England at the FIFA World Cup the first World Cup finals take place in North America and England qualified automatically for the tournament by winning the 1966 FIFA World Cup. England were drawn in a group with Romania, former world champions Brazil and Czechoslovakia. Each of the matches only saw one goal, with England defeating Romania and Czechoslovakia, and losing to Brazil. The quarter-final saw a repeat of the 1966 final, with England playing West Germany. England were hampered by the fact that first-choice goalkeeper Gordon Banks was ill, and Peter Bonetti played instead. England led 2–0 with goals by Alan Mullery and Martin Peters, but
1998 FIFA World Cup Final and Euro 2000 are also part of the France 98 charity association, with Deschamps as president and Jacquet as coach for charity matches and testimonials. For Brazil, this marked only the second time that they had lost a World Cup final, following their 2–1 upset loss to Uruguay in the "de facto" final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, nicknamed the "Maracanazo" in Brazil. The 3–0 scoreline was also Brazil's previous largest loss at any World Cup match prior to their 7–1 loss to Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final in Belo Horizonte. Brazil were drawn in Group