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'My name is Thierry Henry. | 0:00:03 | 0:00:05 | |
'I live in London, where I played | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
'for Arsenal for so many years. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
'I also played in Barcelona and New York, | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
'but make no mistake - I'm a Frenchman.' | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
A very proud Frenchman. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:18 | |
I'm travelling back home as my | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
country prepares to host Euro 2016. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
It's the first time we have hosted a tournament | 0:00:24 | 0:00:27 | |
since the World Cup in '98. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:29 | |
Making this journey reminds me | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
of the great success we achieved as a team, | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
and I'm really hoping there are more | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
good times coming for Les Bleus. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
In fact, you know what? | 0:00:40 | 0:00:41 | |
I'm hoping for more than that. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
I'm hoping for the Euros to bring happiness in France. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
France needs Euro 2016 to be a success. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
The memories of the terrorist attacks here last year | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
are still fresh in everyone's minds. | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
Recovery from those atrocities will take time, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
but in the aftermath we saw the role football can play | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
in bringing people together. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
As fans come to France from all around Europe, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
this tournament is an opportunity to remind everyone | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
how our simple game can have a huge impact | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
way beyond the sport. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
We have seen it in the Euros time and again. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
Moments to take your breath away... | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Oh, I say, what a goal!' | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
Everybody's like, "What the hell is this?" | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
He was also like, "Ha! Yeah." | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
..moments no-one saw coming... | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
We played the pretournament favourite, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
we played the defending champions, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:45 | |
and we played the world champions. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
Now, I think we've done well. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:48 | |
..moments of heartache... | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
'Gascoigne!' | 0:01:51 | 0:01:52 | |
Do you replay that tournament in your head? | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
Well, I only ever think about it | 0:01:55 | 0:01:57 | |
probably about once a day now, instead of five or ten times a day. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
'Oh, no!' | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
It means a lot to us Germans to win a game at Wembley. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:07 | |
..and moments of pure joy... | 0:02:09 | 0:02:11 | |
After that moment, it was like | 0:02:11 | 0:02:13 | |
this mental thing that it clicked, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
and we just played with no fear any more. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
..moments that all have one thing in common... | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
..they have brought people of all ages, creeds | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
and colours together in celebration. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
We had this unbelievably kind of | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
party, family-friendly atmosphere, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
which Three Lions was the soundtrack to. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
# Three lions on a shirt... # | 0:02:35 | 0:02:39 | |
Euro 2016 is bigger than ever - | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
24 nations all hoping to make a little history of their own. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
But before it all starts, I'm | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
taking my own trip down memory lane. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
I'm not from Paris, actually, I'm from the suburbs of Paris, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
so it's very different. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:10 | |
We say in France "banlieusard", | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
so it's outside of Paris, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:14 | |
and I'm proud of it, by the way. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
I grew up in Les Ulis. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
It's 25km outside Paris, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
and it's pretty typical of the suburbs surrounding the capital. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:26 | |
Life was simple on my estate - | 0:03:26 | 0:03:27 | |
school and football. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
We hardly ever went into the city. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
When we did, it was for shopping trips | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
and seeing how far our francs could stretch. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
We're going to pass Les Puces, | 0:03:39 | 0:03:41 | |
which is a market where you can find stuff | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
that are all kind of fake, or... | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
second-hand, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:49 | |
third-hand, fourth-hand. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
So as you can imagine, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
that's the type of thing that at the time my mum could afford. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
Then you have to carry the bags back home. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
It's a long one. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:01 | |
Trust me, I remember. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
And you couldn't say at any point, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
"Mum, my hand is hurting." | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
Trouble. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:10 | |
But being in Paris reminds me of always football, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
because that's most of the time why I was in Paris. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
France's history with the Euros goes way back to the start. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:28 | |
The administrator, Henri Delaunay, | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
came up with the idea in the first place, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
and the trophy is named after him. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
We also hosted the first tournament, in 1960, | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
won by Lev Yashin's Soviet Union. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
Wow. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
In 1984, a few weeks before my seventh birthday, | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
France hosted the Euros again. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
Euro '84 is everything for me, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
because it's actually the first tournament | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
that I remember. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Tigana, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
'two to his right and Platini through the middle. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
'Tigana again. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
'Tigana. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
'Tigana... | 0:05:10 | 0:05:11 | |
'Platini... | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
'goal! | 0:05:13 | 0:05:14 | |
'Platini for France. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
'I've not seen a match like this in years.' | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
And obviously, it was in France and we won it, | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
so it was great. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
We had a great team. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:28 | |
You know - Platini, Giresse, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Tigana, Fernandez. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:32 | |
'Bellone through the middle. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:35 | |
'It's Bellone for France. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
'Can he finish it here? | 0:05:37 | 0:05:38 | |
'Goal! | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
'They've done it. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:41 | |
'France are the European champions.' | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
That feeling of, "You can win." | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
You know, "It's possible." | 0:05:47 | 0:05:48 | |
You know, growing up, people were always talking about failure before. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:53 | |
And for one little moment, we won. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
We won the Euros. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
That was just amazing. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
'They are champions at last, and who would deny them that?' | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
Six years later, I was selected to go to Clairefontaine, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
the national football institute. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
I was only 13, and I pretty much left home, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
only returning on the weekends. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
I didn't look back. The academy gave us | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
the grounding we needed to become professional footballers. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
It was a massive bounce in my development, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
since you had to be good at school to enter Clairefontaine, | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
and you had to maintain a certain level. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
If not, they were going to kick you out. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:37 | |
That shaped me for life. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:39 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
Wowee. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
This is the building of the kids at Clairefontaine. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:52 | |
