by Nick Holt
As the game drifted towards extra-time Gascoigne was booked (harshly) for a foul on Scifo, who made a meal of it. In the extra half-hour England did most of the pressing, but both sides were tired and Des Walker, with both substitutes already used, finished the game as a limping passenger. Fortunately Walker on one leg was good enough to mark Claesen, who ended seven years of being the “next big thing” with another damp squib of a performance.
England had one more trick up their sleeve. With two minutes on the clock Gascoigne took a free-kick from a distinctly unpromising central position thirty-five yards out. He lofted the ball into the area beyond the Belgian back line, which was high. David Platt stole around the back, and as the ball came over his shoulder he volleyed it beyond Preud’homme. Had the finish been by a Brazilian, poems and eulogies would have followed. It was a class bit of technique and the first of twenty-seven England goals for Platt – nearly one in every two games – and he would be one of the few quality performers (add Pearce, Woods and Adams) for England over the next five years.
QUARTER-FINALS
These were really bad games of football for the last eight of a World Cup Finals tournament. Yugoslavia started really well against Argentina in Florence, with the highly promising Robert Prosinecki prominent. Prosinecki was the latest star off the Red Star Belgrade production line. Red Star (they are often referred to now by their Serbian name of Crvena Zvezda) were formed at the end of the Second World War and rapidly grew to become a major, later pre-eminent force in Yugoslav and Serbian football. The year after this World Cup they became the first Balkan side to win the European Cup. Ironically that success was the beginning of the end of the club’s halcyon days – within two years every single member of the line-up in the European Cup Final, ten Yugoslavs and the Romanian centre-half Belodedici, was playing in another country for more money as civil war ripped the old Yugoslavia apart.
The game turned on the half hour when Sabanadzovic was booked for fouling Maradona; it was his second yellow and off he went. Yugoslavia dug in and Argentina ventured further forward without risking exposure. Bilardo was such a cagey manager that even against ten men he stuck with his sweeper system until into the second half, when he subbed Olarticoechea, who was already booked and struggling against Stojkovic. Argentina hit the bar but Maradona was subdued and they had the bulk of possession without creating too much – the opposite of their game against Brazil. In the penalty shoot-out Stojkovic thumped his kick against the bar only for saint Diego, of all people, to surrender the initiative with a feeble effort. A poor-quality shoot-out went Argentina’s way when Goycochea, who was an acrobatic goalkeeper, stopped Hadzigebic’s penalty high to his left. The Yugoslav captain Vujovic took some stick for not taking a penalty himself.
Another unremarkable game in Rome’s Olympic Stadium saw Italy seal a semi-final place against Ireland. The atmosphere was intense and the Italians were playing under immense pressure. Ireland had already exceeded expectations. Nerves were settled after twenty minutes when Aldridge was dispossessed, Baggio carried the ball deep into the Irish half and Donadoni thumped a shot towards the near corner of the goal. Bonner blocked the shot effectively but the ball came back to the player Ireland least wanted it to. Toto Schillaci wasn’t in the sort of form to miss an open goal, even in this cauldron. Ireland fought manfully – McGrath was outstanding again and Andy Townsend ran himself dizzy harassing the Italian midfield. But the quality wasn’t there and the Italian defence dealt fairly comfortably with long angled balls into the box. Schillaci – who else? – thundered a free-kick against the bar. The ball bounced down inches from Bonner’s backside and then up and out to safety. In the dying moments the Sicilian ran clear of the defence only to be called back for a very debatable offside flag. He was a yard on – just too quick for a tired and ageing defence. Ireland had done well but they hadn’t actually won a game and scored only twice in five matches; the better side was in the semi-final.
West Germany against Czechoslovakia was a bit muted. The Germans were exemplary at the back and didn’t give Skuhravy a sniff, but they were less exuberant going forward than in the earlier games and were grateful to Klinsmann’s ability to go to ground convincingly for the penalty that won them the game. Maybe they were conserving energy for tougher tasks ahead.
