Gareth Southgate remembers it as the summer he fell in love with the World Cup.
Running home from school in 1982 and watching his hero, Bryan Robson, scoring after just 27 seconds as England beat France 3-1. Now, the story has gone full circle as Southgate is leading England against France in a World Cup quarter-final and there is a real sense of destiny ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
Southgate, who was 11 back in the summer of 1982, still believes representing the Three Lions at a World Cup is the biggest honour for any player, and that will be the driving force behind his team talks in the build-up.
Three Lions boss Southgate said: “Bryan was my hero and I remember both his goals. It is the first World Cup watching England but also the Brazilian team in that tournament - Zico, Eder, Falcao, Socrates - so that is part of falling in love with the game. Sticker albums, I did not actually buy the World Cup singles but I obviously know the songs are in my head, so when you look back…
“I don’t know how the manager, Ron Greenwood, was perceived at the time but they went out of that tournament without losing a game. I have a picture of Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking coming on when they weren’t fully fit. And you look back at the quality of the opponents…
“I was a midfield player - not of Bryan’s class - but then to get to work with him at England. I found that really difficult, and Steve Coppell at Crystal Palace, as they were both heroes of mine. I never really got fully comfortable with that until later.”
England could not build on their early promise in that World Cup while France lost an epic semi-final to Germany on penalties, and that tournament is still regarded by many as the best ever.
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Now, France are world champions, have arguably the best player on the planet in Kylian Mbappe and look an intimidating opponent. “Look, Mbappe is a world-class player who is always producing the moments when they are needed and that is what those top, top players do,” said Southgate.
“If you look at the Argentina-Australia game, Australia did so many things right and [Lionel] Messi pops up and delivers that moment. That is what the big guys do. That is the challenge we face.”
England’s last meeting with France was in Paris in 2017, when Southgate’s team lost 3-2, but the reality was the gulf in class felt much bigger. France played nearly half the match with 10 men as Raphael Varane was sent off at the start of the second half. They won the World Cup a year later.
But England have undoubtedly narrowed the gap between themselves and France during the five years since, when Southgate has managed to take them to the semi-finals of a World Cup, the Euros final and now into another quarter-final.
France lost the likes of N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba before the tournament but still look an awesome force. Yet Southgate insists his players will be ready - and in better shape than when they last met.
Southgate said: “We are different now, there is no doubt about that. We are obviously further down the line as a team. They have incredible depth of talent. When we look at them at every age group when we are studying at all our development teams. They have such depth in every position.
“They have obviously lost quite a few players ahead of this tournament yet you look at the team and you look at the squad, it is still remarkably strong. They are full of speed, they are compact and difficult to play against. You know the style of game you are going to get and it is a brilliant challenge for us now.”
