‘When he scored, I thought we were going to win the whole thing’
The team-mate Darren Anderton was England’s right wing-back on the night
Your favourite moments are usually when you score yourself, but to be a part of that was incredible. My thoughts straight away were “cor … what a team we are, I’m part of something special. We could win the whole thing”.
Moments like that happen so quickly but, for a second, you find yourself completely swept up in them.
When it went in, I thought “wow, not bad”. No, it was absolutely world class. Ridiculous. That whole first half was probably the best half I have ever been involved in. It had everything, and Michael just frightened them to death.
They could not live with him and were sitting deeper and deeper, so he had time to run at them.
As soon as Michael scored, I knew that I had seen something special straight away. I was out on the right but a long way back because I could not keep up. It was a great move actually that started deep in our half, and even the last bit of it was special.
Most people would have left that for Scholesy [Paul Scholes] but he was an 18-year-old kid, new, brash, confident, cool as a cucumber. He was all about scoring goals at whatever level. For me the coolness at the end of it was what really stood out.
After he had won the penalty a few moments earlier, you were almost expecting him to do something special as opposed to being surprised by what he did.
It was like, get the ball into him again, and see what happens – they are petrified.
It was a moment that made the whole world sit up and take notice of Mo [Owen]. I always remember Merse [Paul Merson] the day afterwards laughing and saying: “He has no idea what he’s in for. What’s he done here? Good luck.”
There’s been nothing like it for England since. We had an incredible Euro ’96, but since then all we really talk about is penalties.
That Argentina game was something else, though. The atmosphere within the stadium with all their fans was a different world from Wembley. It felt like you were part of a huge World Cup moment.
The coach John Gorman was the assistant manager
It was exhilarating.
When it went in, we thought we would go on and win the game and possibly even the tournament. It was such a wonderful moment that deserved to be a winning goal.
It was a really great memory. I was ecstatic because it was such a great goal and he took it supremely well. It will never be forgotten. One of the things that stands out for me is that the Argentina defenders were so deep for some reason, frightened of his pace, I suppose.
He was special. He was young, but you just knew that he could deliver. Pace was his tremendous asset – he was absolutely electrifying – and scoring goals, so at that age there was no doubt in mine and Glenn’s [Hoddle, the England manager] mind that he should play.
Obviously he was very young but he was that good.
The commentator Jon Champion commentated on the match for the BBC
Every so often, if you are there commentating, you get something that lifts you from your seat.
It does not happen very often and perhaps, of the seven World Cups I have done, it might have happened to me four or five times, and when it is a player from your home nation it is doubly, triply special.
It was such an uplifting moment. You check yourself first to say “has that really happened?” It is a pinch-myself-i might-bedreaming moment.
Then you see the ball nestling in the back of the net and, strangely, people often say that you need to make sure you nail those moments as a commentator, and yet they are really the easiest moments to do because your natural emotion takes over.
The words somehow just appear and hopefully they match the moment. And I honestly think, bearing in mind what was at stake and that fact he was an England player – not to mention a callow 18-year-old – I would put it in as No 1 in my list of the most spectacular moments I have commentated on.
It ticked every box, it fulfilled every need for the best sporting drama.
It was part of a wider story that was entirely gripping for two hours. It was a pinnacle moment. It was a moment when Michael Owen made England fans believe that anything really was possible.
To score a goal against that team and that defence in that fashion was indicative of England potentially being able to live with the very best in that World Cup.
We started to dream and, unfortunately, those dreams were dashed on the rocks of penalties yet again (Argentina won 4-3 in the shoot-out after the match ended 2-2).
But he took us out of the
humdrum to the doors of the land of fantasy. There has been nothing like it for England since, but then, if you think about it and go 20 years before Owen, how many great moments were there between 1978 and 1998? How many between 1966 and 1998?
There were not really any on that level, just because of the individual brilliance that Owen produced.
There were fantastic dramas and controversies and lots of talking points but nothing really that we remember just for its aesthetic and artistic, sporting and physical brilliance and genius.
Not in the way that we talk about Owen’s goal.
The fan Chris Hunt, a magazine editor, was 36 and managed to purchase a ticket for the game in Paris before catching the train to St-etienne
I did not miss an England match at a major tournament between 1996 and 2010, and Owen’s goal is one of
the standout moments. Though the fact we lost the game has affected my memories of the match a bit.
The goal was a fantastic moment partly because it was part of such an entertaining start to the game. The general level of excitement was huge because so much had happened in such a short space of time.
You go to these games and build the apprehension up and get excited, and often they are then quite cagey for the first half.
But it was just no-holds-barred football – and one of the best World Cup goals I have ever seen.
It was so exciting the way he ran at defenders, and they were backing off.
It was thrilling to watch. He was totally fearless, the way he just ran
at the Argentina defenders, you could see the look of fear in their eyes as they back-pedalled.
People were going wild, but it was strange because I was only a few seats away from where the England players’ families were, and in a block which was shared with lots of Argentinian fans.
So, it was completely mixed reactions.
Ecstasy from the England supporters, and the Argentines looking like they could not believe what had happened.
Unfortunately, the Argentina fans ended up having the last laugh, and one of my abiding memories of the game is being driven mad by them celebrating wearing jester hats, blowing horns around me at the end of the match.