Trevor Steven is one of only 23 Englishmen to play in a World Cup semi-final and he paints a vivid picture of what Gareth Southgate’s side can expect against Croatia in Moscow on Wednesday night.
“It’s like an out-of-body experience,” says Steven, who faced West Germany at Italia 90 on 4 July in Turin. Bobby Robson’s men drew 1-1 but after extra time suffered the heartache of defeat on penalties to begin a dire sequence of three such exits in four World Cups, as England’s 1998 and 2006 tournaments ended this way.
Southgate’s side broke the hoodoo in their last-16 win against Colombia and they are only the third England team to reach the last four of the tournament, with Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 victors the sole finalists.
Steven says: “It’s an opportunity to reach a World Cup final, a dream for a football player. Everybody wanted to play, be a starter. Training was very intense, we had to try and treat it like another match but it’s very difficult to do that.”
Of how Harry Kane and company will be feeling Steven says: “Very thrilled and excited. The fact was we could get to a World Cup final, which for any English player you are going down in history. Even to get to the semi-final [in 1990] – not having got into one for 24 years – was already a massive achievement.”
To reach their semi-final Robson’s team drew 1-1 with Republic of Ireland and 0-0 with the Netherlands before beating Egypt 1-0 to top Group F. Belgium were dispatched 1-0 in the last 16 before Cameroon were knocked out 3-2, both of these ties being won in extra time.
Steven, who came on after 70 minutes for Terry Butcher, Robson’s captain, and Dave Beasant, a reserve goalkeeper, point to parallels between the man-management of Robson and Southgate and the mood of each squad. “Bobby was great. His greatest strength was keeping the mood right,” Steven says. “It had been a bit turbulent going into the World Cup, because Bobby was going to PSV Eindhoven [afterwards] and we’d got a lot of stick at the start of the competition.