Mexico '86 - Episode 1: The European Qualifiers

Mac Millings makes his tournament debut as England's hopes hang by a thread. Bobby Robson is forced into some changes and, although familiar issues are still apparent early on against Poland, goals change games. And careers. There is also Morocco discovering what can be done when you cross the halfway line, progress for the hosts, Paraguay and Belgium fight to avoid the USSR, Italy remain unconvincing and some love for Jorge Valdano. South Korea v Italy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ISodmB7jg Argentina v Bulgaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyy0KjsS0os Mexico v Iraq - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G2xrWF-sIQ Paraguay v Belgium - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8opR05tJ-E England v Poland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jcCQetmfAU & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBmpdKC1Ye8 Morocco v Portugal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkauTeF1NA8 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike takes to the lectern as he guides us through the crushing beauty of Denmark's destruction of Uruguay. There's also Gordon Strachan's struggles with advertising boards, iconic branding of World Cups, Belgium get back on track while France and the USSR warm down into the knockouts. Iraq v Belgium - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOXMZwJkF8 West Germany v Scotland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3WW3pjpXs Denmark v Uruguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdI0DbGGbJw&t=4s Hungary v France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt0pBAeQuC0 USSR v Canada - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faxr6OSiGC4 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aidan Williams returns as England's tournament goes from bad to worse in Monterrey, lightning doesn't strike twice for Northern Ireland, the World Cup's poster boy has a major misstep, the greatest clearance of all time and much more. Hungary v Canda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDvj08eybk Brazil v Algeria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3qnpl9AB3c England v Morocco - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBFyPcB3sT4 Mexico v Paraguay -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9XcaTTa1Ho Spain v Northern Ireland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNU0VVCUPlI Poland v Portugal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBWVDbtlzQM If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the 30th anniversary of Euro '96, the author Richard Chamberlain provides us with a telling reminder that there was more to this tournament that a homecoming from the sporting wilderness and an internal feel-good summer. The inside story on all the participants can be found in his new book which is out later this year. He talks to us about the project as a whole, the resonance in a post-Southgate era and how you can get involved. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thetrawler/euro-96-the-full-story?ref=discovery&total_hits=346&category_id=48 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Martyn is joined by Gary and debutant John Mackay get stuck into a bumper couple of days. Scotland make an unfortunate start against the Danes after Uruguay set out their stall against a West German side in a state of disarray. There are a couple of heavyweight clashes with some pulled punches and much more. Paraguay v Iraq - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8GCTxga8jw Uruguay v West Germany - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDOY6IR8u5Y Scotland v Denmark - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfftlr9qtrQ Italy v Argentina - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHGSoYFuHow France v USSR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uNEIWX5-z8 South Korea v Bulgaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWxaRXvEB28 If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike and Martyn get set to devour a feast of World Cup action over these two days. We have Maradona and Passarella clashing over drugs and affairs before South Korea took turns in having a kick without any serious sanction, Hungary being smashed by the USSR, an early victory for the hosts amidst political turbulence and an arachnid taking over the Azteca, Northern Ireland and Algeria failing to live up to their previous exploits and missing the opportunity to get that much needed win and Bobby Robson arrives in Monterrey and selects a starting XI against Portugal who have never played together before. What could possibly go wrong? Argentina v South Korea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBjRKVZb4z4 USSR v Hungary - https://youtu.be/KMtBKLEkLq0?si=PTcNz_A_lAL8SwrT Poland v Morocco - https://youtu.be/q27qUuCfMng?si=n8XXVU6kY6Esm9vP Mexico v Belgium - https://youtu.be/lwWBEG3qxtU?si=W60__dS443ngNDtx Northern Ireland v Algeria - https://youtu.be/m6Le-ZVjNho?si=HJ8dypMGjGhQzScX England v Portugal -  https://youtu.be/Q96knGZ3Of4?si=tz7OMcJ1hz4l_P8q If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is time to start your Mexican waves! Jonathan O'Brien is here to discuss the opening game, how the World Champions were placed, who the European Champions had turned to up front, a handball goal that was actually chalked off and Spain and Brazil remind us why we should be careful what we wish for when trying to the rid the game of technology. Italy v Bulgaria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0eTCWLGTfo Canada v France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIUVkVickbQ Spain v Brazil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r10ID8dNo7k If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are nearly there! Martyn is joined again by the author Aidan Williams to round up the rest of the qualifiers - from Argentina to Iraq - and to take a look at the contemporaneous previews on the eve of the tournament. There were big concerns about the impact of the midday sun on the quality of football, most agreed that there was no outstanding favourite and Diego Maradona had far from convinced everyone that he was about to take the world by storm. If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Martyn, Rob and Aidan Williams get our biggest deep-dive yet underway with a look at the European contingent and how they navigated their way to Mexico. We have that drama in Cardiff, the late arrival of Lineker, Northern Ireland doing it the hard way, one major sliding doors moment and so much more. If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The last of the archive re-runs is a good old deep dive into the opening fixtures of the 1996-97 season first released in September 2018. Lee, Mike and Gary consider Beckham's introduction to the wider world, Richie Humphreys' thunderbolt and decline, Super Kevin Campbell and the general pizzazz and razzamattaz that was the Premier League in the post Euro 96 miasma of self assurance. Nessun Dorma returns next week as we commence the road to Mexico '86! If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices