In the absence of a day for the World Cup draw to take place, the stories that circulate around this event do not stop being told. One of them occurred in December 1997, prior to the lottery that would define the fate of the teams in France 1998. A great game of 32 stars, with the presence of great players, which led to an unexpected society that provided a show unforgettable: Batistuta-Ronaldo.
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December 1997 was the context for a particular meeting. For the first time a match was played prior to the draw for a World Cup. This match brought together 32 stars from the different National Teams that were going to participate in the World Cup, one for each country. The teams were divided into Europe vs. Rest of the world.
The European team was captained by Zinedine Zidane himself, who will lift the World Cup once the championship is over. On the other side, the bearer of the ribbon was the Phenomenon Ronaldo, who would precisely be the French star’s rival in that decisive match.
The judge whistled, Ronaldo and Batistuta touched the central circle, the ball began to roll and the 38,000 people present at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille could do nothing but enjoy. One minute into the game, Marius Lacatus took advantage of a mistake made by the Rest of the World defense and, with a right cross, scored the first goal for the Europeans.
The equality of the match was going to be at the feet of a Colombian at 16 minutes. The phenomenon Ronaldo kicked off his show and distributed a great assist for Antony de Ávila, who defined the goalkeeper’s right post with a soft touch.
At 21, the Brazilian was lethal one-on-one and, With a bicycle in between, he executed a dry shot to the lower left area of the goal to turn the game around.
9 minutes later, the Phenomenon-Batistuta connection would pay off: the Brazilian crack assisted so that the Argentine shot from outside the area leaving Andreas Köpke without a chance.
They ran 36 minutes of meeting and Bati, along with Ronaldo, would make it clear that they were a lethal attacking duo. They played on the outskirts of the European area, the Brazilian raised the ball in the direction of the Argentine, who hit the void, and shot Köpke with one of the classic definitions of him at the near post.
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Already at the end of the first stage, the Argentine was the one who assisted the Phenomenon with a long ball. Ronaldo showed signs of his great power, anticipating the goalkeeper’s departure and with a touch of his head he left him offside to define with an empty goal.
During the complement, Europe was going to reach the discount from the hand of its captain. Zidane showed all his class inside the area, eluding the Cameroonian Jacques Songo’o and scoring the 5-2, which was going to be definitive.
Finally, the match was going to be for the Rest of the World, who with a superb class from their attackers, Batistuta and Ronaldo, overwhelmed a European team that could do little, despite having Zidane on their side.
Formations
Europe: Andreas Kopke; Alessandro Costacurta, Fernando Hierro, Heimo Pfeifenberger, Dominique Lemoine; Krassimir Balakov, Paul Ince, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Kluivert; Alen Boksic, Marius Lacatus.
Rest of the world: Jacques Songo’o; Hong Myung-bo, Javier Margas, Noureddine Naybet, David Nyathi; Marcelino Bernal, Hidetoshi Nakata, Adel Sellimi, Gabriel Batistuta; Ronaldo, Antony de Avila.