Euro Memories

Bit of nostalgia and not everyone will be able to harp back that far (or maybe you can further), but what Euro memories stick with you.

For me (in no particular order)

88 and Holland, particularly the Final and not so much Van Bastens volley but Gullits hair and that bullet header. Back then foreign football and players were more unknown, so it was exciting. My first Euros as such.

92, Pearce getting nutted, then corking an absolute belter off the underside of the bar from about 35 yards.

96, the song, the Holland win, everything really - just a perfect age for me to enjoy it properly

00, I dont remember too much on this tournament. Without checking im sure there was a game like Slovenia 5 Spain 5, but other than that and who won it, it probably was around the time I sort of couldnt be bothered with it all.

04, im embarrassed to say I cant even remember where this one was held.

08, we didnt qualify iirc and I was on holiday for the Finals, and again didnt really take it in.

12, idk

Anyway, so for me the older versions of the competition still resonate in my memory bank. 90s was probably the pinnacle of football for me, so those competitions hold the fondest memories. I want to get back into it though, my son is probably of age now where he would enjoy it, so should be more exciting.

Euro 96 - Remember the shootout VS Spain and the semi VS Germany vaguely, and the 4-1 VS Holland.

Euro 2000 - Remember Phil Neville being dreadful.

Euro 2004 - The first ever tournament of CR7! I thought we could win this until Rooney got injured Holland 2-3 Czech Republic was a great game. Remember Baros winning the golden boot as well.

Euro 2008 - I was in America for part of this and even though we didn't qualify, I really enjoyed watching it. Was delighted that Spain won it, and won £85 from a £5 bet on David Villa being top scorer

Euro 2012 - Remember being in Bulgaria for part of this one, enjoyed the tourny overall.

The WHOLE of Euro2000.

Best tournament ever

96 is the first tournament I remember, Gazzas goal and Southgate penalty miss are most memorable.

2004 Portugal Vs England,k was this with the Ronaldo wink?

wow my memory sucks

Euro 2004: "This Ronaldo kid is good, so glad we have him at United! But how can a team with Stellios and Charisteas win a Euro?"

Euro 2008: "Did Spain actually booted Raul and win something? Must've been a curse that guy."

Euro 2012: "Lol an out of form Torres wins the golden boot. And Carroll's header was majestic."

00- Was 3 years old.

04- The summer before the season I really got into football, infact maybe this was what started my interest. Remember Ricardo destroying us in the shootout, the ****. Don't remember anything about Greece winning it really, so clearly I wasn't that arsed if England weren't involved.

08- Spain won it. That's about it, don't think I watched much of it thanks to McClaren, the ****.

12- Pretty sure we played Sweden and Ukraine in the groups, can't remember the other. Then out on pens to Italy, might have been Ashley Cole that missed? The ****. After that, I remember very little, didn't even remember who Spain played in the final until a question about it was on some quiz I did a few months ago.

Bit of a theme emerging then. Memories seem to fade as soon as England aren't involved .

You've beaten me to this. I was going to start a separate nostalgia thread for each tournament

96 is the first tournament I remember, Gazzas goal and Southgate penalty miss are most memorable.

2004 Portugal Vs England,k was this with the Ronaldo wink?

wow my memory sucks

2006 World Cup was the Ronaldo wink.

Was the Trezeguet golden goal VS France Euro 2000?

barely remember tournaments for whatever reason. I do remember Seaman's kit in 96

Don't remember 88 or 92 (was that Platt's volley?), 96 was just a perfect storm of amazingness - if only Gazza was 2 inches taller .

2000 - Keegan being rubbish and silly Phillip giving away the penalty.

2004 - The arrival of the greatest and most exciting football talent the world has ever seen, Wayne Rooney was just out of this world.

2008 - ermm, France won this one right?

2012 - Spain's borebags? Was in New York for most of the tournament. Pretty sure Welbeck scored.

I rarely retain memories from the tournaments, especially when they don't include England. The last good thing to come from any Euros from an England perspective was probably Wazza. What an exciting talent he was

2008 - ermm, France won this one right?

Spain won 2008 and 2012.

2000 - French golden goals galore

2004 - Rooney stamp/Ronaldo wink

2008 - Being petrified for Aragones when all the Spanish players were chucking him in the air

2012 - That Pirlo penalty

2006 was the Rooney stamp and Ronaldo wink ffs

2004 was Rooney broken foot and Sol Campbell disallowed goal.

