Euro 96 is remembered for songs, shirts and penalties, but its hidden legacy was tactical. Four years after the back-pass law changed football, the tournament showed the modern game beginning to take shape.
Euro 96 is remembered for its goals, songs and summer mythology. Yet beneath the famous images was another story: the last great international tournament for sweepers, stoppers and traditional defenders before football compressed the spaces they once ruled.
Alan Shearer is remembered as the archetypal English No.9. Euro 96 suggests something more interesting: under Terry Venables, he became the striker who helped England briefly play like a European team.
Euro 96 is remembered for songs, shirts and penalties, but its hidden legacy was tactical. Four years after the back-pass law changed football, the tournament showed the modern game beginning to take shape.
Euro 96 is remembered for its goals, songs and summer mythology. Yet beneath the famous images was another story: the last great international tournament for sweepers, stoppers and traditional defenders before football compressed the spaces they once ruled.
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