World Cup Wonderland : England

98: Bold, bald, Becks & Bergkamp

Rob Carey — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:53:00 GMT

During France 98, the world witnessed the birth of Michael Owen. Not literally, of course, as that would be hideous.

That summer, his pace and a striker’s instinct Emile Heskey can only dream about made Owen a household name, alongside Bold, Fairy Liquid and Daz Automatic.

His most memorable moment came during England’s quarter-final against Argentina. Receiving the ball just inside the Argentina half, Owen zig-zagged down the field nearly as fast as it took for him to bring out an autobiography once David Batty had scuffed his decisive penalty.

It was a moment that was very nearly spoiled when Paul Scholes almost stole Owen’s glory by nicking the ball from the pint-sized kid just outside the area. But Owen kept his concentration and belted the ball past Carlos Roa and into the top corner. Two-one up, surely nothing could go wrong now! Could it?

Enter David Beckham! The future England captain had shown moments of petulance during the season and was considered a risk coming into the competition; England coach Glenn Hoddle was reported to have held concerns about Beckham’s temper coming into the competition - although Hoddle may have “Never said them things”.

At the beginning of a tight second half with the score at 2-2, the budding underwear model was shoved in the back by Diego Simeone. Lying face down two yards away from the referee, the future MLS ambassador sensibly back-heeled the Argentine, who rather theatrically ended up on the floor himself. Simeone received a yellow card and the future Mr. Posh Spice saw red.

England fought hard and Sol Campbell headed what the nation (and he) thought was the winner, only to be chalked off for a foul. Then, as per the template, the 10 men went out on penalties and Beckham wasn’t too popular in 19 of the 20 Premier League stadiums.

Hugs and kisses
Talking of friendliness, the match-up of the summer was unarguably the USA’s head to head with Ronald Reagan’s buddies Iran, and it would be fair to say that the Iranians were a little hyped up for this one. For once though the Americans had very little in attack and the Iranians notched a memorable 2-1 win that they are probably still celebrating today.

English tabloids, well known for their honesty, reported that Arsenal won the World Cup that year thanks to the many Gunners in the French ranks, but it was their real inspiration Zinedine Zidane who headed in two goals against Brazil in the final.

But their magnificent achievement wasn’t all down to the man with the monk hairstyle; it was another type of habit that made all the difference - defensive rock Laurent Blanc’s routine of planting a sloppy kiss on Fabien Barthez’s bald bonce before every game.

Goal of the tournament
Michael Owen’s breathtaking individual effort certainly has to be a contender, but for sheer skill and ability look no further than Dennis Bergkamp’s sublime last-minute winner for Holland against Argentina. The non-flying Dutchman brought down a 60 yard pass with ease, turned his marker, and fired the ball past the unfortunate Roa with the outside of his right boot.

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98: England-Argentina – War minus the shooting

Paul Simpson — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:53:00 GMT

Great goals, seminal sendings off, penalty heartbreak, Mick Jagger: England vs Argentina had everything. Those involved tell Paul Simpson the story...

"After tonight, England v Argentina will be remembered for what a player did with his feet.” Adidas had thoughtfully plastered those words over David Beckham’s face in an advert published on the morning of Tuesday 30 June 1998, the day these two old, fractious rivals went head to head in Saint-Etienne in the last 16 of the World Cup.

A tad more blatant, the Daily Mirror ran a picture of Diego Maradona’s sucker punch and the headline: “8PM TONIGHT: PAYBACK TIME.” David Hope, the then Archbishop of York, revealed he was “rooting for England, hoping it will be the foot of an English footballer – rather than the hand of God – that will make the difference”. Adidas and the Archbishop were proved right – just not in the way they had hoped.

While England sought vengeance in the Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Argentina’s players weren’t all as pumped up. As midfielder Matias Almeyda put it: “A kind of el clasico has been created around England versus Argentina matches because of the Falklands/Malvinas war. But the real el clasico is when we play Brazil.” His skipper, tireless midfield enforcer Diego Simeone, didn’t agree: “Quite apart from the political history, the desire of the whole country is to defeat England.”

The fixture’s allure had intrigued Mick Jagger, conveniently between Rolling Stones gigs, who travelled down from Amsterdam to Saint-Etienne to watch the match. The television cameras would later show him clapping and singing along – but out of time – with England fans. Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, the British ambassador William Marsden invited colleagues, Argentinian friends and the media to watch the game over cocktails with embassy staff.

The tension was so unbearable even the diplomats couldn’t stay diplomatic. When Sol Campbell’s headed goal was disallowed, one Brit complained: “This isn’t a referee, it’s an Argentinian federal judge.” At the penalty shootout’s dismal climax, one very English voice shouted out: “Oh, f**king Batty.”

Silhouettes, Slough and St George: The build up

Marcela Mora y Araujo, Argentinian fan and football writer After it kicked off in Marseille, the British media had created a climate of fear. The night before the game, the French police turned off the lights in the main square, but loads of people gathered there awaiting the foretold explosion. Police cordoned off streets around the square, but access wasn’t denied. It was, a French officer shrugged, “at our own risk”. In the dark, you could just make out the swaying silhouettes filling the square. There were roars and ‘ahhs’ and occasional shouts. No actual fights took place. Most people had gone along expecting a catastrophe that had already been hyped out of proportion.