As you can see, you have Diaby, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
Nicolas, Jimmy Briand, Roussillon, | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
Rothen, Gallas, Ben Arfa, | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
Blaise Matuidi... | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
me. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
If you see a player on the field | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
coming out of Clairefontaine, | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
you already can see straightaway | 0:07:08 | 0:07:10 | |
because that player will play with his head up, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
know what to do with the ball. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
It's almost like a Clairefontaine way, if I can say, | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
and I never underestimate, you know, | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
what I've learned here. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
I played in Spain, I played in Italy, and in England - | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
everyone always asks me | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
about...about Clairefontaine. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
It is the reference. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:30 | |
The names of the guys you can see on the walls, you know, prove that. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
I used to come back all the time, being in the national team, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
and come in and say "hi" to the guys obviously, | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
and talking to them about reality and what's at stake. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
What they need to do in order to be great in the future. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
There was no star on the top when I first trained there, | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
but respect for the shirt was everything at Clairefontaine. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
It's the base for all the national team's age groups, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
including the senior team. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
Just seeing them gave us something to aspire to, | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
but always from a distance. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
This is the field of the national team. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
The first time I came across that field, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
or any memories of that field, is... | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
is me being at Clairefontaine, 13 years old, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
and we were allowed | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
to go and watch a training session. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
You know, the likes of Laurent Blanc, Cantona. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
We were not allowed to make any noise. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
If I wanted to stay and watch a training session, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
then as you can imagine that's all you want to do as a kid. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
You know, you see the national team. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
In 1998, France was hosting the World Cup. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
I was expecting to watch my heroes as a fan, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
just like I did at training back in Clairefontaine. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
But as the tournament got closer, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
I broke through into the squad. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
I was living out my dream. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:05 | |
Young, raw and eager to make | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
an impact on the biggest stage. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:10 | |
You know, you're here to perform and try to do your best, you know, | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
and what a place, by the way, to do it. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
Mon chambre. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:39 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
Memories. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:42 | |
You only see one bed here, | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
but it wasn't like that at the time. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
We were sharing rooms, and rightly so. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:51 | |
In all fairness, it was way better because, you know, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
you're going to stay in the camp for a long time, and it's always good if | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
you can share with someone that you can kind of have | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
an affinity with. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
The...the two beds were actually like this. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
The whole thing changed, as you can see. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
I mean, you can't compare it to what it was before, but, yeah, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
I was sharing a room with David Trezeguet. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
You know, I was playing in Monaco with him, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
and obviously we went on after that to make history. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
For me, being from the suburbs of Paris, I saw that | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
stadium at the beginning, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
when it was kind of getting built. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
You could see how the stadium was going and you knew, obviously, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
at the end of it that the World Cup was going to be around. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
Long time. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
Heh-heh. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:45 | |
Going to play... | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
..25km away from my house, that was just amazing. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
As a team, we were focused on winning the World Cup. | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
But for many people in our country, | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
there were bigger issues which were hard to overlook. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
The end of the '90s in France, they were tough years. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
There was riots, there were fights, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
and I think there was a sense of lack of patriotism. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
You know, what is it to be French | 0:11:15 | 0:11:16 | |
when your parents are from Spain | 0:11:16 | 0:11:18 | |
or Algeria, Senegal or Mali? | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
It was a problem with integration. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
I felt at the time a lot of people were hoping that the World Cup | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
would give a lot of hope to a lot of people | 0:11:25 | 0:11:26 | |
who didn't have any hope. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
# Allons enfants de la Patrie | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
# Le jour de gloire est... # | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
I think we grew together as a team. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
With the country, too. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:38 | |
So at the very beginning it was a bit hard, but slowly but surely | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
we grew in confidence, and we brought along the way | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
people on our side. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:46 | |
This team in '98, with all those different cultures, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
profiles, backgrounds. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
You know, Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
playing next to each other in the back four... | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
..you couldn't make it more different. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane - | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
couldn't make it more different. | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
And then suddenly, "OK. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
"Well, they're all together, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:07 | |
"they're building something great together, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
"why can't we, as well?" | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
I think the squad was actually the reflection of the country, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:14 | |
how the country was, you know. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
We were trying to find a team, | 0:12:16 | 0:12:17 | |
and France also, as a country, was trying to find a way. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
And then when we were showing to everybody that no matter where | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
you're from or what you believe in, that you can actually | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
be together and succeed together, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
so the fans could relate to what | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
the team was trying to do and trying to achieve. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
We all became one. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'The host nation has won the World Cup. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
'France 3-0 Brazil.' | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
This team actually defines our country. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
"This is us, this is all of us. Look, this is us." | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
And suddenly people are starting believing, | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
not just the fact that they could do it, | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
but believing in their own country, in themselves, as well. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
When the referee blew that final whistle against | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
Brazil, that's exactly that moment that everyone, | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
every single person in the country, was French. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
That's where you realise that, OK, | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
this is something we've never seen before. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
Or probably the last time was when the Second World War finished. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
But I think, really, | 0:13:23 | 0:13:24 | |
that just lifted the country like nothing else would have done. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
It was our first World Cup, so it's always | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
