It might have been a quarter of a century ago but to Colin Hendry it seems just like yesterday.
Well, you’re not likely to forget the biggest match of your career are you? Certainly, the passage of time hasn’t clouded the memory of the man who is now 57 but at the time was at the peak of his physical and playing powers. And he had to be. Hendry was about to go toe to toe with Ronaldo - not the preening peacock currently strutting around Saudi, but the original version; the best player on the planet and the star of the reigning champions, whom fate had decreed would begin the defence of their crown against Scotland in the Stade de France as the 1998 World Cup got under way.
The world had watched Hendry leading his team onto the pitch 90 minutes before kick-off in full Highland regalia. He was nicknamed Braveheart and all that was missing from his craggy features was the woad.
But when the time came for the ball to come out, Hendry and Co might have worried about what to follow against the Samba superstars ... until manager Craig Brown took over. “It was a ridiculous day, I mean from start to finish,” recalled Hendry on the latest Record Sport Off The Record podcast.
“We were on the coach heading to the stadium,probably about four or five hours prior to kick-off. Obviously with it being the opening game of the World Cup there was all the razzmatazz and all the show before it.
“So we were there quite early, but the streets and the stadium were practically full. The masterstroke of it all initially was that between the players and the SFA, we were wearing the kilt.
“So we were all in our kilts walking out. Listen, you can go on about Braveheart and that stuff, Bannockburn. Well I thought to myself, ‘This is me, I’m right at the front of it!’ I was almost shouting ‘Freedom!’, and all that. It was mental! And we’re about to play the world champions.
“Craig said to us, ‘Go out and acknowledge the Brazil fans and then go and see the Tartan Army and the families and spend a bit of time with them if you can’. We acknowledged the Brazilian fans but they were like, ‘Wow! Look at these guys in their national dress’. They tried to get pictures taken with us but we were not going to go and have pictures with opposition fans just before we played in the biggest game of our careers.
“So we just gave them a wave and then went down to see the Scotland fans, picking out people we knew in the stands. My late wife Denise’s parents were there with Kyle and Reaghan - the two we had at that time. It was just a great, great atmosphere. There was no animosity, no hatred or crowd trouble, nothing like that.
“As we’re walking out, I’m leading of course with Jim Leighton’s behind me and Tommy Boyd’s behind him. Then Colin Calderwood comes out and goes the other way! He was so excited and so pumped up that he went in the wrong direction!
“But just before that, as I was walking out, Craig walked past me and said, “Skipper, are you all right?’ I said, “Yeah, I’m good’. He said, ‘Well just have a quick look behind you’.
“So I’ve looked behind me and just coming out of the Brazil dressing room you’ve got Dunga, the captain. Then you’ve got Taffarel, the goalie. Roberto Carlos, the full-back. Then you’ve got Rivaldo, then Bebeto. Then Romario - he can’t get a game. Then Ronaldo.
“I’ve looked back at Craig and he says, ‘Have you seen their eyes? They’re f****** s******* themselves!’. That was Craig! I was just standing there thinking I’ve just heard the best quote of all quotes and I’m about to play the World Champions in the biggest game of my life.
“He thought he was trying to calm us down. Or he was trying to make us not feel there was such a gulf between them and us.”
Scotland lost 2-1 and despite running the Brazilians, who made it to the final, so close Hendry still feels the pain of the loss. He added: “Where it fell down for me, especially as a defender, was the manner in which we conceded the two goals.
“If you’re playing the world champions and they have got like 80-20 percent possession because we’re only little Scotland, they keep the ball for maybe 15 passes and then Ronaldo, Bebeto or Rivaldo decided to ping one in off his right peg into Jim Leighton’s top corner from 30 yards, then you turn round and go, ‘You know what, that’s why you’re world champions!’.
‘But no. We conceded from a corner kick after four or five minutes and then the most ridiculous own goal that I’ve ever been involved in. It hits Tommy and as soon as it bounces it spins away from me because I’m about to clear it.
“It was over in a flash. You think you are in control of it but as it bounced I’m thinking, ‘Oh Christ, I’m not going to get it and it’s going in’. And it’s in before you know it.”
Scotland drew the following match with Norway in Bordeaux, leaving them still in with a chance in the final group game against Morocco. An early red card for Craig Burley put paid to Hendry’s hopes and the Africans ran out 3-0 winners - and ultimately losers.
“It was a disaster,” the captain recalled. “I think it started with Craig Burley’s bleached hair. It all went wrong from there. We went there and we didn’t put on a show and at one point Morocco thought they were going through. They didn’t realise Norway had beaten Brazil.
“But there was a lot going on during the game with the Moroccans on the night - a lot of verbals between them and us. So right at the end of the game when we were told, ‘Bye the way, Norway’s beat Brazil,’ you can imagine what the boys were saying to the Moroccans! ‘Get it up you!’.
“But that was only right because they were giving it all that during the game, at 2-0, 3-0 when we were down to ten men. There were a lot of verbals and we understood what they meant. So we were quite happy to give them a wee bit back at the end of the game because they were in tears as well.
“What goes around comes around, you know.”
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