Italia '90: Semi-finals - Germany Vs England. Penalty shootout. Stuart Pearce misses his penalty kick, and England are out of the World Cup.

Euro '96: Semi-finals - Germany Vs England, again a penalty shootout. It's again Stuart Pearce's turn. This time he doesn't miss. You can literally see the burden lifting from his shoulders as he exorcises the demons that must have been haunting him. But Gareth Southgate misses his, and thus England are out of the tournament. Pearce walks up to Southgate, puts his hands on Southgate's shoulders, says something and consoles him.

Simply the most poignant moment I have ever experienced. It took six years for this story of hope, agony, guilt, redemption and compassion to play itself out.

There were tears in my eyes that day, and it wasn't because England lost.