Playing against Portugal at Wembley or even in Lisbon had always been a pleasurable occasion for England, but here in the volatile atmosphere amongst Portugal's South American ancestors it was a very different proposition. Also, the Pacaembu Stadium has probably the worst pitch ever to have staged a full international. As a result the game never flowed and in fact the stadium erupted 20 minutes from the end when Portugal had a goal disallowed.

But we are jumping ahead of ourselves. In the first half, England saw plenty of the ball and had the better chances. Roger Hunt had a goal disallowed after 15 minutes for offside and Jimmy Greaves was desperately unlucky when his brilliant shot struck the crossbar.

Unfortunately the midfield subtlety of George Eastham was missed and the link between defence and attack was not there. But there was plenty of heart, though, with both full-backs looking solid, Maurice Norman in commanding form and Ron Flowers always a powerhouse in midfield. Greaves was sharp up-front but chances were once again lost at vital times.

Portugal, meanwhile, brought on Vicente for Mendes after half an hour's play and just before the interval they opened the scoring, albeit against the run of play.

As Johnny Byrne was undergoing repairs on the touchline for an injury, a quick throw-in caught England napping. A fast attack developed and Peres fired in a speculative shot. Unfortunately for England, the ball struck Flowers and was deflected into the net for an own-goal. The crowd went wild and rockets illuminated the night sky.

After the break, England battled on. Terry Paine was very unlucky when he, too, saw a shot strike the Portuguese crossbar and with all their attacks coming to nothing it seemed that England would never find a way through. But on the hour their good play deservedly gave them some reward. A super move began with Gordon Banks finding Byrne. He, in turn, passed to Greaves and then a lovely long through-ball was swept home by Hunt for an excellent goal. It was met by a stunned silence from the crowd.

Everything now to play for, but on 70 minutes came the incident that won few friends for Portugal and did their image no good at all. Coluna, quite rightly, had a goal disallowed for offside by the excellent Brazilian referee. Sadly, the Portuguese players took exception to his decision and went berserk. They hounded and chased the unfortunate referee for a full five minutes whilst a barrage of fireworks and noise erupted from the terraces.

As a result of all this mayhem Torres was sent off for manhandling the official and this only added fuel to the already ugly mood of the crowd. Luckily, there was high wire fencing keeping the crowd away from the pitch, otherwise the situation would have been even more nasty.

When play finally restarted, the atmosphere was very tense. Byrne had a goal disallowed five minutes from the end but, as in Hunt's case, earlier the England lads took it in a sporting manner.
  

Portugal were down to ten men when centre-forward José Torres was sent off for attempting to hit the referee shortly after Roger Hunt had equalized a goal by Peres. Jimmy Greaves and Johnny Byrne hit the woodwork, and Byrne had a goal  disallowed but England failed to take advantage of having an extra man. Had Torres landed with his attempted punch he could have faced a life ban from football. The trouble erupted after the referee disallowed a quite obviously off-side goal by Coluna. Portuguese players hounded the referee for a full five minutes, with Torres punished for being the ring leader. England had what looked a winner from Johnny Byrne turned down five minutes from the end  and a bad-tempered match ended with a 1-1 scoreline that was a fair reflection of the play that was too often polluted by the threat of violence.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG