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
Golden goal the National Football League (only if a touchdown or safety is scored first on the first possession), although again the term itself is not used. The first recorded use of the golden goal rule was in the final of the Cromwell Cup, the world's second ever football competition, at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in 1868, although the term "golden goal" was not used. The deciding goal was scored by the then newly formed team called The Wednesday, now known as Sheffield Wednesday. The golden goal was introduced due to perceived failings of other means of resolving a draw (tie) in round-robin