England 1 v 1 West Germany
World Cup semi-final
Weds 4 July 1990
Sven Goran Eriksson's England will be hoping to outdo Bobby Robson's 1990 team who are still the only England side to get as far as the World Cup semi-final on foreign soil.
Twelve years ago Robson steered England to a meeting with West Germany, just prior to the re-unification of the country, in the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin having fortuitously seen off Belgium and Cameroon in the knock-out stages with late goals. England had not beaten the Germans in a competitive game since the World Cup final at Wembley in 1966 and, ominously, Head Coach Franz Beckenbauer claimed the Germans would far rather face the English than the all too unpredictable Cameroonians.
Having seen his team defeated by Argentina in the final in Mexico last time out, Beckenbauer, leading his country into their eighth World Cup semi-final since 1954, desperately desiring the record of becoming the first man to captain and coach a World Cup winning team. The Germans had defeated the Dutch in a tempestuous second round match before disposing of Czechoslovakia 1-0 in the quarter-finals.
England were without the injured John Barnes and Bryan Robson, although the emergence of David Platt as a World class midfielder could not have come at a more opportune moment. Germany's talismanic Pierre Littbarski was dropped in favour of Olaf Thon, but the powerhouse of the team, Lothar Matthaus, remained supremely fit and confident. Germany had rattled in 13 goals during the tournament, mainly due to the rottweiler strike partnership of Jurgen Klinsmann and Rudi Voller. England boasted the altogether more studious forward line of Beardsley and Lineker. Despite only having scored six times in the tournament, three of those coming in the previous round, England saw a chink in Germany's armour in that they had only kept a clean sheet in one of their five games.
The first half swayed from end to end. England tore into the Germans, with Gascoigne bringing a fine save from Illgner low at the foot of a post. Germany riposted, their play improving after Voller limped off to be replaced by Karl-Heinz Riedle.
Half-time arrived with honours even and the crowd cheered by the changing tide of a pulsating match. Robson made no changes at the break and the teams rejoined battle knowing that just one mistake, or twist of fortune, would decide the day.
That twist arrived on the hour after Stuart Pearce fouled Thomas Hassler 25 yards from goal to the right of the D. Thon touched the free-kick off to Andreas Brehme whose ferocious shot cannoned off the onrushing Paul Parker, looped high into the air and fell tantalisingly over the frantically back-peddling Shilton into England's net. An arrow of outrageous fortune had been buried deep into English hearts. The early 41-year-old Shilton had been found wanting when a younger and more agile man might have made the adjustment necessary to reach the swirling ball. Parker was distraught that his decision to charge the ball down had gone so awry, but England gathered themselves and led by their star of the tournament, Paul Gascoigne, strode forwards to try to get themselves back into the game.
In a repetition of his substitution against Cameroon, Robson hauled off Terry Butcher, replacing him with Trevor Steven to bolster midfield and bring extra width. England's equaliser did arrive from the right hand side but not from Steven. Parker, determined to make up for what he saw as his error, floated a long ball from the right back position to the far edge of the German penalty area. Lineker brought it down, nudged it past one defender by shuffling it across with his knee and shot low and left-footed past the onrushing Illgner inside the far post. His goal celebration, with arms outstretched and sun-tanned face beaming has gone down in English footballing history.
Clearly fired up and believing the game was theirs for the taking England poured forward prompted by Gascoigne. but the tables were to turn for the podgy Geordie after an innocuous foul he committed on Thomas Berthold. Despite being by far the most fouled player on the pitch, Gascoigne found himself in Brazilian referee's Jose Ramiz Wright's notebook. It was his second yellow card of the tournament and meant that he would miss the final should England made it. While Gascoigne blubbed his way into the hearts of the nation in a moment which defined the emergence of football as a sport which could be watched by all the family, and in particular women, Lineker turned his attention to the German bench, whose hystrionic reaction to Berthold's theatrical dive after Gascoigne's foul incensed the normally placid England forward.
Gascoigne pulled himself together and England remained in the ascendancy for the final ten minutes. They could not make the vital breakthrough though and once again extra-time arrived with England & Germany locked together.
The game became even more stretched and within a few minutes Waddle had thumped a shot with the outside of his left foot against the inside of Illgner's left post. The German's fared the better for this let-off. Guido Buchwald rammed an effort against the same post after the team's changed ends and Jurgen Klinsmann missed a peach of an opportunity with under five minutes left. This time there was no separating the old enemies in extra-time.
English fans tensed in the knowledge that the Germans' record on penalties was second to none. Conversely, this would be England's first competitive penalty competition. In London, the House of Commons was brought to a stand-still while the Rolling Stones, performing at Wembley, found their crowd strangely distracted by Radio commentary on their personal stereos, cheers and boos breaking forth as both countries scored from their first three penalties. Lineker, Beardsley and Platt had their efforts cancelled out by Brehme, Matthaus and Riedle. Neither goalkeeper had got close to a spot-kick as yet. England had saved their most reliable takers until last. Stuart Pearce stepped up and drove the ball down the centre of the goal, but Illgner left his legs trailing for just such an eventuality and the ball rebounded to safety off them. Thon scored without undue worry leaving Waddle needing to score to keep England in the hunt. he ran up in his own languid fashion but hammered the ball high over the crossbar. England were out.
The Germans, contrary to popular stereotype, let rip their emotions by burying Bodo Illgner under a mound of bodies. Millions of distraught Britons chose to lick their wounds with a cuppa, causing the biggest drain on the National grid since the final episode of The Thorn Birds in 1984.
It could have been such a different script. If the shoot-out had gone to sudden death then Gascoigne was England's next taker. His could have been the glory of sending England through to the World Cup Final, even though he would not have been there himself. But that script remained unwritten, unlike the record books, which saw Beckenbauer achieve his dream and Argentina become the first side to fail to score in a World Cup Final.
England: Shilton, Parker, Pearce, Wright, Walker, Butcher (Steven), Platt, Waddle, Gascoigne, Lineker, Beardsley
Germany: Illgner, Brehme, Kohler, Augentaler, Buchwald, Berthold, Matthaus, Hassler (Reuter), Thon, Voller (Riedle), Klinsmann
