England saved their finest performance of World Cup '90 for this epic semi-final, but they finished up with empty hands and broken hearts as West Germany conquered them in a torturous penalty shoot-out.  A 1-1 draw after extra time was just about a fair reflection on a masterpiece of a match.  There was just one irritating incident when Thomas Berthold made a meal of a tackle by Paul Gascoigne in extra time, andᵍᵃzza was close to tears as he collected his second booking of the tournament which would have ruled him out of the final. Gascoigne had been  more prominent and productive in midfield than West German skipper Lothar Matthaus, who had been rated by many as the best player on view before this match. Peter Shilton was desperately unlucky to concede the first goal of the match in the fifty-ninth minute when Brehme's shot deflected off Parker's heel and ballooned freakishly high before coming down first bounce into the back of England's net. Lineker equalised in the eightieth minute when he hit the ball in full stride with his left foot to send it under a sliding defender and into the far corner of the net. Both Chris Waddle and Guido Buchwald hammered shots against the post during a thrilling extra-time period. Shilton elected the right way to dive for every one of the German penalties, but each time he was a fingernail's distance away from making a vital save. Lineker took the first penalty and coolly drilled it home. Brehme made it all square. Then Beardsley netted penalty number two, which was cancelled out by Matthaeus with the most ferocious spot-kick of the tournament. David Platt made it 3-2 while Paul Gascoigne looked on from the centre-circle with tears watering his eyes. Riedle brought the scores level again before Stuart Pearce took aim and fired the first blank. He was inconsolable as his low-driven spot-kick cannoned off Illgner's shins. Olaf Thon netted Germany's next penalty, meaning that Chris Waddle had to hit the target to keep alive England's hopes of reaching the final.  He had never taken a spot-kick in a major match in his career, and he produced a novice-like effort as he blazed the ball high over the bar. Germany were through to the final, but England went out with honour in a match that was a credit to the World Cup and to football in general.

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
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CG