On the subject of England and Italia 90

[Goring Gull]

We all look back at that team as great. I remmeber being 13 and watching all the matches and i find myself always looking back and thinking how good they were but when i really think about it - Were that team that good.

two draws in the group - only a scrappy 1-0 win over Egypt to finish top.

A last minute winner against Belgium that either team could quite easily have won.

Cameroon would have dumped us out if they had had a bit more discipline when it came to defending.

Against the Germans we were good but failed to win.

I wouldn't say that side was any better than the current team really.

Lets be honest if someone sai dto you at the next world cup we'd face thse sides you'd expect to get to the semi finals.

 

[Beach Hut]

I thought we gained the momentum just at the right time during Italia '90 and but for a very jammy deflection we had the measure of the Germans.

I doubt in my lifetime we will ever have a better chance to win obviously bar '66 when we did but I was only 3 at the time.

I hope I am proved wrong.

 

[Goring Gull]

I'd like to think i'd see an England team lift the trophy but it doesn't seem likely. Even a poor German team made the final in 2002 how come we can't seem to do that. I thought our team that tournament were pretty good we were even in front against Brazil for a while. 2006 was a major disapointment partly due to the hype that had been created by the media as for 2010 i didn't expect a great deal anyway.

 

[KZNSeagull]

I thought we gained the momentum just at the right time during Italia '90 and but for a very jammy deflection we had the measure of the Germans.

I doubt in my lifetime we will ever have a better chance to win obviously bar '66 when we did but I was only 3 at the time.

I hope I am proved wrong.

I would agree. The key to that campaign was finding the right team. I am sure beforehand, if anyone had said that Paul Parker and Mark Wright should play, they would have been thought of as mad.

But that was a good side. Dunno if better than now as have not watched an entire England game for ages - watched 20 minutes of the first half last night and England hardly touched the ball, so was pleasantly surprised by the result!

 

[Goring Gull]

I think the problem with the current and pretty much every england team that has played together is they cannot string more than a few passes together before giving the ball away. I would attribute that to the pace and style of football in the premier league.

 

[Razi]

Prior to Italia '90 (aged 9), I didn't have the slightest interest in football - I wouldn't kick a ball or ever consider watching it on TV. After the tournament, I was converted and went to my first Albion game the following season. 21 years on, and still going strong.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

We all look back at that team as great. I remmeber being 13 and watching all the matches and i find myself always looking back and thinking how good they were but when i really think about it - Were that team that good.

two draws in the group - only a scrappy 1-0 win over Egypt to finish top.

A last minute winner against Belgium that either team could quite easily have won.

Cameroon would have dumped us out if they had had a bit more discipline when it came to defending.

Against the Germans we were good but failed to win.

I wouldn't say that side was any better than the current team really.

Lets be honest if someone sai dto you at the next world cup we'd face thse sides you'd expect to get to the semi finals.

On the other hand, we had the better of the game against the European champions Holland, we beat a very good Belgium side including their superstar Enzo Scifo, and knocked out Cameroon, the team that people remember best from the tournament. And we did it mostly without our captain Bryan Robson.

I'm not saying you're wrong. Just that you've picked up on the least positive aspects and that doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

One year after the most pathetic capitulation by an England team at a major tournament...
In 1990 everyone was 100% behind that team. They may not have been the most techniqely gifted team (when has an England team been?), but they played with passion. And you could relate to them. You really wanted then to win.
The current lot...hard to warm to a lot of them, and a lot of residual resentment from last year remains. If they'd got into those positions against Belgium and Cameroon, I think they'd have lost.
Player for player, I'd prefer Shilton, Gascoigne, Lineker, Waddle, Pearce and Platt to their present day equivalents.

 

[the wanderbus]

If those lucky square headed krauts hadn't got a freakily deflected goal I have absolutely no doubt that, even without Gazza, we'd have gone on to beat a piss poor Argentina in the final. As someone has already said we were improving throughout the tournament and were about to peak at just the right time.

 

[Stevie Boy]

Italia 90 was the best World Cup i can remember (was 12 at the time) as another poster said they played with passion, and if we hadnt had that deflected goal we would have it, the same in 86, if we beat the cheats we would have won that aswell, since 90 there hasnt been anything like it

 

[sod1]

Italia 90 was the best World Cup i can remember (was 12 at the time) as another poster said they played with passion, and if we hadnt had that deflected goal we would have it, the same in 86, if we beat the cheats we would have won that aswell, since 90 there hasnt been anything like it

this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LV-Z3YPacU&feature=fvst

 

[Albion Robster]

Totally recommend watching 'One Night in Turin'
Really under-rated Football documentary. Gives a very balanced view of the Italia 90 for an Englishmen. Brings back some great memories and you realise what a great English manager Bobby Robson was.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Totally recommend watching 'One Night in Turin'
Really under-rated Football documentary. Gives a very balanced view of the Italia 90 for an Englishmen. Brings back some great memories and you realise what a great English manager Bobby Robson was.

