1982

July 5th 1982.....Ron Greenwood was England manager and the game against Spain was the second of two Second Round matches in the "Spanish" World Cup, this game held in the Bernabeu, Madrid. A win would be good, anything else not so good! Previously, from the 16th June, England had been playing World Cup "finals" ties starting with a 3-1 win in Bilbao against France. Bryan Robson 2 and Mariner scored the goals. Next came the Czechs, a 2-0 win with Trevor Francis and an og. On June 25th Kuwait stood in England's way and Trevor Francis sneaked a 1-0. Do you get the feeling that the trend is not gathering momentum? 

Things moved on to another Round of matches, this time with teams who had progressed successfully from Round One. Inevitably it was West Germany that England met, in the Bernabeu again, surviving a 0-0 draw. Even the famed Karl Heinz Rummenigge, couldn't score. Six days later,, it was Spain on their own turf in Madrid, a 0-0 draw. Needless to say this wasn't enough as the Germans won one and drew one. We got two points, the Spanish one point. The selection for the final game, in which England needed to win by two clear goals, did not include Keegan and Brooking, who had been disappointing in a practice match, held by manager Ron Greenwood. They were left out of the side, as Greenwood's "reserve" team beat the Probables....... So Tony Woodcock partnered Trevor Francis and the final game, held at The Bernabeu, with 75,000 watching, fizzled out into a 0-0 draw. Team that dayt: Shilton, Mills capt, Sansom, P.Thompson, Butcher, Robson, Rix (later Brooking), Wilkins, Mariner, Francis, Woodcock (later Keegan). Hoddle was in the squad, but not used. The squad also included Neal, Foster, Coppell, all of whom had featured earlier in the tournament. This wasn't a bad squad was it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg9zrIWHPXE

Having scored in the previous 13 matches, England had gone two games with no goals, The FA appointed Bibby Robson for the next phase, qualifying for the European Championships, the following September. England started their campiagn drawing with Denmark 2-2 in Copenhagen, then beat Greece 3-0 and thumped Luxembourg 9-0. Simples....