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This week marks the return of international fixtures, as the 2016 Euro qualifiers take centre stage once again. Manager Roy Hogdson's men are up against San Marino this Friday at home, before taking on Estonia 3 days later.
Just 3 months ago, England were humiliated at the World Cup in Brazil, having fallen in the first hurdle itself. The Three Lions naturally garnered a barrage of castigation for a poor show at football's biggest stage, as it was their ever worst performance. Despite boasting several talented players in the squad for decades, England have never been able to carve a niche after the 1966 World Cup triumph.
However, one of their most embarrassing moments in their history came in the winter of 1993 when England faced San Marino in the 1994 World Cup qualifier in a make or break situation. Prior to their latest clash which is on Friday, we walk down the memory lane to revisit one of the most shocking evenings in the history of English football
What exactly happened in November 1993
England, on the cusp of missing out on a spot for the World Cup in USA in 1994, were away to one of the weakest teams in the world, San Marino, and needed to rack up 7 unanswered strikes to keep any hopes of a qualification alive.
But God forbid, the Englishmen were made to go thorugh the obloquy of falling behind the minnows with just 8 seconds into the game. A pall of gloom descended over the English supporters as the premonitions of failing to qualify for football's grandest competition loomed ever closer.
England endured an agonising qualifying campaign, failing to gather points against the 2 top flight teams in the group, Norway and Netherlands. They drew with both the teams at Wembley but went down 2-0 away from home. And in the final round of the qualifiers, Graham Taylor's men had to beat San Marino by 7 clear goals and hope Poland would also beat the Netherlands.
Once the game went underway, Davide Gualtieri struck for home side to take a shock lead. That incident was hard for the English side boasting the likes of Davis Seaman, Paul Ince, Alan Shearer, to stomach. However, the lead lasted for only 21 minutes as the visitors fought back valiantly and found the net 7 times until final whistle.
The resounding victory then became the one to forget, as the Three Lions missed the flight to the US for the World Cup next year and for the first time since 1978. The Dutch had beaten Poland 3-1 in Poznan and clinched the 2nd qualifying spot to proceed to the World Cup with group winners, Norway.
The aftermath
Semi-finalists In1990, the England team had reached an all time nadir. 7 days post the disaster In Bologna, Taylor stepped down as England manager, who had later quoted, "When the ball went into the net, I looked up towards the sky and just said quietly to myself 'God, please tell me what I have done wrong.' All the negative ramifications still weighs heavy on him as he quoted, "When you're committed and fail, the pain doesn't go away. Twenty years on, and we're still thinking about it."
The current England manager Roy Hodgson will be hoping for a less traumatic experience when his side take to the field against the same opposition this week.
