England's Nightmare Opponents
Eleven players that make up England's nightmare team. Three generations of misery on one pitch.
GoalKeeper:
Jan Tomaszewski
The Polish 'keeper that cost Sir Alf Ramsey his job and England a place in the 1974 World Cup.
Defenders:
Berti Vogts
A defender in the 1970 German team that knocked England out of the world cup and manager of the 1996 German team that beat England in Euro 96.
Thomas Dooley
The American defender who scored in England's embarrassing 2-0 loss to the USA in 1993
Ronald Koeman
The Dutch defender who scored to virtually eliminate England from USA '94. To add insult to injury, he should have been sent off earlier in the game for a foul on David Platt.
Karlheinz Schnellinger
German full back in the team that knocked the then world champions England out of Mexico '70. England were 2-0 up before loosing 3-2 AET.
Midfielders:
Ryan Giggs
The only player in Britain who England fans wish was English. He played for England school boys before deciding to play senior football for Wales.
Diego Simeone
An Argentinean who cheated England out of a major tournament, this time by getting David Beckham sent off in France '98.
Diego Maradona
No introduction needed, the man who cheated England out of the 1986 World Cup.
Attackers:
Andreas Moller
The man who scored the winning penalty for Germany in Euro '96.
Ferenc Puskas
The great Hungarian who played and scored in England's 6-3 and 7-1 defeats in 1953 and 1954.
Davide Gualtier
The San Marino player who scored against England after 8 seconds. The goal is still the fastest ever scored in the World Cup.
Germany / West Germany
In 1970, 1972, 1974, 1982, 1990 and 1996 Germany or West Germany cost England their place in a major championship.
England had also failed to beat the Germans for 34 years before Euro 2000.
Diego Maradona
His infamous 'Hand of God' goal guarantees him a place in England's History. This extract from his autobiography 'El Diego' describes the feelings behind Argentina's 2-1 win in 1986:
"It was like stealing the wallets of the Englishmen"
"We were blaming the English players for everything that had happened, for all that the Argentine people had suffered. I know that it was a mad thing, an absurd notion, but that was truly what we felt."
Diego Simeone
Another Argentinean Diego, this time Simeone, was responsible for England's exit from another major championship.
His antics in front of Danish Referee Kim Morton Neilsen caused David Beckham to receive a red card in the second round of France 98. England eventually lost on penalties after playing some of the best football of the tournament.
Jan Tomaszewski
This polish goalkeeper, declared 'a clown' by Brian Clough, almost single-handedly kept England at bay in in a 1973 World Cup qualifier at Wembley.
The match finished 1-1 England were out of the world cup and Alf Ramsey, the world cup winner seven years earlier, left his position as manager.
Ronald Koeman
The Dutchman should have been sent off for a foul on David Platt in a 1993 World Cup qualifier. But, he was allowed to remain and later in the game he chipped a close range free-kick over a defensive wall and into the top left corner.
His goal effectively eliminated England from USA '94.
France 2-1 England, 2004
England led 1-0 in the 90th minute of this Euro 2004 group stage match, but a stunning collapse saw France secure a 2-1 victory in inury time.
Frank Lampard had opened the scoring for England after 38 minutes and Wayne Rooney won a penalty 17 minutes from full time.
But David Beckham had his penalty saved by Fabien Barthez, before Zinedine Zidane scored with a 90th minute free-kick.
And there was time still for a winner as Zidane struck home a 94th minute penalty (Henry was brought down by James) to give the French an unlikely win.
