1999 FA Cup Final three league games all season. They had also qualified for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, due to be played four days later on 26 May, and were unbeaten in their previous 31 matches in all competitions. By contrast, Newcastle United had finished 13th out of the 20 teams in the Premier League, and had been knocked out of the Cup Winners' Cup in the first round and the League Cup in the fourth round. It was Newcastle's second consecutive appearance in the FA Cup Final – having lost 2–0 to Arsenal in 1998 – and their
1998 FIFA World Cup Group F 1998 FIFA World Cup Group F Group F at the 1998 FIFA World Cup comprised Germany and Yugoslavia of UEFA, Iran of the Asian Football Confederation and the United States from the CONCACAF region. Germany and Yugoslavia both started well by beating the United States and Iran respectively. The United States were then eliminated with a match to spare after losing to Iran, while Germany drew with Yugoslavia. Iran needed to win their final game against Germany to qualify but were defeated, which meant that Yugoslavia would still have qualified even without their victory over United States. Germany's two goals