HALF A DOZEN AGAINST ONE

Phew, what a day! Our clubhouse was rocking this afternoon, once England had got over the first nervy minutes of the game and eventually gone into a lead, that meant all was well. Panama an obstacle?
No, so we went on to win 6-1, and with fewer "yellow cards" than Belgium, we are in front of them in the group. What next? A last 16 tie against, with Belgium to overcome? We have never scored as many goals in a World Cup finals tie.

Remember that international football began in November 1872. There have a been eleven 6-1 results for England since internationals began, the first in March 1872 was when we lost to Scotland at home, in London in the first of the "official" fixtures.

Prior to that England and Scotland had met in "unofficial" internationals on March 5th 1870...a boring 1-1 draw at the Kennington Oval. This is where it all began. Here are the chaps in those early games. Love the warm up, top left!


There were a number of 6-1s in the 19th Century, mostly against Ireland as they were known then;1886, 1889, 1891 and 1993.
Then a 6-1 win appeared in June 1908 away to Austria, one of the FA's pilgrimages taking the wonderful world of football into Europe. There was another beating for Ireland in February 1912 away and then at home against Belgium in March 1923. The first meeting between these two was in May 1921 away, 0-2 to England.

England has won 15 lost 2 and drawn 4 in all head to heads.We have met once this "century", winning at home 1-0 in a friendly. Don't forget the last World Cup win on June 27th 1990 1-0 in Bologna...Platt after 199 minutes.
On June 29th 1966 England won 6-1 away in Norway, then June 5th 2004 at home to Iceland and most recently the beating of Panama.

So whilst 6-1 is not a record victory for the English, it has been a frequent visitor, though 5 have been against the Irish.