#4 Sol Campbell’s disallowed England goals in 1998 and 2004
Refereeing decisions cost England in the 1998 World Cup and the 2004 European Championships and both incidents involved defender Sol Campbell.
In 1998, with their second-round match against Argentina on a knife-edge at 2-2, England won a corner on 80 minutes. Darren Anderton’s cross was headed in by Sol Campbell, but the referee disallowed it as he felt that Alan Shearer had impeded Argentina keeper Carlos Roa. Replays seemed to show this was not the case, but despite surviving extra time with ten men, England went on to lose a penalty shoot-out.
It was the same old story in Euro 2004. This time the game was 1-1 in the last minute of normal time when David Beckham fired a free-kick into the box. Michael Owen headed against the bar, and in the ensuing scramble Campbell once again headed home and thought he’d got the winner. This time – again wrongly, judging by the replay – the referee disallowed it as he felt that John Terry had impeded keeper Ricardo.
Both incidents remain controversial to this day and in both cases, video replays would’ve confirmed Campbell’s goals were legitimate and probably sent England through in both ties.
