
beautiful and much more better side than the team young Owen
stepped into. "He had a better team around him, they were
all couldnt compare them with the England side, It isnt rational,
so young Owen is probably more important to England than Pele was
to his country all those years ago."
Michael was flattered by the compliments which came his but he
followed dad Terry's sound advice and his feet have stayed firmly
on the ground. The World Cup began quietly for Michael. he sat
out most the opening game as England beat Tunisia, getting just a
taste of what waas to come when Glenn Hoddle brought him on for
the last five minutes at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
By then game was
tied up thanx to goals from Alan Shearer abd Paul Scholes.teddy
Sheringham had been favoured from the srat with the old S-A-S
partnership looking reasonable. Whether it would become
S-O-S...Shearer-Owen-Scholes was another matter.
The fans wanted it, the tabloids screamed for it but Glenn Hoodle
was unmoved and for England's second game against Romania in
Toulouse he again started without Michael. David Beckham was also
sidelined but he and Michael were brought on as subsitutes and
transformed as dull performance into one filled with hope....but
sadly no glory.
With seven minutes left the Romanians led 1-0 and England wre
finding it tough. Michael's moment came when Shearer set him up
with a chance. The Newcastle striker crossed the ball from the
right flank and Michael ran into slide the chance home. Iwth the
scores level his confidence greew and he almost greabbed a second
but robbed when his shot struck an upright.
"It was a great feeling to score in the World Cup, but I am dissapointed with the result," was Michaels reaction. The reason??? Ask Chelsea duo Dan Petrescu and Graeme le Saux. petrescu popped up to steal a last-kick winner after his club-mate le Saux made a teribble mistake in the England defence.It was played two, won one, lost one for England.