It's pretty odd I can remeber EC2000, WC2002, EC2004, WC2006, WC2010 and WC2014 still very vivdly. But the EC2008 and 2012 or two big nothings in my mind. I really had to google where they were happening and who won them. I probably watched every game though, as I do with every tournament.

My first European Championship was in 2000. England's win over Germany stands out as a positive, but the Portugal collapse and Phil Neville's late foul on Viorel Moldovan against Romania were real lows.

There was also that thrilling climax to the Final, including David Trezeguet's golden goal for France.

2004 was amazing. We had the Czechs launching a stunning comeback against Holland, Wayne Rooney guiding England towards the Final (until he got injured against Portugal and it all went wrong), and - of course - Greece. Their football wasn't enjoyable, but their making Cristiano Ronaldo cry was.

In 2008, my family lived next door to a Turkish fella, so we'd often hear him and his mates cheering or groaning when Turkey were playing. The games against Croatia and Germany were utterly captivating, and they encapsulated the highs and lows of Turkey's run to the Semis. I also recall that there was a huge storm that disrupted TV coverage of the Germany game.

Turkey aside, I enjoyed watching Russia, when Andrei Arshavin was actually quite good.

2012 wasn't quite so memorable, although I do recall that the Republic of Ireland were rubbish, Pirlo was a genius, and Balotelli was Super Mario... until the Final, when Spain played arguably the most dominant 90 minutes of football I've ever seen from a top-level team.

Turkey in 2008 remember the match with them vs Croatia being utterly awful until the last minute when both teams scored.

I was living in Brisbane at the time of Euro 2004 so had to keep getting up really early - England v France and England v Croatia were on at 4.45am, England v Switzerland at 2am, England v Portugal at 4.45am too.

Because of this I hardly saw any of it. However because there a lot of Greeks in Australia, it was pretty crazy after they won.

1992 - one of my friends said he was supporting Denmark after that. All I can remember!

1996 - I remember this being brilliant. That's about it.

2000 - sucked

2008 - didn't really watch it as no England

2012 - I had broken my ankle a couple of weeks before, so watched most of this at home

92 (was that Platt's volley?)

No, that was against Belgium in the second round of Italia 1990.

I have a very selective memory for the euros. I can remember loads of things from worlds cups back to Italia 90 but hardly anything from the euros.

96 - Seaman's penalty save and gazzas goal vs Scotland, Shearer battering the Dutch and the semi final

2000 - not much really, was this the one where France hammered Holland?

2004 - England being good for a change and alcohol poisoning

2008 - Spain passing everybody to death

2012- A match being delayed by a storm and more Spanish passing.

92 - All i remember of that year is the Final, Denmark winning 2-0. IIRC John Jensen scored a goal in that Final. The Arsenal midfielder couldn't score in an empty net from two yards in club football yet struck a sweet effort from about 25 yards.

96 - As an England fan i fear this will be as good as it gets for us. What a time to be alive. For the Holland game i was sat in the back of my step dads van on the way back from Leicester listening to it on the radio. Fun times...

00 - The Shearer header vs Germany and then the Romania. I'm not sure if this is true without checking but wasn't there a goalkeeper problem before that game? Obviously the main memory is Super Phil giving away the penalty.

04 - Rooney ripping teams apart, France doing a very late job on us.

08 - No England, no recollection. Spain won it, couldn't tell you the SF-ists without looking.

12 - No expectations going into it yet and that made for a special few games. France up first about 4pm in the afternoon. Lescott scored with about our only on target effort. Much of a nothing game really. The Carroll header and Welbeck? flick stand out in my mind - that Sweden game was fantastic. The Italy came along and were far the better team so on that judgement i expected us to win the penalty shootout. What a silly expectation. Weren't we ahead at some point too, Italy missed an early penalty??

What are you lads in about? This is the first time there's been a Euros isn't it?

I don't remember there being any before.

96 - Historic first win, Šuker's lob on Schmeichel, refs robbing us against Germans, England choking per usual. <.<

00 - We didn't qualify, but I still remember that crazy group England was in and of course the Italy-Netherlands semies. Grande Toldo.

04 - We had a 7-2-1 formation basically, didn't win against Switzerlad, Trezeguet's hand against us and England ripping us apart in the last game. And the Greeks ofc.

08 - **ck everything. We deserved the finals if you ask me.

