ITV 1986 was the best ever TV theme. So good they kept it for iive match coverage and then used it for the last couple of years of the Saturday lunchtime Saint and Greavesiew show before the Premiier League came and changed everything.
Legends on the ball were Charlton, Pele, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Rossi and Maradona. The theme was so distinctive and brings back memories of my early teenage years and one of the very first World Cups I started following
This is actually the intro to the *quarter-final* v Cameroon. I still have the whole game on BBC, from five minutes in, on video, complete with a "goal of the tournament" competition at half time! Must get around to uploading it!
My first experience of the FIFA WORLD CUP. Not a great tournament. Most memorable moment of the whole championship was the semi-final of West Germany v England.... and the agony of the penalty shoot out. England still lose the majority of penalty shootouts since 1990 (only beating Spain on penalties in the Quarter Finals of Euro 96), Germany however haven't lost a penalty shoot out since against the Czech's in Euro 76! Germany are the masters of the penalty shoot out.
At the time I believe it was the most watched football match in history. I was on holiday in Sweden and I remember the whole place was looking forward to this match. 😊
The thing is England were pretty terrible in that world cup. They only played well in the semi-final and were pretty dreadful in all their other games. Their only game they were unlucky not to win was against Holland in the group phase but other than that were negative and were (if you are honest) very lucky to get past Belgium and Cameroon.
Nessun Dorma was good for the England vs Germany game summary. Especially when Waddle takes his run up and misses. I loved this world cup. Despite the agony it will always evoke great memories.