Chris Hunt, England fan, author of World Cup Stories and former editor of Match magazine By early afternoon on the day of the game, thousands of England fans were in town, some dressed as St George, drinking in the blistering heat. A few guys outside the railway station said tickets were changing hands for over £300, but they were convinced if they held their nerve until just before kick-off they’d get in for about £100. I saw them later and the plan had worked. It doesn’t happen like that any more.

Martin Mazur, Argentina fan, editor of El Grafico magazine At the Geoffroy Guichard end, English and Argentinian flags and banners were displayed altogether with no trouble. From the right, you could read ‘Campo Chico’, then ‘Wolves’, ‘Corrientes’, ‘Slough Spurs’, ‘Devoto’, ‘Piccadilly’... and so on. A few Argentinians who were surrounded by English fans dared to show a sky-blue flag with an inscription that read: ‘Malvinas Argentinas. Centro de Ex Combatientes de Malvinas en Ushuaia’. In other circumstances, this could have sparked disaster, but the banners all coexisted peacefully.

Araujo Jorge Valdano once said that England vs Argentina is the one fixture where the Mexican wave doesn’t stand a chance. I bumped into him before the match and he opened his eyes wide and said “I’m scared”. We were all scared – not of what of the fans might do but of the football. Even the weathered hacks were nervous. For once, that cliche about cutting the air with a knife rang true.

Hunt The Japanese guy I’d got my ticket from had bought a pretty good seat, yards from the pitch and a few seats from the England team’s families. We were penned in among a lot of Argentinians and watching the action through a 15-foot fence. It was just about light as the teams came out for kick-off. The atmosphere was astonishing. There really was a feeling among the fans that this was the year we were going to do it.

Kicks and cards: The opening exchanges

Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated journalist We ducked into a bar in Saint-Etienne so grimly utilitarian it only had the words ‘SNACK BAR’ stencilled on the windows. The entire bar sang God Save The Queen before kick-off. When Argentina scored from a penalty, they belted out a chorus of “If It Wasn’t For The English You’d Be Krauts” to the tune of If You’re Happy And You Know It.

Gabriel Batistuta (whose goal from the spot made him the top-scoring Argentinian in World Cup history) The idea of scoring to break the record didn’t cross my mind for a second during the game. I’d have traded my goal for a victory in 90 minutes, without suffering so much.

Michael Owen When I was running into their box, I was more checked than kicked. If that foul had been committed outside the area, nine times out of 10 it would’ve been a free-kick, in the area it has to be a stone-cold certainty. So I’m still not certain mine was a penalty. But Hoddle did not tell me to go down if I was nudged in the area.

Glenn Hoddle The penalty wasn’t cast iron. But for their penalty, David Seaman had been booked so I was expecting the defender who’d brought Owen down to get a yellow or a red. Nothing happened. I said to the fourth official politely: “Where’s the card?” There was little I could do from the bench but I asked Incey to have a word with the referee. What did the ref do? He booked Paul Ince. I went berserk at the fourth official. I was so mad I was sitting down when Alan ran up to take the penalty and still sitting when the ball hit the back of the net. At that point, I thought it was a sign something was going to go wrong.

Slaloms, Scholes and songs: Owen’s wonder goal and Zanetti’s cunning riposte

Araujo Suddenly, as if he had grown a pair of wings, Owen took off gliding like an Olympic skier doing the giant slalom, each tilt of his body absolutely perfect. It was as if there was nothing else going on, just him and the ball. The Argentina defenders must have been equally mesmerised – he passed them one by one with no hesitation, totally in control, unstoppable. It felt like he was running towards me! Which he was. Just in front of me, the net bulged with the ball’s impact. Behind us there was stone-cold silence. I glanced behind me. My cousin and some mates were standing there. We shook our heads, smiling at the knowledge that we had just seen beauty, albeit against us.

Owen The defenders were back-pedalling because they didn’t want me to run at them again from deep. By the time I let rip, I’d run 20 or 30 yards. When you run that far at full pace, the defender has no chance. Anxiety and confusion were telling Ayala to pull back. By the time I pushed the ball across him, it was impossible for him to stop me from his standing start. Just then I saw Paul Scholes on my right, shouting either “Leave it!” or “Scholesy’s”. I wasn’t going to respond to the call. When I finally struck it, the keeper Carlos Roa had raced off his line so there wasn’t much space to work in, but I clipped it hard and fast towards the far corner.

Rushin The Snack Bar went barmy. I was knocked to the ground but recovered to sing “Michael Owen scores the goals Al-le-loo-oo-ia!” to the tune of Michael Rows The Boat Ashore.

Diego Maradona In my mind, Owen was the only good thing to come out of France 98. He had speed, cunning and balls.

Mazur Jose Chamot must still have nightmares about Owen. At that moment, Owen was playing like he was Maradona. But Zanetti’s goal was a masterclass in deception from a set-piece. Sublime.

Hoddle We saw the goal coming from the bench. As they shaped up to take it Peter Taylor shouted: “Look down the wall. There’s a dangerman out wide.” We saw Ortega lurking to the right, alongside the wall. I was standing up, screaming, trying to alert Graeme [Le Saux]. He was aware of Ortega, and knew he had to keep an eye on him, but the gap between them was too big. John [Gorman] had this sick, sinking feeling. He knew they’d score.

