63 days to the World Cup: Dennis Bergkamp's iconic goal sends Argentina packing

Sean LeahyThu, April 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

0

The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

Dennis Bergkamp is one of the all-time greats between his success at the club level and on the international stage with the Netherlands.

He scored nearly 250 goals over his career, including several of the highlight-reel variety. One of those memorable tallies came during the 1998 World Cup quarterfinals, which broke the hearts of Argentina.

Despite one win and two draws in the group stage, the Netherlands won Group E over Mexico by goal differential. In the Round of 16, a 92nd-minute Edgar Davids goal saved the Dutch from an early exit at the hands of Yugoslavia following a 2-1 win. That set up a final eight matchup against Argentina, who cruised through the group stage with three wins and zero goals allowed before squeaking by England after penalty kicks in the Round of 16.

Inside the Stade Vélodrome on July 4, 1998, Bergkamp and Holland were eyeing a semifinal berth against Brazil. La Albiceleste stood in their way and put up a fight. Patrick Kluivert struck first 12 minutes into the match, but Claudio López answered for Argentina five minutes later.

Each side received red cards in the second half, with Ariel Ortega’s getting ejected in the 88th minute after head-butting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar following a dispute over a potential penalty kick.

Advertisement

Moments later, Frank de Boer, who was dribbling the ball out of his own end, lofted a perfect pass to Bergkamp inside the Argentina penalty box. Bergkamp brought the ball under control with a deft touch, cut left across Roberto Ayala and fired an outside-of-the-foot shot past Carlos Roa.

“I had to control the ball in such a way that I kept it close to myself because I needed another touch after that,” Bergkamp told FIFA.com. “And so, when you just break it up in different parts and all those parts come together, then it all works out well.

“It’s years of practice,” he said. “After the control and the second touch, if I didn’t score the goal, it’d have been a mistake from me because it was a clear chance. With just the goalkeeper to beat, it was up to me to put the ball past him. Before that, what happened was kind of special.”

The Netherlands would have more late magic in the semifinals against Brazil when Kluivert's 87th-minute equalizer sent the match into extra time. The extra 30 minutes did not decide a winner and Brazil would come out on top after penalty kicks.

Nearly three decades later, Bergkamp’s goal is still talked about and ranked high among the best World Cup goals ever. It’s also never forgotten by fans wherever he goes in the world.

“You just realise that this is one of those moments that will be part of you for the rest of your life,” said Bergkamp. “And after the tournament, what was really enjoyable for me was that all the people that talked about that goal explained where they were at the time. One was in the stadium. One was on holiday. One was working. And you realize that you connect so many people in the world by just one moment. And that made me realize afterwards that football just unites people.”

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”