12 June 1988, Neckarstadion, Stuttgart. Republic of Ireland 1–0 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Sunday in Stuttgart, fifty-one thousand in, and a heat that sat on the Neckarstadion until the Ireland players were foaming at the mouth and still would not give the ball back. This was their first finals. Jack Charlton’s 25-1 outsiders, a side the English week had filed under opener. England had come as favourites for the group and, in their own papers, for more than the group. David Lacey, before a ball was kicked in the tournament, wrote that a child of eight could see Bobby Robson and his players had an outstanding chance of reaching the semi-finals, and possibly the final. Trying hard to keep their faces straight, he said. The child of eight was not in the dressing room. The child of eight had read the team-sheet.
Gary Lineker, John Barnes, Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley, Bryan Robson with the armband, Glenn Hoddle on the bench, Peter Shilton in goal for his ninety-ninth cap. Terry Butcher was out. Mark Wright and Tony Adams, young in the middle, were the ones who would have to live with the first ball. Ireland had Packie Bonner and a plan Charlton later reduced to a sentence. You have to have the ball to be able to play with it. We decided not to let England have it. Simple as that. Frank Stapleton dropped into midfield. Ray Houghton and Tony Galvin shut the wide grass. The English week had not spent much time on that sentence. It had spent the time on the outstanding chance.
ITV had Brian Moore. The English end had come for the opening win a favourite is owed. Ireland had come for a first finals and a manager who had been refused the other job. Houghton later remembered the heat more than the header. By the end they were exhausted and not yet aware of the scale. England were aware of the score.
They kicked off anyway.
Six minutes. Kevin Moran hit a free-kick long, which is how Ireland attacked. Wright stepped out to cover and got in Gary Stevens’s way. The ball dropped to Galvin. Kenny Sansom, meeting a bounce he should have killed, ballooned it up behind himself. John Aldridge rose above Adams and nodded it into the space Sansom had just vacated. Houghton, who had jogged into that space, headed it past Shilton. A looping header, the sort you score when the other lot have already decided the afternoon is a formality. Houghton was born in Glasgow, Irish mother, all his club football in England, the man Charlton always said was his best day’s work after a game at Oxford. Stuttgart turned green. England had six minutes of their outstanding chance left, and then eighty-four of trying to get it back.
They did not get it back. They had the rest of the match, which is the part English memory likes to call unlucky. Lineker missed a hat-trick of chances and took a buffeting for the privilege. Bonner saved from Barnes, from Beardsley, from Lineker three more times, from Bryan Robson. Late, he produced the one they still show: Lineker clean through, the save that kept a first tournament win intact. Aldridge, at the other end, could have made it two and did not. Hoddle came on after the hour. Mark Hateley came on with eight minutes left. The second half was one long England attack that never became a goal. Charlton had two layers out wide and an extra body in the middle and a side that knew why it had come. Bobby Robson’s side looked, for long stretches, like a favourite waiting for the paper to come true.
The Mirror, in the morning, did not wait for a nuance. RUBBISH! Nigel Clarke, back page. Steve Curry in the Express was careful to mention Houghton’s birthplace, as if a Glasgow street might take the sting out of an Irish header. It does not. Jack Charlton had asked for the England job in 1977 and been turned down. He took this one instead. He had his revenge in the heat, with a header from a man the English league had been watching all year and had not thought to mark in the sixth minute.
Houghton had the goal and the afternoon. Bonner had the saves that made the goal stand up. Aldridge had the nod and the miss. Charlton had the sentence about the ball. Adams and Wright had the first ball they did not deal with. Sansom had the slice. Shilton had the header over him and a long afternoon behind a defence that had come as favourites. Lineker had the chances and the buffeting. Bryan Robson had the armband and a midfield Stapleton had gone to sit in. Bobby Robson had the outstanding chance, and then the other two games, both 3–1, both losses, the summer they lost all three. The Times, by the end of the week, would have football draped in a black cloak. The Mail, after Marco van Basten, would put English football on the road to oblivion. Stuttgart is where the road started. A header, six minutes, a child of eight still looking for the semi-final.
They said outstanding chance. They said possibly the final. They said a child of eight could see it. They said Ireland were the opener. If you still think it was only a header, a funeral is only a Tuesday. The header was six minutes. The rest of it was a favourite that could not beat Bonner, and a morning that needed one word.
The film is still on the old uploads and in the Charlton years they kept: the free-kick, the slice, Houghton’s jump, Bonner’s hands. UEFA still file the night. Do not review it. Watch the sixth minute, then the rest of them missing.
Related reading
- Just a number — Iceland 2–1, Nice 2016; another opener the favourites had already filed
- The wally with the brolly — Croatia 3–2 at Wembley; another European night when the papers needed one word
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Ireland beat England in Stuttgart 1988?
Republic of Ireland 1–0 England, on 12 June 1988 at the Neckarstadion, Stuttgart. Ray Houghton scored in the sixth minute.
Why did the Mirror call it “rubbish”?
After England, favourites for the group and more, lost their Euro 88 opener to Ireland’s first finals side, the Daily Mirror back page was one word: RUBBISH!
Who managed Ireland that night?
Jack Charlton. He had asked for the England job in 1977 and been turned down; he took Ireland instead and won this opener with Houghton’s header.