The foot of Beckham: England sees red

Diego Simeone Let’s just say the referee fell into the trap, a difficult one for him to avoid because I went down well and in moments like that there’s always a lot of tension. You could say my falling turned a yellow card into a red. The most appropriate punishment was a yellow. I was just being clever. It wasn’t a violent blow, just a little kick back with no force behind it and was probably instinctive. The referee was two steps away and probably punished the intention to retaliate.

David Seaman Beckham was conned into making a mistake. It was a bad tackle by Simeone and, when he was on the floor, Simeone shoved Becks’s head into the grass. Becks lost his head and flicked his foot up at him. The sending off was harsh but Becks was stupid to put the ref on the spot.

Hoddle When I saw it, I just thought: ‘What are you doing?’ How many times had we warned him about such behaviour? I was expecting a yellow card. But it was red for violent conduct. However mad I was with David, I was furious with the referee.

Owen If Simeone had done the flicking and David had been kicked, there’d have been no dismissal. David wouldn’t have rolled around on the ground.

Graeme Le Saux It isn’t hard to connect David’s sending off and Glenn’s treatment of David. Glenn may have harboured frustrations about his playing career – sometimes his training was all about showing you how it should be done. And he’d criticised David for not mastering a free-kick. The general feeling was that David deserved to be in the team for his performances and training, but Glenn felt he wasn’t properly focused and played Darren Anderton against Tunisia and Romania. If Hoddle had judged David’s character accurately, he’d have chosen his words more carefully. But he created this seething resentment in David. It was only a matter of time until David blew it.

David Beckham I know how disappointed the fans and players were. What I wasn’t ready for, at 23 years of age, was for all the blame of that defeat to be laid on me.

Hunt I remember my disbelief that he could have been so stupid. I was yards away from his parents and sister and moments after he left the pitch his sister dashed out looking close to tears. She reappeared minutes later looking solemn. Maybe she knew that people were about to start hanging effigies of her brother outside the pubs of England.

Mazur Beckham’s dismissal was controversial. Simeone overreacted. The referee was a disaster. But the tension was unbelievable. At one point, we thought it was all over. From where we were, Sol Campbell’s goal looked completely legal. We could see no foul.

Seaman Having watched the video, it was definitely a foul by Alan [Shearer] on the keeper. Alan went up for the ball but his arm hits the keeper. Apart from that, very little went on in the penalty area. The game seemed to go on forever, with our lads getting more knackered.

Paul Merson I’d have been gutted to lose to a goal like that. I’d heard the whistle as Sol headed home. When he ran by me in celebration, I wondered where the hell he was going while play was going on.

Daniel Passarella We kept trying to attack England down the middle, instead of on the flanks. That’s probably why we didn’t score a winning goal.

And now, the end is near: The shootout

Araujo You could almost hear heartbeats speeding up. It felt eternal, painful, like penalty shootouts often are, but more so. I was riveted by how close to the action I was. The players’ legs, the blades of turf, every hiss of the ball, it was all there.

Hoddle Some players weren’t up for it. Shearer, Owen and Merse were all certainties. David Batty was up for it. He was very, very confident. He told me he’d never taken one before, but it didn’t matter. You’d rather have someone who’s up for it.

Rushin Before the grim vigil of penalties, many in the Snack Bar turned their backs on the TV, unable to look.

Alan Shearer David told me he was going to smash it down the middle. For some reason he changed his mind and put it to the keeper’s right. Changing your mind at the last second is a crime on a penalty. But he was brave enough to take it.

Julian Barnes, novelist With his side on the verge of extinction, David Batty, who had never taken a penalty in his life before, juggled the ball over jauntily and flopped his kick straight into the keeper’s midriff. He said afterwards “When I knew I was the fifth man I envisioned stepping up to thump the last one in. I had positive thoughts all the way and it was only when I saw the Argentinians celebrating that I realised we were out.” On hearing this,  a despairing voice at my elbow commented: “Can’t bloody count”.

Al Batty, father of David Mary and I got the shock of our lives when David was asked to take a penalty. Neither of us expected David to score.

Le Saux I can still see David’s little skip of despair at the instant he sees the keeper parry it. It was terribly cruel on him.

Hunt I’ve seen some England defeats over the years, but that was definitely the hardest to take – possibly because I’d been so certain the World Cup had our name on it. To this day I’ve never been able to watch replays of the game or the penalties.

Tears, prayers and jesters: The aftermath

Passarella During and after the game, I thought a lot of my son [his 18-year-old son Sebastian had died in a car accident], this victory was dedicated to him. England respected their character and football philosophy and troubled us at certain moments. It was a game played with open hearts, intensity and rhythm, with two teams showing great character to come back. It was as exciting as a game of football can be. To send the English packing was wonderful.

Tony Adams I admired Beckham for crying. I was first back in the dressing room and he was in tears. I went over to him and said, “It’s all your f**king fault, you idiot! That was my last chance to do well in the World Cup and you’ve ruined it”. He looked at me, eventually saw I was half joking. It broke the depression slightly.

Araujo The stadium emptied in minutes, but the mobile TV units were heaving with personalities. Ian Wright sat alone, looking forlorn. We asked him for a reaction for Argentinian TV. “Sorry mate,” he shook his head kindly, “Not now.”

