00:03At France, 1998, football's greatest stage was a giant stage.
00:10For the first time, FIFA had decided the World Cup tournament would be contested by 32 nations instead of 24.
00:19And in keeping with the theme, organizers of the opening ceremony in Paris were convinced that size mattered.
00:28The ceremony was highlighted by a parade of giants, four figures, 70 feet high, weighing 38 tons each.
00:38The four giants, representing the four colors of humanity, and named Ho, Romeo, Pablo and Moussa,
00:46each started at different points of Paris and lumbered their way to a symbolic meeting spot at the Place de
00:52la Concorde,
00:54accompanied by an array of jugglers, acrobats, dancers and contortionists.
01:02Coincidentally, the France 98 tournament would also feature four giant personalities.
01:09Even if one of them wasn't there at all, one left rather early, one went missing in action when it
01:16counted most,
01:17and one was absolutely stunning.
01:22The one who wasn't there at all probably got as much publicity as any player who was.
01:28Paul Gascoigne, Gaza, had made the FIFA All-Star team in 1990,
01:33when he carried England to their first semi-final appearance since their 1966 triumph.
01:40But by 1998, his infamous lack of discipline and other personal struggles had begun to seriously impact his reliability,
01:49if not yet his brilliance.
01:53England coach Glenn Hoddle believed Gascoigne could no longer be risked in the demanding environment of a World Cup,
02:00and cut him from the squad, creating a media storm and signalling a rapid acceleration of Gaza's decline.
02:09When Hoddle told him of the decision,
02:11Gascoigne trashed the coach's room at the camp in Spain.
02:16He never played for England again.
02:20Another England player grabbing headlines in 1998 was David Beckham,
02:25at 23 the hottest property in the Premier League with Manchester United,
02:30but still establishing his reputation at international level.
02:34Having seen first-hand the ruination of Gascoigne,
02:38Hoddle was perhaps oversensitive to the distractions caused by the media obsession with Beckham's private life,
02:43as the fiancée of Spice Girl Victoria Adams.
02:50Although Beckham was the only Englishman to have played all eight qualifying matches,
02:54the coach questioned his focus and refused to start him for the first two group matches.
03:01After losing the second match to Romania,
03:04Hoddle finally picked Beckham for the third match against Colombia,
03:08and he responded by bending a free kick into the net for England's second goal
03:12and lifting them into the round of 16.
03:17But in the next match against Argentina,
03:19Hoddle's fears about Beckham's focus were realized when he was antagonized by Diego Simeone.
03:27After being brutally fouled,
03:29Beckham was on the ground and flicked back his leg in a mild but unnecessary retaliation.
03:36Simeone took a dive and Beckham was red carded,
03:40leaving England to battle to a draw with ten men before losing on penalties.
03:46Beckham was shattered while Hoddle's reaction was to say the young star should not be blamed,
03:51and then promptly blamed him.
03:55I don't think it's a time now to make scapegoats in David Beckham or to blame anybody.
04:00I think David's the first to admit that it's a silly mistake that he's made on a football pitch.
04:06One that I felt wasn't violent conduct, but it was something that at this level he's got to learn that
04:11we can't afford to do them things.
04:13Not just David, but any player that's playing in a tournament this big.
04:18You can't afford to do it. You're going to get punished and we have been punished.
04:21You're not.
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