 He was subsequently selected as one of Italy's 22 players for the 1998 World Cup following his performances with Bologna.In Italy's opening match of the 1998 World Cup in France, against Chile, Baggio started alongside Christian Vieri, playing all 90 minutes, as Alessandro Del Piero was still recovering from an injury.Vieri opened the scoring from a Baggio assist, but Chile managed to equalise and take the lead through Marcelo Salas.