World Cup third-place play-off: Tony Dorigo's memories of the game no one wants to play

That left the future-Leeds United left-back with lifelong memories of sporting excellence and class, but even he has to admit it would be better if England and France had just gone home this week, rather than play each other on Saturday.

A non-playing member of England's Euro 88 squad, Dorigo had yet to make it onto the field at Italia 90 when a semi-final penalty shoot-out he could have been a part of went West Germany's way.

"From a purely selfish point of view, I was delighted there was a third and fourth-place play-off," Dorigo tells The Yorkshire Post. "I started against Italy, and it was a wonderful experience.

"It went well, and I got to taste what it's like to play in a World Cup.

"But in truth, as part of a squad that's just been beaten in the semi-final of a World Cup, you just want to get out of there.

"You've been under so much pressure for many weeks preparing, and then there's a huge disappointment when suddenly it all comes to an end. It's always best to get back to your friends and loved ones and try and build yourself back up again.

"But I certainly really enjoyed the experience."

Salvatore Schillaci's penalty secured a 2-1 win for Italy and all-but guaranteed him the golden boot. France's Kylian Mbappe, level on eight goals with Lionel Messi, will be hoping that part of history repeats itself.

"Once you're stripped and ready to go, suddenly it becomes very important but right up to that point, it was quite difficult to get focused," says Dorigo. “You just sense the disappointment of everyone, really, of all of us, myself included, to have lost in the way we did on penalties.

"Whether you come third or fourth, I don't think too many people will be bothered. But once you put the England shirt on, then it becomes serious and you always want to win.

"It was painful and it was really strange, because it has given me some amazing memories."

Two in particular stand out, one involving Giuseppe Bergomi, a 1982 champion in the first of his four World Cups.

"I set the (England) goal up for David Platt, which is wonderful, a good cross, but more important was (my memory of) the captain, Giuseppe Bergomi of Italy," says Dorigo, who also went to Euro 92 without playing.

"It was in the tunnel after the game, and everyone was just trying to swap shirts. A few England players got up to Giuseppe and tried to swap with him. But he said, no, no, no.

"I was probably one of the last ones to come down the tunnel and I'm just walking back to the dressing room, and he starts waving. I'm thinking he's waving at someone behind me but there was no one behind me.

"I went up to him, and he says, ‘Can we swap shirts?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah, fantastic.’

"Then he wanted to swap socks. So we swapped socks. Then he wanted to swap shorts, so we swapped shorts.

"We went no further! That was it.

"I admired him for that.

"He wanted to swap with me because we played against each other. He was their right wing-back, and he wanted my shirt, which I thought was really classy of him.

"We had Gazza, we had Lineker, we had Waddle… Some were on the bench, but some were still trying to swap shirts with him.

"He wouldn't swap with any of them. He wanted mine.” It was reward for Dorigo’s diligence as a good squad member..

"In the 1988 European Championship I was part of the squad but I didn't get on the pitch,” he says.

"You do all that training, you've got to make sure that when you're called, you're absolutely ready. And you keep going through that process for every game, thinking that at any point you're going to get that opportunity.

"I didn't in that championship. Then in this one I was on the bench for the semi-final. Weirdly, in training, Bobby Robson said to me that if you get on the pitch, you're going to take one of the penalty kicks if it goes to penalties.

"Suddenly your brain is at overdrive and you've got to really get concentrated and just process everything.

"Then I didn't get on and we lost.

"So, I just wanted to somehow get on that pitch and have an outlet for all the training and preparation.

"It's an honour, simple as that, to be there with the England team and to play. I was pleased to finally have something at the end of it, to play in a World Cup."

Given he was the back-up to Stuart Pearce, whose penalty was saved in the semi-final shoot-out, I asked if he ever thinks, 'What if?'

"I didn't think of it that way because you're always in it together," says Dorigo. "Wow, that dressing room afterwards was such a solemn place.

"We really did come together as a group and we kind of lost it as a group. We were in it together."

This game will be even more of a booby prize for England than 1990. Then, the Three Lions had reached their first semi-final since 1966, and their first on foreign soil. Now they are regulars in the last four of major competitions, yet 66 remains the only trophy.

"We're producing some wonderfully talented players and (Gareth) Southgate produced a great environment for success," says Dorigo.

"To be mixing it in the top teams in the world in these tournaments, in these pressure situations, that is pretty impressive.

"But of course, you go to win, and when we've kind of seen this same film a few times, it does get frustrating.

"Certainly in 1990 against West Germany, I thought we were the better side. We hit the post and we couldn't get over the line of penalties.

"Argentina on Wednesday were quite simply the better side. They handled the game better.

"I thought in the first half, we looked quite comfortable and good but going 1-0 up with half and hour to go, there's still plenty of the match to go. I thought they responded really well and we didn't.

"Suddenly losing our attacking ability and ability to keep the ball, to get them on the counter was a real problem.

"Unfortunately, they had too many very talented players and they turned it around.

"If you're going to go down, you'd rather be going down swinging, wouldn't you? That's the frustrating – we didn't.

"Where is our strength? We've been swapping the two wingers every single game with another two wingers and really pushing teams back. Suddenly, that ability and strength that we had, that advantage we had, we just didn't use it when it would have been really useful.

"Clearly, we could have done better."