England’s first home defeat at Wembley came in the early 1950’s against Hungary. England’s football certainly did not rule the world anymore at this point. Hungary needed a mere 60 seconds to take the lead; it came from a Nandor Hidegkuti shot from 20 yards out. The rest of the match followed the same pattern and England was totally outplayed. Hungary completely ran the show, however against the run of play Jackie Sewell scored after 15 minutes. However Hungary scored another three by the end of the hour mark, two late goals by Stan Morteson and Alf Ramsey lessened England’s misery, however they badly stumbled 4-3 at home to the Hungarians.
England’s 1954 world cup campaign was far from impressive, after winning one and drawing the other game from their opening two matches; England lost 4-2 to Uruaguay in the quarter finals. Gil Merrick, England’s goalkeeper should have saved at least two of the goals but despite having Stanley Matthews in their team, England’s football deteriorated and they were knocked out of the world cup. The following year Duncan Edwards made his international debut for England as the youngest ever player at the tender age of 18 in a match against Scotland in which England hammered their British counterparts 7-2, which included two goals by Nat Lofthouse. Stanley Matthews put on his best ever performance for England in the following year in a 4-2 victory over Brazil, Matthews created three of the goals and his talents more than matched the Brazilians skill. They followed up that victory with a fine result against West Germany on the summer tour, as England crushed the German’s 3-1 with goals coming from Colin Grainger and Johnny Haynes.
England entered the 1958 world cup finals; however they were a team in disarray after the unfortunate Munich air crash of February 1958 which killed eight Manchester United players, with many of these players also playing for England. The loss of the incomparable Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards and Roger Byrne was a huge blow from which England could not recover. England controversially left out Nat Lofthouse and Stanley Matthews for the 1958 football world cup finals. Despite these major setbacks, England were unlucky not to reach the quarter finals with drawing 2-2  against the Soviet Union, 0-0 against champions Brazil and drawing 2-2 with a strong Austrian side. England lost 1-0 to the Soviet Union in a play off match and their short world cup was over. The following year, Billy Wright made football history, as he became the first man in the world to play 100 times for his country when England narrowly beat Scotland 1-0 at Wembley; it was also his 65th consecutive appearance for England. Wright had as great record for England, in the 100 matches he played in; they won 59 and drew 22 matches. s against Hungary. England’s football certainly did not rule the world anymore at this point. Hungary needed a mere 60 seconds to take the lead; it came from a Nandor Hidegkuti shot from 20 yards out. The rest of the match followed the same pattern and England was totally outplayed. Hungary completely ran the show, however against the run of play Jackie Sewell scored after 15 minutes. However Hungary scored another three by the end of the hour mark, two late goals by Stan Morteson and Alf Ramsey lessened England’s misery, however they badly stumbled 4-3 at home to the Hungarians.
England’s 1954 world cup campaign was far from impressive, after winning one and drawing the other game from their opening two matches; England lost 4-2 to Uruaguay in the quarter finals. Gil Merrick, England’s goalkeeper should have saved at least two of the goals but despite having Stanley Matthews in their team, England’s football deteriorated and they were knocked out of the world cup. The following year Duncan Edwards made his international debut for England as the youngest ever player at the tender age of 18 in a match against Scotland in which England hammered their British counterparts 7-2, which included two goals by Nat Lofthouse. Stanley Matthews put on his best ever performance for England in the following year in a 4-2 victory over Brazil, Matthews created three of the goals and his talents more than matched the Brazilians skill. They followed up that victory with a fine result against West Germany on the summer tour, as England crushed the German’s 3-1 with goals coming from Colin Grainger and Johnny Haynes.
England entered the 1958 world cup finals; however they were a team in disarray after the unfortunate Munich air crash of February 1958 which killed eight Manchester United players, with many of these players also playing for England. The loss of the incomparable Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards and Roger Byrne was a huge blow from which England could not recover. England controversially left out Nat Lofthouse and Stanley Matthews for the 1958 football world cup finals. Despite these major setbacks, England were unlucky not to reach the quarter finals with drawing 2-2  against the Soviet Union, 0-0 against champions Brazil and drawing 2-2 with a strong Austrian side. England lost 1-0 to the Soviet Union in a play off match and their short world cup was over. The following year, Billy Wright made football history, as he became the first man in the world to play 100 times for his country when England narrowly beat Scotland 1-0 at Wembley; it was also his 65th consecutive appearance for England. Wright had as great record for England, in the 100 matches he played in; they won 59 and drew 22 matches.