{"id":31367,"date":"2018-01-30T12:30:45","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T12:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.byfarthegreatestteam.com\/?p=31367"},"modified":"2018-01-29T21:04:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T21:04:46","slug":"can-not-knock-part-five-us-cup-1995-yanks-v-planks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.byfarthegreatestteam.com\/posts\/can-not-knock-part-five-us-cup-1995-yanks-v-planks\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Not Knock Him? – Part Five. US Cup 1995, Yanks v Planks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer Tour<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1995 and in preparation for the World Cup in America the following summer, the USA hosted a four-nation competition with England, Brazil and Germany invited. Five stadiums would be used for the six games as the US had the opportunity to give the world a glimpse of what was to come twelve months later.<\/p>\n

The first game was held at the Yale Bowl, New Haven as Brazil beat USA 2-0, with Careca on the scoresheet. Three days later England took the field against the hosts at the Foxboro Stadium, Boston, home of New England Patriots.<\/p>\n

USA hadn\u2019t competed in a World Cup since their famous win over England in Brazil 1950, until they played in Italia \u201990 losing all three matches. FIFA saw the States as the great unexplored frontier where football was concerned. The potential market was huge and this is mainly how they were awarded the World Cup in the first place. At the time few of the Americans were known to the English audience, but they would soon become etched on their memory. John Harkes played for Sheffield Wednesday and Roy Wegerle for Coventry and this game was also the springboard for several other players who moved to Europe on the back of this tournament.<\/p>\n

Gascoigne didn\u2019t make the trip as his club, Lazio, withdrew him so Taylor took the opportunity to experiment using Liverpool\u2019s Nigel Clough in a role now known as \u201cthe number ten\u201d. Twenty-two clubs in the Premier League at that time yet Taylor couldn\u2019t find another defender to partner Pallister at the back so for reasons best known to himself, he threw Carlton Palmer in there. Many an England fan wished he wasn\u2019t used in midfield but they didn\u2019t consider an alternative position in the team as a reasonable option. Similarly, he couldn\u2019t find a recognised striker to partner Les Ferdinand up front so he chose John Barnes. Paul Ince earned the honour of becoming England\u2019s first black captain in a midfield with Clough, David Batty and Lee Sharpe.<\/p>\n

Foxboro Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, was the venue as England\u2019s best chance came early when Nigel Clough followed the script and arrived late in the box to slice a kick horribly wide when hitting the target would likely have been a goal. But the home side rapidly grew in confidence and belief as Wynalda and Agoos went close. Wegerle started to pull the strings in midfield and England began to look shaky. Three minutes before the break and the home fans got what their team deserved. An overhit cross from the left was turned back into the six-yard area by Ramos and Tom Dooley headed in unchallenged.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Tony Meola in the US goal made some crucial saves to keep his side in the lead with England becoming more and more frantic.\u00a0 On the break Stewart could\u2019ve ended the game but for a last ditch tackle from Dorigo. By now Taylor had seen sense and brought on Des Walker for Palmer but England needed goals at the other end. The resulting corner saw the first scorer, Dooley\u2019s replacement, the oddly characterised Alexi Lalas, rise above the English defence to head home and finish the game off as a contest. The final nail in the coffin was the sight of one of English footballs finest goal scorers, Ian Wright, put clean through with just Meola to beat, and inexplicably he just hit the ball straight at the keeper.<\/p>\n

After the Polish disappointment and the Norway defeat things could hardly get worse, or so we thought but this was a new low. If you were to summarise Taylor\u2019s reign for England in just a couple of matches then this one would sit in pride of place. The fall-out was spectacular and unbelievably bitter. The Sun ran a headline \u201cYanks 2, Planks 0\u201d, the Mirror suggested \u201cWe Can\u2019t Get Any Lower\u201d, whereas the Express went further by trying to make comparisons with cricket\u2019s Ashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnglish football died of shame last night \u2013 and the coffin could be draped with the Stars and Stripes\u201d, accusing England\u2019s stars of being beaten by \u201ca collection of college boys and second-rate professionals\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Mirror mocked up an Old West-style flier with the title \u201cWanted Dead or Alive: Graham Taylor \u2013 the outlaw of English football\u201d, and Today maintained \u201cFlops Reach All-Time Low\u201d.<\/p>\n

This could certainly be identified as Taylor\u2019s nadir and he would never recover from such a level, despite some decent performances to come. In the eyes and words of the press he was a dead man walking.<\/p>\n

Four days later at Washington Redskins stadium, Taylor made five changes including Tim Flowers in goal and Aston Villa\u2019s Earl Barrett who joined the increasingly lost list of Taylor selections for whom years later people look back and ask, \u201cwho?\u201d. They were up against Brazil who\u2019d let a 3-0 lead slip against the Germans to draw 3-3 in their first match.<\/p>\n

Early in the second half some of the despair from earlier in the week had been forgotten as David Platt headed England into the lead. Ultimately England drew the match when Marcio Santos headed in a corner as the five England players stood and admired it. But Brazil were experimenting even more than England were so perhaps this wasn\u2019t as good a result as we needed, no matter how good it looked on paper.<\/p>\n

England ended the tournament without a win as Germany beat them 1-2 in the Silverdome with Platt again on the scoresheet. Germany were the winners of the US Cup although the home side had come out with the most kudos, not only for their win against England but they also gave the Germans a scare scoring twice in the last twenty minutes after trailing 1-4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer Tour 1995 and in preparation for the World Cup in America the following summer, the USA hosted a four-nation competition with England, Brazil and Germany invited. Five stadiums would be used for the six games as the US had the opportunity to give the world a glimpse of what was to come twelve months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":31177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nCan We Not Knock Him? - Part Five. 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