going to go down in history, no matter what. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:32 | |
People came together. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:34 | |
I would say that, you know, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
fans were kind of referring to | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
the Liberation of Paris. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
That's how far they took it. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
CAR HORNS HONK | 0:13:43 | 0:13:44 | |
We all know it's only a game, but sometimes it is more than a game. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
Two years later, at Euro 2000, things were different. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
We were two years older, wiser and more experienced. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
We were the favourites... | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
..and the pressure was on. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
'Henry has gone all the way. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
'Zidane. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:21 | |
'Oh, it's a goal for France!' | 0:14:21 | 0:14:22 | |
In '98, we were known as a team that were not conceding - | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
very hard to beat. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:29 | |
And then I think in 2000, it was like the right mix. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
If you wanted to fight with us, we could fight. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
If you wanted to play, we were also ready to play. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
And we had guys that could make a difference at any time. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
I think personally that 2000 was our best performance | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
in terms of how WE performed there. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
But you can never expect to have everything | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
your own way in a tournament. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
If there was one match that shows | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
how fine the margins between | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
success and failure can be, | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
it's the final against Italy. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:57 | |
How we won it, I mean, that's still | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
I think what the Italians must be asking themselves. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:05 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Totti. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
'Little back-heel, Pessotto's in here. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
'Delvecchio... | 0:15:09 | 0:15:10 | |
'goal! | 0:15:10 | 0:15:12 | |
'Italy have scored, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
'and it's Marco Delvecchio.' | 0:15:14 | 0:15:15 | |
We had the right guys at the right time. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
So Sylvain Wiltord coming on and bringing the game back to 1-1... | 0:15:19 | 0:15:22 | |
CROWD WHISTLES | 0:15:22 | 0:15:23 | |
'Just look at them on the bench there. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
'Oh, I tell you what, Wiltord's got a chance for France. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
'It's a goal. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
'They've equalised. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
'In the third minute of stoppage time, | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
'Roger Lemerre's world champions are still alive.' | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
And then you have, I think, the best player that I've played with | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
in the box, David Trezeguet, to finish the job. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
'Trezeguet! | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
'France have won | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
'the European Championship. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
'It's the golden goal.' | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
You know sometimes when you celebrate a goal | 0:15:56 | 0:15:58 | |
and you're like, "Hey, guys, guys, let's not celebrate too much," | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
because if they score after, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
then you look stupid. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
But for that one, you could just run. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
It was over, and it was the best feeling ever. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:12 | |
You could run for ever and do whatever you want, | 0:16:12 | 0:16:16 | |
because you won it, | 0:16:16 | 0:16:17 | |
it's over. "See you, bye-bye." | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
'Allez Les Bleus!' | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
2000 is beauty by definition. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
Everything is beautiful. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:28 | |
The way you win it - against the Italians, as well, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
you know, the proper rivals. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:32 | |
They hate us, we hate them. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
It's fine, that's the way it is. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:36 | |
To do that to them, you know, | 0:16:36 | 0:16:37 | |
when they think they've won it, | 0:16:37 | 0:16:39 | |
everything in that tournament was beautiful. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
The power of football is to unite people, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
to bring people together from different backgrounds, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
different origins. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
There's a reason why it's the biggest sport in the world. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
For such a simple game, football has immense power. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
I've seen first-hand how it can unite the nation | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
and bring people together in celebration. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
-# Ey-oh -Ey-oh... # | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
It can also represent a country's identity. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
I'm thinking of Holland, I'm thinking of Cruyff. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
Total football. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:21 | |
You know, there was probably no team in history who have left such | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
a mark on world football without winning a trophy | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
as the Dutch team of 1974. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
Although it was a disappointment to lose in the final, it was | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
an enormous achievement because of the football that we played. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
Everybody recognised the orange, | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
you know, the orange colours. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:42 | |
It was also the way | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
the interpretation of the game was different. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
I think that '74 generation | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
paved the way for my generation | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
to show themselves to the world. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
'88 was the second coming of the Dutch. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:02 | |
They were the best players in the world, basically. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
Gullit had won the Ballon d'Or in '87. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
Gullit was the most glamorous, most recognised figure | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
in world football at the time. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:14 | |
And he was also sort of part of a new kind of footballer | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
who was much bigger, tougher, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
stronger, faster. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
That year, PSV Eindhoven won the Champions League. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:24 | |
The year before, Ajax won the UEFA Cup. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
So we had a group of a lot of players with | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
a lot of experience on an international level. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
Holland had experience and quality. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
They were among the favourites to win the tournament. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
But that means nothing once the game starts. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
The Dutch lost their opening match against Russia, | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
with Marco van Basten left out. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
He returned in the second game, | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
against England, to immense effect. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Van Basten! | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
'Well, it's a hat-trick.' | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
Holland finished their group as runners-up. | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
They now faced a huge semifinal against their oldest, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
fiercest rivals - West Germany. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
The '88 semifinal is one | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
of the defining moments of modern Holland | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
because it's a replay, | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
in effect, of the '74 final. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
Dutch people will tell you that, for them, losing the '74 final | 0:19:18 | 0:19:23 | |
was equivalent to President Kennedy getting shot in America. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
I mean, this was a disaster. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
I didn't have that sentiment of all these people. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:31 | |
"OK, we lost against Germany and it was not right. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
"We played the best football." But I wanted to beat them anyway | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
because, you know, Germany is | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
a strong side, our neighbours. | 0:19:40 | 0:19:42 | |
We always have this rivalry with them. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
It's about the war, about the fact | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
that, you know, the superior country. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
The younger players there, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
we couldn't really figure out what that meant, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
