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
Asian nations at the FIFA World Cup played the ball into Hwang Sun-hong, who hit the ball first-time into the net. In the 53rd minute, South Korea scored their second goal: Yoo Sang-chul ran towards Tomasz Wałdoch and Radosław Kałużny, then confidently shot between them and past goalkeeper Dudek. Even the President of Korea waved his hat at the goal, which secured South Korea's first-ever win at the World Cup finals. In its second match, against the United States, the game's first real scoring chance fell to the U.S.' Clint Mathis, who scored with a left-footed drive from the middle of the penalty area. Later on, in