Football: No common or garden seats

Fashion statement of the week: Romanians celebrate bad hair day as they carry on where Craig Burley left off

FIFTY people who bought black market tickets for England's World Cup match against Colombia found themselves sitting in the VIP box at the Stade Felix Bollaert close to the Prince of Wales and his son Harry. World Cup officials were astonished to see mere hoi polloi - obviously not VIPs - settle into their seats near Mr Windsor and Windsor minor.

Apparently the English contingent among the common upstarts betrayed their lowly origins by leaping up and cheering when the goals went in. Really, that just is not done in such august company - unless, of course, you are Prince Harry, who obviously forgot himself momentarily in the excitement when Darren Anderton and David Beckham scored.

MOROCCO'S World Cup performances allowed the country to "dream and live in another world" King Hassan told the players during a reception at his palace. "You hoisted the country into the position of great nations," he said. "Today we the people, the government and the king thank you and praise you for your merit and efforts."

Moroccans dreaming and living in another world? Well, their heroic failure did involve a 3-0 victory over the Scots, who know a thing or two about extra-planetary fantasy when it comes to football.

CRAIG BROWN returned to the finals yesterday... as an Englishman. The Scotland manager flew back to work as a Radio Five Live summariser at the match in Marseilles and was perturbed to find that his accreditation badge showed him as representing Angleterre. "They told me it wasn't who you were, but who you were working for," Brown sighed.

TWO of the tournament's great character-keepers come face to face when France play Paraguay in Lens today. On his 27th birthday, Fabien Barthez is bracing himself for the moment when Jose Luis Chilavert comes up to try to get his head on a corner or to take a free-kick. "If it happens, I'll have to concentrate hard on the ball," the Monaco man said. "It's a situation I've never had to deal with before."

Amazingly, Chilavert has scored four goals in 40 internationals. No wonder Paraguay's Brazilian coach, Paulo Cesar Carpegiani, said yesterday: "If he was standing for president, he'd get my vote."

THE TALENTED Yugoslavs have great trouble motivating themselves for matches against teams they think are beneath them. "We have an extraordinary technique but our problem is how we approach each match psychologically," said Vujadin Boskov, part of the coaching team preparing Yugoslavs to face Holland in the second round tomorrow. "We make a difference between big and small teams. The match against Iran should be forgotten as soon as possible. The Netherlands are an excellent team and belong to the category of sides which motivate us. This gives me some reason for optimism."

The Yugoslavs were superb in securing a 2-2 draw against Germany but they virtually sleep-walked their way through 1-0 victories over Iran and the United States in their group stage.

FRANZ Beckenbauer, who captained and coached Germany to World Cup triumphs, is not impressed with the standard of play. He wrote in the German daily Bild: "No team or match here has convinced me. Diego Maradona said to me that there are too many players here with square feet. I have to agree. It was a nice idea from Fifa to have a World Cup with 32 teams, letting the smaller nations play. But what has that got to do with the World Cup?"

EARLY INDICATIONS are that more than 22 million people watched BBC's live coverage of England's 2-0 victory over Colombia on Friday night. The audience peaked at 24.2 million - just 900,000 short of the audience for the 1990 World Cup semi-final between England and West Germany.

Bons mots of the week: It doesn't make any difference who we play in the quarter-finals - we're going to play to win. We're going all the way.

The Brazil coach, Mario Zagallo, after they brushed aside Chile 4-1 last night.

I have thought a lot about this World Cup because it will determine the rest of my career in football. I am ambitious and this World Cup is my chance to become a great player, to join Romario and enter into the history of Brazilian football

Ronaldo, 21, looking ahead to his future in the game.

When you're playing against a team with players like Ronaldo and Cesar Sampaio, they can score at any time.

Chile's Ivan Zamorano after his country's World Cup exit last night.

We are not idiots. When you score one goal more than the other team in a cup tie it is always enough.

Italy's coach Cesare Maldini responds to criticism of the manner of his side's 1-0 defeat of Norway.

Does Glenn really think a club as thorough as ours could fail to deal with such an important issue? Of course we realise that all the media attention caused by David's engagement to Victoria Adams of the Spice Girls is a distraction that could blur his professional responsibilities. He has to come to terms with the complications their celebrity brings, and we at the club have to help him with understanding, not by laying down the law about his personal affairs.

Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, on Glenn Hoddle's claim that David Beckham was not focused for England's first match.

Only one team is going to win it now - and that's England

Kevin Keegan after England's Michael Owen equalised against Romania. England lost 2-1.

This is the greatest moment of my life

Dan Petrescu on his last-minute goal which beat England.

The game brought us from ecstasy and agony and vice-versa - and I was close to having a heart attack.

Romania's coach Anghel Iordanescu. on beating England.

I'd rather draw 1-1 and not score

Michael Owen.

It's the back four of the Marie Celeste.