Hunt I couldn’t move for 15 minutes after the penalties. The only people left were the players’ families, waiting despondently for an escort out of the ground, and a few dozen dancing Argentinians. I remember thinking that this just wasn’t a day when I wanted someone in a blue-and-white jester hat to be blowing a large plastic horn in my face.

Elias Perugino, Argentine journalist During the celebrations, the Argentine physio Angel Castro, who’d been with the team for 30 years, dropped his Virgin Mary prayer card. Castro was devastated, crying, “Now, I will die, the prayer card has been with me in every World Cup, where did it go?” Next to him was a human mountain of players and staff with Passarella at the bottom wearing his best suit. The human mountain eventually collapsed. Passarella had the card in his hand and said: “Angel, it’s here, don’t worry, save it for the next game, we’re gonna need it.”

Franz Beckenbauer The 55th game of this World Cup finals was the best, certainly the most dramatic. David Beckham was red-carded for stupidity – losing your cool like that is unforgiveable. And yet England fought hard and got a draw after two great goals. First, there was that incredible run by Michael Owen, who was only 18 but as clinical as a veteran. Argentina’s equaliser was worth a look, too: a nice variation on a free-kick coolly converted by Javier Zanetti. Then came the sequel to the never-ending story of English penalty tragedies. Still, a tip of the hat to England.

Carlos Roa It was the best performance of my career. Listening to the national anthem before a World Cup game makes you feel pumped up, you feel like a patriot. And if you’re about to play England, so much the better. Two countries with a conflict behind us, in a kill-or-die game. You hear that history is forgotten, that a game is just a game. Well, it’s a lie. In England, the defeat was like a bomb. Just as it would have been in Argentina if we’d lost.

Le Saux The Argentina players were already on the bus, which was next to ours. They were really rocking, waving out of the windows, screaming with delight. They weren’t blatantly mocking us, just celebrating like crazy – like we would have done. Some England players reacted aggressively – Incey and the like, the usual suspects. There was a lot of gesturing and name calling.

Hunt It was like Armageddon at the station, a crush of England fans trying to get any train out of Saint-Etienne. The fans on the night blamed Beckham, not David Batty or the penalties.

Rushin Some fans in the Snack Bar were slumped over tables, others ran into the streets. As we left town after midnight, three sounds came from every precinct: the barking of dogs, the breaking of glass and the donkey bray of French police sirens: ee-yore, ee-yore, ee-yore.

Daily Mirror headline the following day ‘10 heroic lions, one stupid boy.’

FEATURE: The most politically charged game in World Cup history

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90: New-look England embrace the future

Paul Simpson — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:00:00 GMT

If Gary Lineker wasn’t so greedy, England might never have entranced us at Italia 90. Stuart Pearce was England’s official penalty taker but a few weeks before the 1990 World Cup Lineker asked England manager Bobby Robson: “Would you mind if I took the penalties?”

Talking to a BBC documentary crew in 2005, Robson recalled: “I quite liked the fact that Gary wanted to take the responsibility.” Lineker, the Golden Boot winner in 1986, told Robson: “Well, I could win the Golden Boot. I might score a few goals in general play and if I get one or two penalties, it just might boost my earnings.”

Amused and impressed, Robson asked Pearce to step aside. If Lineker hadn’t scored from the spot twice late on against Cameroon, Paul Gascoigne might never have wept in Turin.

Q&A: Lineker – "I thought 'B*ll*cks, I can't bottle it now'"

The absence of those extraordinarily influential tears could have had all kinds of repercussions, aborting the Premier League, isolating English football tactically and allowing the Conservative government to keep English clubs out of Europe for a while longer.

English football in general – and Gazza in particular – have, as the player himself once quipped, “made more money from tears than Ken Dodd.”

With players as good as Lineker, Gascoigne, John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Terry Butcher and Peter Shilton in the squad, England had more genuinely world-class players than at any time since 1966. Even so, as England flew to Cagliari, expectations were low. Among the favourites were hosts Italy, European champions Holland and near-permanent finalists West Germany.

England’s precarious prospects had persuaded the FA to warn Robson his contract would not be renewed after the World Cup. Robson set up his next job – coaching PSV – but was vilified as an adulterer, a traitor and a tactical ignoramus in what football writer Dave Hill called “the most sustained campaign of press humiliation the national game has ever seen”.

Luckily, says Lineker, Robson was impervious to pressure: “The press would try to get pictures of him looking at the floor, make it seem like he was despairing. But he honestly never was. He was very thick-skinned and always optimistic.”

Know your enemy: Robson meets the press

There weren’t many surprises in Robson’s 22. Tony Adams mysteriously made way for Mark Wright, even though the Derby defender carried a thigh injury. Attacking midfielder David Rocastle, whose skill, speed and smoothness had shone in five qualifiers, lost out to Trevor Steven, an excellent player with more prosaic skills.

Stevens’ inclusion would create a great pub quiz question: which club supplied the most players to England’s 1990 World Cup squad? The answer is Glasgow Rangers, whose quartet of England stars consisted of Steven, Terry Butcher, Gary Stevens and Chris Woods.

