A crowd of over 98,000, the highest of the tournament so far, greeted these teams at the start, with England getting a wonderful reception. At the end, those same people cheered long into the night as England duly clinched their place in the quarter-finals.

The game was a good one, although England were still not firing on all cylinders. France, trying for their first win of the competition played some attractive football but finally succumbed after giving their hosts a tough match.

England began well with Martin Peters again the focal point of their midfield. He was soon heavily involved in the action, forcing Bobby Charlton to move forward with the venom he showed against Mexico. An early injury to Herbin hampered the French somewhat and they had to reorganise. Herbin went up front with Gondet on the right and Herbet dropping back.

On the half-hour England found the net. Ian Callaghan picked up a Nobby-Stiles-miscued shot and centred for Peters to head it square for Jimmy Greaves to side-foot home. Unfortunately the offside flag was up and the goal was disallowed.

But the home side's increasing pressure had to pay off and with five minutes to go before half-time they made the breakthrough. A short corner was worked between Greaves and Stiles. The Manchester United midfielder lost the ball but recovered quickly to win it back. He then centred for Jack Charlton to nod the ball back for Roger Hunt to head home, to a huge roar from the crowd. It was the perfect end to the half and just the tonic England needed.

In the first 15 minutes after the restart, France went at England ferociously and now the strong home defence was able to show its mettle. The blue shirts of France moved relentlessly forward in search of an equalizer. Ray Wilson read a through-pass intended for Gondet perfectly to cut out imminent danger and Bosquier fired a 40-yard drive just over Gordon Banks's crossbar.

Shortly after that, George Cohen emulated Wilson by intercepting another very dangerous pass by Gondet. To end this attacking burst, Banks made a fine full-length save from the tireless Simon, whose header from Bosquier's chip almost gor through at the inside of the post.

It was all a bit hectic but with Jack Charlton dominating and Bobby Moore immaculate, England's defence safely withstood its sternest test of the tournament so far.

After this 15-minute spell by the French, it was England's turn to put on the pressure. Another goal was disallowed when Peters headed Callaghan's cross across goal for Bobby Charlton to volley home. Amidst a storm of booing, it was found that the Peruvian referee had ruled out the goal. Nobody was quite sure why.

England continued to increase the pressure pounding away at the French defence, and with a quarter of an hour to go they, at last, sealed victory. With Simon injured and prostrate, Artelesa tried a bicycle-kick to attempt to clear his lines. Sadly for France, he miscued. Greaves picked the ball up and quickly passed to Callaghan on the right. Over came another perfect cross and there was his Liverpool team-mate Hunt to head his second goal of the night.

England, now more relaxed, went close again as Aubour twice saved brilliantly from Peters. France then hit back with a final gesture of defiance and only a superb save by Banks prevented Hausser's drive from succeeding.

So England now moved on to a quarter-final match against Argentina at Wembley, where a capacity crowd was a certainty.
  

Two smartly taken Roger Hunt goals gave England a confidence booster on their way into the World Cup quarter-finals. Ian Callaghan became the third winger tried by the England manager. Jimmy Greaves finished the match with a deep gash on his left shin, and Stiles was booked for a crunching tackle on French striker Simon. He was fortunate not to be sent off, and Ramsey ignored calls from Football Association officials that he should drop Stiles because of his competitive nature. "If Stiles goes, so do I," said Ramsey. And he was not feigning. He knew how vital Nobby's ball-winning performances were to the team in an era when fierce tackling midfield players were a necessary evil.
  

After losing 2-1 to Uruguay at White City, France had to beat England 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals from Group One. They had lost 4-0 in their previous Wembley meeting but had beaten England 6-3 on aggregate in the first round of the 1964 European Championship on their way to the quarter-finals.
The host nation had never failed to reach the last eight and England could lose 1-0 and still qualify. If they won, however, they would win the group and meet the Group Two runners-up at Wembley.
France suffered an early injury to Herbin who played on through his discomfort but England took the lead when Greaves crossed, Jack Charlton headed against the post and Roger Hunt tapped in the rebound despite French appeals for offside. Fifteen minutes from the end, after Simon had come off worst in a tackle with Stiles, Callaghan's cross met the head of Hunt and Aubour's suspect handling helped it into the net.
     

The match was played on a very wet pitch; the result ensured a place for England in the Quarter-Finals and elimination for France. Callaghan played at outside-right in place of Paine. France adopted offside tactics and Greaves and Hunt were often caught in the trap. France were handicapped for most of the game through an injury to Herbin after ten minutes; for the remainder of the game he was no better than a limping passenger. Nevertheless, Banks had more to do than he had against Uruguay and Mexico. The French attack, however, lacked imagination and failed to outwit the England rearguard. Both England goals were scored by Hunt, whose endeavour and non-stop running were a feature of the forward play. For once the offside trap failed and let in Hunt to put England ahead five minutes before half-time. Jack Charlton headed a Stiles centre against the near post and Hunt was waiting to put the ball past Aubour from close-in. The second goal was scored after 75 minutes. Greaves picked up a loose ball, slipped it to the right wing where Callaghan's centre was met by Hunt to head past the goalkeeper.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
FFF.fr
Allezlesbleus.free.fr
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