Football

Euro Champs: Ronnie Whelan

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If Ray Houghton’s winning header against bitter rivals England wasn’t enough for Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland side then Houghton’s Liverpool team-mate Ronnie Whelan went one better with a stupendous strike against the Soviet Union.

It all came from a goal out of the Stoke City play-book. Big Mick McCarthy launched, and I mean propelled a long throw from level with the 18-yard box, despite some shameful gamesmanship from the Russian defender stood directly in the Celtic defender’s path.

Nonetheless the ball travelled a full 50 yards through the air and Whelan, who hadn’t score a goal of this quality since the 1983 League Cup Final, watched it intently.

The ball dropped and the Liverpool man flung himself backwards, fully off the ground and connected with a sumptious volley that flew into the top corner and remains one of the European Championship’s best-ever goals.

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Euro Chumps: Kenny Sansom

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When England were paired with the Republic of Ireland, many English fans were predicting a landslide victory. Irish manager Jack Charlton had assembled a garbled team of misfits with a mere trace of Irish heritage and England were banking on a comprehensive victory to kickstart their campaign in a tough group that also included the Soviet Union and Holland.

Of course that wasn’t to be. England started woefully and went behind to a header from Ray Houghton. You read that right; a header from Ray Houghton – the same Ray Houghton who is about 5’4″ on stilts. It wasn’t just the ignominy of losing, it was the manner in which England did it. This was the tournament of the swashbuckling Dutch, the flying Russians, the German machine, the classy Italians…and the bumbling English.

It was a goal straight out of Sunday League. A long, high, hopeful Irish ball from left to right looked to be meat and drink for Gary Stevens, only for Mark Wright (mullet and all) to come careering across and clatter his own team-mate. The ball fell for Tony Galvin to loop a cross into the box but there was little danger because veteran Kenny Sansom was there to clear the lines.

Now that moment that seems to haunt England at most major tournaments. The Dutch gave us total football, the Italians the concept of the sweeper, the Brazilians the wonder of attacking full backs; the English – the panicking punt back into your own penalty area.

Up the ball went into the Stuttgart air. It came down for that renowned Irishman John Aldridge to flick on; Sansom was back to get a challenge in (on a player his size no less), but no, Houghton rose (more like stooped) unchallenged to loop the slowest header in the world over Peter Shilton.

It was enough to give the Irish the victory and put England off to a bad start, which would only get worse. You would have shook your head in despair and turned the air blue if the winner had been scored in an under-sevens game, let alone an international tournament. Euro 88 remains one of the darkest spots in English football history.

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Euro Champs: Bryan Robson

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It was one of those rare occasions in English international football history – Bryan Robson managed to keep both his shoulders in their sockets for the duration of a competitive fixture.

Truth be told, Captain Marvel was the only Englishman to come out of this 3-1 spanking by a Marco Van Basten-inspired Dutch with any credibility whatsoever, putting in a spirited performance as he tried to drag his team-mates to a modicum of respectability against a far superior opponent.

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Euro Chumps: Jürgen Klinsmann

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The eyes of Europe were focused on West Germany’s prodigious young talent Jürgen Klinsmann as Euro 88 kicked off in his homeland and the VfB Stuttgart striker certainly made a lasting impression on the watching millions.

The-then reigning West German Young Player of the Year had not yet made an impact on the international stage but all that changed against bitter rivals the Dutch in the semi-finals of the 1988 tournament.

A ball into the edge of the area found Klinsmann, who turned and launched himself over the thigh of an Oranje defender with a triple Salchow, double somersault and belly flop finish for a dubious penalty, which was converted by Andreas Brehme (fresh off being swatted away by Bobby Mancini) and thus a career was born. Klinsmann would even take this ‘talent’ to a bigger stage and ‘earn’ his country the World Cup just two years later. All this being long before he wowed English fans by turning this art form into a celebration rather than a dirty, cheating technique.

Euro Champs: Roberto Mancini

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Yes, the same Roberto Mancini who prowls the touchline at the Etihad, omnipresent in his blue and white scarf, telling anyone who would listen that Manchester City have no chance of winning the Premier League.

Before he rolled up at Leicester City and won a barrow-load of managerial honours with an Inter Milan side that were streets ahead of their rivals in Serie A because of the match-fixing scandal, Mancini was actually one of Europe’s premier attacking midfielder players and was the heartbeat of a Sampdoria side that were amongst the continent’s frontrunners in the late-80s/early 90s.

And did Mancini ever show that class in the opening game of Euro 88, silencing hosts West Germany with a well-taken goal. It was the Italian’s celebration that lived long in the memory though; a wide-eyed, slaloming run to the touchline that looked like he had been overtaken by the spirit of Marco Tardelli, even going so far as to swat West German defender Andreas Brehme out of the way in hilarious fashion.

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