England World Cup History (Part II: 1982 – 2006)

April 29th, 2010 | by: Daryl | View Comments

We ended Part I of England’s World Cup history with the quarter-final defeat to West Germany at the 1970 World Cup. World Cup winning manager Alf Ramsey was fired after failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, and successor Don Revie jumped ship when it became clear England wouldn’t qualify for thee 1978 tournament. Revie’s replacement was Ron Greenwood, who successfully qualified for the 1982 tournament. Which is where we rejoin England’s World Cup story.

1982 World Cup in Spain

England’s return to the World Cup came with a promise that “This Time (We’ll Get it Right)”.

Despite injuries to key players Trevor Brooking and Kevin Keegan, the squad looked as good as their word from kickoff in the opening game, as 25 year old Man Utd midfielder Bryan Robson scored just 27 seconds in.

That 27 second goal was the fastest goal in World Cup history, until Turkey’s Hakan Şükür bettered it in 2002. England went on to win 3-1.

In the second game England beat Czechoslovakia 2-0, with a goal from Britain’s first £1million footballer, Trevor Francis. The million pound man scored again as England beat Kuwait 1-0 and finished top of the group.

The Second Round stage consisted of four groups of three teams each, with only the winners of each group making the semi-finals. England were drawn with old friends West Germany, and hosts Spain. Unfortunately England drew both games 0-0. Greenwood brought Brooking and Keegan off the bench in a desperate attempt to win the game against Spain, but the closest England came was Keegan glancing a header wide of goal. The two draws were only enough to secure second place, and proof that an undefeated exit from a World Cup is still an exit.

1986 World Cup in Mexico

Bobby Robson replaced Greenwood as manager after the 1982 World Cup, dropped Kevin Keegan and then failed to qualify for Euro ‘84. Robson offered to resign, but the FA persuaded him to stay and Robson successfully qualified for the ‘86 tournament.

After Keegan and Brooking in 1982, the tradition of pre-tournament big injury news continued when captain Bryan Robson dislocated his shoulder in a World Cup warm up game, and attempted to play the tournament in a harness. Not a good idea. England opened with a 1-0 defeat to Portugal, which was followed up by a goalless draw against Morocco in which Robson re-injured his shoulder (pictured). His tournament was over, and England’s looked to be finished too.

Until 25 year old Everton striker Gary Lineker stepped up and scored a 34 minute hat-trick in the final group game against Poland. All of them close range finishes, which was very much Lineker’s modus operandi.

That 3-0 win secured progress to the Second Round, where England beat Paraguay 3-0 with two more goals from Lineker and one from Peter Beardsley.

England were on a roll, and faced Argentina in the quarter-finals. More specifically they faced Diego Maradona. Even more specifically they faced maybe the two most famous goals Maradona would ever score.

First the infamous “Hand of God” goal where little Diego beat Peter Shilton to a high ball by using his hand, later claiming “The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, a little by the head of Maradona.” And even later admitting that yes, it was handball.

Read the full article: Diego Maradona and the Hand of God.

Yes, it was cheating. But even as an England fan, I have to admire the skill with which he pulled this off. There’s even a little nod of the head there to disguise it.

Maradona more than made up for that little bit of cheating by scoring arguably the greatest goal in World Cup history later in the same game:

Maradona picked the ball up in his own half, and left half the England team in his wake, before sidestepping Peter Shilton and rolling home. Can’t argue with that. Bobby Robson brought 22 year old left winger John Barnes off the bench, and Barnes managed to set up a consolation goal for Gary Lineker. No one was stopping Maradona in 1986.

However, that consolation goal was Lineker’s sixth of the tournament, enough to win the Golden Shoe for top scorer, the only time an England player has done so.

1990 World Cup in Italy

This is the tournament that defined (and continues to define) the England team in many ways. Particularly when it comes to penalties. As in 1982, there was a theme song. Unlike in 1982 (and other years) it was good. “World in Motion” by New Order is most famous for John Barnes’ rap in the middle, but it’s actually a decent tune that set the mood of the nation.

Once again there were injury worries. Captain Bryan Robson struggled through the opening 1-1 draw against Ireland, and part of the following 0-0 draw against the Netherlands, but was forced out with an achilles tendon injury he’d been carrying all along. Aston Villa midfielder David Platt was brought in to replace Robson, which would prove to be a good choice.

Mark Wright scored in the final group game against Egypt, and the 1-0 scoreline was enough to win the group with just four points, as every other game ended in either a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. Not the most exciting group in history.

Second Round opponents were Belgium. The game was goalless going into the last minute of extra time. Penalties loomed. Then Paul Gascoigne and David Platt combined to do this:

That set up an epic quarter-final against Cameroon, the first African team to make the last eight of a World Cup. The game swung back and forth, but England eventually won it 3-2 in extra time, thanks to two Lineker penalties.

Great ball from Gascoigne for the winner, but is it just me or was Lineker looking to get tripped over?

And so the semi-final against West Germany. Lineker again rescued England with another poacher’s goal to make it 1-1 in the 80th minute. Extra time was all about Paul Gascoigne. The young Spurs midfielder had been brilliant, but picked up a yellow for a rash tackle and so would be suspeneded for the final. Famously, he burst into tears at the prospect.

England famously went on to lose on penalty kicks. The 40 year old Peter Shilton was achingly slow to dive after the German penalty kicks, while Stuart Pearce’s kick was saved and Chris Waddle sent his decisive kick high and wide. Video of Gazza’s emotional moment and Waddle’s miss:

England lost the Third Place Playoff to Italy, but returned home to a hero’s welcome after the team’s best World Cup performance on foreign soil.

