ENGLAND? DON'T YOU LOVE THEM? A DOZEN SHOCKERS!

On 22nd July 2006, Arsenal played their first match at the Emirates, the Gunners defeating Ajax 2-1 in the testimonial match for Dennis Bergkamp. Enough of that.....after watching England's Women perform so well last night (21/7/2022), here's a few disasters incurred by our MEN!

By the 14^th June 2022. England had scored one goal in their previous 4 Nations' League internationals; a penalty from Harry Kane against Germany on July7th, salvaging a 1-1 draw and thus avoiding four defeats in June. England had lost to Hungary 1-0 away on June 4th and drawn 0-0 at home to Italy on the 11th and lost 0-4 to Hungary at home on the 14th June. P4 W0 D1 L3 F1 A6 Pts 1

Gareth Southgate’s earlier success, culminated in the “creditable” loss in the last World Cup semi-final and a penalty shoot-out loss in recent Euros. These glimmers of hope, have been forgotten by England’s supporters, spoiled by The Lions latest failure. Here are a few more disappointments:

This is the first time that this has happened to England, since 2014 when England had drawn with Ecuador in the USA 2-2 on June 4th, drawn with Honduras 0-0 also in the USA on the 7th, lost to Italy 1-2 in the World Cup in Manaus on the 14th, lost to Uruguay 1-2 in Sao Paulo on the 19th and on the 24th June drawn 0-0 with the mighty, Costa Rica, finishing the World Cup challenge! 

Following on from that England played 6 and won 6 the following season mainly in UEFA Qualifying ties. Cheerily, in that run of success,  England thumped Scotland 3-1 at Hampden on November 19th 2014 in a freindly. BUT................................

12. 14^th June 2022, England 0-4 lost to Hungary, at Molineux, in a Nations’ League game, viewed as an experiment by manager Gareth Southgate. Below are some of the worst defeats recorded by England, expressed by a “news’ item”.

Here’s another one from March  31st 1928 when England were over run 1-5 by the “Wee wizards” from Scotland on “home soil”.

British Home Championship:  England v Scotland @ Wembley Stadium, London,  Referee Willie Bell (Scotland). Attendance: 80,868.

11. England slumped to a new as their European Championship campaign came to an end at the last-16 stage following a shock 2-1 defeat by Iceland on 27th June 2016. Roy Hodgson and his players were beaten by a nation with a population of 323,000 in Nice, but it wasn't the first time the Three Lions have been humiliated on the international stage.

10.  England 0-1 Scotland, Euro 2000 qualifying play-off second leg, November 1999, England held 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 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 (third from right) headed home the only goal at Wembley in November 1999.

9. Sweden 2-1 England, Euro 1992 group stage, June 1992. England needed a win in Stockholm- 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, 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. 

7. England 0-1 Republic of Ireland, Euro 1988 group stage, in Stuttgart, 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 before heading home, humiliated.

6. England 1-3 Soviet Union, Euro 1988 group stage, 18^th June. 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 1981 Defeat in Oslo was not a disaster as England still qualified for the 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrwyuWYkIU

'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.

Bryan Robson had given Ron Greenwood's side the lead before Tom Lund and Hallvar Thoresen turned the game in favour of the hosts.

4. Germany 4-1 England, World Cup 2010, last 16, June. Despite Frank Lampard having a perfectly good goal disallowed when the officials failed to spot the ball had crossed the line (remember that volley?), 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, November 2007. A damp night in north London 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. Remember, The Wally with the brolly?

2. United States 1 England 0, 1950 World Cup group stage, June 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.

 1. England 1-2 Iceland, Euro 2016 last-16, 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. Go on my "sson"!!!