England against Cameroon wasn’t exactly a technical masterclass but it outdid the other three matches for excitement. The crowd in Naples saw more incident in two hours than those in Florence, Milan and Rome did in five. England set up in the same formation as against Belgium, but with Platt in for McMahon at last. If they expected Cameroon to be similarly cagey they were wrong, as the Cameroonians came at them from the off, flooding the midfield and driving England into a flat back five. They had a handful of early shots, but Shilton was off his line quickly to block Biyik when he had the best chance of the lot.
It was England who took the lead, against the run of play and with just about their first coherent attack. Butcher sent Pearce up the left for the first time and the full-back’s excellent driven cross found Platt unmarked at the far post. The Villa man’s finish was emphatic. The rest of the half was nip and tuck, with England a little more settled but Cameroon still dangerous – Libih missed their best chance when he headed over after he lost Des Walker.
Milla came on for his usual forty-five minutes (it ended up a longer run-out than he expected) and bought a penalty when Gascoigne carelessly brushed him in the box. It was one of those grey-area moments where no one criticises the striker for going down, although he probably could have stayed on his feet. Shilton nearly reached Emanuel Kundé’s penalty but it just brushed his fingertips instead of his palms.
Cameroon created two more chances in the next few minutes as England reeled. A poor pass from Waddle let in Omam-Biyik, who set up Makanaky, who hit it into Row Z, as the cliché goes. A minute later Milla got the ball with his back to goal and was allowed to turn and slide the ball into the path of Ekeke, who got away from Platt and rocketed a shot past the exposed England goalkeeper. Ekeke had only been on the pitch three minutes. Shilton was incandescent with his central defenders, but it was through the midfield that the runners were coming. England just didn’t have a good sitting midfield player in their squad since Peter Reid retired. It is a position that a succession of England coaches have failed to solve. Again, more anon.
It nearly got worse. Omam-Biyik fed Milla and took a lovely back-heeled return, stumbled, seemed to lose control, but recovered to get in another back flick, which Shilton did well to block. Then it did get worse. England had brought on Peter Beardsley for an anonymous John Barnes at half-time and then Trevor Steven to add to the midfield, sacrificing the tiring Butcher. Before they had time to work out the new formation, Mark Wright got a whack on the head from Milla and had to retreat to the wing, clearly dizzied. Parker moved into the middle and Steven was forced into service as an emergency right-back. This did England an unexpected favour – Steven’s energy proved valuable, and Parker kept Milla quiet.
England looked better going forward and Gascoigne urged them on – he was a tireless runner, especially for a player who always looked a few pounds over fighting weight. A free-kick was cleared and turned back in by Parker. Wright, making a nuisance of himself, flicked the ball on and Lineker swivelled on the edge of the area and had his trailing foot caught by the defender. The England striker tucked away the penalty nervelessly. There were seven minutes to go – long enough for Shilton to be called into action again with a sprawling save from the livewire Omam-Biyik.
Omam-Biyik continued to be a threat in extra-time. Shilton had to be positioned well to save his header after Trevor Steven did wonderfully well to turn away Makanaky’s initial cross, and then Biyik sauntered past England’s midfield and thumped a shot past the post. It took a combination of Gascoigne and Lineker to finish it. Gascoigne picked up the loose ball when a Cameroon attack broke down, drove hard at the centre of the Cameroon defence and played a perfect ball for Lineker. D
ebate raged about whether N’Kono touched the England striker as he went past him, but he went down and the penalty was given. Lineker’s second penalty was hard and low to the other side of the goalkeeper.
Cameroon were finally broken and England dominated the last fifteen minutes, Gascoigne showing his enormous desire with a lung-bursting run that should have led to Lineker’s hat-trick only for the striker to whip his shot past the post. England were in the semi-finals but they knew they had been in a game – their goalkeeper was their Man of the Match. Cameroon deserved great credit for their campaign, some naïve and brutal defending apart.