1998 World Cup in France

Graham Taylor’s England missed out on World Cup 1994, a disaster chronicled in the documentary “Do I Not Like That”, but made the semi-finals of Euro ‘96 under Terry Venables, losing to West Germany on penalties again. Glenn Hoddle was the man in charge for England’s France ‘98 adventure, and he made the big pre-tournament decision to drop Paul Gascoigne from the squad, a decision which wasn’t received warmly. Least of all by Gazza himself.

1998 marked the World Cup debut of both Michael Owen and David Beckham. Both were in and out of the team, but both ultimately had memorable tournaments, but for very different reasons.

England scraped through the group stage with a 2-0 win over Tunisia, a 2-1 defeat to Romania (where Owen came off the bench to score a late consolation) and a 2-0 win over Colombai, featuring Beckham’s first World Cup goal. A free kick, obviously.

But it was against Argentina in the Second Round where it all happened. Inside the first sixteen minutes England went 1-0 down, equalized from the penalty spot to make it 1-1, and then went 2-1 ahead when the 18 year old Michael Owen (finally getting a start) did this:

Great ball from Beckham, then it’s all about pace and confidence.

Argentina equalized just before half-time, and then David Beckham took what he thought was a crafty kick at Diego Simeone.

England exited the tournament when Paul Ince and David Batty missed their penalty kicks in the shootout, but the public’s anger was reserved almost exclusively for David Beckham, with the consensus being that he cost England the game.
Read the full article: David Beckham’s Red Card vs Argentina in 1998

2002 World Cup in Japan & South Korea

It’s testament to David Beckham’s balls, which I believe are indeed golden, that by the time of the next World Cup he was England captain, as well as England’s biggest celebrity and most loved footballer. Epic epic turnaround. Much of it due to this injury time free kick against Greece, which secured qualification for World Cup 2002 in the nick of time:

But then came the metatarsal injury and Beckham’s race against time to be fit for the tournament.

Beckham won that race, in that he was at least fit enough to play. Manager Sven Goran Eriksson picked him anyway, and after a 1-1 draw with Sweden in the opening group game, England’s second game was against Argentina, giving Beckham a chance at redemption and England a chance at revenge for 1986 and 1998.

He took it, scoring from the spot to give England a 1-0 win. A 0-0 draw with Nigeria was enough to send England through in second place behind Sweden.

In the Round of 16 England demolished Denmark 3-0, with all three goals coming in the first half. But the quarter-final opponent was Brazil. The Brazil of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

Owen put England ahead, but Rivaldo equalized after a great run from Ronaldinho (with Beckham rather conspicuous for his weak challenge in midfield). Brazil won the game with what many thought was a mis-hit cross from Ronaldinho at the time which sailed over the head of goalkeeper David Seaman. But in hindsight it was just another moment of brilliance from the then PSG but soon to be Barcelona player. Ronaldinho was sent off with 30 minutes to go (this game really was all about the ‘Dinho) but England plodded on and failed to capitalize on the man advantage. That failure to find a plan B was the beginning of the end of England’s love affair with Sven Goran Eriksson.

2006 World Cup in Germany

By the time of the next World Cup, England fans flat out hated their manager. Sven had been caught negotiating a big money move away from the England job with what turned out to be an undercover reporter, and had also been involved in an alleged affair with a member of the FA staff. Basically England were scandal-tastic, and Sven and the FA had agreed to part ways once the World Cup was over.

The gossipy atmosphere seemed to feed perfectly into the culture of WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends, for those who don’t know) with the significant others of many England stars accompanying the team in Germany and getting almost as many headlines and stories as the footballers.

The bright spot should have been 20 year old Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney. However, like Beckham before him, Rooney had picked up a pre-tournament metatarsal injury, and was never fully fit. For all the big names – Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Beckham, Rooney, Owen and more, England failed to play anything close to inspiring football in the early stages. A 1-0 win against Paraguay, a 2-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago and a 2-2 draw with Sven’s native Sweden got England through an ultimately easy group stage in first place. A Beckham free kick was enough to beat Ecuador 1-0 in the Round of 16, but England didn’t really come to life until facing Portugal in the quarter-final.

Following a 0-0 draw, England lost on penalty kicks (again) after Gerrard, Lampard and Carragher all failed to score. It was also the third consecutive tournament where England had been knocked out by Luiz Felipe Scolari, who’d been Brazil manager in 2002, and also in charge of the Portugal team that beat England (on penalties) in the Euro 2004 quarterfinal.

But as in 1998, the big story wasn’t the penalties. England was used to that. The big story was the sending off. For some reason (I still don’t know why) the English public’s hatred focused on Cristiano Ronaldo.

It was Wayne Rooney who lost his temper and stomped on Ricardo Carvalho’s dangly bits. Clearly a red card. But because Rooney’s Man Utd teammate Ronaldo winked at the bench in the rumble following the stomp, it was somehow all his fault.

Either way, England were out of another tournament on penalties, and would go on to fail to qualify for Euro 2008.

England World Cup Record:
1950 – First Round
1954 – Quarter-Finals
1958 – First Round
1962 – Quarter-Finals
1966 – Winners
1970 – Quarter-Finals
1982 – Second Round
1986 – Quarter-Finals
1990 – Semi-Finals
1998 – Second Round
2002 – Quarter-Finals
2006 – Quarter-Finals

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- Our England World Cup Blog.
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