England produced a world-class performance using the sweeper system that Bobby Robson had virtually ignored throughout his reign as England manager. The player he chose for the sweeping job was Derby central defender Mark Wright, who was recalled for his first international since England's defeat by Holland in the European Championships. This was the match in which Paul Gascoigne came of age as an international player. He strode around the centre stage as if he owned it, and some of his forward surges and his passes were exceptional in their quality and execution. One twisting turn on the ball when he foxed two Dutch defenders in the second half was out of the Johan Cruyff school of skill. England were always that little bit sharper and hungrier for the ball, and David Platt proved himself made for the World Cup stage when he came on as substitute for injured skipper Bryan Robson.  There was a dramatic climax when Stuart Pearce drove a late free kick from out on the right wide of the Dutch defensive wall and straight into the net past diving goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen. Celebration of a winning goal was cut short when the referee made it clear that he had awarded an indirect free kick. The ball could only have missed the fingers of van Breukelen by inches. England came that close to what would have been a richly deserved win.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Voetbalstats.nl
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG