Manchester United fans are hoping Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho are more Stuart Pearce than Darius Vassell.

Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle – vs Germany (semi-final, World Cup 1990)
Eight weeks into the 90/91 season, I was a little boy at Old Trafford listening to Stretford End tirelessly remind Pearce of how he let his country down. He responded by hitting a 35-yard free kick to beat United.

🚀 #OnThisDay…

Stuart Pearce hit that belt free kick at Old Trafford in 1990 to secure a 1-0 win over @Man Utd. #NFFC pic.twitter.com/EcXFBDnbCW

– Nottingham Forest FC ️ (@NFFC) September 29, 2018

This set the tone for Pearce’s season. He was named Forest’s player of the year and scored 16 goals from left-back at a rate of one in three in the league. One of those goals came in the FA Cup final, but Tottenham beat Forest after extra time.

“The following season was the best I have ever had,” Pearce told the Quick Kevin podcast in 2018. “I had something to prove. Every pitch I went there was a catchy choir of Stuart Pearce is a German. It inspired me more.

At least Waddle could escape to France. In his second season at Marseille, the England winger scored 20 goals, scoring eight and creating 12, as the 30-year-old won the second of three French titles.

Waddle’s superb form allowed Marseille to qualify for the European Cup final of the season after their missed penalty, but OM lost on penalties against Belgrade’s Red Star. Waddle, back on Italian soil in Bari, did not shoot.

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Positive leaders in Euro 2020 Premier League statistics

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Gareth Southgate – vs Germany (semi-final, Euro ’96)
“It affected me massively thereafter and still is to this day,” Southgate said. FourFourTwo in 2012 on how he managed to miss the crucial kick. He joined Waddle and Pearce to star in a Pizza Hut commercial in November 1996, which Southgate said he later regretted.

On the pitch, Southgate managed to overcome their Wembley misfortune by playing 28 games while helping Villa to place in the Premier League’s top-five, scoring their only goal of the season to give Villa a 1-0 victory in the of their home opener.

Paul Ince and David Batty – vs Argentina (quarter-final, World Cup 98)
David Beckham relieved Ince and Batty by being sent off against Argentina in France. The spitting morons were too busy hanging effigies of Beckham on lampposts to care about the two midfielders who saw their shots on goal saved by Carlos Roa.

Becks bounced back by winning the Treble with United. But it was a trophy-less season for Ince at Liverpool, his second at Anfield, as the Reds finished seventh. Ince has scored six goals in 34 Premier League appearances, including one against United in the last minute at Anfield.

For the Newcastle midfielder Batty it has been a short season. The arrival of Ruud Gullit took the Toon in a different direction and Batty was delighted to return to Leeds six months after his missed penalty. A rib injury hampered his immediate contribution and a subsequent Achilles problem the following year saw Batty miss Euro 2000.

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F365 Features: Six who lost Champions League, Euros / WC final the same season

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David Beckham and Darius Vassell – against Portugal (quarter-final, Euro 2004)
Both penalties were bizarre in their own way. Beckham’s standing foot gave way as he kicked the ball in Lisbon to send it far, well over Ricardo’s bar. Then, in sudden death, the Portuguese goalkeeper took off his gloves in an attempt to disturb Vassell. It worked.

Beckham was going through a difficult time like this. His form for Real Madrid the previous season had been mixed and he arrived at Euro amid allegations about his private life. It wasn’t any easier after his failure. A month later, an intruder was arrested on his Madrid property with a can of gasoline. Then he was suspended for being intentionally booked on duty in England to cause a suspension that would be more timely for England and Beckham. He was also sent off in Spain after sarcastically applauding an official in a season in which he featured in 12 La Liga goals, but under three different managers, Real remained potless after falling behind. Barcelona for most of the season.

Vassell has had an equally miserable season after Ricardo without mittens ruined his summer. The center-forward has scored just three goals in all competitions, his lowest goal since joining Aston Villa as a regular player. He joined Manchester City the following summer for £ 2million to ‘get a fresh start’.

Raise your hand if you cried when Ricardo did that …# EURO2020 #POR #FRpic.twitter.com/giKz3p2LMs

– FourFourTwo (@FourFourTwo) June 23, 2021

Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher – vs Portugal (quarter-final, 2006 World Cup)
Like Ince and Batty eight years earlier, the Chelsea and Liverpool stars have had the heat taken away by a Manchester United duo. It was Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo who paid the price for the fury of England fans, the former for being sent off and the latter for his role in the dismissal.

Lampard barely struggled with the burden of guilt. For Chelsea, he scored 21 goals and assisted 21 others, finishing the club’s second-best scorer behind Didier Drogba. But Rooney and Ronaldo inspired United to reclaim the Premier League title against the Blues from Jose Mourinho.

Gerrard’s was a slightly more disappointing campaign after his PFA Player of the Year campaign in 2005-06. He has scored 11 goals and offered five assists in all competitions as Liverpool finished third in the league and a Champions League finalist.

Carragher recovered from his failed penalty – he scored his first attempt but was ordered to resume it – enjoying one of his best seasons for Liverpool. He was named the club’s player of the year and rewarded with a new four-year contract. He even scored a goal for the first time in nearly eight years.

Ashley Young and Ashley Cole – vs Italy (quarter-final, Euro 2012)
Young hit his free kick against Gianluigi Buffon’s bar at the end of a difficult first season with Manchester United. His second campaign after coming back from the Euro was a little less difficult, with knee and ankle injuries hampering his fight for a regular place in Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad. It ended, however, with a Premier League title winner medal.

Cole had scored for Chelsea in their Champions League shootout shortly before Buffon stopped his penalty kick in Kiev.

It has been a turbulent summer in which Cole got caught up in the lawsuit following John Terry’s clash with Anton Ferdinand. When the FA released his written reasons for finding Terry guilty, which questioned Cole’s support for his teammate’s version of events, the full-back responded by calling the governing body #bunchoftwats.

On the pitch, Cole was his usual and reliable self. Then 32 years old, his form has remained as constant as ever since he exceeded the 100 caps in the months following his penalty aberration. Chelsea finished third while suffering an exit from the Champions League group stage, but Cole ended his last season as a starter with a Europa League winner’s medal.