12 - The ref murdered us against Spain, we had a chance to go through.

96 - Historic first win, Šuker's lob on Schmeichel, refs robbing us against Germans, England choking per usual. <.<

00 - We didn't qualify, but I still remember that crazy group England was in and of course the Italy-Netherlands semies. Grande Toldo.

04 - We had a 7-2-1 formation basically, didn't win against Switzerlad, Trezeguet's hand against us and England ripping us apart in the last game. And the Greeks ofc.

08 - **ck everything. We deserved the finals if you ask me.

12 - The ref murdered us against Spain, we had a chance to go through.

Who the hell is 'we' and 'us'? Only acceptable to use those pronouns if you are referring to England mate. No one knows who you're on about.

2006 was the Rooney stamp and Ronaldo wink ffs

2004 was Rooney broken foot and Sol Campbell disallowed goal.

Damn it Both games have kind of merged into one in my mind.

Which one had Carragher come off the bench to take a pen?

Who the hell is 'we' and 'us'? Only acceptable to use those pronouns if you are referring to England mate. No one knows who you're on about.

Pretty sure he was able to qualify that with his comments on 96? Not difficult to understand who "we" and "us" are as a result of that.

This is ri, what do you expect?

Is he the Leeds supporter? - New profile i'm guessing?

Yes it's ri196.

2004 was Rooney broken foot and Sol Campbell disallowed goal.

IIRC the Campbell disallowed goal was WC98 against Argentina.

Jesus wept, grow a sense of humour you boring sods.

In all seriousness though I did actually have to google Suker to work it out. Some of us weren't even alive in 96.

So because you're an illiterate neanderthal, everybody else has to march to the beat of your drum?

IIRC the Campbell disallowed goal was WC98 against Argentina.

He had another disallowed one against Portugal too

So because you're an illiterate neanderthal, everybody else has to march to the beat of your drum?

Sorry, must have missed something. Why am I illiterate?

Is that actually the guy who got banned and made a new account (again)?

Pretty sure he was able to qualify that with his comments on 96? Not difficult to understand who "we" and "us" are as a result of that.

Oh well, I excpected everyone in here would instanly connect who's "we" when I mention the lob on Schmeichel in 96.

MY BAD I GUESS, some people don't have basic football knowledge.

Don't worry. Most of us knew exactly who you meant

Which one had Carragher come off the bench to take a pen?

WC2006. Came on in the last minute of extra time, then missed the spot kick

WC2006. Came on in the last minute of extra time, then missed the spot kick

He did score his practise penalty.

2000

- Martyn having to come in as keeper

- Phil Neville fouling RIGHT ON CUE and knocking out England

- France's golden goal winning the trophy. Bring the golden goal back.

2004

- Roonaldo

- Baros on the back of awful club seasons performing so well that his club (either Liverpool or Villa) kept him on another year in the hope he'd finally come good. He didn't.

- Me actually calling Greece being an outside shot before the start of the tournament.

- Latvia beating Germany 2-0... at least they would have if the English ref had given them both the penalties.

- Czech Republic being the Belgium of 2004.

2008

- Absolutely nothing. I barely remember who won it.

- Wait, wasn't there a match suspended because of rain? Always wanted that to happen (then it happened to England a while later in the U.S. I think).

2012

- England nearly getting knocked out at the group stage

- Carroll actually doing well

- England never even getting out of their own half or trying to for 120 minutes, while too many English fans had the audacity to mock smaller teams 2 years later in the World Cup for being 'crap' and 'boring' and ultra-defensive. Iran were far more entertaining against Argentina after all, weren't they?

- Balotelli being 2012's Baros.

- Spain winning it without sometimes playing a striker, because the alternative was playing Torres.

- Was this the one where Torres did the horrible ****ing dive outside the area?

- No wait that was against Chile. I bet Torres dived at some point though.

- And was this the one where Portugal had penalties, and Ronaldo wanted to go 4th or 5th so he could get the adulation of scoring the winning spot kick? And then the other team won before he could even take it? Obviously talented, but so thick that he didn't realise you put your best taker 3rd because it only takes 3 kicks to win a shootout.

Thought it was pretty obvious Ri was making a (pretty crap, tbf) joke but hey ho

I actually quite enjoyed Euro '08, none of the home nations there and there was some real entertaining games.

