England must seize their chance at Euro 2020 glory… it may not come again, warns Sol Campbell

I’VE never felt more cheated than after my last England game at a Euros.

That’s why I urge Gareth  Southgate’s squad to be themselves and leave nothing behind —  because they may never be in this position again.

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Having my extra-time winner against Portugal in Lisbon in 2004 wrongly disallowed was the most frustrating moment of my career.

It was the second time it had happened to me, after the game against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.

In Saint-Etienne the referee said there was a foul by Alan Shearer before I headed it in.

It was the keeper’s fault, he misjudged it, but I can see why the referee might have thought there was a foul. But in Lisbon, you can’t ask John Terry to move out of the way. He is allowed to stand his ground and protect his own space.

That one hurt the most. We were in the semi-finals with that goal. I had scored the winner, game over.

VAR would have given it. A referee in a booth wouldn’t have been swayed by the home crowd baying for a foul.

We all felt cheated. Other teams get away with far more. It still doesn’t  feel right.

That was the best team I played in for England, a great team, but we missed out on fundamental moments, when you have to really concentrate to get you through, and luck.

Tournaments are all about those fine margins that make a difference.

It started for me at Euro 96. Coming into the squad at 21 was an unbelievable, amazing feeling.

I just loved being around those players — Paul Gascoigne, Shearer, Paul Ince, Tony Adams,  Stuart Pearce — and it was so special to have  it at home, as this squad will soon start to understand.

Everywhere we went everyone was wishing us well, the whole country was rooting for us. It really brought the nation together.

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That’s why I’m really looking forward to being part of the talkSPORT team, to tell the listeners what these players are going through.

I know exactly how they will feel on matchday, from the minute they wake up, on the coach, in the dressing room, running out of the tunnel for the first warm-up, all of it.

Gareth will have learned from what Terry Venables did with us as well. Terry was the master of dealing with characters and getting the best out of a team — and he had a LOT of characters.

He brought us together but also allowed space and time for everyone to be  themselves. That relaxed us.

As we got closer to the games it all started to ramp up, at the right pace, not too early.

He had perfect timing to get the players in the right frame of mind.

I played against Scotland for the last five minutes, but it felt like 45 minutes.

It was the culmination of everything I’d done since going to Lilleshall at 14.

I couldn’t believe I was coming on, against Scotland, the oldest rivalry in  the history of international football, in a tournament.

That meant so much to everybody. And it will be the same this year against Scotland because I know the passion is going to be there. It calls for cool heads.

We were so close to going all the way back then. If Gascoigne was an inch taller he’d have got on the end of that ball across goal in extra-time against Germany and we’d have been in the final.

But that’s what football is all about sometimes, inches.

At the time you think ‘this is nice, we’re going to do this all the time’ but it really doesn’t work like that.

By 2000, with Kevin Keegan in charge, maybe we were just a group stage team. You want to go out with a bang but we let ourselves down.

Kevin had enthusiasm. He made you feel 10ft tall and I loved that passion  in him.

We lost against Portugal from two up, beat Germany and only needed a draw against Romania to go through.

Then I was 30 yards away as Phil Neville gave away a penalty in the last minute.

When you’ve got minutes to go, seconds to go, it’s all about safety, being calm and not making that sort of mistake. It was a bit of naivety, tired legs and minds, clever play by them and out we went.

You wouldn’t want that to happen to anybody.

But it just shows anything can change in the blink of an eye.

England need to be smart, clinical and decisive.

They need to trust themselves but also enjoy it, because the moment goes so fast.

If we don’t get hiccups, being at home, we should be able to get to the final.

In Harry Kane we have a player I can compare to Shearer in 1996, a nailed-on, serious player, a proper footballer who just loves scoring goals.

We’ve got to get the balance right so we are not exposed on the counter-attack and play good football.

Then we need a bit of luck on the way — but as I know, in the Euros we’re due that bit of luck.

 Listen to Sol Campbell’s expert analysis live on talkSPORT during England v Croatia on Sunday, and at every England match of the tournament.

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ENGLAND have endured many ‘what if’ moments since 1966 — with Sol Campbell at the centre of TWO.

The Three Lions suffered penalty shootout agony at France 98 and Euro 2004 — but both times Campbell had an almost certain winning goal disallowed.

In a last-16 clash with Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, Glenn Hoddle’s men had David Beckham sent off early in the second half with the score at 2-2.

But they almost snatched victory when Campbell headed in a Darren Anderton corner after 81 minutes — only for Danish ref Kim Milton Nielsen to rule Alan Shearer had fouled keeper Carlos Roa.

Campbell’s wild celebrations were cut short and the game went all the way to penalties after no further scoring.

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Boss Hoddle said:  “With ten men we defended like lions and we set up so many set-pieces we could have won it. Everything seemed to go against us.”

Six years later, England were drawing 1-1 with hosts Portugal in a Euro 2004 quarter-final when — with only a minute left in normal time — a Michael Owen effort hit the bar and Campbell rose highest to head in the rebound.

But ref Urs Meier claimed John Terry had fouled keeper Ricardo and, after two late goals in extra-time saw the game finish 2-2, England again lost out on penalties.

Swiss official Meier said: “It was a clear foul. England are looking for a scapegoat and are looking to blame me.

“We are at Euro 2004 and what is allowed in the English Premier League is not allowed here. There are different rules and I applied them.  I consider that I did a first-rate job.”

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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk