These Football Times These Football Times

Johan and his famous Cruyff turn at the 1974 World Cup was all very well, but did it end up with the ball in the back of the net? It did not. Some 42 years later, Hal Robson-Kanu showed how it should be done in the white heat of the 2016 Euros quarter-final, sending the Belgian defence for a bag of chips - mayonnaise optional - and then bludgeoning the ball past Thibault Courtois. Matthew Gibbs points out to Gary Thacker that the Welsh are therefore better than the Dutch. Popcorn all round.

Joining Gary Thacker today is Dr David Turner who takes us back 20 years to a day when England looked to be emerging as genuine contenders for the Euros in 2004, only to have those hopes dashed by injury. It’s all about England v Croatia and it’s mostly about Wayne Rooney.

Fresh from being chiselled into the European Championships’ Mount Rushmore, Antonín Panenka takes centre stage as Aidan Williams brings us chapter and verse on perhaps the most iconic penalty ever taken. 

A goal of beauty is a joy forever as the old saying almost goes. Proving the old adage true in 1996 was Davor Šuker who produced one of the tournament’s immortal moments with his goal for Croatia against Denmark. Rob Fletcher tells Gary Thacker all about it.

In a tournament dominated by the usual heavyweight suspects of European football, nobody saw Greece’s title winning tournament of 2004 coming. Matthew Gibbs talks to Gary Thacker about the ultimate underdog story.

Ahead of this summer’s European Championship, Gary Thacker invites members of the team to talk about some of their most indelible memories of the competition. In this first episode, Dave Bowler recalls the night in 1972 when Günter Netzer and West Germany handed out a footballing lesson at Wembley.