Then and now: 1990 & 2018

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

There's been a bit of this in other threads but to bring it into one thread, where did you watch the England v West Germany game in 1990 and where will you be tomorrow?

I was in Los Angeles for the 1990 game, having gone out to visit my brother, flying out a couple of days after England v Holland. We watched the Egypt and Belgium games in a pub in Santa Monica, as my brother worked nearby and arranged a 'long lunch' on each day, a definition which got stretched a long way for the Belgium game. Neither of us could drink, as he was going back to work and I was only 18. With Cameroon being on a weekend and the semi on the 4th July, we were able to watch both at his apartment, flicking over to the Spanish language channel each time TNT went to commercials, which got so annoying that we stuck with the Spanish station for extra time and penalties in the semi, meaning "Chris Waddle!" being exclaimed in Spanish was a family catchphrase long before the Fast Show. After the game my brother said we can't even go to bed in the huff, it's only 3pm, so after a phone call home to our parents to check the mood, we went out somewhere with his wife and toddler son, can't remember where exactly.

Tomorrow I'll be in a club watching it, my own son is older now than I was then, and he'll be watching it in the restaurant where he works (I suspect they'll close early and gather round the TV they've only just installed for the World Cup). My brother's son will be visiting me in the autumn, just before his 30th birthday. My brother is still in the US, and this time he'll get to see the whole game in English and without commercials. Our parents are long gone.

[Patrick Thistle]

I watched it with my mum, dad and brother in the living room of our family's house in Shrewsbury. I remember we watched it but I don't really remember the game, just the disappointment afterwards that England were out. (Which was weird as I identified as Welsh but kind of supported England too.)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to watch it in my living room in Cardiff with my wife. If I can get home from a conference in North Wales on time. I'm relying on someone else driving and I've had it on good authority she's got a lead foot so we should be ok.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'd just finished my first year at university. I'd watched the opening rounds it Manchester with friends, getting drunk, enjoying the atmosphere. But by the time of the semi-finals I was back at my parents' house in Oxford. None of my friends were around, and anyway none of my close friends appeared to care about football. My parents were - I think - completely unaware that there was even a football tournament going on, and certainly wouldn't be watching. But anyway, they were away on holiday somewhere. So, in the end, I watched it on my own, in an empty house, with a couple of beers. We lived on one of the busier roads in town, and it was noticeably silent outside. But other than being a nervous wreck, I remember very little other than how unsocial I was being.

Fast forward 28 years, and this match will be at 11am on a Wednesday. So again, I'll be watching it at home. Although I suspect my wife will join me, she really doesn't care about football so I'll effectively be on my own again. This really doesn't bother me. The idea of watching an England semi-final in a Fake English Pub in California is so horrible that I'd really rather just be an antisocial fucker and miss out on any of the normally enjoyable social elements of being a football fan.

[ad hoc]

I was living in Abu Dhabi. I honestly cannot remember where I watched this match (I'm guessing at "The British Club" for which i had free membership by virtue of working for the British Council). I remember vividly the bar in the basement of the Novotel at which I watched the match against Belgium. I remember that painful looping drawn out period of time (which probably lasted about 0.02 seconds) after the ball hit Paul Parker and went in. I will have been surrounded by some people I liked and whose company I enjoyed, and a lot of somewhat obnoxious "expats" who I looked down on in my 24 year old way (I'd look down on them now, too, but in a more nuanced somewhat self-deprecatory way).

This match I'll watch in my living room, with at least some of my immediate family. Probably all 3 of them, but that's not guaranteed.

[Cal Alamein]

The summer/fall of 1990 will always be the most special period of time in my life. My wife (then girlfriend) and I both quit our jobs and spent 6 months traveling through Europe. We had decent funds, but knew that we’d have to slum it as much as possible to stretch out the journey. Most of the nights were spent in our “compact” Sierra Designs flashlight tent.

I headed out first, to Milan, to meet w/ former university classmates (we all played for the university soccer team as well). We saw all the Germany games based in Milan.

My girlfriend/wife arrived right around when my old classmates headed back to the States. We then made our way to Germany. Our first stop was Munich. The weather was gloomy and neither of us looked forward to pitching the tent in the rain. I remembered reading about ***“The Big Tent,” a big tented area where one could get a floor to place their sleeping bag and mattress pad. The price was dirt cheap and it was dry.

