Football's Coming Home
In a few hours, the 2006 World Cup kicks off. I can't say that the anticipation has been keeping me awake at night, and yesterday after contemplating my lack of passion over England's prospects I came to the conclusion that I really am becoming fully Israeli.
But this morning I awoke to the first day of a weekend (Israeli weekends start on Friday), a bright blue cloudless sky, and a feeling of excitement, of joy to be alive. As I let my brain drift back almost exactly ten years in time, I realized why.
In June 1996 England hosted the European Football Championship, an event that for Europeans is almost as significant as the World Cup. English football had just gone through a truly dreadful period – after securing a surprising and impressive 4th place in Italia 1990 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4851148.stm
England had failed to even qualify for the 1994 World Cup, and the national team had become a bit of a laughing stock (much was blamed on the hapless manager, Graham Taylor – otherwise known as Turnip Head).
Usually in England, the team is talked up before a tournament. But in 1996 expectations were low. As host nation the team had not had to qualify, so was largely untested, though at last England had a widely respected manager with a track record of success (Terry Venables). But still, nobody gave them much of a chance.
England kicked off the first match of the tournament against a mediocre Switzerland team, and only managed a 1-1 draw, turning in an extremely dull, lackluster performance. The fact that some of the team members had been photographed drinking (and smoking!) in a nightclub not long before the game didn't help.
The next game came on a sunny Saturday morning, against Scotland, and this was what I was remembering today. The unspoken terror was that a draw (or even worse, a loss) could see us crashing out to mighty Holland in our final match of the group stage. After all, if we couldn't beat Switzerland……
The first half against Scotland was appalling. It ended 0-0 and furing the break the TV commentators all lambasted England.
At the beginning of the second half, England came out looking much better. Shearer scored to put England one up. About halfway through the second half Scotland got a penalty, and disaster beckoned, but David Seaman pulled off a save. Just three minutes later, Euro 96 become special, when the one and only Paul Gascoigne scored a goal of tourette-inspired genius:
http://mr-15725.mr.valuehost.co.uk/PaulGascoigne_Euro96.mpg
England won 2-0 and then in the final group game crushed Holland 4-1 to top their group in the best England performance for near on 30 years. That night a kind of euphoria seized the whole country, I remember driving home and happy drunk people were filling the streets, waving at every honking car that drove by…. then came a nervy yet ultimately victorious quarter final victory against Spain…. it was a magical time. Every mouse became a lion and every man (and quite a few women as well) had a special spring in their step – there was a great rumour 9 months later that the rate of childbirth had risen dramatically.
Then the semi final against Germany at Wembley. The real final…..
Shabbat is coming and I am running out of time, so this is to be continued soon….
But this morning I awoke to the first day of a weekend (Israeli weekends start on Friday), a bright blue cloudless sky, and a feeling of excitement, of joy to be alive. As I let my brain drift back almost exactly ten years in time, I realized why.
In June 1996 England hosted the European Football Championship, an event that for Europeans is almost as significant as the World Cup. English football had just gone through a truly dreadful period – after securing a surprising and impressive 4th place in Italia 1990 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4851148.stm
England had failed to even qualify for the 1994 World Cup, and the national team had become a bit of a laughing stock (much was blamed on the hapless manager, Graham Taylor – otherwise known as Turnip Head).
Usually in England, the team is talked up before a tournament. But in 1996 expectations were low. As host nation the team had not had to qualify, so was largely untested, though at last England had a widely respected manager with a track record of success (Terry Venables). But still, nobody gave them much of a chance.
England kicked off the first match of the tournament against a mediocre Switzerland team, and only managed a 1-1 draw, turning in an extremely dull, lackluster performance. The fact that some of the team members had been photographed drinking (and smoking!) in a nightclub not long before the game didn't help.
The next game came on a sunny Saturday morning, against Scotland, and this was what I was remembering today. The unspoken terror was that a draw (or even worse, a loss) could see us crashing out to mighty Holland in our final match of the group stage. After all, if we couldn't beat Switzerland……
The first half against Scotland was appalling. It ended 0-0 and furing the break the TV commentators all lambasted England.
At the beginning of the second half, England came out looking much better. Shearer scored to put England one up. About halfway through the second half Scotland got a penalty, and disaster beckoned, but David Seaman pulled off a save. Just three minutes later, Euro 96 become special, when the one and only Paul Gascoigne scored a goal of tourette-inspired genius:
http://mr-15725.mr.valuehost.co.uk/PaulGascoigne_Euro96.mpg
England won 2-0 and then in the final group game crushed Holland 4-1 to top their group in the best England performance for near on 30 years. That night a kind of euphoria seized the whole country, I remember driving home and happy drunk people were filling the streets, waving at every honking car that drove by…. then came a nervy yet ultimately victorious quarter final victory against Spain…. it was a magical time. Every mouse became a lion and every man (and quite a few women as well) had a special spring in their step – there was a great rumour 9 months later that the rate of childbirth had risen dramatically.
Then the semi final against Germany at Wembley. The real final…..
Shabbat is coming and I am running out of time, so this is to be continued soon….
posted by anotheranglo | 6:08 PM
1 Comments:
Something has to be said for us sitting next to each other at work reading each other's blogs... and stop looking at my station ;)
England won't win, reaching that realisation doesn't make you Israeli. A realist, and possibly a historian, but Israel certainly didn't influence you when it comes to Kadur Regel!
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