Top 5 What If? moments for England football fans

England’s World Cup life hangs in the balance and yet again it could be the narrowest of margins that sends the Three Lions out.

Wayne Rooney’s header that crashed into the crossbar would have put England 1-0 up and in the driving seat to gain all three points against Uruguay last night.

While that incident may not have guaranteed a win it will now be added to a long list of huge What If? moments that litters England’s tournament history.

Here Ladbrokes News opens old wounds with five of the most memorable.

Gazza’s miss at Euro 96

With the semi-final against Germany poised at 1-1 and both sides vying for a Golden Goal Teddy Sheringham sprays the ball wide to Alan Shearer who puts in a far post cross for Gazza to tap in.

We were literally an inch away from reaching a Wembley final and spared the misery of another penalty shoot-out loss and those harrowing Pizza Hut adverts that followed!

Sol Campbell’s disallowed goals

Campbell has his name next to two entries and neither was his fault.

The former Arsenal man jumped for joy when he thought his header had put England through to the quarters at France 98 only to see his effort ruled out for a dubious Alan Shearer foul on the keeper.

Six years later and Campbell again scored to seemingly give England a semi-final berth with victory over Portugal. Only this time John Terry was adjudged to have pushed Ricardo. Poor Sol!

Lampard’s goal (yes, goal) against Germany

England eventually lost to Germany 4-1 but the scoreline and the result could have been so different if Frank Lampard’s goal – that was clearly three feet over the line – had been given.

The goal would have seen England claw back a two-goal deficit and head into half-time all square and in the ascandency.

The Koeman debacle for USA 94

New Southampton manager Ronald Koeman and German referee Karl-Josef Assenmacher combined to ensure that England never made it to the spectacle that was USA 94.

With the game locked at 0-0 David Platt was goal-bound when cynically brought down by Koeman.

A red card and a free-kick in a dangerous area should have followed but only a caution was forthcoming.

To compound England’s misery Koeman then chipped in a free-kick of his own before Dennis Bergkamp sealed a win for the Dutch and ensured Graham Taylor got the boot.

Phil Neville penalty at Euro 2000

While he didn’t deserve the level of stick he received afterwards England fans were rightly aggrieved when P-Nev gave away a needless penalty against Romania, which ultimately led to the Three Lions crashing out in the group stage!

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