Fucking amazing tournament. Watching these it's exactly as I remember it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOuYIYh5A2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyoi6NgWi0

My biggest memories of this are the Manchester bombing an that whole weekend and England v Holland.

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i was raging at gary mccallister, turns out it was that prick uri geller i should heave focussed on

Ive not enjoyed following england since really...98 was alright as depspite the gazza fallout we actually played very good football under hoddle...its been pure shite since.

96 and 90 were amazing tournements to follow england in. Dunno if ill ever get the same buzz again sadly.

I can only remember as far back as '94 and we weren't in it so '96 is my first and favourite tournament. Can't see it ever being beaten even if we ever win the World Cup. Everything in '96 bwas perfect - the weather, the players, the atmosphere. Was genuinely gripped by it. While today's team might seem strong they are a million miles away in terms of character

i do remember how eager the tv companies were to hail almost every game some kind of classic, as if bad football by two european countries other than england or scotland somehow reflected badly on the whole of britain and its people. The prime example was the Denmark - Portugal game; it was fucking rubbish but nobody could bring themselves to admit as much. i remember Hanson at halftime saying "ive enjoyed it, ive enjoyed it" reiterating that hed enjoyed it almost as if he was trying to convince himself. I remember my mate, Tetley, at school the next day turning to me in registration and saying:

"do watch the denmark-portugal last night?"
"yeah"
*nodding, as if by doing so he would persuade me to his point* "good game wasnt it?"

but the look in his eye said "look - you know it, i know it, we all know it, it was fucking gash. but its here now and cant be stopped. we've just got to grit our teeth and pretend we like it - 2 1/2 weeks left, spirit of the blitz, stiff upper lip - let's just sit it out with a smile on our face then when its over we need never talk of it again".


the ball in play/ball out of play stats for the game were something like In play for 46 minutes, out of play for 44. Shit game, but "ooooh, its *Laudrup*", and "ooooh, its *Figo*", we simply have to convince ourselves.


and we robbed Spain too.

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"Music isn't a young mans game, la. Music you take to your grave"

I was avin a look at my euro 96 program for the group with Germany, Russia and the Czech's in it and the adverts are almost as intresting as the facts in it.

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was Poborskys chip in 96 or 98? i loved that goal

96 i think, as was suker's.

united then signed him up and destroyed his career, likewise arsenal with suker later on.

And Jordi Cruyff. He was class. But fergie treated him like shit. Poborsky was brilliant.

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Yorkshire policemen chat with folded arms while people try and save their fellow fans

jordi cruff was not class by any stretch!

Cruyff was alright he just had the problem of having a fucking leg end as a father. He was never going to live up to him.

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dancing round the room whilst beating holland. One of the best moments of my life. For some reason the neighbours tv's were a few seconds ahead so we could hear the cheers coming. An amazing summer. Was 10 so was just getting that little bit of freedom without a care in the world. I have hazy memorys of World Cup 94 what with it being on late at night so this is really the first one.

Baddiel and Skinner dancing in the stands at wembley
The Scots penalty kick and uri geller
The dentist chair celebration
An england side not playing 4 4 2
An atmosphere that has simpley not been matched at the frankly dull Wembley
Heart break in the semi finals
that gazza goal
that gazza miss
the grey kit
popborsky's lob

and many more.

Didnt they even make a drama based around that summer called My Summer With Des?

Few months back i watched the whole bbc show of the semi final. Brought tears to my eyes. Bizzare as if we went out next year the same way i'd just get roaring drunk and laugh it off.

seaman = best tache ever seen in sport.
and that clip reminded me of just how good mcmanaman was. then again it was against scotland.

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cheers

So many good memories, such a brilliant summer. It seemed to last forever and it was always so hot! That was easily the best summer of my life. Football has gone down hill ever since.

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Yorkshire policemen chat with folded arms while people try and save their fellow fans

not at all, France 98 was a much better tournament.

USA 94 is the best i remember though

This thread has made me really pissed off that scotland didn't qualify for the world cup. At least our whole team won't get kidnapped in South Africa I suppose.

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Ooooooooooooh a madcap laughs in the corner!


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Euro 96 was fantastic. I loved it despite our defeat at Wembley.

I'd say Mexico 86 or France 98 was the best tournament for me. I can just remember Spain 82 so it holds dear memories for me too, especially Dave Narey's goal against Brazil.