Matthew Roche went to France eager to report the penetrating insights of national managers, but only found one who had any. No surprise that it wasn't Glenn Hoddle

It was enough to make any self-respecting journalist scream. Glenn Hoddle had just been asked at a  press conference whether he thought the heat might be a problem during the game with Romania. “I don’t know about that, but it’s certainly hot enough in this room,” he said with a witless smile, prompting a respected member of the accompanying media circus to put away his notebook. “It’s at times like this that I want England to lose so I can go off and cover someone more interesting,” he admitted. Wanted: Manager for national side. Must be able to provoke thought.

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Cris Freddi looks back at France 98 and experiences a definite touch of déjà vu

I thought it was just me at first, but it’s all right: everyone else is still waiting for the tournament to take off too. Actually it looked as if it had, and at the stage it was supposed to, the last round of group matches. Morocco-Scotland and Norway-Brazil, Paraguay-Nigeria and Spain-Bulgaria, Mexico-Holland and Belgium-South Korea. But even then we got Yugoslavia v USA, Germany v Iran and Jamaica v Japan – and although we had some memorable matches at the knockout stage (Brazil v Denmark, Argentina v England and Holland) there were still too many dull teams left: Germany, Romania, Norway, France up to a point, Yugoslavia, Croatia.

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Business as usual for Scotland in the World Cup, but not for their fans. As a shellshocked Archie MacGregor reports, some found themselves backing England

As if anyone needed reminding, Scotland made their customary ignominious exit from the World Cup in St Etienne on June 23rd. This should not, however, be confused with the end of the Scottish nation’s World Cup campaign, which was only formally completed a full seven days later in the same city. Only with confirmation that England too would be hopping it back across the Channel could the average football-supporting Scot accept that this Coupe de Monde business was done and dusted.

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The conflicting emotions experienced by those who followed the England team around France are described by Mark Perryman & Tom Davies

During this world Cup tattoos and beer bellies have been made to symbolize all that is supposedly wrong with England abroad.

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A lot can be learnt from England's World Cup performance, and not just on the footballing side of it

At the risk of prompting a wave of cancelled subscriptions, your old pals at WSC have to admit that in some respects we enjoy the World Cup more when England aren’t in it.

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