Republic of Ireland Squad 1990:
GK: Pat Bonner (Glasgow Celtic, 30 years old, 38 caps), Gerry Peyton (Bournemouth, 34, 28)
DEF: John Byrne (Le Havre, 29, 19), Chris Hughton (Tottenham Hotspur, 30, 50), Mick McCarthy (Cpt, Millwall, 31, 42), Paul McGrath (Aston Villa, 30, 36), Kevin Moran (Blackburn Rovers, 34, 55), Chris Morris (Celtic, 26, 21), David O’Leary (Arsenal, 32, 51), Steve Staunton (Liverpool, 21, 13)
MID & WIDE: Ray Houghton (Liverpool, 28, 29), Alan McLoughlin (Swindon Town, 23, 1), Kevin Sheedy (Everton, 30, 28), John Sheridan (Sheffield Wednesday, 25, 8), Andy Townsend (Norwich City, 26, 12), Ronnie Whelan (Liverpool, 28, 38)
FWD: John Aldridge (Real Sociedad, 31, 30), Tony Cascarino (Aston Villa, 27, 21), David Kelly (Leicester City, 24, 6), Niall Quinn (Manchester City, 23, 15), Bernie Slaven (Middlesbrough, 29, 4), Frank Stapleton (Blackburn, 33, 71)
World Cup Heroes No.24 Roger
Milla (1952–)
Cameroon
One of the great World Cup characters. Milla was already twenty-six when he played his first game for Cameroon in 1973. He moved to France, with Valenciennes, and then Monaco, for a season, and Bastia, where he scored the winner in the French Cup Final in 1981. He was with Bastia when Cameroon took their bow at the 1982 World Cup.
When Cameroon missed out on qualification for the 1986 Finals, Milla called it a day, and by 1990 he was in semi-retirement playing for a low-level team on the island of Réunion. Cameroon had a decent squad for the 1990 Finals, but were short of fire-power, and the story goes that the Cameroon President personally called Milla to persuade him to join the squad for one last hurrah.
Some hurrah. The old boy still had a turn of pace and could still finish, and he rattled the net twice against Romania and Colombia and caused problems for England in the quarter-final, each time coming off the bench to do late damage.
His appetite revived, Milla returned to Cameroon and played for four years for Tonnerre (Thunder) in Yaoundé, scoring as regularly as ever. He was still chipper enough to make the Cameroon squad for the 1994 World Cup, and when he scored against Russia he broke the record as the oldest goalscorer in the World Cup Finals. The previous holder of the record was himself, four years earlier!
Always smiling and popular with the media, Milla was a great advert for African football and one of its first global stars. His goal celebration, the endearing corner-flag wiggle, was used by Coca-Cola for an advertising campaign during the 2010 World Cup.
More recently, Milla has been fighting against corruption and incompetence in the administration of Cameroon football – he was dismissed from an honorary post with that august body for one outburst too many in 2012. A true entertainer, Milla has lived longer in the memory than many a better footballer.
SEMI-FINALS
Not a classic, but then no one expected one between these two sides. Italy had kept ten successive clean sheets and Argentina had shown they were prepared to sneak through the competition by any means possible. In this instance, it meant fouling and niggling and spoiling and slowing down the game to deny their opponents any rhythm. That and try to get the ball to Maradona, their one player capable of hurting the opposition, but he was well policed by De Agostini and De Napoli.
Before the game Maradona implored the Neapolitans to support him and Argentina instead of Italy, asserting (with some justification) that the wealthier northerners looked down on the south of the country. Maradona as working-class hero. Discuss. Imagine Messi asking the Barcelona fans to support Argentina against Spain . . . actually, hang on, that isn’t so far-fetched . . .
Italy were much the better team in the first half and should have turned around more than one to the good. Argentina were just dirty. The goal, from you-know-who, came after Goycochea saved Vialli’s shot. Vialli was back in the side but he still looked goal-shy and the omission of Baggio was odd. Argentina’s equaliser came from nowhere, Olarticoechea’s cross presented no apparent danger until Zenga came halfway and then backtracked, ending up nowhere when Caniggia’s back header went in at the far post. Italy were far too cautious and Argentina were on top until extra-time, when both sides went into their shell and looked content to play out time, wasting plenty of it and hardly mustering a serious attempt on goal.
The shoot-out was tense but they always are. Donadoni, the best wide player in the competition, hit his kick straight at Goycochea, Maradona avoided a repetition of his feeble effort against Yugoslavia, and Serena never looked like scoring, he was fidgety and nervous before he took the kick. Why didn’t Schillaci take a penalty?