this whole rivalry, Holland against Germany, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
it had a lot to do, obviously, with what happened | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
in World War II, unfortunately. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:03 | |
And then the '74 World Cup final, I think, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:06 | |
created, really, that special type of rivalry. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:10 | |
'West Germany take the lead. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:13 | |
'And it's 1-1.' | 0:20:18 | 0:20:19 | |
-GULLIT: -We had to be on our best on that day. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
I think that it was an unbelievable feeling, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
the goal that Van Basten scored in the last minute. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
'Van Basten... | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
'it's a goal for Holland... | 0:20:39 | 0:20:40 | |
'..with barely 90 seconds to go.' | 0:20:42 | 0:20:43 | |
To beat Germany in Germany in such a tournament | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
was never heard of. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
'And Holland are through to the final | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
'of the 1988 European Championship.' | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
We didn't even realise what was happening in Holland, | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
because you had no internet, you had no mobile phones, | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
but apparently | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
Holland was getting crazy. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
It was like one big party. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
The whole nation went entirely nuts. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
Practically everybody in the country | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
flowed out into the streets, screaming with delight. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
It was the biggest celebration | 0:21:16 | 0:21:18 | |
since liberation in '45. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:20 | |
-KLINSMANN: -I think '88 was, for me, just kind of overwhelming. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
You know, it was in your own country and, yeah, it gave you a sense of | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
very special occasions | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
of extreme emotions, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
extreme kind of sentiments from both sides. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
Well, after the game, Ronald Koeman | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
swapped shirts with Olaf Thon, I think, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
and then symbolically used the shirt | 0:21:42 | 0:21:45 | |
to wipe his backside. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:46 | |
And I think a lot of people in Germany were shocked about that | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
because I think they felt that it's just a football game. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
But I think, at that very moment, it became painfully obvious that, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:59 | |
at least for the Dutch, this was much more than a game. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
There's an unpleasant aspect to the way the Dutch celebrated | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
because they were projecting their feelings about the Nazis | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
on to modern Germans who had nothing | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
whatever to do with the Nazis. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
It was a little bit too much. | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
I don't think it was a nice thing to do, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
because you need to | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
always have respect for the opposition. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
The USSR had already earned Holland's respect. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
Remember, they had beaten them | 0:22:30 | 0:22:31 | |
at the start of the tournament. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
But this was a different Dutch team, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
a team now full of confidence. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
The feeling was almost, like, we couldn't do wrong. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
There was no way they were going to beat us, for some reason. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
And if you see, also, the goals that we scored, | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
it was unheard of. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:50 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Gullit's there... | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
'yes! Holland 1-0. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:54 | |
'Ruud Gullit.' | 0:22:54 | 0:22:55 | |
It was fantastic for me that I could be important for Holland | 0:22:59 | 0:23:03 | |
in that game, but the icing on the cake | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
was, of course, the goal of Van Basten. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
He can hit it another million times | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
and it'll never get in there like that! | 0:23:11 | 0:23:13 | |
'Van Basten's on the far side of the penalty area now | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
'to volley it... | 0:23:17 | 0:23:18 | |
'Oh, I say, what a goal! | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
'That's a beauty. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
'Absolutely spectacular.' | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
Everybody is like, "What the hell is this?" | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
And he was also like, "Ha! Yeah." | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
Whatever we do, it will be ours. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:33 | |
'Holland are the champions of Europe - | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
'their first major trophy.' | 0:23:37 | 0:23:39 | |
It was our moment. It was our time. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
The semifinal victory was celebrated in a huge street party. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
With the trophy now in their hands, the party resumed. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
In just two weeks, the Dutch had overcome their great rivals | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
and erased their tag as the nearly men | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
of international football. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
And the team returned to Amsterdam to scenes of pure joy. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
-GULLIT: -Of course, arriving in Amsterdam in the canals | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
and the boats, people jumping into the water, | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
it was an unbelievable thing. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
We couldn't, you know... and then you realise, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
like, "Oh, something really, really happened," yeah. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:21 | |
Holland's long wait for a trophy was finally over. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
For most teams, winning silverware is ultimately | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
what you're judged on. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:33 | |
Talented generations come and go, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
but not many get those precious winners' medals. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
It seems strange to think of it now, | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
but for years, Spain were a nation of underachievers. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
With Spain, every time, growing up and playing against them, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
even in your youth team, or playing against them | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
with the first team, I was like, "Hey, you're not sure of touching | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
"that ball for most of the game, | 0:24:57 | 0:24:58 | |
"but, you know, somehow we can beat them. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
"So make sure we can put pressure, we can be physical with them." | 0:25:00 | 0:25:03 | |
And usually, you get your own way. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
And then, suddenly, they understood | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
that they could beat anyone and everyone, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
and, you know, they went on to dominate the game | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
for a very long time. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:14 | |
When it does matter, you guys always used to struggle, back in the day. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
And I wanted to know where, as a team, | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
your spirit was in 2008 before that Euro? | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
Well, to be honest, it was basically | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
the same feeling that you just described - | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
it was in our heads. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
When we had to play against Italy, quarterfinal, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
everyone was like, "Oh, my God. The same story. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
"France, Italy, you know, we always lose." | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
And then when it went to penalties, it's like the type of moment | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
where Spain will just go out on penalties. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
What was in your mind when you went to take that penalty? | 0:25:53 | 0:25:56 | |
You know, at that moment, I always thought... | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
I shouldn't do that. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
But I always thought, "What could | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
"have happened if I miss?" | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
Because I was 21 years old. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:10 | |
Mentally, for a young kid, you know, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
you have a whole country expecting you to score and you let them down, | 0:26:13 | 0:26:17 | |
what would have happened? | 0:26:17 | 0:26:18 | |
But fortunately... | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
I never did. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:21 | |
When we went through to the semifinal, it was like this | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
mental thing that it clicked, and we just played | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
with no fear any more. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:30 | |
When you beat Italy, I was like, "Oh, it's on now." | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
And you went on to win that first tournament. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:38 | |
