First viewed : 9 June 1993
Another milestone on the road to ruin for the hapless England manager Graham Taylor. The U.S. Cup was an invitational football tournament created in 1992 to help the USA prepare for hosting the World Cup in 1994. England, along with Brazil and Germany , accepted the invite the following year.
In the only match anyone remembers, England lost their opening game 2-0 to the hosts with the second goal scored by part time rock star and Billy Connolly lookalike Alexei Lalas. It was a truly dismal performance, memorably summarised by The Sun as "Yanks 2 Planks 0 ". A draw with Brazil and narrow defeat to Germany couldn't erase the stain and Taylor headed for his Waterloo in Rotterdam.
If I remember right, the seeds for this were sown mere days before when England lost 2-0 in Norway. In my memory, Des Walker - previously in my mind secure as one of the best centre backs in Europe - got murdered and his career never quite recovered, aided by a horror show of a spell in Italy.
ReplyDeleteThe USA match has some quiz question value as it was the first time England were captained by a black player - Paul Ince. I'm sure the "Guv'nor" was overjoyed that the occasion was overshadowed by the result!
Finally, Frank Stapleton has said that in his time managing Lalas in the States, he found him an absolute pain in the arse who thought he was bigger than the team and turned up to training when he felt like it. When Frank protested and insisted on a fine, he was gently ushered out of the club.
Yes- Walker was too busy arguing with the referee and thus out of position for the first goal against Norway. It seemed like there was always a risk in signing a player from Forest - that they wouldn't recapture that form under another manager - at least until your Mr Keane came along.
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