Robson had privately decided to select Paul Gascoigne after watching him demolish Swindon Town in the fifth round of the 1988 FA Cup. The tabloids had demanded Gazza’s inclusion but, even in April 1990 when England faced Czechoslovakia in a friendly, Robson harboured doubts about a 23-year-old midfielder who could be “daft as a f*cking brush”. After 10 minutes of manically stupid football, Gazza had a hand in three goals and, with Robson about to substitute him, scored with a Maradonaesque solo as England won 4-2.

“Everyone thought Gazza was good for the squad,” Gary Lineker told FourFourTwo. “He had to play and he was such a character – hyperactive and very funny – he played an enormous part in the team spirit.”

In the weeks ahead, Gazza would dive into a swimming pool while covered in toilet paper, invent bizarre table tennis strokes (he was especially proud of the double backhand) and give his long suffering roommate Chris Waddle a cappuccino made out of bath foam. No wonder Robson was always asking: “Where’s Gazza?”

Vice-captain Terry Butcher, who once wore a blazer and jockstrap to dinner, even outdid Gazza. The vital role of the squad bookies was taken by ‘Honest Links and Shilts’ while the song players usually warbled was not the slick World Cup theme World In Motion but the catchy, primitive: “Let’s all have a disco, la la la la.”

THE GROUP OF DEATHLY BOREDOM
Having humiliated England at Euro 88, Holland and the Republic of Ireland again stood in England’s way in a Group F also containing Egypt. That humiliation continued on June 11 1990 in Cagliari’s rain-swept Stadio Sant’Elia when England drew 1-1 with Ireland in a match so dire Gazzetta Dello Sport headlined their report: “No football please, we’re British.” Even some England players were appalled. As Waddle told Pete Davies (author of All Played Out, the best book on Italia 90): “I never dreamt I’d end up on my own 18-yard line, chesting it down and hoofing it upfield.”

"This isn't what I signed up for..."

Lineker put England ahead with opportunistic efficiency. Unfortunately, Steve McMahon gave the ball away to Kevin Sheedy. The Everton player may have had, as Roddy Doyle put it, a “mammy’s boy haircut”, but still slammed the ball past Peter Shilton to score Ireland’s first goal at the World Cup finals. The most entertaining moment was Gazza nearly punching Irish right-back Chris Morris before deciding to hug him.

Group F was shaping up as the Group of Terminal Boredom. Holland had been so shiftless in their 1-1 with Egypt that coach Leo Beenhakker, retreating to a locker room with the Dutch squad to avoid a lightning storm, berated his players, telling them to forget Euro 88 and focus on the task in hand. That task was England. But before the teams met, Robson would authorise a tactical revolution that signalled the end of English football’s isolationism.

The spark for England’s revolution was Robson’s determination to thwart the Dutch strikers. “I’d got it wrong against the Dutch in 1988 when we lost 3-1,” he told FFT, “when I had two against two against Van Basten and Gullit. Then I decided I’d play with a sweeper to cover myself against the Dutch and the Germans.” Even before the tournament started, Butcher feared for his place: “I didn’t think I’d fit into the sweeper system Robson had in mind.”

“You might say Robson’s insecurity won out over his conservatism,” says Pete Davies, "and made him play the extra safety card against his own professed beliefs.” The players wanted to discard 4-4-2 for 3-5-2 too, using Mark Wright as a sweeper. Waddle and John Barnes believed Robson’s 4-4-2 was conservative and constricting. They rehearsed their arguments in Waddle’s room, while Gazza, fingers in his ears, chanted “La la la” in protest at all this tactical talk.

Despite strong rumours to the contrary, there was no great players’ revolt. Using a sweeper was mooted, discussed and debated until Robson, after mulling it over with assistant Don Howe, reversed his previous opposition to the idea. It was a hell of a gamble during a World Cup and Robson would later revert to 4-4-2 when necessary.

"Right then, let's try something different..."

With Wright as sweeper, England played with adventure and flair and should have beaten Holland. England were so comfortable that Gazza even ran up to Ruud Gullit to ask him how much he earned at Milan and were only denied a late victory when Pearce’s indirect free-kick flew straight in, despite Hans van Breukelen attempting to save it.

Yet Robson came to believe that the promising 0-0 was the match that fatally compromised England’s World Cup hopes. At half-time, skipper Bryan Robson’s injured Achilles tendon was agonising. After 65 minutes, he came off and David Platt rushed on to mark Gullit, thinking: “F*cking hell, I ain’t leaving him for a second.”

The skipper’s faith healer, Olga Stringfellow, flew out but the tendon proved immune to miracle cures. England’s captain was out, for the second World Cup in a row. His manager was still bitter 15 years later: “We had to send our best player home injured. Argentina and West Germany played with their best player, we didn’t. Would Argentina have won in 1986 without Maradona? Certainly not.

"Robson would have made a difference, even though Platt played superbly. The way Gascoigne was at that time – a precocious, highly-talented, inflammable kid with great ability – would have worked well with Robson's steadiness and captaincy.”

Over and out: Robbo makes his final World Cup bow

Before the last round of games, all four teams in Group F had the same record – Played 2 Won 0 Drawn 2 Lost 0 For 1 Against 1 – raising the distinct possibility that England’s fate might have to be decided in FIFA’s glass bowls.

