This Week: 9 June - 15 June
The "greatest three minutes of football ever played", Toto, Keegan, quintessential Scotland, a legend chased and photographic history
Morning everyone,
It is Monday again and at Nessun Dorma that means having a blether about seven more stories from football history. It is June so that means we are up to our knees in tournament folklore. It was Rob Smyth’s turn to join me and, as is an eleven-week tradition, he had the honour to go first…
9 June - It is the first Saturday of Italia ‘90 which meant three games for us to feast upon after the jaw-dropping excitement of the day before in Milan. We had Marius Lacatus destroying the USSR in Bari, Carlos Valderrama finishing off the UAE in Bologna and then the hosts - shackled by their own nerves in Rome - needing some Sicilian inspiration from the bench to get them on their way and really set the tone for an unforgettable summer.
10 June - It felt like USA ‘94 was just a temporary blip for Scotland’s presence at the World Cup and here they were, back and centre stage for the opening game in the Stade de France. It ticked so many ‘Scotland at a World Cup’ boxes. The opponents were Brazil. Concede a messy goal before anyone got too comfortable. Respond well and shock the world. Work hard until the dying minutes. Concede a winner so comedic that it only lacked Jim Leighton stepping on a rake afterwards and Tommy Boyd accidentally setting himself on fire.
11 June - With France already up and running against Denmark, the Netherlands were up against it for so much of their opening game that evening against the Czech Republic. It was a superb performance but one cruelly denied by a dodgy late penalty. Few in Amsterdam cared and the Czechs would stake a claim for being the best ever side not to make it out of a tournament group.
12 June - Just after 8pm the following evening, England were roaring into a two-goal lead against Portugal in Eindhoven. Kevin Keegan looked so happy on the side, like the young couple enjoying a romantic meal in the remote cabin at the very start of a movie. The match was nowhere near done.
13 June - The actual action was nothing - a free kick that broke down - but the image was one upon which millions projected their own fantasy as six Belgian players looked terrified of the young Argentinian number 10 on this day in 1982.
14 June - Paolo Maldini rarely looked as if he broke sweat let alone get an absolute chasing in a game and yet on this day in 1996, at Anfield, Karel Poborsky did exactly that as the Czech Republic turned Italy’s Euros upside down and set their own path to history.
15 June - At this stage of the World Cup in 1958, Brazil coach Vicente Feola was feeling a little pressure due to their prosaic approach in the first two group games. In came the young Pelé and Garrincha for the final game against a strong USSR and the earth shook. Both hit the post in the opening two minutes and Vavá put Brazil ahead a minute later. Gabriel Hanot, the architect of European club competition described it in L’Équipe as the “greatest three minutes of football ever played.”
Please have a listen to the pod here and get involved in the conversation. For only $3.99 a month (less than 70p a week) you will get this show every Monday and the main Nessun Dorma show two days early and ad-free. This week Jonathan O’Brien takes us through Group 2 in Euro ‘84 which provided an Iberian surprise and West German misery. The latter to much delight in France. I can’t think why.
Have a great week,
Martyn