The Early Days
Despite England's reluctance to enter structured international competition until 1950, the English pioneered the concept of international football when they were held to a 0-0 draw against Scotland in 1872 - the first ever international. Their matches were kept close to home with games against the Scots, Welsh and Irish until they hopped across the Channel for their first continental tour in 1908. A 100% winning run against Austria, Bohemia and Hungary was the outcome which put English football firmly at the top of the international ladder.
Predictable wins against nations like Belgium and France were often achieved with understrength teams, but a 4-3 defeat in Spain in 1929 was the first warning sign of things to come. The most famous inter-war internationals included the brutal 'Battle of Highbury' in 1934 when England, with seven Arsenal players beat World champions Italy 3-2, and the 6-3 win in Germany in 1938 when the English team gave the Nazi salute. A surprise defeat in Switzerland a week later was blamed on garlic!
During the 1940's England boasted a superb team. The wartime half-back line of Britton, Cullis and Mercer linked with forwards like Matthews, Carter and Lawton to produce some scintillating wins against Scotland including scorelines of 4-0, 8-0, 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1.
The 1950's
It was unfortunate that England failed to recognise early World Cup competition as Uruguay and Italy (twice) were left to win the three pre-war tournaments without English challenge. The choice to isolate herself from international competition showed as England finally entered the 1950 World Cup in Brazil - and left for home shortly after. A 2-0 win over Chile was scant consolation for defeats to Spain and most embarassingly, the U.S.A. Hungary then arrived at 'fortress Wembley' in 1953 for a friendly match complete with the legendary Ferenc Puskas. England were overcome by superior tactics and a 6-3 drubbing was the Hungarian's reward. The return match in Hungary six months later, a 7-1 defeat, reinforced the view that changes were needed.
The 1954 World Cup marked a slight, but still disappointing improvement as England reached the Quarter finals, falling at the hands of Uruguay. When changes did come, England went 16 games unbeaten (1955-57) before being unsettled by the loss of three players in the Munich air crash. The 1958 World Cup was a testament to that as England failed to progress beyond the group stage.
The 1960's
Failure to appear at the inaugual European Championships (then dubbed the Nations Cup) in 1960 and another anonymous display at the 1962 World Cup started the 1960's just as the fifties had ended. A 1st round exit to France in the 1964 Nations Cup finally alerted England to the fact that major change was needed. Enter Sir Alf Ramsey and welcome the 4-4-2 formation. With Sir Alf's greater tactical knowledge, players in the class of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Bobby Charlton, England made the most of home advantage in the 1966 World Cup. England topped a group containing Uruguay, Mexico and France and then edged by Argentina and Eusebio's Portugal before setting up an epic encounter with West Germany. The German's took an early lead, but goals from Geoff Hurst and Peters saw England regain the advantage as late as the 78th minute. But German's weren't yet beaten and an injury time equaliser from Weber momentarily sank English hearts. Extra time however saw a controversial goal from Hurst to make the game 3-2 to England and the great man raced from one length of the pitch to the other, ball at feet, to score one of the most memorable World Cup goals ever (and the only man, to this day, to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final). Four-two was the final score and England were World Champions. Surprisingly, the World Champions failed to become European Champions in 1968, but 3rd place marked their best performance in that competition.
The 1970's
Mexico 1970 saw one of the most brilliant games of football when Brazil narrowly beat England, the World Champions, 1-0. The most stunning save ever was made by Gordon Banks and Pele labelled Bobby Moore as 'the best defender in the world'. England progressed along with Brazil and met with West Germany, eager for revenge after 1966. They got it, as England somehow managed to surrender a 2-0 lead and a host of goal attempts to lose 3-2.
A massive decline would begin from here which is best forgot about. England failed to qualify for the next two World Cups and were defeated again by Germany in the Quarter finals of the 1972 European Championships. The 1976 finals were also a failure.
The 1980's
Now resembling something like a seesaw of highs and lows, the condensed them all into 10 years. The 1980 European Championships saw a creditable performance but the 1984 competition was a poor showing. The 1982 World Cup could have been a happier one if the likes of Keegan and Brooking could have played more than 15 minutes of the tournament. Moving on to 1986 and the greatest injustice of football history, for England at least. After a promising progression to the Quarter finals, spearheaded by eventual tournament top scorer Gary Lineker, Argentina and Maradona thwarted England. An unbelievably obvious handball from the little man was given as a goal and The Three Lions were heading home empty handed again.
The progress made at the 1986 finals was discarded like a time bomb though, as three games meant three defeats at Euro '88.
