4 ............... Tuesday, June 12, 2018 2GG

CESC FABREGAS will joinSunSport’s Alan Sheareras a pundit in Russia.

The Chelsea midfielderhas joined the BBC’sline-up for the finals afterhis snub by Spain.

Fabregas, 31, was partof the Spanish team whowon the 2010 World Cupin South Africa.

He will make his studiodebut for Spain’s mouth-watering Group B clashagainst neighbours Portu-gal on Friday.

He joins fellow WorldCup winner JurgenKlinsmann, twice Africanplayer of the year DidierDrogba and 2014 WorldCup finalist Pablo Zabal-eta in a stellar line-up ofinternational experts.

BBC TV Sport chiefPhilip Bernie said: “Cescknows what it takes to liftthe biggest prize in thesport and we are lookingforward to the world-classknowledge and insight hewill add to our coverage.”

WE WERE THERESUNSPORT tracked down real England fans whotravelled the globe cheering on the Three Lionsas they attempted to emulate those glory daysof 1966.

Here, in the first of a three-part series, weremember the heartbreaking drama of Mexico1970, the disappointment of Spain 1982 and thecontroversial ending to Mexico 1986.

BOB HALLS, 70, self-employed painter anddecorator (below), living in Essex.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO GO?Myself and my mate Mick Lundstrumwere both big football fans and, watchingthe 1968 Olympics in Mexico on TV, wethought ‘Why not?’. The longest flight I’dbeen on was to Jersey. Then, there wewere, watching Butch Cassidy and theSundance Kid on a chartered long-haulflight from Stansted.

HOW DID YOU DO IT?We phoned the England Supporters’ Asso-ciation. It was brilliant. They sorted it all— flights, accommodation, tickets —for £280 each. We both did somelabouring shifts on Sundays toearn extra cash. We wereplaced with a family on theoutskirts of Guadalajara,where England’s gameswere. Two other fansstayed there too. When wedidn’t win our group,England had to play inLeon. Amazingly, we wereable to go into town andexchange our tickets.WHAT GAMES DID YOU SEE?

We went to all six games inEngland’s group and thenclubbed together with other fans tohire a car to drive to Leon for the quar-ter-final. We then moved on, as part ofthe arranged trip, to a hotel near MexicoCity and we went to Germany’s semi andthe final.HOW DID LOCALS TREAT ENGLAND FANS?We were treated really well. The familywe stayed with had a daughter and herboyfriend took us to all the best barsand clubs.

DESCRIBE THEATMOSPHERE?

England did get booed, but there wasno hint of trouble. It was a carnivalatmosphere everywhere. Before Bra-zil’s first match, Guadalajara wassuddenly flooded with their fans.There were so many beautiful

Brazilian women — but they weren’tinterested in us at all!

FAVOURITE MEMORY?So many things, it was the holiday of alifetime. The way the heat hit us when wegot off the plane — I still haven’t experi-enced anything like it — and the greatnights out. Football-wise, we got to theBrazil-England game early and were out-side when the Brazil coach pulled up. Iwas two yards from my hero, Pele. And,despite England’s defeat, I now appreciatewe saw three of the greatest games ever— that quarter-final, Germany’s 4-3

semi-final defeat by Italy and Bra-zil’s brilliant performance against

Italy in the final.WORST MEMORY?

Losing to Germany was amassive surprise. Iremember driving toLeon thinking ‘Who havewe got in the semi?’ Wewere in shock on thedrive back, but it was acase of, ‘Oh well, it’s in

Germany in 1974 and we’llget our revenge there’. Some

of the poverty we saw inMexico City put it in perspective.

We were both pretty shaken whenwe saw a man with no legs begging inthe street. He looked in a really bad way.

OTHER MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES?As Europeans, we stood out like a sorethumb. One night we talked our way intoa party by saying we were in the Englandsquad. Mick said he was Keith Newton!

When they asked why we were outdrinking, we said we were onlyreserves! A few of the players had aholiday after we were knocked outand flew back later than the rest.Mick sat next to Martin Peters onour flight home. None of the players

had openly criticised Peter Bonetti,but when Mick asked him

what went wrong he justsaid “What do you think?”

1970MEXICO

PAUL FRY (left), 61, journalist,now living in Leicester.WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE

TO GO?A friend invited me tojoin him and I was gettingmarried the following year,so it was now or never asI had not been to a majorevent like this before.

