Germany vs England – Euro 96. 26 years to the day and I'm still in pain!

Today is the 26th anniversary of the Germany-England semi-final of the 1996 European Championships. It was one of the most tense and grueling English matches I have seen. It was also one of the most exciting. I was ten when Euro 96 started and I watched every game. It was the first full tournament I remember, as the World Cup in America two years earlier had been played late at night due to jet lag. My parents didn't let me stay up and watch most of the tournament, although dad gave me special permission to stay up for the final between Brazil and Italy. It was probably the most boring World Cup final in the competition's history, as Italy were known for their defensive football and Brazil were under enormous pressure to lift the trophy for the first time in 24 years. The game finally ended just after 11:30 p.m. and I proudly told everyone listening at school the next day that I stayed awake for the full 90 minutes, extra time, and penalty shootout! The road to the semi-final Back to Euro 96. The preparation for the tournament had not been so exciting as England had automatically qualified as hosts. My first memories of watching my country were seeing the doomed qualifying run for the 1994 World Cup under Graham Taylor. However, he had been replaced by Terry Venables and seeing England in a major competition was going to be a lot of fun! We were in Group A with Switzerland, Scotland and one of the tournament favourites, Holland. The opening game against the Swiss was also the first match of the tournament and a rather boring opening ceremony took place on the pitch. Comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner had joined The Lightning Seeds to release their own song for the tournament titled Three Lions. Dad bought the tape (remember them!) and I played it over and over over the next few months. The cover of the Three Lions cassette The game against Switzerland was as dull as the weather today. Gray clouds hung over Wembley in the style of traditional disappointing British summers. Alan Shearer scored the game's first goal, his first goal in nearly a year and a half for his country. Switzerland equalized from a penalty in the second half. The following weekend, England faced Scotland. I had been to a cup camp the night before and had to come back on Sunday which meant I would miss the game. One of the boys from our Cub Pack went to the game and another stayed behind hoping to see his friend in the crowd on TV! Dad was one of the Cub leaders and borrowed a transistor radio from one of his co-workers. I kept running up to him asking for the score when I was supposed to do camp activities. Dad kept chasing me, telling me to get back to what I was supposed to do! England won 2-0, with goals from Alan Shearer and Paul Gascoigne. David Seaman saved a penalty from Gary McAllister shortly before Gazza's astonishing goal. The Netherlands were the third and final opponents in the group and we needed a victory to be sure of reaching the quarter-finals. The Dutch were a tough team to beat and three years earlier had beaten us all but to end our dreams of qualifying for the World Cup. My mother was adamant after school that I was going to get a haircut, but I kept refusing. In the end, she put me at the barber when she left me an ultimatum. Get your hair cut or you're not watching football tonight. She knew my weakest point and pounced. Well done, mom! On that infamous night at Wembley, England tore the Dutch to shreds. They won 4-1, with two goals apiece for Alan Shearer and his strike partner Teddy Sheringham. The Dutch scored late in the game, Patrick Kluivert sliding the ball past David Seaman and in doing so put Holland through at Scotland's expense. No one had predicted this outcome in their wildest dreams! On Saturday 22, we played our quarter-final against Spain. It was a nervous game, with the Spaniards scoring twice, but both were wrongly disallowed by the linesman. The game went to a penalty shootout and David Seaman saved a penalty to win the game. However, all England fans will remember the shootout for Stuart Pearces, a successful kick and euphoric celebration. It made up for his failure against Germany six years earlier in the 1990 World Cup and he was delighted. The whole country celebrated with him too, delighted that he had left the miss behind. The game Direction Germany four days later. Wednesday, June 26, 1996. The evening is still etched in my memory. Dad and I had to go to a Cub Scout meeting (much to my disappointment and anger!), so we missed the opening by about ten minutes. As soon as the Cubs were over, I wanted to go home and watch the game. Dad seemed to be walking a lot slower than normal (I probably wasn't, I was rather desperately trying to rush over and turn on the TV!). We walked into our house and I went straight to the front room and turned on the TV. Dad went into the kitchen to make us a cup of tea and called to ask what the score was. For some reason, I only half looked at the score in the corner of the screen and shouted no-no. I was wrong though as Alan Shearer had nodded in his fifth goal of the competition moments before to put England ahead. Dad came back with our cups of tea and saw the score and asked me why I said the game was scoreless. I took another look at the score and it was 1-0! The joy was not to last long as Stefan Kuntz (sneer, sneer!) snuck past Stuart Pearce and kicked the ball past David Seaman to make it 1-1. Teddy Sheringham was unlucky towards the end of the first half when he first hit a low shot towards the near post from a corner. Alan Shearer headed just wide from a cross down the right wing. Thomas Helmer had the better chance in the second half. He just missed the target with a dive shot that went just over the bar. Brian Moore remarked on ITV's commentary in the video below that this was going to be one of those nights. How right the great man would be! Extra time began frantically and England had two great chances to win the game. The golden goal rule was in effect, which meant whoever scored first won the game. It was a rule introduced to encourage attacking football in extra time, but in fact teams played much more negatively as they feared losing the game. England's first chance came to Darren Anderton, who hit the near post after a Steve McManaman withdrawal. The Liverpool winger had played it too far behind Anderton, who had to stretch backwards and couldn't wrap his foot around the ball to get it into the back of the net. American England fans were feeling the pressure. They then had another moment in the half to test their nerves on the edge by scoring with a header from Andreas Moller's left. It was, however, disallowed as the referee spotted the German striker pushing an English counterpart before the ball entered the net. Watch the incident on the video below to hear the collective gasp around the famous old stadium! Just 132 seconds later, Paul Gascoigne was an inch or two away from winning the game. In a now famous moment in English football, Alan Shearer stole a cross shot through the goal and Gazza stretched but narrowly missed the ball. The slightest touch would have put the ball in the back of the net and we would have faced the Czech Republic at Wembley four days later. So close, Gazza. so very close Gascoigne later revealed that he slowed down for a split second as he expected Andreas Kopke (the German keeper) to touch the ball. It shows how talented he was because in that millisecond of time he corrected his pace to allow for the deflection but unintentionally got out of ball range. The game went to a penalty shootout. My mom came and joined me and dad to watch the shooting, something she had never done before. We all know what happened next at Wembley. It's almost too hard to talk even now. After both teams scored their first five penalties, Gareth Southgate hit a tame effort straight at Andreas Kopke. I remember moving all of my sister's toys that she left on the floor as Southgate approached to take her kick, ready to jump in the air and celebrate. I kept telling myself for years after that I was the one who made him miss it! Andreas Moller then broke our hearts by sending the ball high into the roof of the net past David Seaman to win the game for Germany. I saw Germany beat the Czech Republic in the final four days later. It was a massive anti-climax for the tournament and everyone who watched the semi-final agreed that we would have beaten the Czechs in the final. 26 years have passed and football still hasn't come home. But we came very close in that wonderful summer of 1996. 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