David Platt stepped into this full-blooded thriller as a substitute, and with a penalty shoot-out just seconds away he scored a phenomenal first goal for England to lift them into the quarter-finals. The match was played at a furious pace until the intense heat slowed just about everybody down to an exhausted jog in extra time. Enzo Scifo bossed the game in midfield for Belgium and he and the veteran Jan Ceulemans both smacked shots against Peter Shilton's right post. John Barnes had been almost anonymous but was desperately unlucky in the fortieth minute when he steered in a cross from Gary Lineker for what looked an excellent goal. A linesman ended England's celebrations by raising the off-side flag. With one minute of extra time to go Paul Gascoigne floated a free-kick deep into the penalty area. Platt watched it carefully like a plane spotter, and spun round to face the goal as the ball dropped over his shoulder. All in the same movement he volleyed it wide of the Belgian goalkeeper. It would have been rated a classic goal in any football match. In the last minute of a World Cup finals tie it must go down as one of the greatest goals ever scored for England.

Source Notes

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

CG