# I still feel pain of '98 but this can be different for England - Shearer

> I still feel pain of '98 but this can be different for England - Shearer. A sports report — sourced from BBC Sport.

*Section: Sports — By Tom Bennett (Sports Writer) — Published July 16, 2026 — 1 min read*

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Alan Shearer says he still carries the pain of England's 1998 World Cup exit but believes Gareth Southgate's side can write a different ending in their semi-final against Argentina — and that the current generation has the quality and the mentality that his own talented team lacked.

Shearer, who scored 30 goals for England and captained the side at the 1998 tournament, was part of the team that lost to Argentina on penalties after David Beckham's red card in Saint-Étienne. Speaking ahead of the semi-final in New Jersey, he said the memory of that night had never fully faded. "You don't get over it," he said. "You just learn to live with it."

But Shearer was emphatic that the comparison between 1998 and 2026 was a false one. "That Argentina team was beatable. We had them and we let them go. This Argentina team are world champions. But this England team are better than we were. Better technically, better tactically, better prepared. They are not hoping to win. They expect to."

The former Newcastle striker reserved particular praise for Jude Bellingham, describing him as "the best midfielder in the world right now, by a distance," and for Southgate, whose transformation of England's tournament record Shearer called "the greatest managerial achievement in English football since Alf Ramsey."

He stopped short of predicting the result — "I'm a pundit now, not a gambler" — but said the conditions for an England victory were there. "The players, the manager, the moment. It's all there. They just have to take it."

## Sources

- [BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c6212j5zw3ko?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss)

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