England Team

USSR Team

With Alan Mullery suspended due to his sending off against Yugoslavia, Sir Alf Ramsey decided to recall Nobby Stiles after an absence of 14 months and the tigerish Manchester United midfield star immediately made an impact. With Geoff Hurst in for the injured Alan Ball, and Tommy Wright making his debut at right-back, England looked a little different from the side that lost to the Yugoslavs.

This match was a curtain-raiser for the European Nations Cup Final between Yugoslavia and the host country, Italy. Ironically, of the four sides on view this day, England looked, by far, the best.

This was a much better showing and a fine team-effort. In the first half, England attacked the Soviets hard. Hurst showed much of his old power and Bobby Charlton was at his most graceful.

It was Charlton who gave England a first-half lead after 39 minutes. A slick move involving Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Hurst ended with Charlton running in to shoot the awkwardly-bouncing ball down and beyond Pshenichnikov.

One of the most noticeable aspects of the game was the sporting manner in which it was played. The Soviets, as they showed at Wembley before last Christmas, played it hard but fair, but on this occasion England outfought and outmanoeuvred their opponents. Thankfully, there was no repeat of the tantrums and the histrionics shown by Yugoslavia in the previous game.

Charlton might have had a hat-trick as two other good efforts went perilously close. With Wright -- now there is a name that conjures up memories -- settling in most effectively and Hurst always dangerous, England continued to 'hold the aces' after the break.

The Soviets had little to offer, although Byshovets was always impressive and Gordon Banks was forced into a brilliant save from a Logofet header. Six minutes afterwards, though, England added a second goal. Peters fired in a shot which was blocked and Hurst moved in to dribble past the goalkeeper and score.

England seemed to have gained a reputation for rough, physical play, yet against a side who were prepared to play good football, there was only one very-short stoppage, and that whilst Banks received treatment.

Ten minutes from the end, England should have had a penalty when Peters was tripped in the area by Shesternyov but the Hungarian referee, István Zsolt waved play on.

So England finished in third place in the European Championships, a disappointment in many respects but they could also feel proud of their achievement and now had to look towards Mexico in 1970 for their next big challenge.
  

Goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst lifted England to victory in this play-off for third place in the European Championship finals. Nobby Stiles was recalled for his first England match for fourteen months in place of the suspended Alan Mullery, and played in his trademark tigerish style. The Soviets had been deadlocked with Italy after extra-time in a goalless semi-final. Italy went through to the final on an unsatisfactory toss of a coin (even critics of the penalty-shoot-out deciders could not accept that this was the right way to settle stalemated matches).  Italy then beat Yugoslavia 2-0 in a replay of the final after a 1-1 draw.  For Sir Alf Ramsey and his England players the priority now was the defence of their World Cup in Mexico in 1970.
  

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