FIFA World Cup History: Englands Expectations
The English are the pioneers of professional football as wel know it. The sport of football originated from the British Isles, so if common sense prevails, one should expect them to be relatively good at it. In simpler terms one would expect them to be above average.
English have had a very irregular FIFA World Cup history. The stereo typical image of the English nation is of a proud one, proud of their achievements in world history as a whole, proud of their technological marvels, proud of the London bridge, proud of London itself as a city, proud of the fact that they ruled the world for almost 200 years straight, proud of the fact that they managed to keep monarchy, but eliminate it as well, this overtly proud demeanor can be extended to football as well.
In the early days of FIFA and the World Cup, the English football association had a strain in their relationship with FIFA and as a result the English didn’t compete in the World Cup until the year 1950. England’s first world cup outing was not a particularly happy one as they lost to the minnows U.S.A by one goal to nil and exited the competition at the first round.
In the 1954 FIFA World Cup which took place in Switzerland, English did much better than fans expected from them and qualified for the quarter finals where they again failed to perform. Their 4-2 defeat to Uruguay in the qarter final of the tournament resulted in their elimination from the World Cup. The 1958 FIFA World Cup tournament which was hosted by Sweden saw England pulling off a remarkable goalless draw against the favorites Brazil who had a certain familiar 17 year old Pele in their squad.
English hopes for a successful World Cup suffered a major blow before the 1954 World Cup got under way, as their star players in the Manchester United squad died in a plane crash while on their way back from Munich, Germany. It was Brazil’s first ever goalless draw in the history of the World Cup. England went on to face Soviet Union in a playoff match to decide who will qualify for the next round of the competition but unfortunately they succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to the Soviets after Anatoli Llyin scored in the 67th minute to put his country in front.
In the 1962 FIFA World Cup which was for the first time hosted in the nation of Chile, England performed admirably. They progressed from their group because of a superior goal average despite being level on points with Argentina. In the quarter finals, England came up against Garrincha and Pele’s Brazil. Both of the players were at the top of their game and Brazil ripped the English defense with ease. In doing so Brazil scored a 3-1 victory against the English and proceeded to the semis. Brazil were eventual winners of the tournament as well.
In 1966 the World Cup was hosted by England. It was a magnificent moment for football as it was termed as coming back to its home, the place of its origin. England’s manager Sir Alf Ramsey stated before the World Cup had even begun that England would win it on English soil. This was a remarkable boast indeed, with other countries such as Argentina, Italy, Brazil and West Germany all looking as good challengers for the title of World Champions.
Most of the outsider’s thought that England were again displaying their proud character and thus damaging their own chances of winning the competition in doing so. England’s campaign got under way brilliantly and Sir Alf Ramsey’s team adopted defensive tactics in their group stage matches, this strategy worked out brilliantly as England conceded zero goals during the first round of the tournament and scored only four themselves. England came up against Argentina in the quarter finals where they faced a side which had adopted severely aggressive and pragmatic tactics. Argentineans deliberately tried to gain advantage by making apparent efforts to injure the English players.
Argentina’s captain Antonio Rattin was sent off during the match as well. England came out eventual as winners by a goal to nil. Geoff Hurst was the goal scorer for the English. England in the semi-finals faced Portugal and perhaps the best player of the world at that moment in time, Eusebio.
Eusebio had scored four times for Portugal during their quarter final match against the North Koreans and was expected to give English a troubling time during their encounter. However the English nullified the Portuguese threat brilliantly by exhibiting excellent defensive marking. England scored two goals through their skillful striker Bobby Charlton and the Portuguese scored after they were awarded a penalty.
The final result of the match was 2-1 to England. England for the first time in their world cup history confirmed their place in the final of the match, where they came up against their rivals West Germany. World War II was still fresh in the minds of the English so the final match had an emotional as well as a political feel to it. Wembley was the venue for the final match. The match started at a frantic pace as Germany took a surprise lead just after the 12th minute of the match but England gathered their composure and struck back just four minutes after the Germans had scored.
The match was turning into a stalemate but England pulled another goal out of the bag at the end of the second half around the 78th minute mark when Martin Peters scored for them. However there was another twist to the tale as England gave away a free kick in the last minute at the edge of their penalty area, which the Germans profited from and scored from the ensuing confusion inside the English penalty area.
With the scores at 2-2 the match went into extra time during which Geoff Hurst scored again for England, his goal to this date is discussing and has remained controversial because the shot struck the goal post and then landed either over the goal line or just landed on the line itself. The referee deemed it as a goal nonetheless and England took the lead. In the last minute of the extra time, Hurst scored his third goal for England after making a dissecting run through the German defense and finishing the move off in great style. Sir Alf Ramsey’s boast came true and England had finally won the FIFA World Cup on their home soil.
In the 1970 FIFA World Cup which was hosted by Mexico, England qualified as the current world champions. They qualified with ease out of their group with wins against Romania and Czechoslovakia and a loss against Brazil. In the quarter finals England faced their old foes West Germany again. English goal keeper Gordon Banks suffered an injury before the match so his replacement Peter Bonetti took his place in the starting lineup. England started the match in terrific form and took a two goal lead quickly but as the Mexico summer heat took its toll on the English, their players began to tire. Germans on the other hand seemed much fitter than the English and grabbed a goal back through Franz Beckenbauer.
Sir Alf Ramsey then substituted Bobby Charlton in the second half, this proved to be a mistake, because by doing so England gave up their creative spark upfront and lost their ability to control possession. In the 82nd minute of the match Germany equalized with Uwe Seeler’s header. With scores level at full time, the game went into extra time during which Gerd Muller scored the winning goal for Germany and in doing so ending the England’s reign as World Champions.
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