And how was it when you came back home | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
with that first title? | 0:26:40 | 0:26:41 | |
Yeah, it was amazing. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
I think nobody expected it. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:45 | |
That's the thing with that team, | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
that the fans are so grateful | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
to us because, you know, what | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
we did, in the manner that we did | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
because, as you said, we played fantastic football. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
I don't know where it came from, | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
but Xavi had the tournament of his life, | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
Iniesta had an amazing tournament, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
Puyol was defending like a beast, as usual. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
And the Real Madrid players - Sergio Ramos, Casillas - | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
had great tournaments. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
I think we mixed different kind of players from different teams, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
but we made a real team, | 0:27:15 | 0:27:16 | |
a real atmosphere of friendship, I would say, as well. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -'Spain are European champions. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
'So often they've been the bridesmaid, now they can celebrate.' | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
We have to agree that Spain is a nation of nations, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
but that's seen by most people as an enriching thing. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
It's good that a nation has got a lot of languages, | 0:27:37 | 0:27:40 | |
and people think in a different way. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:41 | |
But of course, there is something | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
that divides the country, and that's football. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
There is the Barcelona fans and there are the Real Madrid fans. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
There is no way they can be friendly at all. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:50 | |
That European Championships was absolutely wonderful | 0:27:50 | 0:27:53 | |
from that point of view. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
Because we were like, "Yeah, I think we can all identify with that." | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
Real Madrid fans liked the fact that sometimes | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
we play it long to Fernando Torres, to Villa, | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
and Barcelona fans liked the fact that we kept the ball well | 0:28:04 | 0:28:08 | |
and controlled games. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:09 | |
So Luis Aragones was the man that put all that together | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
and took us the right direction. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:15 | |
The players are important, | 0:28:15 | 0:28:16 | |
-but I don't know if you agree with me that a manager... -Yeah. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
..is as important. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
And Aragones, I think he was superb. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:22 | |
The way he spoke to us, the way | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
he made us feel that we had to win. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
He had players to win. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:29 | |
From the beginning, he said, "If I don't win the Euros with this team, | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
"I will...I will always remember. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:34 | |
"I will have failed, like, so much as a coach." | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
This was the first day. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:38 | |
How did you approach the World Cup? | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
Cos you had to bring something | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
new in order to stay at the top. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
Yeah, I think the main difference is that in 2008, | 0:28:48 | 0:28:51 | |
no-one expected us to win. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
And in 2010, everyone expected us to win. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:57 | |
We started losing the first game. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:58 | |
I remember that very, very well against Switzerland. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:00 | |
-We beat Chile. -Very difficult game. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
That game, I think I've never felt so much tension | 0:29:03 | 0:29:07 | |
in that bus. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:08 | |
It's like we were going to fail, | 0:29:08 | 0:29:10 | |
we were going to disappoint so many | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
people if we don't win that game. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
We cannot go out in the group stage. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
Then you guys went on to win that final. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:27 | |
I don't remember who gave the assist to Andres, | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
in all fairness(!) Do you remember? | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
-THIERRY LAUGHS -No, I don't! | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
'It's broken for Fabregas. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:37 | |
'Now, it's Iniesta. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
'This is it! | 0:29:39 | 0:29:40 | |
'That's the goal!' | 0:29:40 | 0:29:41 | |
We, with France, did something that I thought | 0:29:45 | 0:29:47 | |
wasn't going to be repeated, | 0:29:47 | 0:29:49 | |
and you guys took it to another level, | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
because then you went to the Euros in 2012 and won it again. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:55 | |
How was the difference there, again, approaching the third one? | 0:29:55 | 0:29:58 | |
Obviously once you've won the two ones as France did, you know | 0:29:58 | 0:30:03 | |
that you are on the edge of making history if it can happen. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:08 | |
Maybe I would say that out of the three tournaments, | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
it's the one where we felt, or at least myself, I felt more dominant, | 0:30:11 | 0:30:17 | |
more confident because you have to remember | 0:30:17 | 0:30:19 | |
we played with Busquets, Alonso and Xavi in midfield. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:23 | |
And Iniesta, myself and Silva which, we are midfielders, | 0:30:23 | 0:30:27 | |
we are not strikers, we played without any striker | 0:30:27 | 0:30:31 | |
and I think as a team we played fantastically well. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:34 | |
So 2012 is the birth of the so-called "false nine". | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
It created a lot of debate. A lot of it in England, it was like, what? | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
You cannot have a team without a striker. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
You know, what kind of team is that? You don't even deserve to win. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:50 | |
No striker! | 0:30:50 | 0:30:52 | |
What I felt, though, was that our football was quite conservative and | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
that again brought a lot of negative press from the outside world. | 0:30:55 | 0:31:00 | |
We left the good football for the final. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:03 | |
In the final it was just superb | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
and it wasn't...it was doubly pleasing cos it | 0:31:05 | 0:31:09 | |
was against Italy, our black beast, the team that normally beat us. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:13 | |
For many years they had the better league | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
and the better players, well, not any more! | 0:31:15 | 0:31:17 | |
Here's Sergio Busquets. Through for Torres. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:20 | |
They're appealing for offside. The flag has stayed down. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
It's four! | 0:31:23 | 0:31:24 | |
Juan Mata has made it four. Records tumbling all around us. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:29 | |
Spain is not an easy country. It is a very complex country. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
A lot of voices. | 0:31:34 | 0:31:36 | |
A lot of ways of thinking about the world but that every now and again manages, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:42 | |
through football a lot of the time, to find one common voice. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:46 | |
Spain's achievements are historic but they were the favourites. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:51 | |
When you are an underdog, it's different. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:54 | |
You can go unnoticed and surprise everyone. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:57 | |
In 1992, a bloody civil war was raging across central Europe. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:04 | |
The Balkans were at breaking point. Among the sanctions | 0:32:04 | 0:32:09 | |
the United Nations imposed on Yugoslavia, | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
they were banned from all sporting competition, including Euro '92. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
Just ten days before the tournament started, | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
Denmark got the call to replace them. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
I've had really sort of mixed emotions. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
One was, of course, jubilation because, in many ways, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:32 | |
we felt that we were the better team but, of course, | 0:32:32 | 0:32:35 | |
the civil war in Yugoslavia was in many ways really hard to take | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
that we then should carry that kind of responsibility into these Euros. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:44 | |
A couple of players had the mindset of probably | 0:32:44 | 0:32:48 | |
we will go to Sweden, | 0:32:48 | 0:32:49 | |
we're going to play three games, we're going to have a shower | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
and then we're going to go on a bus again and go back to Copenhagen. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
That's how the player was feeling at that time. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:58 | |
We drew 0-0 with England | 0:33:02 | 0:33:03 | |
and we were devastated that we hadn't won that game, devastated. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:07 | |
We played the better football. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:09 | |
We even had John Jensen hitting the post. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
You know, when John Jensen hits the post, then you know you've had chances! | 0:33:12 | 0:33:16 | |
