“I WAS thinking the worst about what was going to be said the next day, all the negative things that every player feels in those situations … embarrassment. That’s what you fear in those moments.” 

For 20 minutes during a World Cup semi-final 30 years ago, Paul Parker carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders. A television audience of 25.2 million in the United Kingdom had seen the right-back racing out to block Andreas Brehme’s free-kick only to deflect the ball up into a fatal parabola over Peter Shilton.

“That was my job, to charge the ball down. My starting position was such that I could get to the ball as quickly as possible while making sure Peter Shilton could see the ball. The problem was my deflection affected the flight of the ball. It made a difference to Peter because prior to that, he had taken maybe half a step forward, then you’re asking him to take that step back and spring as well, up to get that ball. That’s why we ended up one-nil down.”