But Egypt manager El-Gohary played for a draw, hoping the Dutch would beat the Irish and his side would qualify in third place. Two Egyptians were booked for time-wasting but Mark Wright headed home a Gazza free-kick to score his only goal for England. When he finally realised his side were out, Egyptian keeper Ahmed Shobair became so hysterical that he needed medical attention.

IT'S A KNOCK-OUT: HERE COME THE BELGIANS
Next up were Belgium in Bologna. The favourites were still West West Germany, Holland (the suspicion being that such a gifted side couldn’t be that rubbish forever) and Italy – but as England left Sardinia, Gazza whispered to Waddle: “You know Waddler, we could win this.”

England were fluent enough to look like potential world champions against Belgium – and so were the opposition. The sweeper system looked unduly cautious against a side that played most of the match with one striker, but the shape suited England. Barnes had a goal dubiously disallowed for offside, while Belgian’s great attacking midfielder Enzo Scifo, the game’s most creative influence, hit the post. Gascoigne was booked, for a late tackle on Scifo. Nobody thought much of it at the time.

"No more of that, young man, or there'll be tears!"

With 118 minutes gone, Eric Gerets brought Gazza down. On the touchline, Robson was shouting himself hoarse: “I knew time was edging out and I remember getting to the touchline and shouting to make sure my voice would get to Gascoigne about 40 yards away. I shouted ‘Ball, Gazza!’ and he kinda looked and I said, ‘Put the ball into the box’.

“He was just going to nudge it to the side. With a minute to go the only way we could score was not to play that square pass. Gazza floated it and Belgium couldn’t defend, the ball was too good and Platt’s volley too superb. He swivelled and it came over his shoulder, a difficult skill, but Platty did it – wonderful timing, kept his eye on the ball, let it come over his shoulder, swivelled and hit it at the right height. Six inches higher and it goes over the bar.”

Platt had also screamed at Gazza to put the ball in the box, before drifting into space on the defender’s goalside. “All I could think about was making decent contact and directing it goalwards," he told FFT. "I didn’t pick a spot, I just wanted to get it on target. The ball caught the keeper more by surprise than anything.”

...cue pandemonium

England were in the last eight against Cameroon. The Three Lions or the Indomitable Lions would face West Germany, who had beaten the Dutch and the Czechs. Coach Franz Beckenbauer now felt that only Italy posed a serious threat to his country’s third World Cup.

As England’s quarter-final kicked off in Naples, the German squad sat down to watch in their hotel in Erba, north of Milan. Beckenbauer was angry, incensed by the Germans’ mistakes against the Czechs. His mood worsened as his players cheered on Cameroon.

“Do you really prefer to play Cameroon in the semis?," shouted Beckenbaeur. "What if we have a bad day and go out? We’ll be the world’s laughing stock! Those Africans are unpredictable, with England you know what you’re going to get. And if we lose to them, well, that won’t be the end of the world.”

England were fazed by Cameroon’s unpredictability. Things had started to go awry in the tunnel. “It was a long way from the dressing room to the tunnel in Naples,” Butcher recalled. “And all we could hear was singing. It was the Cameroon team waiting for us, singing reggae songs. Bobby thought it was a psychological ploy and said, ‘Right, come on lads, sing your World Cup song’, but somehow we didn’t get it together.”

During the national anthems, Platt noticed that Cameroon “seemed built for boxing rather than football”. Yet England had been assured this tie was effectively a bye to the semis. As Lineker told FFT: “Howard Wilkinson, who scouted them for us, said: ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this, but they’ve got four good players out and you’ll beat them easily.’” The England No.10’s bruised toe had prevented him training fully but before the game Robson shouted: “Forget about your bloody toe, just go out and score.”

Wilkinson’s prediction seemed accurate when Platt headed home Pearce’s perfect cross. But Cameroon were, Lineker said, “awesome going forward”. England’s confusion was exemplified by Gascoigne who, Robson said, was “chasing after the ball like a cat chasing a ball around the back garden”. At half-time, Robson told Gazza: “You can’t play like that in international football unless you want to be destroyed.”

Gazza gets (over-)involved

The manager considered substituting Gazza but kept him on. He must have regretted it when Gascoigne felled Roger Milla in the box and Cameroon equalised from the spot. Four minutes later, with England in shock, the Lions went 2-1 up when Eugene Ekeke lifted the ball over Shilton after a crafty give and get with Milla.

Robson discarded the sweeper, withdrawing Terry Butcher and bringing on Trevor Steven to attack down the right, subtly changing the balance of play. Even so, Platt admitted: “With eight minutes left I honestly thought we were going out.” Then Lineker ran onto a ball from Wright and was clattered, winning England’s first penalty since February 1986.

Platt, the penalty taker at Aston Villa, offered to take it but quickly stood down: “I could see the focus in Gary’s face and wasn’t surprised when he said no.” Lineker made no mistake. He was, as Robson quaintly put it, “a competent boy”.

Though England were reeling in extra time – Wright literally so, blood pouring from his head after a clash with Milla – Lineker underlined his cool competence in the 105th minute. Gazza redeemed himself with a precisely engineered pass that put his Spurs team-mate through on goal. Brought down by keeper Thomas N’Kono, the England No.10 blasted the second spot-kick straight down the middle and into the net.