We deserved one point from that game | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
and we knew that one point, then at least we can go on to the next | 0:33:19 | 0:33:24 | |
game with some confidence and maybe belief that we can go out and beat Sweden. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
Massive, massive game and in this game we really created chances | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
and they had this little fella upfront called Tomas Brolin | 0:33:34 | 0:33:38 | |
and he had a knack of turning up at the right time at the right | 0:33:38 | 0:33:42 | |
place with the right toe. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
And they had one chance and I'm afraid to say that they | 0:33:46 | 0:33:50 | |
scored on that chance and they won the game 1-0. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
Famously, the commentator on Danish TV showing the game, | 0:33:55 | 0:33:59 | |
he ended up his commentary saying that we have to now | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
confirm that Denmark are out of the Euros. He did. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:09 | |
Yeah. He never commentated much after that! | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
Denmark were not out but they were up against it. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
They had to be beat France, the pre-tournament favourites | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
managed by the legend of '84, Michel Platini. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:26 | |
The French team seriously upset us in the tunnel | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
and I'm not sure which player it was. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:34 | |
Someone said we should go easy on them | 0:34:34 | 0:34:35 | |
because they had to play the semifinal, you know, so, and it's | 0:34:35 | 0:34:40 | |
just a silly thing to say because it gives you one or two extra percent because | 0:34:40 | 0:34:44 | |
you just want to beat them so much because it's such an insult, right? | 0:34:44 | 0:34:48 | |
Denmark have taken the lead for the second time. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:52 | |
I think when we scored that goal, something happened to us. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
From being confused about how good we were | 0:34:55 | 0:34:59 | |
and very unhappy with our performances in the two first | 0:34:59 | 0:35:03 | |
matches and then suddenly we are in the semifinal. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
France, so many people's favourites, are out of the competition. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:10 | |
A lot of things changed for us but in this country, everything changed. | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
Everything stood still for the next week. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
Holland was probably the favourite to win it. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
They were European champions from some '88 throughout... | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
I played against van Basten, Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, | 0:35:28 | 0:35:34 | |
we have always looked up to them. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:36 | |
The Danes have scored. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:40 | |
Bergkamp, a goal. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
Holland have equalised. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:44 | |
We did everything to win it. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
Sometimes it doesn't happen. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:48 | |
And why? Yeah. | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
Would you believe this? | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
Rijkaard, it's in, it's 2-2. | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
I never for one second thought it was going to go to a penalty... | 0:36:00 | 0:36:03 | |
before it went to penalties. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
I was that kind of arrogant goalkeeper. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:09 | |
I never looked at who was taking the penalties. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
I wanted to feel like I was in control. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:14 | |
That this was MY place and you're a guest and you better behave | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
and miss. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:20 | |
Oh, save! | 0:36:20 | 0:36:21 | |
When it's van Basten it's massive because, obviously, | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
he's one of the best strikers ever, you know? | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
So, it's nice to have that kind of scalp, if you like. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:31 | |
They've beaten Holland 5-4 on penalties. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:37 | |
They found a lot of confidence out of the fact that they'd | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
beaten us, you know, the European champions. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
So, therefore, for them there was no pressure | 0:36:44 | 0:36:47 | |
and I think that that helped them a lot. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
We were in the final, we know it's Germany, we know that we'll do our best and then | 0:36:51 | 0:36:57 | |
Germany turns up and win everything, that's what Gary Lineker always said. | 0:36:57 | 0:37:00 | |
Two days before the final | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
and we have been now together nearly three weeks. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:11 | |
I remember we went past McDonald's. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:14 | |
The coach suddenly stopped the bus and said, "Listen, lads, | 0:37:14 | 0:37:19 | |
"there's a McDonald's over there, we've booked a table for you | 0:37:19 | 0:37:24 | |
"so we're going to go in there and we're going to eat as many | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
"burgers as we can," and Germany, they saw that. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:31 | |
It was in the press | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
and I can remember the faces of the German players. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:37 | |
It was like, "OK, we're going to win this game easy now." | 0:37:37 | 0:37:41 | |
'92 was then at a time where you had | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
so much confidence that it then turned into overconfidence. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
Germany start the hot favourites, | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
but Denmark have been playing against the odds since they started. | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
They're very happy to be that way again tonight. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
I went back to Gothenburg about three weeks ago | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
and it looks exactly the same. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
I could go directly out to that spot where I scored the goal from. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:15 | |
It was quite a fantastic moment for me. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
We hadn't talked about John Jensen. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:21 | |
For some reason, he never really scored. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
In training, people got tired of having to go and get the balls | 0:38:23 | 0:38:29 | |
he's kicked because they went everywhere and, seriously, they did. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
Before the game against Germany, I took five shots | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
with no goalie in the goal. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
The first three, I hit over the bar. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
Suddenly there was a guy pinching my shoulder and it was the manager. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:47 | |
He told me, "John, | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
"if you have a chance in the game to shoot the goal, | 0:38:49 | 0:38:53 | |
"please look at your shoes and don't look up | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
"because then at least you can hit the target." | 0:38:57 | 0:38:59 | |
-COMMENTATOR: -The pullback. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:10 | |
And a goal! John Jensen! | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
A fabulous start for Denmark. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
It's John Jensen! | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
I have to give him so much credit | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
for always believing he could hit the target. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:20 | |
The very day that we needed it, he did. | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
It's dramatic, it's delightful, it's Denmark! | 0:39:25 | 0:39:29 | |
We approached the final in a way that it was already won | 0:39:29 | 0:39:33 | |
before we actually played the game. So we got a lesson. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
But they totally deserved that result. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:39 | |
Germany turn up and you think you will win this game | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
and it was a bit of an embarrassment. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:44 | |
You flew home after that final and you just question yourself, | 0:39:46 | 0:39:49 | |
what just happened? | 0:39:49 | 0:39:51 | |
Denmark receive a fabulous and well-deserved ovation. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
We played England, who invented the game. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
We played the host, Sweden. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
We played the pre-tournament favourite, | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
we played the defending champions and we played the world champions. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:07 | |
I never realised that! Of course, Germany were the world champions. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:11 | |
Now I think we've done well. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
Of course, they won it in '90, that's right. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
When you go on the pitch, it's 11 against 11. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
Of course, sometimes they are favourites but sometimes it's about | 0:40:19 | 0:40:22 | |
belief and I think that was the main story in this one here. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:28 | |
It was like a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
What happened is, when we came to Copenhagen, | 0:40:37 | 0:40:39 | |
we found out how big it was. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
We actually flew over the town square and seriously, it was packed. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:47 | |
It was packed. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:49 | |
The way the whole tournament ended up, with us winning it, | 0:40:51 | 0:40:54 | |
it highlighted how important sport is. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
We won it for Denmark, of course. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
Straightaway we always said we won it for Yugoslavia as well. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:05 | |
We showed that, you know, it doesn't have to be violence, | 0:41:05 | 0:41:10 | |