HOW DID YOU DO IT?I booked for three weekswith a travel companywho provided accommoda-tion plus England tickets —with the offer of ticketsfor as many other matchesas we wanted. It costaround £900. We stayed ina Mexico City hotel, awayfrom the mass of Englandfans. Jack Charlton wasone of our tour reps, buthe did not mix withfans or seem that happyto be there.WHAT GAMES DID YOU

GO TO?All England’s games. We

but really loved the Scotsand their matchday kilts.Wherever we went, gangsof kids would ask for ourautographs — and, thanksto some roguish Scots,many probably still believethey met Denis Law orFrank McAvennie!

DESCRIBE THEATMOSPHERE

Staying in Mexico City, wehad a great time, mixingwith Portuguese, Brazil-ians, Danish — peoplefrom so many nations. My

1986MEXICO

flew up to Monterrey forthe three group games,meeting Eusebio on theplane after we played Por-tugal. We also witnessedMaradona’s ‘Hand of God’goal for Argentina. Ourother games were Mexico’sopener against Belgiumand Italy v Argentina,Scotland’s games againstWest Germany and Den-mark plus NorthernIreland v Brazil inGuadalajara, where thescoreboard operator clearlythought the Irish, like theBrazilians, went by theirfirst name or nicknameand listed them all as Patsand Micks!HOW DID LOCALS TREAT

FANS?Eight months before thebig kick-off, Mexico Citywas ravaged by a hugeearthquake, killing around5,000 people. Despite thetrauma, the Mexicans werevery friendly toward us —

ENGLAND entered the tournament as defending champions, beatingRomania and Czechoslovakia in Group 3. But, in between, they lost1-0 to Brazil in a game regarded as an all-time classic as BobbyMoore, the world’s best defender, faced Pele, the world’s beststriker. Photos of the two swapping shirts at the end are iconic.Everyone expected a rematch in the final, but keeper GordonBanks was ill for the quarter-final against West Germany andEngland went out. Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in a stunning final.

TOURNAMENT CATCH-UP

BLOW . . . Bob Halls (left in 1970) was gutted when Gerd Muller (above) fired West Germany

to victory over England in quarter-final

THE distance between the eastern-most host city in Russia,Ekaterinburg, and the western-most host city of Kaliningrad atthe 2018 finals is more than 1,600 miles. That is about thesame distance as Moscow to London!1600

By JORDAN DAVIES

ENGLAND’S top footballcommentators have cometogether to help makea Three Lions WorldCup song.

‘Let’s Hear It England’features the likes ofMartin Tyler, Peter Druryand Ian Darke, who pro-duced specially recordedclips alongside brandnew Gloucestershire bandThe DC Klub.

The latest tune hopingto inspire the Three Lionsalso includes the Cots-wold Male Voice Choir,while the accompanyingvideo includes somerarely seen footage of the1966 World Cup-winningside in training.

Directed by a youngRussian film director withAbsolute Label Services,the soundtrack will donateall of its earnings tocharity until the end of2019.

BT Sport commentatorDarke said: “We hopethis bright, catchy tunecould become the sound-track to a bold EnglandWorld Cup campaign.”

The BBC’s Steve Wilsonadded: “It’s not often youget eight commentators inthe same room.

“And it’s even rarer thatyou get eight commenta-tors on the same song.It’s a catchy one, too.

“It’s a good way tosupport England and agood way to supporta good cause.”l VISIT The DC Klub’s official websiteat thedcklub.com

DARKE . . . in full voice

Mic our day, lads

Fab look for Beeb

2GG Tuesday, June 12, 2018 ............... 5

WE WERE THERENICK CHAPMAN, 57, (below) sportsjournalist, living in Essex.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO GO?I had just been made redundant and had a bigcheque in my pocket. Despite being tear-gassed inTurin at my first tournament, Euro 80, I haddeveloped a passion for following England abroad.

HOW DID YOU DO IT?I booked for the entire tournament with a travelcompany, which provided accommodation plusEngland tickets at a couple of pounds per game. Itook my own car, crossing on the Plymouth-San-tander ferry, driving to Bilbao for England’s groupgames and on to Madrid for the second round. Theofficial trip cost £360 — which seemed a lot at thetime — with petrol and spending money on top.

WHAT GAMES DID YOU GO TO?All five England matches. A few of us also went toKuwait v Czechoslovakia and then NorthernIreland v France in the second round. I could havebought semi-final and final tickets but opted forthe beaches of the South of France instead.

HOW DID LOCALS TREAT FANS?As the ferry approached Santander, the ship’scaptain announced Argentina had surrendered andBritain had won the Falklands War. Knowing thehistoric links between Spain and Argentina, wefeared the worse. But England were warmlywelcomed in the Basque city of Bilbao, whereSpain were the enemy. When we travelled south toMadrid, though, we suffered the ferocity of anti-English feeling with almost daily attacks by localthugs . . . and Spanish police.

