17 June 1992, Råsunda. Sweden 2–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Wednesday in Solna, the hosts waiting, and England needing a win to stay in a European Championship they had already bored. Two 0–0s, Denmark and France, and a captain one goal short of Bobby Charlton's forty-nine. The Råsunda is a tight old bowl, thirty thousand in, and the English week had already been told to sit back. Graham Taylor, before the tournament, had announced to the nation: sit back and let me do all the worrying. They sat back. He did the worrying. It did not help.
They needed a win. A third draw would not do. Sweden were the hosts and, in the English head, the side you beat when you have already wasted Denmark and France. David Platt had been the only man scoring. Gary Lineker had announced he would go after the tournament. The side kept changing. The long ball was already a joke they had not yet been billed for. Taylor would later say he should have come out of Sweden with a settled side, and that he did not have one. The Sun would need the morning to find a vegetable. SWEDES 2 TURNIPS 1, Taylor's face on the root. The night itself only needed a win they had already treated as a right.
The first two games had already been the warning. Denmark, 0–0, John Jensen hitting the bar, a night that looked like a side waiting for permission. France, 0–0, the same France Taylor's England had beaten 2–0 at Wembley in February, Alan Shearer on his debut, Lineker scoring, and now they could not lay a glove. One goal in two matches, and that goal had not arrived. Sit back. Let him worry. The worrying had produced two blanks and a trip to the hosts that now had to be a win.
They kicked off anyway.
Four minutes in, Platt volleyed one from a Lineker centre — Webb, Batty, the captain's cross — and for a stretch it looked like the worrying could stop. Tony Daley missed two chances that would have made the game safe. Sweden were still finding the night. At the interval it was still 1–0, which in the English head is a job half done, and Tommy Svensson sent on Johnny Ekström for Anders Limpar. A big man chasing long balls through the middle. If anyone knew how to handle that, it was supposed to be Taylor. It gave Tomas Brolin and Martin Dahlin time and space instead.
Jan Eriksson headed the equaliser from a Stefan Schwarz corner just after the restart. Almost a replica of the one he had already scored against France. The hosts came forward. England's defence looked as if it had been asked a different question at half-time and had not been given the paper. That is when Taylor made the decision the morning would eat.
Just after the hour he took Lineker off.
Alan Smith came on to hold the ball up, Taylor said later, because Sweden were coming at them and they were a good side. Lineker walked off one short of Charlton and did not look at the bench. He had eighty caps and the cross for the only goal, and he was withdrawn with half an hour left in a match England still had to win. Taylor called it a pure footballing decision. The papers called it a feud. Lineker, years after, said he never really held it against him; the manager had made him a martyr, and they were a pretty poor side. He can have the later kindness. The night is the walk, and the empty space where the captain had been, and a country that still needed a goal.
Paul Merson came on with a quarter of an hour left. It did not matter. Seven minutes from the end Brolin exchanged passes with Dahlin and hit one from the edge that Chris Woods will have until they stop showing it. Two-one. Denmark, in the other game, beat France late and took the second place. England were out with one goal in three matches. The Sun put a turnip on the manager. In the weeks after, the same paper would try onions in Santander and wonder, with Taylor, what the vegetable in Norway was. He found out in Oslo the next June.
The Sun's vegetable was not a one-off gag. It was the campaign. Santander in September would be Spanish 1, Onions 0. Oslo the next June would be Norse Manure. Rotterdam would be Ta Ta Turnip. Stockholm is where they found the root. Taylor still laughed, that autumn, about what the vegetable in Norway might be. He can have the laugh. The night is the walk, and Brolin's shot, and a country that had been told to sit back.
Lineker had been the thing they could still point at. Platt had done the early job. Daley had missed the ones that would have closed the night. Eriksson had headed the equaliser they always head. Brolin had finished it as if the tournament belonged to the people who lived there. Taylor had the substitution, the vegetable, and a side that lost touch with the pace of the game after the interval. Neil Webb, who had hardly played for United from March, was the example Taylor himself later used. No measurement. Batteries flat. Sit back and let me do all the worrying.
They said sit back. They said a win would do. They said a footballing decision. They said we will have a settled side. If you still think it was only a substitution, a funeral is only a Tuesday.
The film is up. UEFA still keep the highlights: Platt, Eriksson, Brolin, the walk. Do not review it. Watch the captain leave, and the shot that ended the worrying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb2v3vWRRcA
## Related reading
- [Put the kettle on, mother](/blogs/the-tape/put-the-kettle-on-mother) — Clough, the clown, and another night they treated as a collection - [Yanks 2, Planks 0](/blogs/the-tape/yanks-2-planks-0) — seven days after Oslo, Foxboro, and the next Sun headline
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at [/shop](/shop).
## FAQ
What was the score when Sweden beat England at Euro 1992?
Sweden 2–1 England, on 17 June 1992 at Råsunda in Solna. Platt scored for England; Eriksson and Brolin for Sweden. England went out of the group.
Why did The Sun call Graham Taylor a turnip?
After the defeat the paper ran SWEDES 2 TURNIPS 1 with Taylor's face on a root vegetable. It became the start of a campaign of vegetable headlines through his remaining tenure.
Did Gary Lineker leave the pitch one short of Bobby Charlton's record?
Yes. Lineker was withdrawn just after the hour, still one goal short of Charlton's then-record forty-nine. He did not add to his tally before retiring from international football after the tournament.