Thursday 7 June 2018

1020 European Championship 1992


First  viewed :  10  June  1992

This  was  one  of  the  stranger  international  tournaments. It  was  the  last  European  Championship  with  the  old  eight  team  format. The  line  up  also  reflected  the  state  of  political  flux  in  Europe  at  the  time. Germany  was  in  its  first  Finals  as  a  reunited  country. The  Soviet  Union  had  dissolved  since  qualification  but  the  interim  Commonwealth  of  Independent  States  was  allowed  to  compete  in  its  place. Yugoslavia  had  qualified  despite  a  civil  war  raging  in the  country  but  was  subject  to  international  sanctions  and  after  much  discussion, not  allowed  to  compete. The  runners-up  in  their qualifying  group , Denmark,  came  in  their  place. The  Danes  turned  the  form  book  upside  down  by  going  on  to  win  the  tournament , beating  Germany  2-0  in  the  Final.

From  an  English  point  of  view,  this  was  when  people  began  to  have  serious  doubts  about  manager  Graham  Taylor.  First, he   took  along  Carlton  Palmer, an  energetic  midfielder  at  Sheffield  Wednesday  that  no  one  else  thought  was  international  class. Then  he  destroyed  the  international  career  of  Keith  Curle, an  excellent  centre  half  for  Manchester  City, by  playing  him  at  right  back  in  the  opening  game, a  0-0  bore  against  Denmark.This  was  followed  by  another  goalless  stalemate  against  the  French.

England's  final  game  was  against  hosts  Sweden. They  went  1-0  up  when  David  Platt  scuffed  a  cross  from  captain   Gary  Lineker, playing  his  last  international  match before  a  lucrative  move  to  Japan,  and  it  looped  into  the  net. The  Swedes  equalised  a  few  minutes  into  the  second  half  then,  ten  minutes  later,  Taylor  made  the  most  infamous  decision  of  his  career. With  Lineker  needing  just  one  more  goal  to  equal  Bobby  Charlton's   England  record, Taylor  decided  to  take  off  his  skipper  in  favour  of  Lineker's  former  Leicester  team-mate  Alan  Smith. 

If  Smith  had  scored,  we  might  now  look  on  it  very  differently  but  instead  Sweden  went  on  to  victory  with  a  brilliant  goal  from  Tomas  Brolin. The  Sun's  headline  "Swedes  Two, Turnips  One"  gave  Taylor  the  nickname  that  would  stick  with  him  for  the  rest  of  his  career. 

Scotland  also  qualified  but  as  usual, failed  to  advance  from  their  group  though  they  did  win  their  dead  rubber  against  the  CIS  3-0.

3 comments:

  1. Taylor's disposal of Waddle and Beardsley returned to haunt him here, especially with Gascoigne* missing, as England looked utterly lacking in ideas throughout.

    To give Taylor some slight excuse, Gazza's injury aside, this was a fallow period for English talent: add in Shilton, Robson and Butcher retired... he was lacking for experience. And it would only get worse for England!

    *Barnes too, though I didn't mention him due to his failing to turn up at Euro 88 and Italia 90.

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  2. Completely agree that Barnes had had enough chances by this point

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    1. Although he was still winning caps as late as 1995! At the time, I couldn't work out why the guy who ripped United to shreds numerous times failed for England - of course, at Liverpool, he was allowed a far greater degree of creative freedom, which worked as long as they had a top quality team (up to around 1991, I guess).

      I guess Taylor taking Tony Daley to Euro '92 was going with the cheapo version!

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