Euro 96  - classic matches

England 2-0 Scotland

England against Scotland is the oldest international fixture in football history; the heat was on as the two teams clashed in a vital Euro 96 match played at Wembley. The winners of this match knew that a place in the quarter finals beckoned and the losers were to face a real uphill battle.
Alan Shearer put England in front with a fantastic flying header, however after the opening goal, the Scots pushed England back in search of an elusive equalizer. Suddenly the Scots were awarded a penalty, which was then well saved by David Seamen. Only few moments later Paul Gascoigne grabbed the glory with one of the best goals of Euro 96, confirming a fantastic 2-0 victory to Terry Venables team, which in turn broke Scottish hearts.

England 4 -1 Holland

This was without doubt a night all English fans will remember. England’s crushing triumph against Holland began with Shearers 24th minute penalty, after Paul Ince had been brought down by Dutch skipper Danny Blind. Shearer converted the ball into the back of the net. Within fifteen minutes of the start of the second half, a corner on the left, curled in by Paul Gascoigne, looked harmless until Teddy Sheringham headed sharply inside the near post. The third was by far the best, Gascoigne race in to the Dutch half of the pitch, and passed swiftly to Sheringham, who passed the ball to Shearer to fire the ball home. There was more to come, when Sheringham scored the forth, after Edwin Van De Sar failed to hold Darren Anderton’s shot.
It took a goal by substitute, Patrick Kluivert with tem minutes remaining, to save the Dutch from an early flight home.

Germany 1-1 England (6-5 penalties) Semi Finals

The semi final against Germany was arguably the best match of Euro 96; England drew first blood within three minutes of the match with Shearer’s fifth goal of Euro 96. Stefan Kuntz equalized thirteen minutes later. Both team battled for the remaining minutes of the match with neither side giving any inch. The opening tem minutes of extra time were some of the most extraordinary to have ever happened in a football match. Darren Anderton hit the post, David Seamen made a fantastic save from an Andreas Moller shot, Stefan Kuntz had a goal disallowed; and Paul Gascoigne was a toe away from scoring the winner. The Drama increased as the dreaded nightmare of penalties dawned. Gareth Southgate had his penalty saved and Moller scored his penalty for Germany. The Germans were through to the final expecting to meet the Czechs at Wembley Stadium.

Germany 2-1 Czech republic   Final

The final was a repeat of the 1976 European Championships where the Czechs had beaten the Germans in a decisive penalty shoot out to win the European championships. The Czechs played a canny game, taking the lead on the hour mark by a penalty scored by Patrick Berger. Berti Vogts made an inspired substitution by bringing on Oliver Bierhoff. With just over a quarter of an hour remaining he rose at the far post to level the score line. In the fifth minute of extra time, Bierhoff latched on to a ball from Jurgen Klinsmann, turned, and struck a powerful shot. The ball took a slight deflection off Michael Hornak’s heel and the Czech goalkeeper, Petr Kouba, could only parry the ball into the back of the net. This was the first golden goal of the tournament and was the most decisive goal to this day in European Championship history.