12 February 1997, Wembley. Italy 1–0 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A wet Wednesday, seventy-five thousand in, and a new England that had been leaked to the papers by a squad member who was not in it. David Seaman was in a scanner. Ian Walker had the first start and a shoulder that might already have been wrong. Glenn Hoddle had given Lent a gamble: Matt Le Tissier on the sloping shoulders, Sol Campbell as the sweeper, Alan Shearer waiting for a ball the Italians had no intention of posting. Cesare Maldini, sixty-four, had brought catenaccio's grandson and a Chelsea forward the English week still treated as a highlight reel. The Independent, in the morning, would not look for a nuance. Zola unzips new-style England. Hoddle, in the room, had the line ready. It's a set-back, not a disaster. Then he had to live in the clause that followed. Quite a big set-back: England's first World Cup defeat at Wembley.
They had come into the group as the side that put three past Moldova and two past Poland and two past Georgia. Italy had won their three. A November play-off was already a shadow on the fixture list if the night went wrong. Tony Adams was missing. Teddy Sheringham was missing. Paul Gascoigne was a maybe Hoddle did not pick. Paul Ince looked short of sharpness. The 2006 World Cup bid had been lunched at Downing Street the same day, and late on a fan would run on as if to mock the pretension. First they had to kick off. The rain sat on the old stadium and waited for someone to prove the new style was more than a leak.
Le Tissier had a touch that would have been a corner if the linesman had been sharper. Steve McManaman dribbled and shot weak. On fifteen minutes Stuart Pearce's cross fell to Le Tissier and Ciro Ferrara, reacting faster than a Premiership defender is supposed to, blocked. The ball went the other way. Zola, ahead of Campbell, did not quite catch the first one. The warning sat in the air for four minutes.
Alessandro Costacurta, on the halfway line, hit a long ball that had no right to be a goal and every right to be a test. Zola had already put himself between Pearce and Campbell. He drifted off the Forest player-manager, took it on the second touch, and the shot, helped by a deflection off Campbell's boot, went past Walker. Eighteen minutes, or nineteen, depending on whose watch you trust. Wembley lay hushed. That is the turn. They have seventy minutes to remember they are a new England.
They had shots. Sky counted eighteen. Most were snatched or blocked. The six-yard box looked blue. Pierluigi Casiraghi ran himself into the ground. Demetrio Albertini and Dino Baggio played the precise version of the few attacks Italy needed. Walker misjudged a Zola corner and Baggio headed wide. Baggio, onside, chipped over after Campbell let him go. In the last five minutes of the half England should have levelled. Angelo Peruzzi saved a Beckham free-kick. David Batty floated a deep cross. Peruzzi came, Le Tissier got there first, and headed just wide of the unguarded goal. In the Royal Box Hoddle leapt and fell back, the cheer dying on his lips.
He made no change at the interval except to come down to ground level. After an hour the yellow 10 went up. Le Tissier off, Les Ferdinand on, two magpies, no joy. Peruzzi saved from Graeme Le Saux and from Pearce. Paul Merson, with eight minutes left, had a volley blocked. Peruzzi denied Ince and Shearer. The crowd, unsure whether to boo the result or cheer the effort, did neither. A man ran on. Italy closed the door the way Herrera's Inter had closed doors. Tuttosport, in the morning, had Historic victory at Wembley, and Now we are the lions, and Zola genio, Italia sì. The Gazzetta put It's Zola, it's Italy over the finger in the air, and Wembley is ours.
Hoddle had the gamble and the set-back and the first World Cup defeat in that stadium. Zola had the drift and the deflection and the Chelsea reunion the street had not priced. Campbell had the sweeper's night. Le Tissier had the unguarded header. Walker had the first start. Peruzzi had the box. Maldini had the door. Shearer had barely a sniff. The papers had unzipped.
They said new-style. They said a set-back, not a disaster. They said eighteen shots. They said Wembley. If you still think it was only a qualifier, a funeral is only a Tuesday. It was the first time the World Cup had beaten them in that ground, on a wet night, from a ball hit from halfway by a man who had already been an ancient. They took the unzipping. Rome would be the repair. This Wednesday was the tear.
Beckham had the corner Peruzzi cleared and the free-kick Peruzzi held. McManaman was shepherded into the alleys the Italian full-backs had already rented. Ince, in an Inter shirt in his other life, played the subdued version of a midfield that was supposed to punch. Batty floated the cross that should have been the equaliser and became the picture of Hoddle in the box, rising and sitting in the same breath. Pearce, who had spent a career arriving late for crosses, arrived on time and found Ferrara there first. Campbell had been trusted with the space behind the back four. Zola used it as a corridor. The rain had stopped by the second half. The English storm, la Repubblica wrote, had stopped with it. Peruzzi was a dam. The dignitaries from the Downing Street lunch sat through a World Cup they had already begun to lose. The clause after set-back did the rest.
The film is up. The long ball, the drift, the deflection, Le Tissier wide of the empty net. Do not review it. Watch the new England come apart at the zip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyveMsGSh3A
Related reading
- Schoolboy stuff — Toulouse 1998, Hoddle again, another night the defence would not forgive
- We are the lions — Kyiv 2012, Italy again, and the nickname Tuttosport already claimed in 1997
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Italy beat England at Wembley in 1997?
Italy 1–0 England, on 12 February 1997 at Wembley. Gianfranco Zola scored around the eighteenth minute.
Why “A set-back, not a disaster”?
Glenn Hoddle’s line after the defeat — then the clause: quite a big set-back, England’s first World Cup defeat at Wembley.
Was this England’s first World Cup defeat at Wembley?
Yes. That is the clause Hoddle had to live in. Rome would be the repair night later in the group.