After the game, Robson asked Lineker what he’d been thinking before that decisive penalty. “My brother flashed through my brain as I put the ball on the spot,” Lineker replied. “I thought if I score this one my brother will come and see the semi-final. The FA had said 'If you get to the semi-final, we’ll bring the families out'.”

"Dear bruv, wish you were here, love Gary"

The ordeal had exhausted England. Lineker had lost half a stone in the Neapolitan heat. As the players trooped off, Waddle said to Robson: “Some f*cking bye”.

"WE BLOODY BEAT THEM"
West Germany beckoned in Turin’s Stadio dello Alpi on July 4. Beckenbauer felt England would be fast, strong and honest but technically imperfect and predictable. But he respected their resilience and was troubled by Gazza, whom he described as “smart, defiant and bold, like the leader of a children’s gang. Behind his angular forehead, he could cook up ideas you didn’t expect.”

The pressure was on West Germany. Platt felt this did England no favours: “It was the first game we were clear underdogs, which some say helped us play with freedom, but if I could turn back the clock I’d put the pressure right back on us.” England, Platt said, “thought we could win; the Germans thought they would win”.

The camp was euphoric as the semi-final approached. Butcher was wearing clothes back to front and eating meals in reverse order. Before Robson’s team talk, Lineker wrote a phrase on a flip-pad. The squad listened intently to catch the moment when Robson uttered the immortal words. After two minutes of extolling West Germany’s strengths, Robson, as Lineker had predicted, said “We beat them in the bloody war though,” and the players burst into laughter.

Robson had instilled in Gazza the importance of neutralising German playmaker Lothar Matthaus. Having said “No problem boss, just leave it to me,” Gascoigne nutmegged Matthaus just to show him who was boss.

Enter the gladiators...

Robson had ordered England to – as Bryan Robson would say – “welly into this lot” and not let the Germans settle. For 45 minutes, they did just that and more, playing brilliantly, but not scoring. At half-time, Beckenbauer told West Germany to run the ball at England’s defence. The tactic paid off after an hour when Andreas Brehme’s free-kick deflected off Paul Parker’s backside and looped over Shilton.

“It was just unlucky,” said Robson, “the ball had a vicious swirl on it. There was only an 18-inch gap between Shilton’s hand and the bar – and that’s where the ball spun in”. But England were resilient. In the 80th minute, when Parker’s cross confused Jurgen Kohler, Lineker juggled the ball to the left with his thigh and shot low into the left corner: a sublime, efficient, opportunist strike worthy of Gerd Muller.

In extra time, Waddle and Guido Buchwald hit the post. After three rolls by Brehme and orchestrated indignation from the German bench, Gazza was booked and would miss the final. The iconic tears in Turin flowed. Lineker pointed at his temple to tell Robson Gazza had lost it. Robson shouted back: “You talk to him, make sure he doesn’t do anything daft.” Gascoigne gradually regained his composure. But at 1-1 after 120 minutes, penalties loomed.

Robson put Gazza down as penalty taker No.6. “I doubt if he could have taken one,” he said. “He was distraught. He broke down on the pitch while they were being taken.”

"Gazza – watch Pearcey and learn"

Gazza was spared. West Germany scored four penalties, but Pearce and Waddle failed. Pearce’s was on target, saved by Bodo Illgner. Waddle remembered feeling as if he “were stepping off the edge of the world into silence” before his penalty soared over the bar.

Robson felt bereaved afterwards: “It was very difficult just to walk around and be yourself.” Waddle was physically, spiritually and emotionally flattened. Gascoigne and Lineker still looked in tears as they slipped onto the bus. Somebody – possibly Steve McMahon or Gazza – started a song. Lineker looked away at first but before long they all joined in, even doing a routine with their arms as the bus drove off.

England’s melodramatic heroics in Italy had unexpected repercussions. The team’s popularity – over 200,000 turned up at Luton Airport to see Gazza don fake breasts – persuaded sports minister Colin Moynihan he couldn't really object to UEFA’s plan to lift the ban on English clubs in Europe, in place since Heysel in 1985.

By renewing the nation’s jaded passion for football, England’s success laid the foundations for the Premier League. The British middle class’s rediscovery of football became official when Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch became a bestseller in 1992.

Ironically, the one aspect of English football that wasn’t transformed after Italia 90 was the national team. Gascoigne and Platt enjoyed lucrative moves but Graham Taylor dismantled the team and the continental sophistication of the sweeper system was replaced, with stupefying rapidity, with a style of football exemplified by the question: “Can we not knock it?”

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90: Italia – arias, stadia and Draconia

FourFourTwo Team — Sat, 22 May 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Italia 90 was hardly a festival of flowing football – but, writes Chris Hunt, it changed the way we watch the game

In many ways the 1990 World Cup failed to live up to the hype. The football was often dour and negative, while the final itself was an unattractive display of foul play that was overshadowed by two red cards and settled by the most dubious of penalties.

But while not a tournament for the purists, somehow Italia 90 contained enough moments of high drama to capture the imagination, enshrining operatic aria Nessun Dorma in the football psyche. Legends were created out of players such as Totò Schillaci, Paul Gascoigne and Roger Milla, while the 52 matches reached a combined TV audience of 26 billion – twice the viewing figures achieved by Mexico 86.

