First viewed : 10 June 1988
The European Championships came round again and England qualified this time although probably wished they hadn't as they lost all three of their group games. Ireland beat them 1-0 in the first game then they were thrashed 3-1 in the other two games against Holland and the Soviet Union. It seems astonishing today that Bobby Robson kept his job after that. The main fall guy was the young Tony Adams who was absolutely destroyed by Marco Van Basten as he plundered a hat-trick but Adams proved able to shoulder it and become a stalwart in the nineties. On the other hand it was the end of the line for press darling Glenn Hoddle who marked his final England appearance with a dreadful error that let in the Soviets to score after only 3 minutes. Jack Charlton's Ireland by contrast had a good tournament, drawing with the Soviets and only narrowly being squeezed out by the Dutch.
In the other group Denmark matched England's dismal showing with their supposed superstar Michael Laudrup looking uninterested. Italy and Germany went through.
The Dutch, fielding two former First Division players you'd forgotten about in Hans Van Breukelen and 37-year old Arnold Muhren, went on to win their first international tournament beating the Soviets 2-0 in the Final. Prior to the tournament, all eyes were on their captain Ruud Gullitt , now challenging Maradona for the World's best player accolade, but even he was outshone by Van Basten who crowned a superb tournament with a contender for best ever international goal in the Final. Sadly, an ankle injury forced him out of the game just five years later.
That Dutch team were the darlings of the playground at my school - everyone wanted to be one of van Basten and Gullitt, though I maintained my loyalty to Bryan Robson, perhaps one of the few England players to keep some kind of dignity from the fiasco.
ReplyDeleteDid Hoddle and Lineker both hit the post vs the Dutch at 1-1, or is memory tricking me? Kenny Sansom was another whose England career was curtailed from this - with Peter Reid, Dave "not that one" Watson and Viv Anderson also never featuring again. Bobby Robson was given the opportunity to shape a new backline around Terry Butcher (missing in Euro '88): Stuart Pearce and Des Walker would become constants in the team towards Bobby's World Cup redemption.
I don't recall the post incidents to be honest.
ReplyDeleteYou have reminded me about Sansom though. Before the game against Ireland, we were treated to his embarrassing impersonations of Frank Spencer and Ronald Reagan and then four minutes he sets up Houghton's goal with a miskick. I remember saying "He doesn't do international left back very well does he ?"
With Bracewell crocked and Cottee struggling to justify his price tag, the Everton component of the England squad was drastically reduced after this tournament.