Ally McCoist after two Iranian forwards found themselves on the break, and alone, on the halfway line as the USA pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

Say goodbye to the 1998 American World Cup team. It was to soccer what American cheese is to food - bland, formless and ultimately harmless.

Leading article in the New York Times after the US lost 1-0 to Yugoslavia to finish with no points and only one goal in France 98.

Team of the week

Gianluca Pagliuca (Italy): Steadfastly retained Italy's tenuous lead against Norway.

Christian Karembeu (France): Versatility proven when dropping back to replace Thuram against Denmark.

Roberto Ayala (Argentina): One of the main reasons why Argentina have yet to concede a goal.

Tony Adams (England): The defensive anchor that stopped England drifting out.

Roberto Carlos (Brazil): Compensated for a couple of mistakes against Norway with host of counter-attacks.

Luigi Di Biagio (Italy): Controlling influence and long-pass provider against Norway.

Marcelo Gallardo (Argentina): Tiny midfielder who could be a big star, very soon.

David Beckham (England): What a free-kick. What a performance in central midfield - where he should be.

Darren Anderton (England): OK, he was given space by Colombia, but the way he used it was outstanding.

Ronaldo (Brazil): Two goals and a performance against Chile which began to live up to the pre-tournament billing.

Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina): A 10-minute hat-trick. Adams, on your marks.

Norman Fox

Player of the week

Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina): Although he scored his hat-trick against the now departed Jamaicans seven days ago and subsequently failed to hit the net against the stronger Croatians, Batistuta has undoubtedly produced the performance of the last seven days. Now 29, he is the gnarled pillar of the team's attack,strong both in physique and willpower (refused to fall in line with coach Passarella's demands about short hair). Crespo thought he had replaced the all-time leading Argentinescorer but Batistuta's experience was eventually considered indispensable. His three goals in 10 minutes against Jamaica is a performance hardly likely to be challenged in this tournament, and he now holds the record of being the only man to score hat-tricks in successive World Cups. Croatia marshalled him effectively but he seemed happy to do no more than necessary. Against England it will be different; his confrontation with Tony Adams should be a battle to behold.

Crime sheet

SUSPENSIONS

BANNED FOR TWO MATCHES

Zinedine Zidane (France, one match served)

Miklos Molnar (Denmark, one match served)

BANNED FOR ONE MATCH

Jesus Ramirez (Mexico)

All single yellow cards received in first round are not carried over to knockout phase

REFEREES

Referee Red cards Yellow cards

J J Toro Rendon (Col) 3 7

A Rahman Al-Zeid (Saudi) 2 11

A Brizio Carter (Mex) 2 10

L Vagner (Hung) 2 9

H Dallas (Sco) 2 3

E Lennie (Aus) 1 8

G Benko (Aut) 1 6

P Collina (It) 1 6

R Pedersen (Nor) 1 4

A Mohamed Bujsaim (UAE) 1 2

S Belqola (Mor) 0 12

M Rezende de Freitas (Bra) 0 9

M Sanchez Yanten (Chile) 0 9

B Heynemann (Ger) 0 9

M Batta (France) 0 8

G Ghandour (Eg) 0 8

M van der Ende (Hol) 0 7

E Baharmast (USA) 0 6

L Bouchardeau (Nigeria) 0 5

R Rhamdan (Trin & Tob) 0 5

P Durkin (Eng) 0 4

An-Yan Lim Kee Chong (Maur) 0 4

I McLeod (SA) 0 4

J Castrilli (Arg) 0 4

N Levnikov (Rus) 0 4

M Okada (Japan) 0 4

M Melo Pereira (Por) 0 3

J M Garcia Aranda (Sp) 0 3

A Tejada Noriega (Peru) 0 2

E Gonzalez Chavez (Par) 0 5

P Un-Prasert (Thai) 0 3

U Meier (Swit) 0 3

R Wojcik (Pol) 0 2

K Nielsen (Den) 0 1

Leading scorers

FIVE GOALS

Christian Vieri (Italy)

FOUR GOALS

Marcelo Salas (Chile)

Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina, 1 pen)

THREE GOALS

Ronaldo (Brazil, 1 pen)

Cesar Sampaio (Brazil)

Thierry Henry (France)

Luis Hernandez (Mexico)

TWO GoALS

Roberto Baggio (Italy, 1 pen)

Shaun Bartlett (South Africa, 1 pen)

Salaheddine Bassir (Morocco)

Bebeto (Brazil)

Oliver Bierhoff (Germany)

Phillip Cocu (Holland)

Ronald de Boer (Holland)

Abdeljilil Hadda (Morocco)

Fernando Hierro (Spain, 1 pen)

Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany)

Kiko (Spain)

Fernando Morientes (Spain)

Ariel Ortega (Argentina)

Ricardo Pelaez (Mexico)

Davor Suker (Croatia)

Marc Wilmots (Belgium)

Theodore Whitmore (Jamaica)