The 1990's
Italia '90 was seen by some as a classic case of 'so near yet so far'. In reality it was England's best World Cup display since 1966. England qualified for the Quarter finals with decent performances against Ireland, Egypt and Holland before meeting a strong Belguim team. A last gasp volley from David Platt in extra time saw England progress 1-0. Cameroon, the surprise package of the tournament, were despatched with the help of two Lineker penalties and England had reached the semi finals by three goals to two. Cue yet another memorable England-Germany encounter. The Germans took the lead early on with a highly fortunate freekick which cruelly deflected off Paul Parker. An enthusiastic Paul Gascoigne was booked for a mistimed tackle and picked up his 2nd yellow card of the tournament - if England reached the final he wouldn't be there. This sparked off great emotion and Gascoigne was distraught, his tears said it all. Linker gave England a lifeline with a late equaliser which sent the game through to penalties via extra time. Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle failed to net and England were out.
England's poor record in the European Championship continued a dire performance in Euro '92. This coupled with the failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup brilliantly summed up 'The Taylor Era' (in which San Marino scored the quickest ever World Cup goal against England). Old 'Turnip Head' had dragged English football back into the shadows.
How Euro '96 could, and should, have been so different under the guidance of Venables. A mixture of 'poor-draws' against Switzerland and the trouncing of Holland culnimated in another encounter with the Germans in the semi final. An early goal from Alan Shearer was cancelled out by a strike from the dubiously named Stefan Kuntz. Extra time ensured and some glaring misses from England sent the game into penalties, where this time, Gareth Southgate earnt the infamous mantle of sending England out, this time on their own turf.
Carrying on from where they left off, England embarked on an impressive World Cup qualifying campaign. Losing their only match to the Italians at Wembley, England went on to top their group climaxing in a thrilling draw in the final game in Rome. Le Tournoi, a pilot competition instigated by the French to ensure the smooth running of the 1998 World Cup to be held there, offered the rare taste of success for England. Impressive displays (this time resulting in wins!) over Italy and France meant they would win the trophy, despite narrowly losing to Brazil.
Confidence was high going into the World Cup and a 2-0 win over Tunisia was followed by a defeat to Romania. England needed a good result against Colombia to qualify for the next stage and they got it by winning 2 goals to nil. David Beckham got on the scoresheet with a brilliant freekick but it wouldn't be the only time he made the headlines Argentina offered the next challenge in a quality match. They took the lead through a dubious penalty before Shearer restored the balance through a spot-kick of his own. Michael Owen then took on a posse of Argentinians for half of the pitch before stylishly firing past Carlos Roa to make it 2-1. A well worked set play from the South Americans fooled England and Javier Zannetti equalised just before the break. Incident was far from over however. Early in the second half, Beckham was bundled over by Diego Simeone. As Simeone got to his feet, Beckham 'tapped' the Argentinian on the ankles to send him to the floor, writhing in 'pain'. Referee Kim-Milton Neilson saw it all and Beckham was red carded. England remained resiliant with 10 men and fought a tremendous rear-guard action and actually had a perfectly good goal disallowed. Once again it was left to penalties and the outcome was painfully obvious. England were out.
The New Millennium
The bad luck of the preceeding decade set in a rot and despite a new crop of talented youngsters England scraped though to Euro 2000. Sweden handed England a route to the finals by beating Poland and still England made a meal of the play-off games against Scotland with a poor 2-1 aggregate win to send them to Holland and Belguim. England should have stayed at home as they put on their worst performance in recent years. Completely outplayed by Portugal, a 3-2 defeat was a flattering scoreline. Next on to the weakest German side in recent years, and this time a completely unconvincing perfomance was rewarded with a 1-0 win. Needing just a draw against Romania to make the next stage the game was at two all when Phil Neville committed England suicide with a poor challenge in the dying seconds, giving away a penalty. It was converted and England travelled home with their heads held rightfully low.
England embarked on the qualification trail for the 2002 world cup with a match at home against Germany. With memories of Englands desperate and fortunate 1-0 fresh in the memory, hopes were high for the last match to be played beneth the twin towers at Wembley. Unfortunately, A Didier Hamann free-kick caught out David Seaman, and a tactically lacking England side slumped to a 1-0 defeat. Kevin Keegan shocked the nation by resigning after the game, and Howard Wilkinson was left to oversee another disapointing England performance, this time a 0-0 draw in Finland, to leave England bottom of their qualifying group.
With the premature arrival of Sven Goran Erikkson from Lazio, the England faithful may have reason to look forward to the future. A promising 3-0 win over Spain at Villa Park lifted the gloom slightly and six world cup qualification points from England's games against Finland and Albania, should put England back into contention for a place at 2002.
History Written by Mark Hook.
