| The World Cup seemed ready for Waddle, unlike four years earlier, but more importantly for England, Waddle was ready for the World Cup. His clipped pass in a ludicrous galeforce wind set up Gary Lineker's close range goal in the opening 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland; he duly delivered crosses and administered turns which brought opponents to their knees as England fought off a Dutch challenge for another draw and then won the group with a victory against Egypt. Waddle was superb in the second round game against the Belgians, and happily took part in the famous "Let's All Have A Disco" celebration with Terry Butcher (see photo above) after England won the game 1-0 and reached the last eight. Chris continued to work the right flank as England came from behind to beat Cameroon 3-2, although he enjoyed a rare foray to his inbred left sided role when Robson took off a defender and threw on Trevor Steven when England found themselves adrift. Then came the Germans, and Waddle's destiny with England. For all his caps, trickery and frustrations, every main incident of Chris's international career was encapsulated in the Turin semi-final against West Germany. There was the outrageous chip from the halfway line which German keeper Bodo Illgner just managed to touch on to his crossbar (it wouldn't have been a goal thanks to an offside flag but that was irrelevant); there was (after again going to the left when Steven was hurled on) the turn and shot deep into extra time which smacked the post and bounced out, when other efforts would have bounced in. Then, with the pressure of Stuart Pearce's missed penalty on his shoulders, there was his desolation as he panicked on his run-up and blasted his crucial spot-kick into the stratosphere, sending the Germans into the final. Waddle was ridiculed over the nature of the penalty but not for his failure to score nor his courageous decision to take one (he'd never done so before, and future shoot-outs at club level would also result in his inability to find the net) and England, after losing the daft third-place play-off game against Italy (in which a still distraught Chris cameoed as a sub for understudy Steven in the second half), came home heroic. Waddle was, at last, a bonafide England star and, still not quite 30 and playing for one of Europe's top teams, he clearly had more to give. (Matthew Rudd) |