Totally agree. Quality film.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Sorry, but as someone who was at Italia 90, I remember Robson as being somewhat lucky. Injuries meant he had to change personnel. The formation he stumbled upon, including the introduction of Mark Wright, came about more by luck than judgement.

We were crap against Ireland, played well againt Holland, and scraped a 1-0 win against Egypt. Against Belgium, the introduction of Platt changed history (and his career) and we only beat Cameroon as their defending was shocking and Links held his nerve.

The best performance of that competition? The game we lost.

What a brilliant time though watching England.

 

[Lord Bamber]

I thought we gained the momentum just at the right time during Italia '90 and but for a very jammy deflection we had the measure of the Germans.

I doubt in my lifetime we will ever have a better chance to win obviously bar '66 when we did but I was only 3 at the time.

I hope I am proved wrong.

Good post and spot on.

On the other hand, we had the better of the game against the European champions Holland, we beat a very good Belgium side including their superstar Enzo Scifo, and knocked out Cameroon, the team that people remember best from the tournament. And we did it mostly without our captain Bryan Robson.

I'm not saying you're wrong. Just that you've picked up on the least positive aspects and that doesn't tell the whole story.

Astute observations. The beauty of Italia 90 was Bobby Robson had to be flexible and it helped us. We were excellent against Holland and should have won however we came good at the right time. We were clearly the better team on the night against Germany and were the width of the post (Waddle) from going through. But them's the breaks.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

For me, the best England team was under Hoddle in 98. We were incredibly difficult to beat, with Batty & Ince shielding a back three, but going forward we had real class in Shearer, Scholes and Owen or Sheringham. We had the emerging Beckham, and Graham Le Saux was excellent on the left. I still believe Beckham got so much stick because there was a real belief we could have won that tournament.

 

[Austrian Gull]

Italia 90 was the best World Cup i can remember (was 12 at the time) as another poster said they played with passion, and if we hadnt had that deflected goal we would have it, the same in 86, if we beat the cheats we would have won that aswell, since 90 there hasnt been anything like it

Surely you mean from an England fan's perspective? IMHO it was the World Cup I've ever seen (from 1978 to present day) - diving, negative, dirty, low goals for game ratio and an appalling final.

One year after the most pathetic capitulation by an England team at a major tournament...
In 1990 everyone was 100% behind that team. They may not have been the most techniqely gifted team (when has an England team been?), but they played with passion. And you could relate to them. You really wanted then to win.
The current lot...hard to warm to a lot of them, and a lot of residual resentment from last year remains. If they'd got into those positions against Belgium and Cameroon, I think they'd have lost.
Player for player, I'd prefer Shilton, Gascoigne, Lineker, Waddle, Pearce and Platt to their present day equivalents.

Were England's efforts in South Africa really the most pathetic capitulation of all-time? I seem to remember some of the England players you've just eulogised over getting the grand total of 0 points at Euro 88.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

total of 0 points at Euro 88.

I was at that one too. Big difference was that our world class striker wasn't ill at Italian 90, unlike Euro 88

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Surely you mean from an England fan's perspective? IMHO it was the World Cup I've ever seen (from 1978 to present day) - diving, negative, dirty, low goals for game ratio and an appalling final.



Were England's efforts in South Africa really the most pathetic capitulation of all-time? I seem to remember some of the England players you've just eulogised over getting the grand total of 0 points at Euro 88.

Three against Ireland (Shilton, Waddle, Lineker), two against Holland (Shilton, Lineker) and one against USSR (Lineker).
So those I've 'eulogised' weren't entirely responsible.
And that group was much more difficult than that we faced last year. Ireland were always hard to beat at the time (still are, really) Holland were brilliant, and the USSR beat them as well as us in winning the group. They both went on to contest the final.
Correct me if I'm wrong but USA, Slovenia and Algeria didn't perform in the same way, did they?

 

[Hercules Rockerfeller]

Totally recommend watching 'One Night in Turin'
Really under-rated Football documentary. Gives a very balanced view of the Italia 90 for an Englishmen. Brings back some great memories and you realise what a great English manager Bobby Robson was.

Better still, read All Played Out on which it was based, although the book may have the same name now. Superb account of the tournament from the fans, played and press's view.