‘90+2': Last Minute Moments that Changed Football History’ has been out for a good few months now and the combination of it feeling like the right time to plug it again, plus a very busy weekend personally, means this week’s post is a pre-planned piece. A little bit like one of those flash-back episodes in ‘Friends’ where the undeniably brilliant screen-writers just took a breather and stitched some of their previous greatest hits into one rip-roaring episode!
The theme this week obviously has to be the European Championship and the book itself contains a few raucous stories from previous championships. For those who haven’t managed to get round to reading the book yet, here is a sneak preview from Euro 2004. For those who have, I am beyond grateful and share again some of the brilliant stories contained within it!
England vs. France, Group B Opener!
Snap reminder. England had gained a first half lead through Frank Lampard and had also seen David Beckham have a penalty superbly saved by Fabian Barthez in the second half. An excerpt from the book can take now over:
“England’s disappointment at not sealing the game was huge but they still led 1-0. When three minutes of injury time were signalled, they still led 1-0. But there was imminent danger as, with the clock on 90.23, French captain Zidane was placing the ball for a free kick. It was ominous because it was in a decent position about 25 yards from the England goal.
England were right to be concerned as Zidane’s brilliant shot flew into the net. After putting in such a strong performance, a stunning goal from a mercurial genius had wrecked their pursuit of the three points. In an instant, it was 1-1. Little did they know that an even worse calamity was about to strike.
Steven Gerrard, trying to retain possession midway inside his own half, lobbed a no-look pass back towards his goalkeeper David James. He had not realised that Henry was between the ball and goalkeeper. In the blink of an eye, Henry and James collided inside the box. Henry had gotten to the ball; James was left to clear out the French striker. Astonishingly, in the 93rd minute, it was a penalty to France.
Zidane stepped up and clinically dispatched the spot kick, sending the unfortunate James the wrong way. England’s first penalty miss in a European Championship finals match had just become even more costly than they could ever have anticipated.”
Italy vs. Everyone! Group C Finale.
“Euro 2004 was also the scene for what we might hamfistedly call ‘Scandal-inavia’. At least in the eyes of despondent Italians. They may be reluctant to recall the events that constituted the finale to Group C. Italy and Bulgaria had been joined in the group by Scandinavian neighbours Denmark and Sweden. The Bulgarians had perhaps been surprising automatic qualifiers for the finals as they topped a group containing Croatia and Belgium. For the Bulgarians though, their participation in the finals would be horribly underwhelming compared to the high of qualifying. Their opening game saw them destroyed 5-0 by Sweden and they would go on to also lose their other two matches. However, with every team ultimately beating Bulgaria, it would set the group on an intriguing path. Going into the finale, the Group C table looked like this:
Italy, despite an underwhelming start to the tournament, were favourites to beat whipping boys Bulgaria and put themselves on five points. But they had a potential problem. If Sweden and Denmark were to draw, all three teams would finish on five points. UEFA competition rules meant that, in the event of a tie, teams’ head-to-head records would be decisive. Results against Bulgaria would become irrelevant. Sweden, Denmark and Italy would all have drawn with each other so they would be tied on both head-to-head points and also on head-to-head goal difference.
The next record to be used would be head-to-head goals scored. To that point, Denmark had drawn 0-0 with Italy. Sweden had then drawn 1-1 with Italy. The wily Italians fearfully realised that, in the final round of games, if Sweden and Denmark were to draw 2-2 then nothing that they could do against Bulgaria would save them. Prior to the final round of games, there were unsubtle suggestions that this would be the outcome that the Scandinavian sides would play for. Many bookmakers provocatively offered odds of just 7/2 on a 2-2 draw. At that time, these were the lowest odds ever offered on such an outcome in a competitive match.
After 28 minutes, in pouring rain at the Estádio do Bessa in Porto, Denmark’s Jon Dahl Tomasson opened the scoring in spectacular fashion. He fired a lobbed effort from at least 25 yards over the goalkeeper and into the top corner.
On the stroke of half-time, in similarly sketchy conditions in Guimarães, there was a goal in the other game. It threatened to render irrelevant anything further that might happen in Porto but certainly did not do anything for any emotional Italians who felt that everything was conspiring against them.
As a ball was floated into the Italian penalty box, Marco Materazzi was close to Dimitar Berbatov. Did he bring the Bulgarian striker down? It was highly debatable yet the referee pointed to the spot. Martin Petrov sent goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon the wrong way and the Italians trailed to Bulgaria’s first goal of the tournament. Shortly after half-time, Italy channelled any frustration to positive effect as Gianluca Zambrotta tucked home an equaliser. It came after striker Antonio Cassano had crashed a shot against the underside of the crossbar.
However, at the same time as that was happening, there was further action in the game between Denmark and Sweden. The latter had been awarded a penalty of their own. There was little debate about this one as Swedish striker Henrik Larsson poked the ball past Thomas Sørensen. The goalkeeper promptly brought him crashing to the ground. Larsson dispatched the penalty for 1-1.
With a little less than 25 minutes to go, the Danes went back in front when Tomasson reacted quickest to a loose ball in the penalty box to lash home his second goal of the game. As the striker celebrated by putting his finger to his lips to shush the Swedish part of the crowd, it seemed pretty clear that both teams were intent on slugging it out to finish top of the group rather than worrying about stitching up the Italians.
Regardless, it remained 1-1 in the other game which, had it stayed that way, would have meant the Italians came up short all of their own accord. However, temperatures were rising, particularly after Cassano appeared to be chopped down on the edge of the box with no penalty awarded. With five minutes to go, there was almost a sucker punch but Buffon reacted smartly to beat away a Berbatov free kick. As the game became increasingly chaotic, Buffon then denied Petrov as Bulgaria broke away before the game swung back to the other end.
Alessandro Del Piero clipped a low cross into the box and, in injury time, Cassano fired the ball into the top corner. Italy led in stoppage time. Cassano, fleetingly, had the widest smile in Portugal.
But, back in Porto and in the last minute, Swedish winger Christian Wilhelmsson had cut to the byline and fired in a dangerous cross. Sørensen got two hands to it but could not hold the ball. It dropped to the ground, where it was immediately smacked into the net by Olof Jonsson. The Swedes had levelled and it was 2-2.
The result of Italy’s nightmares had become a reality. The final group table was decided by the slimmest of margins.
Sweden, despite having been on the ropes after Denmark went 2-1 up and had numerous opportunities to kill the game, would win the group. They achieved this by virtue of their three goals scored against Denmark and Italy. The Danes’ two goals scored in that infamous match against their Scandinavian rivals were enough for second place. They had previously drawn 0-0 with Italy. All that left the Italians in third place with just one goal in the head-to-head final reckoning – which had come in a 1-1 draw with Sweden.
Some Italians, including an emotional Gianluigi Buffon, claimed there was a whiff of scandal about the result but those involved saw nothing other than two Scandinavian teams pushing hard for local bragging rights in the midst of a major international tournament.”
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