Iconic Moments in Football No.51
Heartbreaking. That’s the one word that I can use to describe this iconic moment. As I sit here writing this article in my grey shirt, a replica of the one worn by England on that night back in June 1996, heartbreaking is the best word that I can find to describe it.
England were playing Germany in the Semi Final of the 1996 European Championships at Wembley. Cheered on by a crowd of 75,862, England took a third minute lead from a header by Alan Shearer with his fifth goal of the tournament. Stefan Kuntz equalised shortly after, losing his marker Stuart Pearce to slide in and convert Thomas Helmer’s centre.
Both sides had good chances to take the lead. Teddy Sheringham hit the post and Shearer headed wide for England in the first half and Thomas Helmer fired over the bar in the second half.
With neither side finding a winner after 90 minutes, a further half an hour was needed to find an opponent to play Czech Republic in the Final. The Czechs had upset the odd yet again by beating a talented French side on penalties earlier that day at Anfield.
Both sides had an extra pressure to contend with in the Extra Time period. The Golden Goal rule had been brought in for the tournament, which would mean that the first team to score in Extra Time would automatically win the tie.
England came out and took the game to Germany. Darren Anderton hit the post from a Steve McManaman cut-back. It wasn’t an easy chance as the ball was behind Anderton, but the goal was gaping and a collective groan went up around Wembley, pubs and living rooms across the country.
Stefan Kuntz thought that he bagged a winner for Germany moments later after heading in from a corner by Andreas Moller. Luckily for England, referee Anders Frisk blew his whistle and ruled the goal out for an infringement by Kuntz as Moller’s corner came into the box.
It was shortly after Germany’s disallowed goal that this week’s ‘Iconic Moment’ occurred. The pain still lingers 24 years on but I’ll do my best to write about it!
England’s enigmatic playmaker Paul Gascoigne gained possession wide on the left wing, taking the ball off the toes of Thomas Hassler. He turned and laid an easy ball for Teddy Sheringham before making a run forward.
Sheringham was stood in space about 35 yards from goal. The England striker looked up and spotted his strike partner Alan Shearer lurking at the far corner of the penalty area and hit a high diagonal ball over to him.
Shearer caught the ball on the volley, stood halfway between the edge of the six yard box and penalty area. The ball bobbled across goal and German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner who was stood at his near post, was a little slow to dive down to intecept the ball and it rolled past him.
Paul Gascoigne had carried his run on and was stood six yards out. He had waited for Illgner to parry Shearer’s cross-shot straight to him for an easy tap-in. This never happened and suddenly Gazza was half a step off the pace. He flung himself forward to try and get to the ball but he was inches away and half a second late. In anticipating a touch from the German goalkeeper, he had inadvertently stopped himself from getting on the end of the cross.
The bleach blonde-haired midfielder lay outstretched in the goalmouth face down in the Wembley turf. This was the golden chance that England had to get to the Final and Gazza and the rest of the country knew it.
We all know how the game finished after that so I don’t need to write about that. The only thing I can say is that Gareth Southgate can help heal the wounds from that warm June evening in 1996 by winning a major tournament as England manager!
Gazza has already featured in this series, with the time that he was booked for waving a yellow card at a referee who had dropped it on the pitch! You can read about that here.
About Author
