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
African nations at the FIFA World Cup against Turkey, they were eliminated by a golden goal four minutes into extra time. In Group B, South Africa drew 2–2 with Paraguay with an injury time penalty, then scored their first ever World Cup win by beating Slovenia 1–0. However a 2–3 loss to Spain then sent South Africa home. In Group E, Cameroon drew 1–1 with Republic of Ireland, beat Saudi Arabia 1–0, and then lost 0–2 to Germany. In Group F, Nigeria lost 0–1 to Argentina, lost 1–2 to Sweden, and having been eliminated, held England to a 0–0 draw. In Group H, Tunisia lost 0–2 to