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England’s World Cup years - 1950, 1954 & 1958 (the frustrating fifties)
The fact that England had been absent from the first three World Cups had meant that her status as the 'home of football' and thus its most dominant power had gone unchecked and untested. When they finally decided to enter in 1950, it was against a backdrop of numerous countries declining to take part. However, along with hosts Brazil, they were considered to be possible winners of the tournament before a ball had been kicked. England were pitted in a group with Spain, Chile and the United States. Spain were seen as the only real competition, with the other two sides perceived as there to make up the numbers. There were ominous signs in the first game, however, as England limped past Chile 2-0. Goals either side of the break from Stan Mortensen and Wilf Mannion did not disguise the fact that England, minus the wizardry of Stanley Matthews (who was playing on an ill-timed FA tour of North America), had been pushed harder than they should have been. It is almost comical to think that Matthews, upon his return, was not to start the next game. Walter Winterbottom, England’s equivalent of a Coach at the time, was advised as to his starting line-up by a representative committee. In Brazil, its sole member present was Arthur Drewry, who advised that the team which had won (albeit unconvincingly) should not be changed. One muses as to how Fabio Capello would react to such interference from the FA suits - a sure indicator of how archaic the situation really was.
England, even without their talisman should still have had enough to comfortably brush aside the minnows from across the pond. However, it would be remembered as America’s greatest triumph over these isles since the declaration of independence, and probably the nadir of England’s footballing history. Frank Borghi, the States’ keeper, was a man possessed, and England hit the woodwork more than once. But after Mortensen (twice) and Tom Finney had wasted great chances to score, Walter Bahr led a rare American surge and a combination of fortune, fate and design saw Haiti-born Joe Gaetjens score with the back of his head. England pressed but Ramsey’s free kick was disallowed. When Wolves’ James Mullen’s goal-bound header was brilliantly saved near the end, Winterbottom must have known the gods were smiling on the opposition in their hour of glory. That they were both coached and captained by a Scotsman (Bill Jeffrey and Ed McIlvenny respectively) can only have compounded England’s acute sense of embarrassment.
Now deflated, England had to win the last game against Spain to progress to the final four. Again, England had a goal disallowed (this time an effort from Jackie Milburn) but England resembled a team having a collective breakdown, Telmo Zarra of Athletic Bilbao stamping Spanish superiority with a deserved winner. Predictably, Hollywood attempted to cash in with a 2005 film based on the match lost to the USA 'The Game of their Lives' (starring no less than John Harkes as Ed McIlvenny) plays fast and loose with the truth even by cinematic standards, thankfully going down like a lead balloon at the box office. Perhaps this awful dramatisation of all-American heroes and upper-crust British snobs is a fitting legacy of England's darkest hour
With Puskas and company running Hungorarings around England at Wembley in 1953, there was not the same sense of entitlement ahead of the 1954 tournament in Switzerland. That England managed to reach the quarter-finals made it by no means a disaster, though it may have owed something to a curious seeding system which meant that the top sides didn't play each other in the groups. Another eyebrow-raiser was the use of extra time in drawn group games. Fortunately, neither of these experiments were repeated in subsequent World Cups. Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers and Ivor Broadis both scored twice in a see-saw game with Belgium. Jimmy Dickinson's unfortunate own goal brought it back to 4-4, a bitter blow as it came a minute after Lofthouse had scored what looked like an extra-time winner of his own. Unperturbed by a possible setback, England produced a superb performance to beat the hosts 2-0 in Berne. Goals either side of the break from Wolves players Dennis Wilshaw and James Mullen put England into the quarter-finals and forced a playoff between Switzerland and Italy to see who joined them. Home advantage proved decisive as the Swiss ran out 4-1 victors. However, England had been in what could be considered one of the weaker groups in the tournament. Reigning World Champions Uruguay proved to be a step too far and England succumbed to their superior know-how and technical ability. Goals from Lofthouse and Finney proved in vain as England were behind after only a few minutes, 3-1 down early in the second half and always chasing an ultimately lost cause. They had, however, avoided the embarrassment of four years earlier.
The 1958 tournament in Sweden took place in the wake of the Munich air disaster that February, which had been a terrible psychological blow to English football as well as depriving them of players such as Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor who would surely have made the trip. It is to England's great credit that they managed three draws in the tournament. Derek Kevan and Tom Finney capped a fine comeback having been 2-0 down at half-time to the USSR. Eventual winners Brazil were held 0-0 in Gothenburg, with Winterbottom perhaps grateful that they hadn't yet introduced their secret weapon in the form of a certain 17-year old. Goals from Johnny Haynes and Kevan ensured another draw, this time with Austria, but this was a game England perhaps would have targeted as a victory, rather than one in which they'd twice have to come from behind. In the end, it forced a play-off with the Soviets to decide who would progress. Anatoli Ilyin of Spartak Moscow scored the decisive goal midway through the second half and England were out. England came out of the 1950s having to re-examine their place in football as well as the world as a whole. A decade which had begun in a swathe of imperialist certainty had ended up being a rude awakening, with two first-round exits and arguably England's worst ever single result. Added to this was the real sense that they had been overtaken technically and tactically, highlighted most by the capitulation to Hungary in 1953. The nation that had given football to the world was now seeing others show how it ought to be played.
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