DESCRIBE THE ATMOSPHERE?There were thousands of England fans in Bilbaoand we had the stadium buzzing without a hint oftrouble. Madrid was a vipers’ nest,though, which was reflected in amuch more sombre England crowd.

FAVOURITE MEMORY?A few candidates. Having acuppa with the Englandteam in a service station on

the road from Bilbao toMadrid. Joining barmen and

waiters in our hotel to celebrateGerry Armstrong’s winner for

Northern Ireland against Spain. Butthe winner is easy. Me and the other

England fans in our hotel in Vitoria,near Bilbao, were invited by locals to

play a friendly football game. Weexpected jumpers for goalposts in a field— but ended up in a small stadiumwatched by a ridiculously large crowd.We were thrashed — it was somethinglike 11-2 — but it was great fun. Itturns out we played at Spanish divisiontwo side Alaves, who went on to losethe 2001 UEFA Cup final to Liverpool.

WORST MEMORY?Despite the issues in Madrid, Englandfans were given two rows of seatsinstead of a block in the Bernabeu —with Spanish fans sitting in front andbehind. Our fans were attackedthroughout the draw with Spain thatsaw England knocked out. But theywere nothing compared to thedisgusting scenes afterwards. A hugemob attacked the coach park and oneof my group had his arm broken bya yob wielding a baseball bat. Thepolice were nowhere to be seen.OTHER MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES?

My one great Madrid memory hadnothing to do with football. TheRolling Stones were touring and halfa dozen of us bought tickets andwatched the concert in a massivethunderstorm. The Stones never onceleft the stage. I made many friendson the trip and we travelled abroadto England games for years after.

1982SPAIN

one downside was havingMontezuma’s Revenge —probably from a salad! —and missing a night outwith Rod Stewart, whichmy room-mate describedin detail the next morning!I didn’t wear it well . . .

FAVOURITE MEMORY?Lots. I saw the Inca pyra-mids and even got anexclusive from Denmarkcaptain Morten Olsen. Wemet him in the HiltonHotel bar after their 6-1demolition of Uruguay and

he revealed he had beenset to join Tottenham —but could not bear to beparted from his pet dog,who would have spent sixmonths in quarantine. Wealso got to ‘send off’ thereferee who red-cardedRay Wilkins againstMorocco. We saw him atthe airport and I flashed ared sunglasses case at himwhile my friend took thepicture. Then there wasthe giant conga aroundthe stadium after Gary

Lineker’s hat-trickagainst Poland that sawus qualify from the group.

WORST MEMORY?The Hand of God. As 6ftPeter Shilton stretched upto punch clear from above5ft 5in Diego Maradona,only the officials failed tosee an obvious handball.Where’s VAR when youneed it?

OTHER MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES?

Being there was not onlya major sporting high-light for me, but cathar-tic. Just 12 monthsearlier, I had been inBlock Z at Heysel,barely 30 metres fromwhere 39 supporterswere crushed to death atthe European Cup Finalbetween Liverpool andJuventus. I was inter-viewed live on BBC TVwhile sitting next totearful former Liverpoolcaptain Emlyn Hughes.

GARY LINEKER’S hat-trick against Poland meant England qualified insecond spot from Group F behind Morocco following a defeat anda draw in their first two matches — with Ray Wilkins sent off toboot. England easily beat Paraguay 3-0 in the round of 16 butwere denied by Diego Maradona and his infamous Hand of God inthe quarter-final against Argentina. Inspired by Maradona’sbrilliance, the South Americans went on to beat West Germany 3-2in the final at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.

TOURNAMENT CATCH-UP

THREE wins out of three saw England top theirgroup ahead of France, Czechoslovakia and Kuwaitin the first round of games.

But in the second group stage, Ron Greenwood’sside drew 0-0 against West Germany and Spain to

go out. The Germans went on to beat France in the semis onpenalties only to lose to Italy 3-1 in the final in Madrid.

TOURNAMENT CATCH-UP

Part OneCOMING TOMORROW:

Fans recall Italia 90, France 98 and Japan/Korea 2002.

10

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Once the game isover, there will bean interview withDavid Seaman andother ex-Englandlegends.

Tickets are justa fiver! For moreevent details and tobuy tickets, go tothesun.co.uk/football

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ALL the best news,views, interviewsfrom the World CupEVERY day in ourbrilliant pullout.

1ENGLAND have won only ONE oftheir last eight games at theWorld Cup (D4 L3) — a 1-0victory v Slovenia in 2010.

PANAMA have qualified for theirfirst World Cup. Slovakia werethe last debutants to reach theknockout stages — in 2010.

NONE of Colombia’s 18 games at theWorld Cup have ended goalless. OnlyUSA (33) and Austria (29) haveplayed more without a 0-0.