it doesn't have to be war, we can still compete as countries. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:14 | |
Even to this day, it's very, very nice. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
Denmark's victory in 1992 | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
was the biggest surprise in the history of the Euros. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
The kind of shock you don't expect to see again for a long, long time. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:30 | |
But 12 years later, it happened again. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
This time, it happened to my team. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
At Euro 2004, we were the defending champions. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
Greece were 150-1 to lift the trophy. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:45 | |
That's the fascinating side of football, | 0:41:45 | 0:41:48 | |
you never know what happens in the next moment | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
and I think Greece is a wonderful surprise. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:53 | |
In the opening game, Greece showed the tournament hosts, Portugal. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:23 | |
Everyone thought it was a one-off. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
Portugal, with a lot to do. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
Greece, with their moment in football history. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
They eventually finished second in their group, | 0:42:29 | 0:42:33 | |
making it through to the quarters, where they faced us. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
Greece in the quarters? Easy, let's already think about the semis | 0:42:44 | 0:42:49 | |
and this and that because, in the semis, everything is possible. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:52 | |
Zagorakis away from Lizarazu. | 0:42:58 | 0:43:00 | |
Opportunities here. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
Zagorakis with the cross! | 0:43:02 | 0:43:04 | |
Charisteas has scored! | 0:43:04 | 0:43:06 | |
People had a go at us because we lost against Greece | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
and I remember saying, "I want to see them play | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 | |
"against the Czech Republic." | 0:43:12 | 0:43:14 | |
Everybody was raving about the Czech Republic. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:16 | |
I said, people will then maybe realise | 0:43:16 | 0:43:18 | |
how hard it was to play against them. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:20 | |
Into injury time at the end of the first period of extra time. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:25 | |
In goes the corner! | 0:43:25 | 0:43:26 | |
And they've won it! | 0:43:26 | 0:43:28 | |
The Greeks have won it, | 0:43:28 | 0:43:30 | |
with the silver goal. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:33 | |
Against all the odds, Greece were through to the final. | 0:43:33 | 0:43:37 | |
They faced the home nation, Portugal, | 0:43:37 | 0:43:39 | |
who they had already beaten in the first game of the tournament. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:42 | |
So who are you going for? | 0:44:01 | 0:44:02 | |
I have to go for Portugal, just because they're at home. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:04 | |
I'm playing percentages, as always. I'm going for the Portuguese. | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
Unanimous then? | 0:44:07 | 0:44:08 | |
Right, the final of Euro 2004, Portugal versus Greece. | 0:44:08 | 0:44:13 | |
Dellas with the goalkeeper. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:16 | |
They've scored! | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
Charisteas is the player that got the touch. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:23 | |
And it has stunned the Portuguese. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
The unbelievable, the unfathomable | 0:44:47 | 0:44:49 | |
and the almost impossible has happened. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:51 | |
Greece have won Euro 2004! | 0:44:51 | 0:44:55 | |
Yes, it was ugly. Ugly and boring. | 0:44:56 | 0:44:59 | |
It was boring to watch, | 0:44:59 | 0:45:00 | |
but they won't care and the Greeks didn't care either. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
I think that if you tell someone, "Would you rather play well | 0:45:03 | 0:45:06 | |
"and reach the quarterfinals, or play ugly and win the whole lot?" | 0:45:06 | 0:45:11 | |
I know where they're going to go. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:13 | |
Greece did it their way. They were resilient, pragmatic in a way. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
That was a way of saying to everybody, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
it's not about individuals, it is about a team | 0:45:36 | 0:45:40 | |
and a plan that you can have. | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
They had a plan, they had a good team and they won it. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:46 | |
They played against good teams along the way. | 0:45:46 | 0:45:49 | |
Greece's unlikely victory gives every nation hope, | 0:46:08 | 0:46:11 | |
that they could, one day, lift the trophy, | 0:46:11 | 0:46:14 | |
but England fans know you don't even have to win it | 0:46:14 | 0:46:17 | |
to bring the country to a standstill. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:20 | |
20 years ago, football came home. | 0:46:21 | 0:46:23 | |
The opening ceremony was all about tradition - old England. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:28 | |
But the real show was on the pitch | 0:46:28 | 0:46:31 | |
and Euro '96 showed us a new side to English football. | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
I think it was a carnival atmosphere in '96, a party atmosphere. | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
It was just a joy to play in and a joy to watch. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
Euro '96 being here, that was really, really exciting. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
Just the idea of having a football competition here, | 0:46:49 | 0:46:52 | |
we don't get them that often. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:53 | |
And then the idea came up a couple of times about writing a song. | 0:46:53 | 0:46:57 | |
# It's coming home, it's coming home... # | 0:46:58 | 0:47:01 | |
I remember getting this cassette | 0:47:02 | 0:47:04 | |
with the melody fully formed on it, as far as I remember. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
And then me and Frank sat down and we thought, well, | 0:47:07 | 0:47:11 | |
all the previous football songs we've ever heard, | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
England songs, have all been very triumphant | 0:47:13 | 0:47:16 | |
and the key point about that is, they've always been wrong. | 0:47:16 | 0:47:18 | |
They were always wrong, we never did win. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:20 | |
Never got near winning. Except in '66. | 0:47:20 | 0:47:23 | |
# 30 years of hurt | 0:47:23 | 0:47:25 | |
# Never stopped me dreaming... # | 0:47:26 | 0:47:30 | |
And we wanted something that feels like, | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
this is actually how it feels to watch this team over many years. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
It's a bittersweet song. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:37 | |
Frank has actually described it as a bittersweet love song | 0:47:37 | 0:47:39 | |
to the England football team. And it sort of is that. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
# Everyone seems to know the score | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
# They've seen it all before | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
# They just know, they're so sure... # | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
There was a very strong sense in the press and from pundits, | 0:47:55 | 0:47:59 | |
"Oh, yeah, this is a bunch of wasters. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:01 | |
"Look at them, they're going to screw up our big chance | 0:48:01 | 0:48:04 | |
"to win a big competition that's in our home country." | 0:48:04 | 0:48:06 | |
They were under a lot of pressure with drink and the whole thing. | 0:48:06 | 0:48:11 | |
We were up against it from the very start | 0:48:11 | 0:48:15 | |
because on a trip three or four weeks prior to the tournament, | 0:48:15 | 0:48:20 | |
Terry Venables took us away on a trip to Hong Kong. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:26 | |
Then the proverbial hit the fan, | 0:48:26 | 0:48:28 | |
whereas the guys were caught out drinking late in the night, | 0:48:28 | 0:48:31 | |
early in the morning, so the newspapers were all over it. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:35 | |
Yeah, the dentist chair, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:38 | |
it was my birthday as well that time, I know that. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
Talk about celebrating your birthday, I did that, | 0:48:40 | 0:48:43 | |
and I didn't realise... | 0:48:43 | 0:48:44 | |
Obviously, it was normal, what was going on back home | 0:48:44 | 0:48:46 | |
but it was when we landed, when I saw the press taking photos of us. | 0:48:46 | 0:48:51 | |
That unsavoury incident brought us together as a team. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
How did you feel about having a tournament at home | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
and the response of the fans in Europe? | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
We didn't get off to the best start in the tournament. | 0:48:59 | 0:49:03 | |
We played Switzerland at Wembley. 1-1. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:07 | |
We beat Scotland, which was a massive occasion for us again. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
This is Neville. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:17 | |
Oh, and there's Alan Shearer! | 0:49:17 | 0:49:19 | |
England had drawn with Switzerland in the first game | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
and there had been a slightly dour sense of, indeed, the song is right, | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
it's going to be a disaster, or very mediocre, or whatever. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:31 | |
Then in the course of quite a short time, they get a penalty, Scotland. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:35 | |
Gary McAllister misses. It's saved by David Seaman. | 0:49:35 | 0:49:38 | |
The ball goes up the other end, Gazza scores an incredible goal, | 0:49:38 | 0:49:40 | |
the sun comes out, we win. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:43 | |
Here's Gascoigne. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:44 | |
Oh, brilliant! Oh, yes! | 0:49:44 | 0:49:46 | |
We were in the dressing room. | 0:49:46 | 0:49:48 | |
"Whoever scores, lads, do the dentist chair." | 0:49:48 | 0:49:51 | |
Being an alcoholic, it had to be me! | 0:49:51 | 0:49:53 | |
Game before, I got taken off after 70 minutes. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:58 | |
I got loads of stick from the press afterwards, | 0:49:58 | 0:50:00 | |
so that shut them up a little bit, | 0:50:00 | 0:50:02 | |
but it was such a brilliant goal, I must admit. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:05 | |
I think the impact of a tournament at home is massive. | 0:50:05 | 0:50:09 | |
It definitely had a snowball effect on us. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:13 | |
Once we got a decent result, everyone got a little bit | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
