On this day (18th June) in 1966, at the England World Cup Finals, one of the shocks of the tournament was North Korea's 1-0 defeat of Italy at Ayresome Park, sadly now only Middlesbrough's old ground. That victory saw North Korea qualify for the Quarter-finals at the expense of the Italians!!
On this day (ditto) in 1982, Doug Ellis (remember him? ever heard of him?) became chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers, saving the club from extinction. Previously, Ellis had a stint as Aston Villa chairman and had been on the Birmingham City board...keeping it in the Midlands! He later rejoined the Villains, thinking he might be the "answer" to any worries about West Midlands football.
On the 18th of June 1996 etc, England recorded an impressive 4-1 win over Holland at Wembley to reach the quarter-finals of the Euro 96, Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham (the SAS strike force!!) scoring two apiece. The late goal scored by Holland also saw them through to the last 8, at the expense of Scotland! Sorry!
On June 18th 2002, you guessed it... it was the turn of South Korea to record a famous World Cup victory over the Italians. At the last 16 knock-out stage, South Korea, who co-hosted the 2002 finals with Japan, progressed to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Italy with the winner being an extra-time golden goal scored by Ahn Jung-hwan. Ahn played his club football in Italy with Perugia - well he did until the next day!!! when the the Perugia owner cancelled his contract saying 'I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football'.
South Korea beat Spain on penalties in the quarter-finals before losing to Germany in the semis and then Turkey in the 3rd/4th place play-off.
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