England in the Euro Championships

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

We have won only 5 matches ever in the Euro Championships... and one of those was in a 3rd Place Play-off in 1968.

 

As today's Guardian rightly says...

 

"[England are] uniformly dreadful, barring that glorious summer of '96 when they drew with the Swiss, avoided defeat against the Spanish thanks to the ref and lost to the Germans on penalties. Maybe that should be "glorious June 18 1996" (England 4 Holland 1)"

 

 

Full Euro Finals Record

 

Played 19

Won 5

Drawn 6

Lost 8

 

 

The wins...

 

1968 2-0. 3rd Place Play-off vs Russia. Already out of tournament.

 

1980 2-1. Group match vs Spain, having already been eliminated.

 

1996 2-0. Group match vs Scotland. Sixteen years and 8 matches after previous win. Gazza wonder goal, but thank God McAllister missed that penalty.

 

1996 4-1. Group match vs Holland. Finest ever Euro's win.

 

2000 1-0. Group match vs Germany. Still managed to lose against Romania though, once again preventing progress from Group Stage.

 

 

In 1992 we failed to win a game, and in 1988 we lost all three.

 

 

[Rob_the_Saint]

Very informative. Good work, Zealster.

 

As for the present bunch,

 

Goalkeeper: very worrying, James is not an International goalkeeper by any stretch and Robinson lacks the experience.

 

Full backs: OK, G Neville and Cole/Bridge should be good enough.

 

Centre backs: Campbell has the quality, Terry/King do not, full stop.

 

Midfield: A surfeit of riches here, but where do you play them all? Also, not much in the way of ball winners apart from Scholes.

 

Forwards: Heskey/Owen? Rooney? On their day they can do the business but haven't looked much like it in the friendlies. Given that we are always likely to concede at least one goal, someone better start finding some form, and fast.

[Boot CleanerEFM]

We haven't got a chance

 

[Boot CleanerEFM]

do you think france will score 3 4 or 5 i think 5

[Stu B]

I don't think we're going to win it or really come close,though i'd love to be proved wrong.However it is worth noting in the world cup the only European country (in the euros this year) to get further than us was Germany..

[CANV EFM]

who cares, it a great excuse to get wasted and indulge in totally pointless jingoistic maissivly over the top celebrations at beating some minor european team..

sunday evening in the pub hoping against hope thet we can get a result.. then at the very worst two great midweek piss ups where half the country will be out on it..

im already in for a half day for the 5 pm kick off..

 

whats the downside..? we get to slag off beckham

its a win win situation

[SteveP]

I think Euro 96 will live with me for a long time, just finished A Levels and it was a beautiful summer. We should have done it that year, looked a bit dodgy against Switzerland to begin with, but it's always a pleasure to beat the Scots and I can remember how crazy we went after the Holland game. Up until the Germany game, that's the best I've ever seen an England side play.

 

This year we have a chance, but we certainly can't be considered favourites.

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Indeed Summer 96 was a glorious Summer for me...

 

Euro 96

Knebworth

The height of Britpop!

Just moved to my luxury flat in Harpenden!!

 

But in hindsight, give or take the odd game against Holland and the odd touch of genius from Gazza, we just weren't up to it. The Spain game was dreadful.

 

Scored too early against Germany in my opinion. Once they got that equaliser on about 15 minutes, I never believed we'd win.

 

Smashed my guitar that night if memory serves.

 

 

[CANV EFM]

exactly.. we were [****!!****] against switzerland

spain should ahve stuffed us, if macillister had scored that penalty we could have lost to the jocks (now that dosent bear thinking about)

we destroyed a dutch team that fell to pieces and had a great game against the krauts..

but all we remember is it being a brilliant tournament that we could have won..

 

its all about building memories and if you get pissed enough you can forget how crap we are at football and just remeber where you were when we scraped through 1 nil in the 1/4 finals

[Claire!]

Blimey!!!! Euro 96!!!! I was 14!!!!!! So sweet, so not innocent!!!!! i was having my Robbie Fowler fase and i loved every minute of Euro 96!!!!!! Brillaint!!!!!!!!!!!

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

WHAT???

 

 

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!! I was just saying that i loved Robbie Fowler during Euro 96!!!!!!!!!!!

[EFM's Librarian]

Quote:

Zealster EFM UK said:


Smashed my guitar that night if memory serves.

My memory also suggests that you then proceeded to go to the pub, dance on a table, and get barred - although I wasn't there so I may be wrong.

The guitar smashing scene is still clear in my head, we all saw you pick it up, and then it seemed to move in slow motion. I think your girlfriend at the time was a bit surprised!

[herts blue]

Was standing behind the goal when McAllister missed the penalty. Still celebrating when, can't have been more than a minute later, the balls up the other end and Gazza's buried it. Happy memories. Was also at the Spain game, and didn't they have a perfectly good goal disallowed? Either way, you're right, we weren't at the races.

 

Have to take issue with Rob, though (sorry). I think Campbell's starting to look his age, and that Terry's our best (available) defender by some way, even if he isn't going to be fit for France. Neither Neville brother's anywhere close to being good enough, and Ashley Cole just can't defend, though he could fill the left midfield spot with Bridge at left back. A assume that, although Erikkson hasn't got the guts to come out and say so, we are actually going to ditch the diamond (otherwise known as great big gaping hole in the middle) formation?

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Libro - I was merely trying to lighten the mood by leading the pub into a chorus of Yellow Submarine. Didn't go down well.

 

Not sure I was barred, but I did almost get into a fight outside the Inn On The Green and then another one outside the pizza shop on Station Road

 

None of this is from memory, by the way. Just fragments I've pieced together from conversations I've had over the years.

 

 

[EFM's Librarian]

Excellent. So in 96 you smashed a guitar and almost had a fight, the exit in 98 saw you shaving the lawyer's head with a razor to cheer yourself up. Can't remember what you did in 2000 or 2002, but have you got any thing good planned for this year when Croatia get that last minute equaliser?

 

I don't actually think England will go out in the first round.

 

My reckoning for the quarters is France v Portugal, Spain v England, Denmark V Czech Republic and Italy V Holland, all boiling down to a Spain v Italy final.

 

 

[Claire!]

LOL!!!!!! Arr, bless, poor Lawyer!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mala_D]

Zeal said: "1996 4-1. Group match vs Holland. Finest ever Euro's win."

 

Too right mate!

 

In fact, best ever performance by an England team I've EVER seen.

 

Yeah....the 5-1 defeat of Germany on their own doorstep was sweet, but the manner of our win against Holland was fantastic.

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

I believe England will make the semis, as we are more than capable of beating both Portugal and Spain.

 

My only concern is that if we lose to France, it could all go down to the final group game against Croatia. That would be a big pressure game against capable opponents, in a situation that we never play particularly well in.

 

In 2002, after losing to Brazil, I went to the hairdressers next door to the Crown and asked them to give me a 'Sven'. They refused.

 

We then went onto the lawn outside the pub and re-enacted our favourite England moments. I chose Gazza's goal against Scotland, scored the goal, slid along the floor whilst Al Hags, Carl and Ben poured beer into my mouth (a la Dentist Chair!). It was only afterwards I realised I'd slid through a broken pint glass and ripped my leg open.

 

Being a 7.30am kick-off, it gave us the opportunity for an all-day session, which we grabbed with open arms. I would imagine drops of my blood are still visible on the floor of The Bell.

 

 

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

P.S. Spain in the final??

 

There is more chance of Anthony Hamilton winning next years World Snooker, mate.