Argentina would be missing four players through suspension for the final. Maradona moaned throughout the tournament about how the competition was “fixed” for Italy to win (rich coming from an Argentinian after 1978) and now he moaned about the suspensions. Every one of the yellow cards Vautrot handed out in this match was justified. Giusti was sent off for two offences – the second was worth a straight red; Olarticoechea, the least physical of the Argentinian defenders, was booked for a cynical trip, Batista for going through his man and Caniggia for deliberate handball – it was his third offence, Vautrot had been patient.
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.18
4 July 1990, delle Alpi, Turin; 62,628
Referee: Ramiz Wright (Brazil)
Coaches: Bobby Robson (England) & Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany)
West Germany (4–4–2): Bodo Illgner (Cologne); Thomas Berthold (Roma), Jürgen Kohler (Bayern Munich), Klaus Augenthaler (Bayern), Andreas Brehme (Internazionale); Guido Buchwald (Stuttgart), Lothar Matthäus (Cpt, Internazionale), Thomas Hässler (Cologne), Olaf Thon (Bayern); Rudi Völler (Roma), Jürgen Klinsmann (Internazionale). Subs: Karl-Heinz Riedle (Werder Bremen) 38m for Völler; Stefan Reuter (Bayern) 68m for Hässler
England (1–4–3–2): Peter Shilton (Derby County); Mark Wright (Derby); Paul Parker (Queens Park Rangers), Des Walker (Nottingham Forest), Terry Butcher (Cpt, Glasgow Rangers), Stuart Pearce (Nottm Forest); David Platt (Aston Villa), Paul Gascoigne (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Waddle (Olympique Marseille); Peter Beardsley (Liverpool), Gary Lineker (Tottenham). Sub: Trevor Steven (Rangers) 70m for Butcher
Cautioned: Parker (Eng) 66m, Gascoigne (Eng) 99m, Brehme (WGer) 109m
The best game of the tournament by a distance, and one of the few where both sides set out to win the game from the start. England left out Barnes and brought back Beardsley, while Wright played with a head injury after his knock against Cameroon. For West Germany, Völler was back from suspension and returned for Riedle, and Hässler and Thon played instead of Bein and Littbarski. They added more energy and creativity while Matthäus kept a watchful eye on Gascoigne.
The first half was cat and mouse without being boring. Gascoigne probed away at the German rearguard, which looked secure, while Klinsmann and Völler (until he picked up a knock and had to go off) tried to stretch England to get behind the wing-backs. They struggled, largely due to the excellence of both those full-backs, Parker and Pearce. The second half continued in the same vein for a while, although West Germany showed a little more urgency and Matthäus came into the game a little more. It did seem as if it would take an error to produce a goal, but it was actually a piece of bad luck that unlocked England’s defence. Brehme’s free-kick was hit hard but straight at Paul Parker, who ran to charge down the kick, and Shilton, on his six-yard box, was helpless as the ball looped up of
f the defender’s outstretched leg and over his head.
England tried manfully to get on terms, and Gascoigne started to run past the German midfield players as Matthäus, in particular, tired. England withdrew Butcher again for Steven and went to four at the back with Waddle wide on the left. Beckenbauer added a sixth defender in Reuter in an attempt to hang on, but a momentary lapse let the Germans down. Parker crossed from the right and Kohler and Augenthaler indulged in some “after you, Jürgen, no, no, I insist, Klaus”. Very un-German and the lurking Lineker wasn’t a chap to refuse such largesse when offered. Extra-time beckoned – the third time in a week for England.
Extra-time served up a pulsating half-hour. Shilton saved brilliantly low down from Klinsmann’s firm header as West Germany pressed, but Gascoigne and Waddle were breaking quickly at the other end. One Gascoigne run ended when he pushed the ball too far ahead and a silly lunge after it caught Berthold and brought that famous booking. Had England won, it may not have been a bad thing that Gascoigne would miss the final – he wore his heart on his sleeve, Gazza, and the Argentinians were adept at pushing buttons.
Waddle swayed into the German area in that hunched, deceptively languid way of his and unleashed a terrific cross-shot that came back off the post just out of reach of Lineker, and just after the turnaround Buchwald hit the same post with a fierce right footer. England fans were out of their seats when Platt found the net, but he was offside and knew it.