Iconic Moments in Football No.33
Poor old Geoff Thomas. He had an illustrious career over 20 years, all but six of those years were spent playing in the top two divisions of the Football League. He was part of the Crystal Palace side that reached the FA Cup Final in 1990 and won 9 caps for England.
Sadly for Thomas, this week’s Iconic Moment is what most people remember of his time in an England shirt. It came in the second half of a friendly against France in February 1992.
England Manager Graham Taylor was trying out different players and tactics in a few friendlies ahead of the European Championships in Sweden.On 19th February, England hosted France at Wembley. Taylor gave debuts to Liverpool’s Rob Jones, Everton’s Martin Keown and Southampton’s Alan Shearer.
It was to be a memorable debut for Shearer, who broke the deadlock on 43 minutes. Geoff Thomas, winning his ninth cap, would remember the game for all the wrong reasons though all because of an incident in the second half.
France were playing with a high defensive line and trying the offside trap. Thomas broke the French offside trap, latching on to a through ball from and was suddenly clean through on goal.
French goalkeeper Gilles Rousset came out to narrow the angle, leaving himself exposed at the edge of the box. Thomas looked up and saw Rousset was standing at the edge of the box and decided to try and chip him.
Thomas must have seen it all play out in front of him in his mind. He would chip the ball delicately over Rousset, the ball would sail into the back of the net and people would talk about the goal for years to come. The goal would secure him a place in the England squad for the European Championship and he would play for England for years to come.
Sadly for Thomas, this wasn’t to be. He scuffed his attempted lob, dragging the ball well wide along the ground. A collective groan reverberated around Wembley, the 58,723 crowd not quite sure what they had just witnessed.
The defeat ended France’s unbeaten run of 19 matches, going back to April 1989. Both sides played against each other in the group stages of Euro ’92 and both ended up going out in the group stages. Hosts Sweden and eventual winners Denmark finished first and second respectively.
Sadly for Geoff Thomas, this was to be the last time that he played for England.
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