THREE LIONS AND A DUO

I will have used this "Date" before I bet, but its fun and its Monday...so sometimes I'm a bit short of ideas after a busy weekend!!! 

"But then one night in Ro-ome, we were strong, we had grown." Baddiel and Skinner* (remember them?) sung their version of the 1998 World Cup song, Three Lions, referring to the match held on this day in 1997 in which England needed a draw away to the canny Italians to qualify for the 1998 tournament. * Why not get the lads singing the song from the www. ??

Gascoigne played superbly, probably "bouyed" by the sing-song and Paul Ince (see below left) did his "Terry Butcher" impression (below right!!), bloodstained shirt (wouldn't be allowed these days-Health and Safety!!) and our boys hung for a 0-0 draw to enable qualification!

The famous photo of Butcher, covered in blood, is from a 1990 World Cup qualifier against Sweden, where he sustained a severe head injury but refused to be substituted.  A clash of heads with Swedish striker Johnny Ekstrom left him with an open head wound, but he famously stayed on the pitch with bandages and his shirt stained red. Would it be allowed today? BUT we are 35 years since-can you believe it? 

Bryan Robson-yes Bryan-says that there was an implication that footballers today are not "hard" like Terry was and others of course! But see below.....

The comment about "past times when players were hard"..is stupid..because, these days, even tough Terry Butcher would not be allowed to carry on, due to the modern, sensible rules on head injuries and blood on shirts..these rules would not allow it..not because players are weaker....more related to contamination procedures, understand the present rules.

Here here!! and below, just is the qualification for our brave boys in 1998.

Group 2 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	8	6	1	1	15	2	+13	19	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup		—	0–1	2–1	2–0	4–0
2	Italy	8	5	3	0	11	1	+10	18	Advance to second round		0–0	—	3–0	1–0	3–0
3	Poland	8	3	1	4	10	12	−2	10			0–2	0–0	—	4–1	2–1
4	Georgia	8	3	1	4	7	9	−2	10			0–2	0–0	3–0	—	2–0
5	Moldova	8	0	0	8	2	21	−19	0			0–3	1–3	0–3	0–1	—