June 16th 1914 My Dad's birthdate! On various dates.......England made a mess of things on various dates....
10. England 0-1 Scotland, Euro 2000 qualifying play-off second leg, November 13th 1999, England had a 2-0 lead after a brace from Paul Scholes in the first leg at Hampden Park four days earlier. But they didn't make life easy for themselves with this underwhelming performance against their old enemies in the return at Wembley. Don Hutchison grabbed the only goal in the 39th minute as Kevin Keegan's men were left to hold on and just confirm their spot at Euro 2000 in less-than-convincing style. Scotland's Don Hutchinson headed home the only goal at Wembley in November 1999. In 10 games in 1999, England scored only 15 goals.
9. Sweden 2-1 England, Euro 1992 group stage. 17th June 1992 England needed a win - or at least a high-scoring draw - to make it through to the knockout stages, but they found themselves on the end of a defeat as the hosts made the semi-finals. David Platt struck early for the Three Lions before Jan Eriksson and Tomas Brolin turned the game on its head and Graham Taylor made the surprising decision to take off captain Gary Lineker. Sweden striker Tomas Brolin wheeled away in celebration after netting his side's second goal against England.
8. Northern Ireland 1-0 England, 2006 World Cup qualifier, played in September 2005. The only defeat England suffered in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup came against lowly Northern Ireland, a country they had not lost to, since way back in 1972. David Healy was the hero at Windsor Park, scoring the only goal in the 73rd minute as Sven Goran Eriksson's men went down with a whimper. Ashley Cole watches on as David Healy scores the winning goal for Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifier. England had beaten them 4-0 at Old Trafford in March 2005.
7. England 0-1 Republic of Ireland, Euro 1988 1st Round, group stage, 12th June 1988, Ray Houghton's early strike gave the Republic of Ireland victory in their first-ever tournament match, as England's campaign got off to the worst possible start. To make matters worse, Bobby Robson's team then lost their next two group games against The Netherlands 1-3 and USSR 1-3, before heading home humiliated.
6. England 1-3 Soviet Union, Euro 1988 group stage, 18th June 1988, in FRankfurt. England had already been eliminated from Euro 1988 when they met the Soviet Union in their final group game, but they could not even salvage some pride before flying home. Tony Adams equalised after Sergei Aleinikov's third-minute opener before goals from Oleksiy Mykhailychenko and Viktor Pasulko condemned Robson's men to a third straight defeat.
5. Norway 2 England 1, 1982 World Cup qualifier, September 9th 1981. Defeat in the Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, was not a disaster as England still qualified for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, but the 2-1 loss to Norway - who finished bottom of the qualifying group - is better remembered for Bjorge Lillelien's superb commentary at the full-time whistle.'Lord Nelson! Lord Beaverbrook! Sir Winston Churchill! Sir Anthony Eden! Clement Attlee! Henry Cooper! Lady Diana! Maggie Thatcher - can you hear me, Maggie Thatcher! Your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took one hell of a beating,' he bellowed.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZTP8-8wIs
Step forward veteran Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien
4. Germany 4-1 England, World Cup Finals, last 16, 27th June 2010. Despite Frank Lampard having a perfectly good goal disallowed when the officials failed to spot the ball had crossed the line, England were comprehensively beaten by Germany in Bloemfontein. Goals from Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and a double from Thomas Muller sent the superior Germans through to the quarter-finals as Fabio Capello's men faced up to another early exit.
3. England 2 Croatia 3, Euro 2008 qualifier, on 21st November 2007. A damp night at Wembley, brought the curtain down on Steve McClaren's ill-fated reign as England coach as Croatia's victory saw the Three Lions miss out on Euro 2008. Defeats in Croatia and Russia, as well as a damaging goalless draw at home to Macedonia, meant McClaren's men were at risk of not qualifying for the event in Austria and Switzerland. And so it came to pass as Scott Carson fumbled Niko Kranjcar's effort and Ivica Olic made it 2-0 inside 15 minutes. McClaren, watching on from underneath an umbrella on the touchline, saw his side rally as Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch scored - only for Mladen Petric to claim a winner for Slaven Bilic's Croatia. McClaren's umbrella did not help....keep him dry!
2. United States 1 England 0, 1950 World Cup group stage, June 29th 1950. Entering their first-ever World Cup as favourites, England's squad in Brazil boasted names such as Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney and Billy Wright. But Walter Winterbottom's side were shocked in Belo Horizonte as, despite dominating possession and hitting a post, they were beaten by Joe Gaetjens' effort, with the USA's team of amateurs, postmen and funeral directors pulling off the biggest upset in the history of the sport at the time. USA's Joe Gaetjens is carried from the pitch after scoring the winner against England at the 1950 World Cup
1. England 1-2 Iceland, Euro 2016 last-16, 27th June 2016. The worst in the list of embarrassing defeats. Iceland's deserved victory in Nice capped off a miserable tournament for Hodgson and his underachieving squad, who just never got going. Wayne Rooney's early penalty seemed to have England on course for a quarter-final against hosts France, but they had no answer after goals from Ragnar Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. In Nice, Roy Hodgson and his players were beaten by a nation with a population of 323,000, but it wasn't the first time the Three Lions have been humiliated on the international stage, as you may have gathered from the previous reports.
Recently, England has scored one goal in the past 4 international games, a penalty from Harry Kane, against Germany, salvaging a 1-1 draw and thus meaning in four defeats on the trot, the first time this has happened since 2014. Gareth Southgate’s recent success, a losing presence in the last World Cup semi-final and a penalty shoot-out loss in the Euros last summer, has been scrubbed out by this recent lack of success. Southgate has much to ponder in the upcoming “break” from matches and a break from the role he took over in 2016.
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