England v Cameroon
Italy 1990 | Quarter-finals
Stadio San Paolo, Naples
Attendance: 55,205
Going into the game
‘Gazzamania’ was in fanatical flow. People simply couldn’t get enough of the extrovert pranking pals, pulling silly faces and emerging from a Sardinian swimming pool naked after mummifying himself in toilet paper off the pitch. Or his intoxicating tricks on it. He’d used them to torture the Netherlands and Egypt in the first phase, before setting up David Platt’s 119th-minute winner against Belgium in the last 16.
Cameroon had stunned Argentina, won an extremely competitive group and outlasted Colombia to become the first African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. Thomas N’Kono and Francois Omam-Biyik were thriving, while Valery Nepomnyashchy’s tactic of throwing on 38-year-old Roger Milla as games aged was paying rich dividends. An enthralling encounter ensued between Bobby Robson’s youngest player and the tournament’s oldest outfielder.
The game
Gascoigne began conning Cameroonians from kick-off. As he magnetised markers, fellow Englishmen found space, and Platt capitalised by heading home from a pinpoint Stuart Pearce cross.
‘Gazza’ continued to trick opponents, play one-twos and win free-kicks, but he did commit the foul from which Emmanuel Kunde equalised from the spot. Milla, an interval introduction, then set up Eugene Ekeke to fire the Indomitable Lions ahead. Gascoigne responded by hoodwinking his marker mercurially and threading a palatial pass into the path of Platt, who clipped narrowly wide, only for Lineker to keep England alive by winning and scoring a late penalty.
If Gascoigne was excellent in the opening 90, he was exceptional in the additional 30. The 23-year-old’s spellbinding shimmy dropped Jean-Claude Pagal to his backside, before he skipped away from Cyrille Makanaky and produced a glorious through-ball for Lineker to seize another spot-kick, which the striker once again scored.
Gascoigne’s final involvement was to devilishly dribble past three opponents and feed Lineker, who stabbed narrowly wide. It wasn’t outcome-altering. England had booked a Turin date with West Germany, and it was indebted to an enthralling performance from their Geordie genius.
Quotes
“He’s a genius. He gets you excited to watch football matches.”
Johan Cruyff
“He was tremendous. The bigger the game, the better he is. ‘Gazza’ has extreme confidence in his own ability, always wants the ball, and always wants to keep driving forward. It was a wonderful pass for the [second] penalty.”
Bobby Robson
“He was exceptional. We all knew how skilful he was, but what surprised us was how strong he was running with the ball. You couldn’t knock him off it.”
Jean-Claude Pagal
