England have yielded six or seven goals four times--twice
to the Scotland of 1878 and 1881 and twice to the Hungary of 1953 and
1954. On both sets of occasions, their opponents' styles of play
completely befuddled them. Barring a disastrous performance
against a team of yet-to-be-seen quality, it is highly unlikely England will
again suffer such one-sided defeats.
In the one case, England's emphasis on individual dribbling
skills was no match for Scotland's passing game. The game was in
its infancy in the 1870's and 1880's, of course, tactics were primitive and
hence any tactical superiority was likely to produce a skewed result.
In the other case, England were entirely unprepared for
Hungary's innovative and dynamic tactical system and superb individual
skills. English football of the early 1950's clung to the notion that it
remained superior, and the resulting complacency in its approach to the game
produced tactical rigidity and sterility. The Hungarian players'
continual interchanging of positions and their high level of technical ability
left England bewildered and stunned.
England have not yielded five goals in a match since the
1960's or four goals in a match since the 1970's.
The prevalence of defence-oriented tactical systems over
the past two and more decades and improvements in the standard of play around
the globe have made it much more difficult to score against all but the very weakest
national sides. England yielded more than two goals in only eight of
the 252 matches played since the beginning of the 1980-81 season. They yielded three goals three times in the decade between the 1980-91 and
1989-90 seasons--against West Germany in a 1987 away friendly and against
Netherlands and the U.S.S.R. at the 1988
European Championship finals. And they yielded three goals four
times in the decade between the 1990-91 and 1999-2000 seasons--against Sweden
and Brazil in the 1995 Umbro Cup International
Challenge Tournament played in England and against Portugal and Romania in
the 2000 European Championship finals.
Only two teams have managed to score more than two goals against
England in the 46 matches played in the present decade. They came in the
first and last matches of 2003, when Australia won a friendly match, 3-1, and
Denmark won another friendly match, 3-2. England did not yield more than one goal in any of their nine
matches in the 2000-01 season,
although they gave away two goals five times in the 15 games they played in the 2001-02 season. Of the
nine matches in the 2002-03 season, they conceded two goals at
home in the draw against FYR Macedonia as well as the three at home in the
loss against Australia. The Denmark defeat was the only time in the
2003-04 season that England conceded three goals, although they three times
conceded two goals, all in the European Championships, against France, Croatia
and Portugal.
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