00:02At France, 1998, football's greatest stage was a giant stage.
00:08For the first time, FIFA had decided the World Cup tournament would be contested by 32 nations instead of 24.
00:18And in keeping with the theme, organizers of the opening ceremony in Paris were convinced that size mattered.
00:27The ceremony was highlighted by a parade of giants, four figures, 70 feet high, weighing 38 tons each.
00:37The four giants, representing the four colors of humanity, and named Ho, Romeo, Pablo and Moussa,
00:45each started at different points of Paris and lumbered their way to a symbolic meeting spot at the Place de
00:51la Concorde,
00:53accompanied by an array of jugglers, acrobats, dancers and contortionists.
01:01Coincidentally, the France 98 tournament would also feature four giant personalities.
01:07Even if one of them wasn't there at all, one left rather early,
01:12one went missing in action when it counted most,
01:16and one was absolutely stunning.
01:21The one who wasn't there at all probably got as much publicity as any player who was.
01:27Paul Gascoigne, Gaza, had made the FIFA All-Star team in 1990,
01:32when he carried England to their first semi-final appearance since their 1966 triumph.
01:39But by 1998, his infamous lack of discipline and other personal struggles had begun to seriously impact his reliability,
01:47if not yet his brilliance.
01:52England coach Glenn Hoddle believed Gascoigne could no longer be risked in the demanding environment of a World Cup,
01:59and cut him from the squad, creating a media storm and signalling a rapid acceleration of Gaza's decline.
02:07When Hoddle told him of the decision,
02:10Gascoigne trashed the coach's room at the camp in Spain.
02:15He never played for England again.
02:19Another England player grabbing headlines in 1998 was David Beckham,
02:24at 23 the hottest property in the Premier League with Manchester United,
02:28but still establishing his reputation at international level.
02:33Having seen first-hand the ruination of Gascoigne,
02:37Hoddle was perhaps oversensitive to the distractions caused by the media obsession with Beckham's private life,
02:42as the fiancée of Spice Girl Victoria Adams.
02:48Although Beckham was the only Englishman to have played all eight qualifying matches,
02:53the coach questioned his focus and refused to start him for the first two group matches.
03:00After losing the second match to Romania,
03:03Hoddle finally picked Beckham for the third match against Colombia,
03:06and he responded by bending a free kick into the net for England's second goal
03:11and lifting them into the round of 16.
03:15But in the next match against Argentina,
03:18Hoddle's fears about Beckham's focus were realized when he was antagonized by Diego Simeone.
03:26After being brutally fouled,
03:27Beckham was on the ground and flicked back his leg in a mild but unnecessary retaliation.
03:35Simeone took a dive and Beckham was red-carded,
03:39leaving England to battle to a draw with ten men before losing on penalties.
03:45Beckham was shattered while Hoddle's reaction was to say the young star should not be blamed,
03:50and then promptly blamed him.
03:53I don't think it's a time now to make scapegoats in David Beckham or to blame anybody.
03:59I think David's the first to admit that it's a silly mistake that he's made on a football pitch.
04:04One that I felt wasn't violent conduct,
04:07but it was something that at this level he's got to learn that we can't afford to do them things.
04:12Not just David, but any player that's playing in a tournament this big,
04:17you can't afford to do it.
04:18You're going to get punished, and we have been punished on it.
04:22Beckham even received death threats from fans who blamed him for the defeat.
04:26And years later, he said he believed Hoddle's criticism
04:29fueled some of the frenzied anger directed at him.
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