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#4: Michael Owen’s goal against Argentina – World Cup 1998
Coming into the 1998 World Cup in France, all English eyes appeared to be on one player – teenage striker Michael Owen, who had plundered 18 Premier League goals in 1997/98 for Liverpool to win that season’s Golden Boot.
Owen had only made his England debut that February – becoming the youngest player in England history to that point at 18 years and 59 days – but it seemed like destiny that he’d have a part to play at the World Cup and was duly selected in Glenn Hoddle’s final squad.
England started the tournament with a win over Tunisia with Owen only making a cameo appearance from the bench, but in their second group game, they found themselves a goal down against Romania. Hoddle sent Owen on and he equalized almost instantly, becoming England’s youngest ever scorer in the World Cup, although they went on to lose the game 2-1.
A win over Colombia took them into the knockout stages, and Owen was now firmly part of the starting line-up, ready to make another mark against one of England’s hottest rivals, Argentina.
Make a mark he did. With Argentina 1-0 up, Owen earned a penalty when he was fouled in the box, and minutes later he scored one of the most memorable goals in England World Cup history.
Collecting the ball from a David Beckham pass just beyond the halfway line, Owen used his phenomenal pace to burn past Roberto Ayala before sprinting beyond Jose Chamot, too. Drawing goalkeeper Carlos Roa out of position, Owen fired a shot across him and into the net, giving England the lead.
The Three Lions would go on to lose the game on penalties after Argentina found an equaliser, but for Owen, the game was a launching pad to stardom, as he returned from the tournament a hero and went on to score goals for England in three further tournaments. The goal remains arguably the best England goal ever scored in a World Cup.