The first day we hit both Pinakotheks (to espeically satisfy the missus), but my mission was to find a bar to catch the semi. We get back to the big tent, unload our gear and are curious seeing campers wandering around w/ massive mugs of beer. A few marks later and I am kicking back cooling off w/ a liter of beer talking strategy w/ a number of Englishmen regarding the semi. Another liter or so later we are not in the best shape, but manage to find a small portable tv in the commons kitchen area showing the game. I can easily remember the agonizing Brehme/Parker pop up, can recall the Lineker equalizer, but only remember the anger from the English fans of the PK tiebreaker, and couldn’t tell you at the time who missed the final penalty.

This led to an unfortunate final round of bräu, w/ my wife later filling me in on my drunken actions. She went out the next day while I was suffering a throbbing hangover.

Tomorrow at noon I will hit a brewpub to see the match on a big tv, have a couple of pints of New Mexican beer, surrounded by a bunch of mostly American football fans who don’t have to work on a Wednesday.

***Holy shit! The 2018 version of "The Tent" looks so freakin' colorful and healthy! Kudos that it is still dirt cheap.

[jwdd27]

I was in Scunthorpe I'd recently turned 18, and had recently completed A-levels, eventually getting the poor grades my diligence deserved.
Me and my friends watched Ireland at someone's house, Holland at the pub (as previously mentioned on other thread, there was a delirious 10 minutes after Pearce had "scored" against Holland). Egypt at someone's house, Belgium in the pub again, Cameroon at home, and then finally West Germany at my friend's flat. After his parent's divorce his father had moved into a rather dingy flat and my friend sensibly opted to move in with him - sensible as his Dad was always away at his new woman's house, so he basically had a place of his own.
As none of us were working, pub evenings depended on someone having money, and this wasn't the case for the semi. We probably had a few cans of cheap beer, but I don't recall it being especially riotous. After the game we went on a long, angry walk before heading home when we started getting scared we would bump into a bigger, drunker, angrier group of lads.

Now: Huddersfield, at home, with Mrs D. Early start at work Thursday, hoping for 90 minute settlement.

[Haddock]

Then: with friends and brother at a packed Faversham in Leeds, where we’d also seen the Belgium game, (minus my brother who’d gone on a date). One barman we knew had a W Germany shirt on, which caused a bit of teasing.. The same friends and I had watched the Cameroon game in the Cobourg. Even though it wasn’t specifically an Irish pub it had a fair number of older Irish regulars who that night were passionate for the Cameroonians.
Other memorable nights at the Faversham included seeing The Clash busking there in 85 and around the same time being punched on the chin and put smack on my bottom by my slip of a girlfriend after she accused me, unfairly, of looking at another woman. A perfect punch: it would have put anybody down.
Tonight: 3am start here so I’ll be watching alone on the sofa. Headphones on so I don’t wake up my wife and son. Will be texting my brother and friends in England during the game.

[Gangster Octopus]

Watched at least some of the 1990 game in my local; the Walter Scott* in Finsbury Park. I'm now in the home of the Walter Scott memorial. Similar result expected.

*now The Faltering Fullback.

[hobbes]

The 1990 world cup was weird for me. My father died on Father's day that year, so it's all intermingled in my mind.
I watched it in the 6th form common room at the school as I knocked about with a load of the 6th formers despite being a 5th year myself.
When it came to pens, I just couldn't watch, so I paced around outside until it was over.
This time I'll be sat on My sofa.

[Billy Casper]

I watched it at home with my eleven year old brother and my dad.

This year I'll be watching it in the same house with my now thirty nine year old brother, Dad, eleven year old son, wife and fifteen year old son.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Then: I watched it at home while all hell was starting to break lose in my family's home parts.

Now: I'm watching it at home with a Croatia not even existing back then, doing so well, my parents only could dream would exist under their lifetime and now...

...you know, I'm emotional as is. It's a bit surreal even though we've already played a semi-final once.

[Wouter D]

Then: too young to care about football.

Now: holy fuck how are England still in this thing!? Isn't it a rule that they must screw up hilariously in a previous stage? Oh well, might as well enjoy the ride.