How well do you remember these different episodes of heartbreak?
My earliest footballing memory is not a live match, but re-watching a video tape of England’s qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup. I don’t know how many times I watched it, but each game is etched into my memory. Scholes’ bullet in a friendly against Mexico, Beckham’s goal from the right side of the box against Finland. Meaningless, inconsequential moments, vivid in my memory as ever. This is just the way my brain works.
Since then my love affair with the national team has been up and down, mostly down to be honest. But it’s that essence of hope, that one day it’ll come home, that keeps you coming back for more, isn’t it?
With no football happening for the foreseeable future and all of us casting our minds to summers gone by, when you could gather in a town square like it was the most normal thing in the world, I took a trip down memory lane and made a quiz.
25 questions, starting in 2018 and going back to 2000 (I know Euro 96 was amazing but I was two months old), this quiz tests how well you remember England’s tournament exploits from the 21st century. Good luck.