The Forgotten Euros – When England Failed


By Scott McGlynn

 So let’s be honest, England don’t have the greatest record at the European Championships – they’ve put in some shockers over the years.

In the hope that Gareth and the boys won’t be on this list in future years, we’ve taken a look back at the Euros where England failed.

1.    Euro ‘88

After a solid performance at Mexico 1986, and with Gary Lineker in the best form of his career, hopes were high for a big England performance at Euro 1998.

Once again though England didn’t step up – losing 1-0 to Ireland, and 3-1 to both the Netherlands USSR, who eventually went on to contest the final.

England returned home demoralised but Bobby Robson and the boys did go some way to redeeming themselves at Italia 1990.

 

2.    Euro ‘92

Having gone within touching distance of reaching the World Cup final at Italia 1990, big things were expected of England at Euro 1992.

However, two 0-0 draws against Denmark and France, and a 2-1 defeat to hosts Sweden, and England were on the first plane home to face a media barrage.

Manager Graham Taylor was vilified and it didn’t get much better for England fans under Taylor when the national team failed to even qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA.

 

3.    Euro 2000

Euro 2000 saw Kevin Keegan’s England pitched into the group of death alongside Germany, Portugal, and Romania.

Sadly it was a tournament to forget for England fans, with the Three Lions chucking away a 2-0 lead over Portugal to lose 3-2, doing a number on a poor German side 1-0 but then losing 3-2 to Romania thanks to a late Ionel Ganea penalty.

The only crumb of comfort for England was that they had at last beaten Germany and finished above them in the group – the holders crashed out with just a single point.

 

4.    Euro 2008

England failed so badly in their attempt to make it to Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland that they didn’t even get through qualifying. The Three Lions finished third out of the seven teams in qualifying Group E, behind Croatia and Russia who both went through automatically as there were no playoffs.

Croatia stunned England 3-2 at a rainy Wembley in the final match of qualifying. November 21, 2007 will go down in history as one of the Three Lions’ darkest ever nights and saw the end of Steve McLaren (aka the Wally with the brolly) as England coach.

A draw was all that was required for England to finish in second place which would have sent them straight to the finals. But they found themselves 2-0 down within 14 minutes. England did claw it back to 2-2 before Mladen Petric rifled in the winner from 25 yards to crush England.

 

5.    Euro 2016

Once more, England arrived at an international tournament as one of the favourites. And once more they crumbled under the pressure.

Euro 2016 saw England pitched in against Wales, Slovakia, and Russia in Group B, and they looked well off the pace from the start.

A 0-0 draw against Russia was followed up with a 2-1 win over Wales thanks to an injury-time winner, before another goalless draw against Slovakia.

England’s reward was a last 16 match against Iceland and after a frenetic start with the match tied at 1-1, Joe Hart allowed Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s shot to squirm under his body for what proved to be the decisive goal – and yet another early tournament exit for the Three Lions.

 

Craig Jones

Craig Jones

Content Manager on Freebets. Experienced punter, from back street, smoke filled betting shops in the 2000s, to state of the art, dedicated betting apps of the 2020s. Covering the gambling industry with expert opinion and looking at the latest innovations.