THREE LIONS, FOUR GOALS TOTAL BELIEF!

The night England persuaded the country that football really was coming home (even though it didn’t!)

BY

IF the famous

Paul Gascoigne ‘dentist’s chair’ celebration against Scotland had been fun... the emphatic win against Holland in the final Group A game was the match where things turned serious. Not in the sense of ‘not enjoyable’ serious. Teddy Sheringham, who scored two of England’s goals in the 4-1 win, rated it as his favourite game in his 24-year career.

But it was a match which sparked belief that England could outclass the best the continent had to offer. A match where they outplayed the architects of Total Football. A match which had the nation believing Euro 96 might just be the one. As ‘Three Lions’ belted out at Wembley and the nation sang along it felt like a turning point.

Terry Venables had sat his players down for an hourand-a-half for his prematch team talk and gone through the teams man by man. “He made it clear this was going to be one of the biggest games in any of our lives,” said Paul Gascoigne later. Captain Tony Adams recalled: “Every player left that meeting convinced he was better than his counterpart and that the

Dutch were there for the taking.” The result was stunning. England, playing 4-4-2, were electric. Gascoigne was at his untouchable best, Paul Ince a driving force and Sheringham and Alan Shearer (his first, left) with two goals each, poetry in motion.

The moment of the night was a sublime combination for England’s third, Gascoigne dribbling, cutting back to Sheringham, who feigned to shoot but instead delicately angled it to Shearer who slotted home.

“It was the best performance by an England team I’d ever played in,” said Shearer later.

Venables (above) felt compelled to describe England as having “thrashed” Holland on the night. “It still gives me the goose-pimples when you realise how much you can give back to your country,” said Venables.