Lost in France: The Story of England's 1998 World Cup Campaign

Anything would have been easier for the Scots, drawn with Brazil, who they would meet at the opening match of the tournament, and Morocco and Norway. Craig Brown, the coach, didn’t seem to mind much. He told reporters: ‘It is real Roy of the Rovers stuff for us to be involved in the first match and at a new stadium which has an 80,000 capacity and on a day that will be a festival of football throughout the world. We have played them eight times and never won, so I obviously wanted to avoid them. But I always love facing the Brazilians and we will certainly be well prepared. There are often upsets in the opening games of World Cups.’

Outside the VIP area, I saw Geoff Hurst drifting behind a pillar. ‘We’re very fortunate,’ he told me, ‘but if we were really feeling greedy we might want to have swapped Iran for Colombia.’ Then Bobby Charlton appeared out of nowhere wearing his England 2006 badge. ‘You have to say it’s an ideal group for us,’ he said. ‘Not that I know a lot about Tunisia.’

For the next couple of hours, clusters of TV cameras gathered around various coaches. Steve Sampson, the American national coach, was upbeat about the prospect of America playing Iran, with whom his country had severed diplomatic contact in 1979, when Iranian terrorists stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. ‘We will try not to allow the political ramifications to influence our preparation,’ he said, fashioning a career in the diplomatic corps once he got sacked from his present job. ‘I hope we can use the game to bring the two countries closer together.’

Even the French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, had a view. He described Denmark, who were drawn with France, as ‘no longer the team they were’, and expressed a not altogether surprising hope that the French would lift the trophy on 12 July. Havelange issued a personal statement, of course, though it was strangely defensive. ‘Judging by the reaction of the public to the draw,’ he said, ‘they were delighted and happy, which shows just how much they appreciate the work done by FIFA.’

Late that night, I had dinner in a restaurant off the Quai des Belges and tried to envisage the scene in June. It didn’t require a massive leap of the imagination.

The next morning I went and saw Marseille’s head of police, Monsieur Jacques Guida, in his office in the Prefecture off the Rue de Rome. He was unimpressed with the stewarding the previous evening, and smiled wryly when I reminded him that England were on their way to his city.

‘It will not be a problem,’ he said. ‘You should remember that here in Marseille we have some of the toughest football supporters in France. We will be prepared.’

Where, I asked him, did he think the English supporters would sleep, given that Marseille was not overly provided with hotel accommodation? ‘Officials from the English Football Association are hoping there will be plenty of places to camp,’ I informed him. He shrugged his shoulders.