The distasteful truth is that Belgium, with a population barely a fifth of England's, has been the slightly stronger footballing force since 1966. They have reached a European Nations Cup final, in Italy in 1980, whereas in 1996 England narrowly did not manage it on home soil. While both countries have notched a lone World Cup semi-final, the score would probably read 2-0 to La Belgique but for their horrendous bad luck in the last-16 match of 1990: Enzo Scifo and Jan Ceulemans hit the inside of Peter Shilton’s posts with woodpecker-like regularity before David Platt volleyed the undeserved winner in the dregs of extra-time.