Football 365

Brazil 2 Scotland 1

Hoddle Knows His Side For Tunisia

Chest Infection Sends Ravanelli Home

Thursday 11 June 1998

Front Page

'Own Goal Was The Worst
Moment Of My Life'

DEVASTATED defender Tom Boyd painfully relived the freakish incident which broke Scottish hearts and gave Brazil a France 98 opening victory and described it as �the worst moment of my life'.

The Celtic captain was the victim of a cruel twist of fate after 73 minutes when a shot from Cafu was deflected into his path by Scotland keeper Jim Leighton, struck him on the chest and bounced agonisingly over the line to give Brazil victory after John Collins had cancelled out Sampaio's fourth minute opener.

After battling so hard, and pushing themselves to within 17 minutes of a memorable draw with the World Champions, it was tough on the typically gutsy Scots and Boyd said of the killer own goal: Jim made a great save but when the ball came towards me

there was nothing I could do to get out of the way.

''I knew what had happened straight away. Nobody said anything in the dressing room. It was just one of those things which happens in football. Their first goal was a bit of a nightmare too. We didn't want to concede so early on, although it did mean there was time to come back.

''Nobody wants to lose a game like this, especially one of this importance on such an occasion. I cannot remember my last own goal and I have to say this is probably the worst feeling I've ever had.

Scotland manager Craig Brown absolved Boyd of any blame, preferring to focus on Brazil's reaction to the own goal. He insisted the relief on the world champions' faces when the ball crept agonisingly over the line says much for how Scotland fared at the Stade de France.

He said: ''I think the reaction of the Brazilian team when they scored reflected a lot of credit on us. They seemed so relieved and delighted, I think they realised they had a difficult game and they were fortunate to have won that difficult game.''

Brown was impressed at how his side reacted to the loss of the fifth minute header which threatened to leave his side in serious danger of a heavy loss. He added: ''I don't think we were ever nervous, we could have been at the beginning though with the goal going against us so easily. But we showed spirit and character to come back into it and it was only an own goal we conceded that cost us the match.''

Brown insisted that with Norway and Morocco still to play, the Scots still have a fine chance of making progress to the second round for the first time in their history, adding: ''I think there is no doubt that Brazil were the better team, but it was a game we should still not have lost. We conceded two bad goals from our point of view, but we came back and could have got a point.

top

The name and overall content are © 1998 Direct Network Publishing plc, and all rights are reserved.
Some of the news content is © 1998 Press Association Ltd, and all rights are reserved.
Pictures are © 1998 Allsport Photographic plc, and all rights are reserved.
Please see Help page for conditions of use.