1998 FIFA World Cup Final penalties after Italy's Luigi Di Biagio struck his penalty onto the crossbar. In the semi-finals, France faced tournament surprise Croatia. After a goal-less first half, Croatia took the lead in the first minute of the second half through Davor Šuker, his fifth goal of the tournament. France responded immediately with Lilian Thuram scoring his first international goal. Thuram then added a second twenty minutes from time to send France to their first ever World Cup final. The match ended in controversy however when Laurent Blanc was sent off after a skirmish with Croatia's Slaven Bilić. Bilić had sunk down to
Colombia at the FIFA World Cup kick-off, Teofilo Gutierrez scored the second goal from a corner shot, James Rodriguez made their final score during the three minutes overtime. Colombia went on to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 and Japan 4-1. For the first time in history, Colombia won their group in group stages at the Fifa World Cup. They defeated Uruguay 2-0 in the Round of 16, marking the deepest run in the World Cup ever for the Colombian national team. They met Brazil in the quarter-finals and were narrowly defeated 2-1, bringing to an end their most successful World Cup campaign to date. Brazil, Argentina, Colombia,