As today is St George’s Day, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share four unexpected and humiliating England performances for the opposition.
England 9 Scotland 3 (15 April 1961)
I first read about this game in a book when I was a kid and it seemed impossible. Maybe it’s because I was in the Graham Taylor era and anything more than a narrow win was impossible for our national team at that time!
The match was the final match of the 1960/61 Home Championship and was played in front of 97,350 fans at Wembley Stadium. Walter Winterbottom’s men have already scored five goals against Wales and Ireland last winter and a win on an April afternoon would secure their 39th home championship.
England led 3-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Bobby Robson and two from Jimmy Greaves. Dave Mackay and Davie Wilson scored within 10 minutes of the restart to give Scotland real hope of getting back into the game. A minute later, Brian Douglas scored England’s fourth goal of the afternoon.
Bobby Smith made it 5-2 in the 75th minute, making it five goals in an incredible 10 minutes.
Scotland’s Pat Quinn scored within 60 seconds of Smith to give the Scots some respect, but England went and scored four more goals.
Fulham’s Johnny Haynes scored twice in three minutes, Jimmy Greaves completed a hat-trick a minute later and Bobby Smith scored his second goal (England’s ninth) in the 85th minute. ) was added.
With the World Cup approaching next summer, will England’s name be on the Jules Limet Trophy after performances like these?
England 5 Scotland 1 (24 May 1975)
Going into their final home Championship match, Scotland were top of the table and could have won the competition by avoiding defeat. England were looking to win their 50th championship.
England missed last summer’s World Cup in West Germany. Scotland qualified but were eliminated at the group stage without losing. They were favorites to win the title at Wembley, the final international match of the 1974/75 season.
The hosts wanted to go out and prove a point and they did so in style. QPR’s Gerry Francis scored the first goal of the game after five minutes, latching onto Mick Channon’s pass 40 yards from goal. He got the ball past a Scotland defender and, as the rest of the Scotland defense blocked him, slammed the ball into the back of the net from almost 30 yards out.
A minute later, England were two up with a superb breakaway goal involving Alan Ball, Gerry Francis and Kevin Keegan.
Keegan fed a cross to the far post which Kevin Beattie found past Scotland goalkeeper Stewart Kennedy and just under the crossbar. This was the Ipswich defender’s only goal for his country.
Colin Bell added England’s third in the 42nd minute before Bruce Rioch scored a penalty just before half-time after a handball in the England box.
England added two more goals after half-time, with Gerry Francis doubling his afternoon tally and debutant David Johnson netting England’s fifth and final goal.
Poland 0 England 3 (11 June 1986)
This game was probably the most important of the four games I’ll cover today. A defeat would have sent England home and even a draw might not have been enough to keep England in the World Cup.
People wax lyrical about Bobby Robson leading England to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup, but they don’t often acknowledge just how hated he was during his time as national team manager.
Robson’s England failed to qualify for the European Championships in France two years ago and have performed very poorly in their first two games at this World Cup. They started the campaign with a 1–0 loss against Portugal, and then held to a goalless draw against Morocco.
They needed a win, and a comprehensive win, to win back their fans both in the tournament and at home. Meet Gary Lineker, who scored a hugely impressive 38 goals for Everton the previous league season.
The striker scored a first-half hat-trick to secure England’s place in the second round. His first goal came in the 8th minute after Gary Stevens’ cross from the right. Steve Hodge then provided a delightful cross from the left and Lineker drove the ball high into the roof of the net just outside the six-yard box.
Lineker completed his hat trick by scoring another goal from close range in the 35th minute of the first half after Polish goalkeeper Josef Mlinarczyk’s corner kick passed the goal. The ball landed at the feet of an Everton man who struck the ball between two Polish defenders on the line.
We all know what happened later in the competition, so we’ll leave it at that.
Denmark 0 England 3 (15 June 2002)
This was the ‘Golden Generation’s’ first tournament and they had just qualified for the competition. David Beckham’s last-minute free-kick in the final qualifier against Greece gave England the point they needed to board a flight to Japan and South Korea.
It was Beckham who provided the corner kick that enabled England to score their first goal in this second round match against Denmark, which topped the group in the previous round.
The game was over after just five minutes when the Manchester United midfielder fired a corner past Denmark goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and towards the far post. The ball landed just in front of Rio Ferdinand and Sorensen knocked it over the line before slotting it back in to give England the lead.
Michael Owen made it 2-0 midway through the second half when he controlled a loose ball that bounced off Nicky Butt in the penalty area. Owen slotted the ball across Sorensen and into the far corner of the net.
Emile Heskey completed the scoring with a first-time shot from just outside the box just before half-time. David Beckham controlled the ball in the right corner of the box and placed it into the path of Heskey, who struck the ball under Sorensen and into the back of the net.
England advanced to the next round after losing 2-1 to Brazil after Michael Owen gave them the lead. I often think this was England’s biggest chance of winning the World Cup since 1966. Because if we had beaten Brazil we would have faced Turkey in the final and then a bad German team.
