Euro 96 Revisited – Semi-Final heartbreak again for England
I could so easily have done it. I could have watched the re-run of the England vs Germany Semi-Final on ITV. I was home from work in plenty of time. But something stopped me and I couldn’t bring myself to go through the heartbreak and disappointment for a second time.
Whatever it was that did stop me meant that I spent time at the bottom of the garden, building a tree-house for my daughter that will no doubt go unused. It was still more fun than watching the Germany game again.
As I sat in the garden, I tried to work out why I didn’t want to go and put my feet up and watch the game. What was preventing me from watching us throw away an early lead from Alan Shearer? Why didn’t I want to watch Darren Anderton hit the post and Gazza missing a cross-shot from Shearer by a matter of inches? Or go through the heart-stopping moment when Germany scored a goal in extra-time only for the referee to disallow it for pushing?
I’ve put it down to one thing and that is hope. I couldn’t listen to Brian Moore and Kevin Keegan willing the team along, saying we have a chance to get to the Final. There will be all the optimism in their voices that this really is England’s year and Terry Venables will be bringing football home.
The penalty shootout is also painful viewing. 11 of the 12 penalties taken were sublime, Gareth Southgate’s was awful and we went out.
Football didn’t come home and 24 years on, it still hurts. And I still think Gazza is going to reach that bloody cross-shot from Alan Shearer!
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