STEFAN KUNTZ is hoping to become the curse of England in a European Championship semi-final once more.
The striker was the name on everyone’s lips when he helped fire Germany to a penalty shootout victory over Terry Venables’ Three Lions at Euro 96.
Now Germany’s Under-21 boss, he leads his boys into the battle against the Young Lions in tomorrow’s Euro 2017 last-four showdown in Tychy.
The clash inevitably evokes memories of that famous semi at the old Wembley, which took place exactly 21 years ago today.
Kuntz, 54, whose youngsters reached the last four this time as best runners-up after losing 1-0 to Italy in their final Group C game on Saturday, said: “It’s very funny. Some of my players are asking me now about Euro 96 because I think somebody told them.
“And there are many parallels between this tournament and that – the first game against Czech Republic and the third against Italy, and now a semi-final against England.
“Of course I have to tell them what it was like because some of them were not born at that time. But it’s a great part of history.”
It was heartbreaking for England, though, as former Besiktas frontman Kuntz scored an equaliser to cancel out SunSport columnist Alan Shearer’s early opener for the Three Lions.
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Then after Paul Gascoigne was just inches away from scoring a winner the hosts in extra time, the tie went to penalties where Germany ended up winning 6-5 after current England boss Gareth Southgate missed in the shootout and ended up in a Pizza Hut ad.
Kuntz said: “The most amazing memory from that is my thought that England could not score penalties.
I said to my coach I will take the fifth one thinking that the English would never score all five penalties. I was wrong.
“Then I had to take the fifth one and you know where my heart was? Very deep in my pants.
“Of course it was the biggest victory for me. But the most impressive thing was that when we left the pitch the English supporters gave us a standing ovation. I had goosepimples.
“I’ve never felt this from opposition supporters. It was amazing. This was fair play at its best.”
Germany went on to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in the final thanks to Oliver Bierhoff’s ‘golden goal’ – and Kuntz went on to earn his place in English football history by being mocked in the video for Baddiel and Skinner’s second Three Lions song, which was released for 1998 World Cup in France.
Well, with a rather rude sounding surname like his, what did he expect?
He recalled: “In the video you could see a lot of people wearing shirts with my name on the back.
“One day my mum asked me why. I think it was one of the only situations that I lied to my mum.
“Of course I couldn’t tell her what my name sounds like it means in English. So I told her the people were all wearing the shirts because they liked my goal!
“So please, don’t tell my mum if you see her.”
Southgate is not expected to travel to Poland for tomorrow’s match, having earlier watched their first two matches of the Finals.
Kuntz said: “That’s a shame because I wanted to give him a hug as we shared the experience of 96 together.”
Aidy Boothroyd’s U-21s are unbeaten in Poland and booked their place in the last four as Group A winners with two wins and a draw.
Germany won 1-0 when the teams met in a friendly in Wiesbaden in March.
But Kuntz admitted: “England are clearly a better team than they were then.
“I don’t know how much this squad compares to the time in March or how many are part of the squad.
“We had some other players with us and it was a friendly game so we tried some things out.
“None of that matters anymore - now it is a cup game.”
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