All Time World Cup!
B. Charlton 12, Kubala 54
RIO- Maracana
After all the hype and build-up and every advert on television having a spurious football theme, it was finally time for England to take to the field.
Ramsey, recognising Czechoslovakia as perhaps the strongest of their group rivals, decided that getting points on the board was a higher priority than putting on a show, and left all his famous wingers on the sidelines.
In came Johnny Haynes, nominally on the right. Bobby Charlton could of course play wide left if needed, but essentially this was a midfield built to be solid.
Duncan Edwards and Bryan Robson both flew in to some hard but fair challenges early on to let Panenka and Masopust know they meant business.
Twelve minutes in and Ramsey seemed justified when Edwards robbed Masny and fed Robson, who burst forward and was felled on the edge of the box. Haynes floated in a free kick which Ondrus headed clear. Unfortunately it dropped to Bobby Charlton, who lashes the ball past Plánièka with his customary power.
A dream start for Ramsey’s men, and they looked to make the most of it. They pressed their opponents further and further back, and Plánièka had to show his class with great saves from Greaves, twice, and from Charlton again.
Gradually though, the European side began to edge their way back in to the match. English eagerness to get the ball forward began to see longer and longer passes played up to Dixie Dean to flick on. It wasn’t exactly ‘long ball’ in the Graham Taylor sense of the phrase –Haynes and co were far too accurate in their passing to ever just ‘hoof’ the ball forward- but the tactic was still in sharp contrast to Czechoslovakia’s slow, passing build-up.
By half time Robson, instead of pushing forward to get on the end of those Dean knock downs, was spending all his time and energy chasing lost causes in midfield.
The second half began with England still looking short of inspiration, and the Czechs and Slovaks knocking the ball around nicely without any penetration. Then Kubala emerged from his shell to level the score. Having got little change out of Bobby Moore, he switched positions with Masopust which meant with England’s zonal marking, that he would now face Billy Wright instead.
Wright is a Wolves legend and won over a hundred caps in an era when far fewer internationals were played. There was always a suspicion though that he was a bit immobile, and Kubala set about proving it. Taking Nedved’s deep cross on his chest in the box, he shaped to volley at goal. Wright reacted to block the shot, but instead of shooting, Kubala knocked the ball between Wright’s legs for a classic nutmeg. Skipping round the stunned defender, he collected the ball and slipped it under Banks.
Czech-Slovak tails were now up, and England looked bereft of ideas. The long passes up to the strikers became more frequent and less controlled, as desperation crept in. The game petered out with Czechoslovakia happy to claim a good point and England unable to break them down. Matthews and Lineker were brought on to add some spark, but to no avail.
All in all, this was a frustrating start from England, and the fans were not happy, having assumed their team would walk away with this group.
In reality however, England have often been slow starters in major tournaments, with the side just doing enough to get by while waiting for everything to finally click. They didn’t seem on this evidence to have anyone capable of a moment of individual genius like Kubala that could change a tight game.
Ramsey had some thinking to do....
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