Ronald Koeman.
The Netherlands’ current manager. Nice guy. Seems pretty amiable, pretty chilled. Stylish footballer, great playing career and… a sporting villain hated by an entire nation? And that nation was England? And England play Koeman’s lads in the semi-finals of a major tournament tomorrow (Wednesday)?
Say it ain’t so.
Yes, in the autumn of 1993, Koeman was pretty much despised and loathed across England for his role in ensuring their failure to qualify for the following year’s World Cup.
If you are unaware of this story, a dastardly tale of one of the most blatant red cards you could ever wish to see not being given at 0-0 in a crucial qualifying game, before the evil annoying protagonist goes on to score the opening goal of a 2-0 win just five minutes later, you are not alone.
Current Dutch players Micky van de Ven and Cody Gakpo were asked about the incident involving their now national-team boss at a press conference on Tuesday.
“I don’t know,” Van de Ven replied, looking to a press officer for help.
“We can’t remember — we weren’t born yet,” Gakpo added.
Cody. Micky. If you’re reading this, let’s start with some context.
This remains the only occasion where England have failed to reach a World Cup finals in the past 46 years and, before we get to Koeman’s moment of unscrupulousness, there are many other reasons they didn’t get to travel to the United States-hosted tournament in summer 1994.
Koeman wasn’t quite public enemy number one, you see — that title belonged to poor Graham Taylor, who was England manager then. Taylor had succeeded Bobby Robson, who at points during his eight-year tenure had been almost as vilified as Taylor became but had taken England to the World Cup semi-finals in 1990 before returning to club management after that tournament when his expiring contract wasn’t renewed.
Taylor inherited an ageing squad in need of refreshing and suffered as long-term injuries deprived him of the likes of Paul Gascoigne and a young Alan Shearer. But he also did things such playing Keith Curle, a central defender, at right-back and making the whole-hearted but, um, technically limited Carlton Palmer the lynchpin of his midfield.
England went out of the group stage at the 1992 European Championship as Taylor fast-tracked Gary Lineker’s retirement (it proved his final international appearance, aged only 31) by subbing him off for Arsenal target man Alan Smith after an hour of their decisive final game against Sweden with the teams level at 1-1 and when he was one short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s national goalscoring record.
So Taylor’s first tournament experience with England had been less than stellar, but he could put it right at the World Cup two years later — if England qualified, that is.
Taylor’s team were grouped with the Netherlands, an emerging Norway, Poland, Turkey and San Marino in their qualifying group, with only the top two going through. No play-offs safety net in those days.
The match in question, away against the Dutch — also a side in transition after their Euros win in 1988 and before their run to the semis of the 1998 World Cup, but still a daunting powerhouse containing Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Frank Rijkaard — was the penultimate group game, so England hoped to have qualification wrapped up by then.
Instead, they stuttered through their group. Had they beaten Norway at home when 1-0 up, they probably would have been fine. Had they beaten the Netherlands at home when 2-0 up, they definitely would have been fine. Instead, they drew both games, lost 2-0 in Oslo and drew again in a hostile Chorzow, Poland.
However, with the Dutch also stumbling (manager Dick Advocaat, in the first of three spells in charge, fell out with Ruud Gullit, who retired from the national team), England travelled to the Netherlands knowing a draw could see them squeeze through.
Norway were top of the group (and would qualify that mid-October night, by beating Poland away), the Dutch were second on 11 points and England were level with them points-wise but third on goal difference — plus 16 to plus 13. However, in the final round of games a month later, Koeman and company would be away to Poland while England visited a San Marino side who had suffered defeats of 10-0, 7-0 and 6-0 (twice) in that campaign already.
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In summary, a point in Rotterdam and a thrashing of San Marino and England would probably be fine. England under Taylor were very often abysmal, but on that day they were excellent; Tony Dorigo hit the post, Tony Adams had a shot cleared off the line, David Platt and Paul Merson missed decent chances, and they also got lucky when Rijkaard’s legitimate goal was ruled out for offside. Had expected goals existed in 1993, England’s numbers would have probably looked pretty good.
Then, after 55 minutes, came the crucial moment.
Andy Sinton played a long ball over the top and attacking midfielder Platt was in a race with Koeman to get to the ball first and get through on goal. Platt did get there first… but Koeman grabbed a chunk of his shirt, a load of his arm and dragged him to the floor.
The contact starts just outside the box, it’s a free kick for sure, but with Koeman clearly being the last man and Platt clearly being denied a blatant goalscoring opportunity, it’s a very obvious professional foul (that law had been introduced three years earlier) and a red card. Koeman intended to deliberately bring his opponent down and there was no attempt to play the ball. Simple decision, yes?
No. German referee Karl-Josef Assenmacher awards a free kick but only shows Koeman a yellow card.
“Referee! Referee!” Taylor screams as Platt is fouled. “He should be sent off. Is he gonna send him off? He’s gotta send him off!
“That… what are they being instructed? Eh? You know the rulings. Eh? Linesman! Linesman! What sort of thing is happening here? Absolutely disgraceful.”
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How do we know Taylor was saying these things? Because he was wearing a microphone, for what to this day remains an astonishing, raw and honest documentary (The Impossible Job) screened on the UK’s Channel 4 shortly afterwards. “The referee’s got me the sack. Thank him ever so much for that, won’t you,” he sarcastically tells the fourth official.
Anyway, even if you’re not old enough to remember the incident or the documentary, you know how this is going to end.
Dorigo’s free kick is blocked (by a player five yards away from the ball) and, seven minutes later, Koeman clips a gorgeous free kick over England’s wall and into the net to make it 1-0. After six more minutes, Bergkamp doubles the lead.
The defeat leaves England needing a miracle in that final round of games, which they don’t get. So, no American World Cup for them and the sack for Taylor.
The moment’s two main protagonists reverberated around the English national consciousness for a while and both saw the funny side of their villainous roles, Taylor with his “Do I not like orange” quip in this wonderful Yellow Pages advert, Koeman sending himself off in comedy duo Frank Skinner and David Baddiel’s Fantasy Football League show.
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“It was a clear foul,” Koeman admitted in 2018, before the two nations met in a friendly. “Nowadays, it would have been a red card for sure, but I was very happy that the referee said it was a free kick and not a penalty.”
Forgiven by some, forgotten by others, but for fans of a certain age, there will be vengeance in the air should England win this semi-final.
(Top photo: Adam Butler – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)