It happened 40 years ago but Steve Coppell has no problem summoning the details of England's swiftest FIFA World Cup goal.
After all, he was the source of the long throw that led to Bryan Robson volleying England ahead against France just 27 seconds into their opening game of the Spain 82 tournament in Bilbao.
Looking back to the nations' last meeting on the world stage, Coppell said: “One day Don Howe, our coach, was doing set pieces and he said, ‘Has anyone got a long throw?' I said, ‘Mine's not bad'. It wasn't long but it was longish and with it being the first throw of the game, my hands and the ball were still dry.
"I got a fair amount of purchase on it and it worked exactly how it worked on the training pitch with no opposition. I threw it in, Terry Butcher got a flick on and then Robbo came in at a rate of knots and scored.”
With that, England were up and running at that World Cup. Ron Greenwood's team were making their return to the world stage after a 12-year absence and Robson provided the spark for a 3-1 victory over a strong France team who would end up reaching the semi-finals.
Although France drew level through Gerard Soler, England scored twice more in the second half with Robson heading them back in front and Paul Mariner adding a late third. Prior to that game on 16 June 1982, Coppell remembers “a little bit of trepidation” as well as feeling “excited to see where we were in the grand scheme of things. France were obviously a terrific team. They had some fabulous players and arguably one of the best in the world at the time in Michel Platini.” Indeed Platini was simply too sharp for Coppell when he sought to win the ball from the Frenchman at one juncture. “I tackled Platini in midfield and he was too quick for me, he toed the ball away but I was still coming in to make the challenge and I studded him right down the front of his shin.
"He looked at me and I just said, ‘I'm sorry'. In these days of slow-motion replays I might have been in trouble.”
England, for their part, had Coppell's Manchester United colleague Robson at the heart of their midfield – and making a major impact with his two goals in the absence of Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking, both in the squad but struggling with injuries.
“Kevin wasn't even there through most of our preparation – he was getting treatment in Germany,” Coppell recalled. “So we didn't see him, which was unfortunate because he was a force of nature, on and off the pitch. To a large extent we missed him and Trevor as they were our two most creative players.” Coppell knew all about Robson's qualities having seen him shine at Old Trafford after being signed by Ron Atkinson, his former manager at West Bromwich Albion. “I can only say that straight away people realised a) what a good player was and b) what a big presence he became on the field,” he said.
“He was down to earth and grounded, he never got carried away and he was very, very determined to make a real impact on that World Cup. In the first minute of that first game he most definitely did”
Bellingham's shades of Robson
As the man who later gave Gareth Southgate his professional debut when manager of Crystal Palace, Coppell believes that the England manager has a midfielder with similar gifts in Jude Bellingham. He said of the Borussia Dortmund teenager, the driving force behind the round of 16 win over Senegal: “You see him making some of those driving runs, similar to Pop [Robson] in many ways from midfield – that real strong powerful run, not just powerful but quick.
"He supports and supplements the attack so rapidly from midfield – he can do that as he knows he has [Declan] Rice behind him and possibly [Jordan] Henderson who's done really well in the games he has played.” And if in 1982, England were lacking their two most creative sources – Keegan missed a crucial chance against Spain in the second group phase when “if he'd been playing regularly I'm convinced he'd have scored” – Coppell thinks England's goal options give them an “excellent” chance of progress on Saturday night.
“I think they have players who are very, very capable of scoring goals. Even in the last game we seemed to be under a bit of pressure and all of a sudden we just broke out – one pass and move – and carved them up. We have that ability. There are still question marks defensively but even if we lose a goal I still think we are capable of scoring two.”
If that is Saturday's sunny forecast, the Spanish sun 40 years ago provides another of Coppell's memories of that San Mames encounter – and an illustration of the differences between being an England player then and now.
Unlike in Qatar, the class of 82 began that tournament wearing shirts wholly unsuited to the heat – in their case, of a Spanish summer. “It was baking hot, it was 100-odd degrees on the pitch but Admiral, our kit manufacturer, had given us strips which were suitable for February in England – layered really thick,” laughed Coppell.
“In that game we got weighed before and after and I think Paul Mariner lost 11 pounds [five kilos]. After the game the manufacturer responded really quickly and we got a lightweight kit the same as any other team.” For another then-and-now contrast, consider how Greenwood's players celebrated that success against Les Bleus. “It had been a long time since we'd played in a World Cup and we were so pleased afterwards we celebrated back at the hotel. We had a couple of beers and supporters were just coming into the hotel to have beers with us!” Suffice to say, there will be less mingling if England make it past the French on Saturday.
