For better or worse (probably worse) the one thing most people know about Zinedine Zidane is that he headbutted Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. But when we asked for your favourite World Cup moments it was Zidane's other World Cup final appearance that got the most mentions, and what Zizou did with his head in 1998.

An email earlier today from Craig Anderson - blogger at The Last Ditch Tackle and currently editing Scotzine as Andy Muirhead takes a honeymoon shaped holiday - calling for some World Cup memories. So many. But for my favourite goal I go back to 1998. Dennis Bergkamp v Argentina, Quarter Final. Genius.

It's easy to be cynical about a book written by an American history professor which starts out describing the events of July 9, 2006. Oh shit, you think to yourself, it's John Doyle with a doctorate; another football outsider thinking his fresh set of eyes can derive some deeper social meaning from "The Beautiful Game" which the rest of us have somehow missed all these years.

Soccer America has posted a pretty detailed article with comments from former U.S. National team coach Steve Sampson on the whole situation involving John Harkes and the 1998 World Cup. You can read all about it by clicking here.

I posted about Beckham's most famous sending off on the main page earlier, but thought it was worth re-posting here on the England blog too.

We all know what happened. The 23 year old David Beckham was fouled by Diego Simeone, and then foolishly had a kick at Simeone's calf in retaliation.

Our series on the US at the World Cup continues with a look at the road to the 1998 World Cup hosted by France.

You can read more about US World Cup appearances in 1930 (part 1), 1930 (part 2), 1934, 1950, the 1950-1990 drought, 1990, and 1994.

Our series on the US at the World Cup continues with a look at the road to the 1998 World Cup hosted by France.

You can read more about US World Cup appearances in 1930 (part 1), 1930 (part 2), 1934, 1950, the 1950-1990 drought, 1990, and 1994.

Just hours away now from the greatest show on earth. Really beginning to sting that we're not there. Again. We're now equalling our worst run since we bypassed the event for 16 years from 1958. An inglorious run that somehow coincided with that period in the 1960's when it seemed as if Scottish footballers ruled the world.

Bafana Bafana vs France in Mangaung, Bloemfontein may be one of the most emotional games in the 2010 World Cup for South Africans.

Bafana Bafana vs France Pay Back Time for 3- Loss in 1998

On 12 June 1998 France beat Bafana Bafana 3 -0 at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille in front of a crowd of 55,077.

A few early videos this Friday to get us in the mood for this afternoon's World Cup quarter final.
Much as I've enjoyed a lot of the football I'm still feeling that the 2010 World Cup hasn't really caught fire on the pitch.
Maybe Brazil v Holland is the game to do it.
I'm finding it difficult to see who can beat Brazil and how they can be beaten.