Italy had been awarded the right to host the World Cup while still champions in May 1984, beating off the challenge of the Soviet Union, and on the eve of the tournament the Azzurri were favourites to lift the cup. Able to boast the most competitive league on the planet, Italian club sides had managed a complete sweep of European trophies a month earlier, and nothing less than victory was expected of the hosts.

The thrilling Dutch side of Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten arrived in Italy as European champions, but unsettled by internal strife they would prove the biggest disappointments. While the pragmatic Brazilians of 1990 were hardly the beautiful team of years gone by, the West Germans managed to conform to their own stereotype of quiet efficiency and seemed a good bet.

England, meanwhile, had qualified without conceding a single goal, but still managed to finish second in their group, having to qualify as one of the best runners-up. France weren't so lucky: semi-finalists in 1982 and 1986, they missed out completely under young coach Michel Platini.

No expense was spared in the build up, as the Italians embarked on a major overhaul of their football infrastructure, but the planning for Italia 90 was dogged by corruption and controversy. Ten existing stadia were completely renovated, while two more were constructed from scratch in Bari and Turin, both of which were far too big for the clubs that would occupy them after the competition.

The opening game, in a refurbished San Siro

In Rome a new metro line was built just for the World Cup, connecting the city centre to the Olympic Stadium, but the line closed after the tournament and has never re-opened. The Italian state spent public money freely on their program of regeneration, but the scale of the corruption would later be exposed in one of the largest judicial investigations in Italian history.

The format of the competition remained the same, with 24 teams competing in six groups of four, the top two teams and the four best third-placed sides progressing to a knockout second round. In an attempt to improve the quality of the football, FIFA tinkered with the laws of the game and, with very little planning, outlawed the ‘Professional Foul’.

Strict instructions were given to referees to issue draconian sanctions for foul play, and the tournament’s opening game – a shock defeat of world champions Argentina by outsiders Cameroon – saw the first two of a stream of red cards. It set the tone for Italia 90. By the end of the tournament, 16 players had been sent-off – double the highest number previously seen in a World Cup.

Chris Hunt is the author of 'World Cup Stories: The History Of The FIFA World Cup' (Interact Publishing).

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82: The most amusingly disorganised World Cup ever

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:57:00 GMT

The 12th edition of the global game's get-together had more than its share of oopsies…

THE DRAW SPECIALISTS
Somebody had clearly been at the Rioja in Madrid before the World Cup draw. In a farcical series of events, the balls representing Peru and Chile were left out the draw completely, Scotland were put into the pot meant for Argentina and the cage containing the balls jammed, with one even falling out and splitting in half. Chaos ensued. Four years later, three young Mexican boys did a far better job.

NEW BALLS PLEASE
Adidas introduced a new ball, the Tango Espana. Although undeniably a delight to look at, its reputed "technological advances" backfired somewhat. The new rubber inlaid seams tore easily, leading to what could only be described as exploding balls. Genuine leather orbs were never used in the World Cup again.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
The second round ‘Group of Death’ – involving Italy, Brazil and Argentina – was played out at Espanyol’s 43,000-capacity Estadio Sarria with fans clamouring desperately for tickets. Meanwhile, the lesser lights of Poland, Belgium and the Soviet Union rattled round in a half-filled Nou Camp – capacity 121,749. The Belgium–USSR game only drew a pitiful 45,000.

SILENCE PLEASE
The media fell foul of the Italy team after a series of unfounded rumours spread in the gutter press. One slur suggested that star striker Paolo Rossi and left-back Antonio Cabrini were having an affair, another claimed that the players have been seen "shooting up drugs". The squad decided on a media blackout – silenzio stampa – and the resulting siege mentality didn’t do their football much harm.

STROPS: PRODUCTIVE
Nobody emerged well from the Kuwait vs France game, but ref Myroslav Stupar had a particular shocker. After the Ukrainian awarded a controversial goal to the French, Kuwaiti FA president Sheikh Fahid Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah stormed onto the pitch in protest. The pressure he exerted – along with the Kuwaiti team’s 15-minute refusal to continue playing – led to Stupar overruling the strike. He lost his international refereeing credentials as a result.

"Right, lads - one out, all out"

DID YOU KNOW?
* Scotland made their fifth World Cup appearance without advancing beyond the first round. It wouldn't be their last.

* Algeria became the first African side to defeat European opposition in World Cup history, after beating West Germany 2-1.

* This was the first (and only) World Cup where national anthems were played on record, rather than by a live band.

* A record 109 teams entered the initial qualifying phase of the tournament. This dropped to 105 after the withdrawal of Ghana, Iran, Libya and Uganda.

* Argentina and England entered the World Cup in a state of armed conflict over the Falkland Islands. The Argentine military junta was under immense pressure and had invaded the Malvinas in a bid to regain popularity. "Perhaps our trip to Spain should have been cancelled," pondered Mario Kempes after the tournament.

* Italian defender Claudio Gentile was nicknamed Gadaffi because he was born in Libya. "He was like a hunting dog," says Mario Kempes about the ferocious man-marker. "If you went to the toilet, he’d follow you there."

* Germany complained that their travel schedule gave them a disadvantage in the final. Hampered by an airport staff strike (imagine that) after their semi-final against France went to extra-time and penalties, they didn’t fly out of Seville until 4am. "We had one chance in the final after missing a night’s sleep," said Paul Breitner. "To score first and then defend."

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