JOHN RICHARDSON Good Gord! How England’s World Cup dreams went down the toilet
altitude. But what he hadn’t factored in was a dodgy meal or a rogue beer.
Stepney said: “The game was a Sunday midday kick-off. We had been booked into a motel right across from the stadium.
“I was rooming with Gordon and we went training on the Saturday evening.
“We then had our evening meal and everything was fine.
“We had to be up the next day at 8am. We were up sharp, as ordered, and both of us went down for breakfast which was mostly scrambled eggs.
“Afterwards we went for a walk and then came back into a big conference room where Alf named the side to face the Germans.
“Gordon was in goal and Peter Bonetti would be the substitute keeper. Alf used to swap around his No.2 keepers, but this time it was Peter who’d be on the bench.
“So, not being involved, I knew I would be sitting in the stand. I’d just bought a camera so I thought I would go back to the room and collect it.
“Gordon had gone back for his boots and when I opened the hotel room door, I could hear him in the toilet.
“I knocked on the door and asked him if he was all right. He replied that he was bad. He was throwing up and also had terrible diarrhoea.
“I got hold of the team doctor, Neil Phillips, who took one look at Gordon and said I’d better inform Alf.
“The game was just over an hour away. The doctor told Alf that Gordon was in no state to play, so Alf announced that Peter would have to play and I would be one of the substitutes.”
At 2-0 up with goals from
Alan Mullery and Martin Peters, it seemed England were destined for the semi-finals.
Stepney added: “We were coasting. Alf decided to take off Bobby Charlton to save him for the semi-final as, by then, it was about 100 degrees. But everyone seemed to overlook that Franz Beckenbauer had been marking Bobby.
“Now Beckenbauer was released and he goes up and scores to start the comeback. Uwe Seeler then equalises with a back-header and Gerd Muller gets the decider in extra-time.
“No one wants to knock Peter, but it’s fair to say if Gordon had played we would have been in the semifinal against Italy.
“Alf was absolutely magnificent in the dressing room, despite the manner of the defeat. He made us lift up our heads and came around to each one of us and congratulated us for our performance.
“I then returned to the hotel to find Gordon in bed.
“He thought we had won. The last he had heard before being forced to lie in his bed was that we were 2-0 up. He looked up and asked if everything had turned out all right.
“When I told him what had happened he could hardly believe it – he was devastated.
“He had to stay in bed and wasn’t that well the next day when we had to leave to go home to England.
“If only he hadn’t been ill, we’d have faced Italy in the semifinal and I think we’d have won.
“We were in the same hotel as Italy in the build-up to the tournament. They kept their heads down and looked as if they wouldn’t have wanted to have played us as we were the reigning world champions.”