I remember Cech gifting Turkey the winner in their group match after the Czech Republic had been 2-0 up, lot of pundits writing off Germany going into their game against Portugal in the quarter finals, Arshavin looking amazing for most of the tournament (was it not the Euros that convinced Arsenal to buy him?) and of course Spain.

2008 - Watching Switzerland v Portugal round a mate's flat and it being a bit rubbish for an opening game. Not much else.

The opening game was against the Czechs.

I'll start from the first I actively remember

1996 - Gascoigne's goal then England deciding that, no, they'd rather have Holland in the quarter finals and letting in the goal that put Scotland out. I vaguely remember the semi final, but I think a lot of that will be clouded by repeat showings over the years. Was this the tournament that Poborsky mugged off Schmeichel with the outrageous lob?

2000 - Remember Phil Neville having his aneurism and England going out. Beyond that...actually, I can't even remember who won it. *checks* oh aye, France with a Golden Goal. Now I vaguely remember Motson screaming Trezequeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet or something. But that could've been anywhere

2004 - Ah the memories. Rooney meltdown, Ronaldo deciding that he didn't fancy all the love when he returned to Manchester. (that was 2006, my bad) And Greece. Oh Greece. It was hilarious when they won.

2008 - England didn't qualify. To be honest I don't really remember much else. Checking what actually happened, I still don't. Of course it ended up being the start of Spain's boring, tedious dominance. Rain breaks, two years before Adrian Chiles would be forced to fill in for another at an England friendly.

2012 - Walking home from 7s and wondering "what's the Italy/Germany score" just as Balotelli got the second and the Italian restaurant just ahead of me went mental. England doing actually not bad given the preparation but then getting absolutely dismantled 0-0 by Italy. Spain being tedious once again right up until the final, when they showed that they're not bad at attacking football either. Ronaldo agreeing to take the 5th penalty, and then never getting a 5th penalty. The "we-own-you" derby of Germany vs Greece, and them giving it a good go. And looking at the wiki page, I also remember Holland being absolutely dreadful and losing every game.

Euro 96 was the first tournament I properly remember - been downhill ever since for England, mind.

Still, for a school project, I made this sweet book including all the teams, stats and stuff - still proud of it to this day

- England nearly getting knocked out at the group stage

We won the group, 3 clear of 2nd and 4 of 3rd?

I'll start from the first I actively remember

1996 - Gascoigne's goal then England deciding that, no, they'd rather have Holland in the quarter finals and letting in the goal that put Scotland out. I vaguely remember the semi final, but I think a lot of that will be clouded by repeat showings over the years. Was this the tournament that Poborsky mugged off Schmeichel with the outrageous lob?

2000 - Remember Phil Neville having his aneurism and England going out. Beyond that...actually, I can't even remember who won it. *checks* oh aye, France with a Golden Goal. Now I vaguely remember Motson screaming Trezequeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet or something. But that could've been anywhere

2004 - Ah the memories. Rooney meltdown, Ronaldo deciding that he didn't fancy all the love when he returned to Manchester. And Greece. Oh Greece. It was hilarious when they won.

2008 - England didn't qualify. To be honest I don't really remember much else. Checking what actually happened, I still don't. Of course it ended up being the start of Spain's boring, tedious dominance. Rain breaks, two years before Adrian Chiles would be forced to fill in for another at an England friendly.

2012 - Walking home from 7s and wondering "what's the Italy/Germany score" just as Balotelli got the second and the Italian restaurant just ahead of me went mental. England doing actually not bad given the preparation but then getting absolutely dismantled 0-0 by Italy. Spain being tedious once again right up until the final, when they showed that they're not bad at attacking football either. Ronaldo agreeing to take the 5th penalty, and then never getting a 5th penalty. The "we-own-you" derby of Germany vs Greece, and them giving it a good go. And looking at the wiki page, I also remember Holland being absolutely dreadful and losing every game.

Not sure getting your foot broken can be classed as a meltdown.

Not sure getting your foot broken can be classed as a meltdown.

I misremembered and included the WC2006 match where he stamped on Ronaldo. You could have added the second bit, which was also wrong, but maybe you didn't have as pithy a comeback for that.

Edited the post.

I'll start from the first I actively remember

1996 - that Poborsky mugged off Schmeichel with the outrageous lob?

I thought it was Vitor Baia. Didnt Suker lob Schmeichel, outside of the boot type thing?

Could be wrong on the latter, but im sure Poborsky did it v Portugal.