(I)

and again it’s Wilkins high across the area looking for Keegan. Keegan gets the header in. Not enough power. Ceulemans fortunately for Belgium is there to clear. Not very far though. Samsom comes forward a yard in from the near touchline, the England left. Long ball from Samsom high across the area. Pfaff is there. Punches the ball away. Not very far but effectively. And Cools the Belgium captain picks it up in space. Far side from us, the Belgium left. He’s tackled fiercely though. And he loses the ball to Coppel. To Brooking, tall Brooking of West Ham, touches the ball on. Wilkins. Good ball too to Brooking. Brooking got four red-shirted Belgiums around him. Turns the ball back to Keegan, England’s captain. Keegan holds. Still holds then starts to move forward slowly. Goes away from van Moer’s tackle. Another tackle comes in on Keegan though. And in any case it’s ... a a ... foul tackle this time. Plus a handball I think. So it’s a free kick to England.

(II)

Wilkins. Keegan up. To Samsom. Goalkeeper’s coming and Johnson’s up there with him. And it was a reasonably good punch by, er, Pfaff. He found one of his own players and got the danger cleared. Coppel, so tenacious in the tackle. Brooking. Wilkins. Brooking. Keegan. And Keegan trying to take two of them on and a handball I suspect against van der Elst.

(III)

Flick on. And Shearer, wonderful start. His fifth goal in his fifth match. They can’t quite believe it on the bench. In the European championship. Before coming here it took him twenty three to score five goals. When it’s mattered most.

(IV)

Here comes the corner teed in by Gascoigne a little header and Shearer’s there and Alan Shearer scores for England. England have scored. After only two minutes. A corner kick from Gascoigne was flicked on at the near post. And Alan Shearer charged in like a bull and headed the ball past Kopke.

(V)

For Aston Villa there is always another round. Already a step away from Wembley in the Worthington Cup, they entered the quarter-finals of the FA Cup here yesterday after an extraordinary sequence of events in which a little lank-haired Italian played no small part. A hat-trick from Benito Carbone, which included a goal from the gods, confounded Leed’s United ambitions of buttressing their aspirations in the Premiership with a prolonged Cup run. Villa, outpassed in the first half, dominated the second and though they would have preferred to avoid a sixth-round trip to Everton, who have yet to lose a league game at home this season, the habit of winning cup-ties is hard to break.

(VI)

The creative wing and midfield play of Mark Walters since he signed from Aston Villa has graced every pitch he has played on north of the border. Unfortunately, the fact that he’s black has led sizeable sections of morons in other clubs to overlook his skills. His reception at Parkhead and Tynecastle put back their efforts to somehow portray themselves as "progressive" or "family" clubs.

(VII)

There are people who dream of playing like Ginola. But won’t. There are people who think they can already play like Ginola. But can’t. There are people, on a pitch somewhere, alone, right now, who are trying hard to play like Ginola. And might. Skill doesn’t come from dreaming or just putting your feet into the right boots. It comes from practice and putting your heart into something you believe in.