USA

After a 2-0 win over Chile, England took on the USA in Belo Horizonte. The Americans rode their luck and scored the only goal of the game, a header by Larry Gaetjens. Matthews didn’t play in the game that would go down as the blackest moment in England’s 80 years of international football. The selectors decided that he and Finney should alternate on the right wing, an extraordinary decision given the fact that Finney was equally potent on the left or through the middle. Matthews returned for the last group match, but even his magic couldn’t save the day. A 1-0 defeat by Spain wrapped up a miserable World Cup debut, and England didn’t even stay to watch the remaining matches.

Magyars teach England a lesson

Any doubts that England were no longer guaranteed a place at football’s top table were ended three years later, when a brilliant Hungary side came to Wembley. The Mighty Magyars, including Puskas, Hidegkuti and Kocsis, taught England a painful lesson in a match that ended 6-3. It was the country’s first defeat on home soil. A return match in Budapest six months later showed it was no fluke; Hungary won that encounter 7 -1. England fuU-back Alf Ramsey had wimessed this 13-goal fusillade at close quarters. It was an experience which left an indelible memory on him and would inform his views when he turned his thoughts to management.

At the 1954 World Cup England went dowTi 4-2 to reigning champions Uruguay at the quarter-final stage. In Sweden four years later, Walter Winterbottom was hampered by the loss of the Manchester United stars killed in the Munich disaster. England finished level on points with Russia and the two teams had to play off for the right to go through with Brazil. Russia won 1 -0; England’s third World Cup ended in disappointment once again.

Left; Billy Wright and Hungarian captain Puskas exchange flags before the start of their Wembley clash in November 1953. England's record of never having been beaten at home by a Continental team was shattered when the Magyars scored six goals with only three in reply.

Above: England's goalkeeper lies prostrate as Johnston retrieves the ball from the net after Hungary scored for the fourth time.