more excited and the country definitely got behind us. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
It wasn't just football fans, it was your mum, everyone, | 0:50:19 | 0:50:22 | |
even people who had never watched a football match | 0:50:22 | 0:50:25 | |
were suddenly swept up in it. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
You could see mums and dads and kids and grandmas and grannies | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
with all the England shirts on and we thought, you know what? | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
This tournament has just taken off here. | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
When you guys beat Holland, I was like, "Wow!" | 0:50:36 | 0:50:40 | |
England lead! | 0:50:43 | 0:50:44 | |
Shearer! | 0:50:47 | 0:50:49 | |
Sheringham! It's four. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:52 | |
I thought personally that you were going to win it, at that time. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:57 | |
The Dutch were a very, very good team. | 0:50:57 | 0:50:59 | |
Some big-name players, | 0:50:59 | 0:51:00 | |
but the performance from all our players on that day was superb. | 0:51:00 | 0:51:05 | |
England were on a roll. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:07 | |
Every team needs a bit of luck to win a tournament | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
and when they beat Spain on penalties in the quarters, | 0:51:10 | 0:51:13 | |
I really thought their name was on the trophy. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
But then, in the semifinals, came the Germans. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:21 | |
For England, it seems, it's always the Germans. | 0:51:21 | 0:51:26 | |
We were realistic. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
We were not the best team in the Euros in '96. | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
But we had an amazing chemistry. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:33 | |
We had an amazing willingness to suffer, to go the extra mile. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:39 | |
Germany go up the other end and they are 2-1 up. How often do they do it? | 0:51:39 | 0:51:44 | |
It became a team that won because they played as a team | 0:51:44 | 0:51:47 | |
and managed to hide their flaws and managed to pull together, | 0:51:47 | 0:51:50 | |
but this was not a great footballing side. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:52 | |
Ironically, the one game that was probably outstanding | 0:51:52 | 0:51:55 | |
was the semifinal against England. | 0:51:55 | 0:51:57 | |
Hello again, glad you've tuned in. | 0:51:57 | 0:51:59 | |
You've obviously heard there's a football match on tonight. | 0:51:59 | 0:52:02 | |
You couldn't even describe what the atmosphere was like | 0:52:02 | 0:52:04 | |
from the English fans, how emotional everything was. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:08 | |
It really gave you goosebumps. | 0:52:08 | 0:52:10 | |
The whole nation really got behind this team | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
and I think it was impossible not to be caught up by that. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:16 | |
Of course, the Germans being the spoilsports, | 0:52:16 | 0:52:19 | |
rock up to ruin the party for everyone! | 0:52:19 | 0:52:22 | |
When you scored that first goal, early on, three minutes? | 0:52:23 | 0:52:27 | |
Yeah, it was early in the game, four or five minutes, from a corner. | 0:52:27 | 0:52:31 | |
And the way the game went, I said, "They can't lose." | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
Wonderful start! | 0:52:33 | 0:52:35 | |
We just felt everything was falling for us here. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:37 | |
It was all going so great for us. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:40 | |
It was a back and forth. It could have gone either way. | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
But we had this drive in our group that said, | 0:52:42 | 0:52:45 | |
"We're going to hang in there, we're going to win this thing." | 0:52:45 | 0:52:49 | |
They equalised and it goes to that golden goal time, | 0:52:49 | 0:52:52 | |
as it was then, and Gazza was half an inch away. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:57 | |
Gascoigne! | 0:52:57 | 0:52:59 | |
I don't believe it! | 0:52:59 | 0:53:01 | |
Then again, we go to penalties and because of what's happened | 0:53:01 | 0:53:06 | |
against Spain, we are still confident. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
All our first penalty takers, and to be fair to Germany, | 0:53:09 | 0:53:12 | |
there's were also absolutely perfect. | 0:53:12 | 0:53:14 | |
Then we get on to the guys who don't really want to take penalties | 0:53:14 | 0:53:17 | |
and then the rest is history. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:19 | |
Oh, no! | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
The Germans go through again. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
Did you watch the final? | 0:53:29 | 0:53:32 | |
I did watch the final, yeah. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:33 | |
I watched it because I knew I was sitting as top scorer | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
and I didn't want Jurgen Klinsmann to go | 0:53:37 | 0:53:40 | |
and score a goal or two to take over me! | 0:53:40 | 0:53:45 | |
Thankfully, he didn't. He won the tournament and I got top scorer. | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
Still Klinsmann. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
It was not the most beautiful game, | 0:53:50 | 0:53:53 | |
but we were effective. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
And it's gone in! | 0:53:55 | 0:53:56 | |
Getting handed that trophy at Wembley, | 0:53:56 | 0:53:59 | |
that meant a lot, there's no doubt about it. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:02 | |
It means a lot to us Germans to win a game at Wembley! | 0:54:02 | 0:54:06 | |
Staying in a hotel in Marble Arch and I was lying in bed | 0:54:09 | 0:54:14 | |
and it was quite hot. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:16 | |
All this noise and in the street were loads of German fans | 0:54:17 | 0:54:20 | |
singing Three Lions outside the window! It was really... | 0:54:20 | 0:54:24 | |
It's hard not to be a hooligan! | 0:54:24 | 0:54:28 | |
I think it was just a beautiful song. | 0:54:29 | 0:54:33 | |
It hit us extremely in the semifinal with England | 0:54:33 | 0:54:36 | |
because we were overwhelmed by that. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:38 | |
# It's coming home, it's coming | 0:54:38 | 0:54:42 | |
# Football's coming home... # | 0:54:42 | 0:54:45 | |
It became a huge, huge anthem in Germany. I think it's beautiful. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:51 | |
The party that had started in England continued in Germany, | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
but the tournament's feelgood factor | 0:54:54 | 0:54:57 | |
was felt long after that summer. | 0:54:57 | 0:54:59 | |
Euro '96 had changed how English football was seen, | 0:54:59 | 0:55:02 | |
both at home and abroad. | 0:55:02 | 0:55:04 | |
Certainly being English, supporting England and liking football, | 0:55:04 | 0:55:10 | |
had been slightly shameful, maybe, in the '70s and '80s because people | 0:55:10 | 0:55:14 | |
tended to be associated with, | 0:55:14 | 0:55:16 | |
A, not very good football and, B, hooliganism. | 0:55:16 | 0:55:19 | |
But there is a way of being patriotic that is not | 0:55:19 | 0:55:22 | |
nationalist and I think that was found in the country | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
and in football and at Wembley at the same time. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:28 | |
Do you replay that tournament sometimes in your head, | 0:55:29 | 0:55:33 | |
thinking, "We could have won it and I wish we had won it"? | 0:55:33 | 0:55:36 | |
Well, I only ever think about it about once a day now, | 0:55:36 | 0:55:39 | |
instead of five or ten times a day! | 0:55:39 | 0:55:41 | |
20 years on, the Euros are almost here again. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:47 | |
It will be the biggest European Championships ever. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:51 | |
With the final in Paris, in the Stade de France, | 0:55:51 | 0:55:53 | |
it may also be the most important. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:56 | |
In November last year, | 0:55:56 | 0:55:58 | |
the stadium was among a number of targets attacked by terrorists. | 0:55:58 | 0:56:02 | |
I think the country is still in shock after the attacks. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:07 | |
The thing that came off it was that we all got together. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:11 | |
We showed a unity, a solidarity. | 0:56:11 | 0:56:14 | |
The world came together, for France. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:18 | |
CROWD SING LA MARSEILLAISE | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
For me, Wembley, home of football, | 0:56:21 | 0:56:24 | |
singing the French national anthem, that was just amazing. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:30 | |
Football came together. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:32 | |
Wembley was an incredible experience | 0:56:36 | 0:56:38 | |
and I think it will be the same in the Euros. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:41 | |
Yes, everybody will come over and support their team and everything | 0:56:41 | 0:56:44 | |
but there will be a sense, I think, | 0:56:44 | 0:56:46 | |
from everybody coming to France about, | 0:56:46 | 0:56:48 | |
we were with you in November when your country was under attack. | 0:56:48 | 0:56:51 | |
We're still with you now. | 0:56:51 | 0:56:52 | |
24 nations, a festival of football. | 0:56:56 | 0:56:59 | |
The traditional superpowers are joined by talented smaller nations, | 0:56:59 | 0:57:04 | |
with Wales and Northern Ireland going to a major tournament | 0:57:04 | 0:57:08 | |
for the first time in a long time. | 0:57:08 | 0:57:10 | |
France is ready to welcome them all. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
All I want to think is that football is my life, | 0:57:15 | 0:57:17 | |
football is a beautiful sport for so many people | 0:57:17 | 0:57:21 | |
and that we will all be happy. | 0:57:21 | 0:57:23 | |
I hope this tournament is remembered for the right reasons. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:26 | |
We all do, because sport unifies, sport makes people happy. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:33 | |
That mustn't be a platform for terror. | 0:57:33 | 0:57:37 | |
It's about happiness. | 0:57:37 | 0:57:39 | |
It's about having fun and, obviously, being secure. | 0:57:39 | 0:57:43 | |
We can bring all those nations together, through football, | 0:57:43 | 0:57:48 | |
the sport that we love the most. | 0:57:48 | 0:57:50 | |
The sport I love the most | 0:57:50 | 0:57:52 | |
and it is the number one sport in the world, in all fairness. | 0:57:52 | 0:57:55 | |
# Once I was seven years old... # | 0:57:57 | 0:58:00 | |
My trip down Memory Lane has reminded me | 0:58:00 | 0:58:02 | |
just how powerful football is. | 0:58:02 | 0:58:05 | |
# It was a big, big world | 0:58:05 | 0:58:07 | |
# But we thought we were bigger... # | 0:58:07 | 0:58:10 | |
The Euros have shown how it brings people together. | 0:58:10 | 0:58:14 | |
Especially when you win. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:16 | |
# Once I was 20 years old, my story got told... # | 0:58:21 | 0:58:25 | |
I've seen it in France before and I would love that for France again. | 0:58:25 | 0:58:29 | |
You will be watching this at home, backing your team, of course. | 0:58:36 | 0:58:40 | |
I'm backing France. | 0:58:40 | 0:58:41 | |
Allez Les Bleus! | 0:58:42 | 0:58:45 | |
# Once I was seven years old. # | 0:58:45 | 0:58:48 |