Euro 96 Revisited – A moment of brilliance from Gazza brings the tournament to life!
After Paul Gascoigne’s antics in the pre-tournament trip to the Far East, many fans and various parts of the media called for him to be kicked out of the England squad before the tournament.
His goal this afternoon was the best way to silence those critics and his celebration was directed at all of those who called for his head.
ITV’s co-commentator Ron Atkinson likened the opening 25 minutes to a sparring match between two boxers. Both sides were testing each other out, seeing what the other had to offer but not letting them anywhere near their own goal.
Both sides closed each other down quickly by harrying and pressing for the ball. Adams blocked a chance for John Spencer and Teddy Sheringham cleared from a corner before Colin Calderwood could get near the ball.
Neither side troubled the opposition goalkeeper and it was similar to a tactical game of chess.
Paul Gascoigne, England’s enigmatic playmaker was being stifled in midfield. His usually accurate passing let him down as the Scots forced him into making sloppy errors.
Teddy Sheringham had England’s first real chance after 33 minutes. Gareth Southgate took the ball forward, chipped a ball in from the left wing and Sheringham headed wide from 15 yards out. It was only a half-chance but the Spurs forward should really have hit the target at the very least.
Scotland’s Gordon Durie clashed heads with Tony Adams after 37 minutes, resulting in a bad head wound for the Scot.
The two went up for a header in the England box and Durie had to go off to get some treatment. He came back a minute or so later, head still bloodied but a bandage covered the gaping wound.
Teddy Sheringham should have opened the scoring after 40 minutes. Aan Shearer crossed from wide on the left and Sheringham ghosted in at the far post, completely unmarked and could only head the ball into Andy Goram’s grateful arms.
Frustration was really starting to kick in until Alan Shearer finally broke the deadlock seven minutes after the restart.
Jamie Redknapp laid the ball off to Steve McManaman and the two Liverpool players advanced towards the Scotland goal.
Without looking up, McManaman flicked the ball wide to Gary Neville, who was over-lapping him on the right wing.
Neville whipped in a cross to the far post which evaded Andy Goram, Colin Calderwood and Colin Hendry and Alan Shearer headed the ball in with ease.
Two incidents in a hectic five minutes changed the game and brought the tournament to life.
The first incident came as Scotland were given a penalty after Tony Adams was adjudged to have fouled Gordon Durie. On second viewing, the decision looked harsh on the England defender.
Gary McAllister stepped up to take the resulting spot kick and David Seaman pushed the ball over the crossbar to the joy of the England fans in the old stadium.
From the resulting corner, Scotland gave away a free-kick. David Seaman punted the free-kick downfield and Teddy Sheringham dropped deep to get the ball.
Sheringham laid the ball off to Darren Anderton who clipped the ball over the Sctland defence. Paul Gascoigne raced on to it, flicked the ball over Colin Hendry before rifling the ball past Andy Goram at his near post.
It was a fantastic goal and Gascoigne celebrated by lying on his back on the Wembley turf . Some of his yteam mates came running over and Sheringham poured water from a nearby bottle into Gascoigne’s mouth, imitating the Dentist’s Chair photo published by the tabloids a few weeks’ ago.
Today’s main game was the first England-Scotland match for seven years and had been eagerly since the draw was made on December 17th last year.
Both sides needed a win today following Holland’s 2-0 win over Switzerland two days ago.
Although Scotland didn’t get the result that they were hoping for today, they can still qualify if they beat Switzerland and England beat Holland convincingly.
In the other game played today, Bulgaria beat Romania 1-0 thanks to a third minute winner from their main man Hristo Stoichkov.
About Author
