For nearly thirty minutes England outplayed Switzerland in this World Cup qualifier, and it was totally unexpected when the Swiss suddenly swept into the lead with two goals in a minute. Ron Greenwood attempted a salvage operation by sending on Terry McDermott for Trevor Francis and pushing Kevin Keegan forward into a striker's role. It was McDermott who at last ended England's run of almost eight hours without a goal when he collected a Steve Coppell pass in the fifty-fifth minute and buried a shot in the Swiss net. But Switzerland held out under enormous pressure to record their first victory over England for thirty-four years. To add to England's despair, the hooligan element among their supporters caused more sickening problems on the terraces. Only a victory in the following match in Hungary could keep alive England's slim hopes of making it into the World Cup finals. The appalling behaviour of the England supporters meant that most neutrals would have been quite happy to see them fail to make it to Spain, and there were whispers that the powers-that-be at FIFA were considering a ban on England.

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