Brazil Comes Into Its Own in Opener

On the last kick of the 1994 World Cup, Italy’s Roberto Baggio skied the ball over the crossbar at the Rose Bowl, missing his penalty attempt and handing Brazil the trophy.

Four years later, not much has changed.

In the opening game of the 1998 World Cup, Brazil once again was the beneficiary of an opponent’s miscue, this time when luckless Tommy Boyd of Scotland accidentally deflected the ball into his own net to give the Brazilians a 2-1 victory.

Few among the crowd of 80,000 on a blustery Wednesday afternoon at the Stade de France would have begrudged the Scots a tie. They were a goal down within four minutes, fought back to tie it by halftime and then were the victim of a freak own goal.

Dunga, the Brazilian captain, floated a diagonal cross toward overlapping fullback Cafu in the right corner. Scotland’s Gordon Durie lunged for the ball but missed. Cafu had better luck.

While in the air, he hit it with the outside of his right foot. The unexpected shot startled Scottish goalkeeper Jim Leighton, the ball hitting him just below the chin and rebounding out.

Boyd, sprinting back to help, was in the way, and the ball caromed off his shoulder into the bottom right corner of the net seconds before Scottish captain Colin Hendry could get there to clear it.

Just like that, with less than 20 minutes left in the game, a 1-1 tie that would have been hailed by the Scots as a victory became a 2-1 defeat.

“There was nothing I could do to get out of the way,” a distraught Boyd said. “I knew what had happened straight away. Nobody said anything in the dressing room. It was just one of those things that happens in football.”

His teammates might have understood, but that did little to take away the hurt.

“Nobody wants to lose a game like this, especially one of this importance on such an occasion,” Boyd, 32, continued. “I can’t remember my last own goal. I have to say this is probably the worst feeling I’ve ever had. . . .

“There was nothing I could do to get myself out of the way.”

The Scots came into the game with an 0-6-2 all-time record against Brazil, including an 0-2-1 mark in World Cup play. But although they clearly could not match the skills of Ronaldo and Rivaldo and Bebeto and, later, Leonardo and Denilson, they did match the South Americans in commitment and endeavor.

Having said that, they gave away a sloppy goal only 3:47 into the game.

The first shot of World Cup ‘98, a thunderous long-range drive from Dunga, was deflected wide by Hendry for a corner kick. Bebeto swung the kick in toward a knot of players at the near post, and Brazilian midfielder Cesar Sampaio somehow eluded Durie, Craig Burley and John Collins and bulldozed the ball into the net.

Leighton, the 39-year-old Scottish keeper who became the first British player to appear in four World Cup tournaments, was stranded.

“That’s the last thing you want,” Collins said. “I can’t remember the last time we lost a goal at a corner.”

Sampaio and Collins were also involved in the tying goal.

It came in the 38th minute when Sampaio shoved Kevin Gallacher down in the penalty area as both were racing for the ball. Referee Jose Garcia-Aranda of Spain pointed immediately to the penalty spot and Collins stepped up to take the kick.

He hit the ball firmly, placing it into the lower left corner, just beyond the reach of diving Brazilian goalkeeper Taffarel.

From then on, the Scots gave as good as they got, although their play was not in the same class as that of the Brazilians, whose speed and changes of pace and direction, whose cheeky back-heel passes and blistering long-range shots gave promise of even more magic to come as the five-week tournament progresses.

“I think we were very brave, but perhaps not good enough,” said Craig Brown, Scotland’s coach. “There’s no doubt in my mind Brazil deserved to win, but the goals we conceded were most uncharacteristic.”

His Brazilian counterpart, Mario Zagallo, was in his usual feisty mood, something necessary when dealing on a daily basis with the demanding Brazilian media.

“It was a nervous game for us,” he said. “I felt the team played too slowly after scoring so early, and that gave Scotland a chance to grow into the game. They found the time and space to do exactly what they wanted with their long diagonal balls, but this was an important win for us.”

Scotland’s goal scorer, Collins, who plays in the French League with AS Monaco, a team known for its skillful play, was full of praise for Brazil, and Ronaldo in particular.

“They call him the world’s best player and you don’t get called that for nothing,” Collins said. “But there’s a whole team of them out there. They’ve all got tremendous skills.”

The warning has been sounded. The Brazilians are back and it will take something special to stop them.

Morocco will be the next to try, Tuesday in Nantes.