England B Match No. 16 - Switzerland - 22 May 1954 Report (original) (raw)
 England Football Online |
||
|---|---|---|
| B Team Results | Page Last Updated 11 May 2022 | Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra |
****
flg.jpg)
"THIS 'B' TEAM NEEDED SHOOTING!"** The People
  Officials |
Switzerland | ruling on substitutes | England Party |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referee Josef Wershoven West Germany. | Both countries agreed to dispense with the Continental and UK rulings on substitutes, by allowing the use of three substitutes for any reason and at any point. There were no age or senior appearances restrictions for these B internationals | ||
| Linesmen | |||
| tbc | tbc |
******Switzerland Team
| Rank | No official ranking system established; | Colours | probably white jerseys and black shorts. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain | Manager | ||||
| ****** Switzerland Lineup |
|||||
| Permunian, Antonio | 23280 days | 15 August 1930 | G | AC Bellinzona | |
| 2 | Neury, André | 32261 days | 3 September 1921 | RB | Servette FC Genève 1890 |
| 3 | Flückiger, Marcel | 24 336 days | 20 June 1929 | LB | Berner Sport Club Young Boys |
| 4 | Eschmann, Norbert | 20245 days | 19 September 1933 | RHB | FC Lausanne-Sport |
| 5 | Eggimann, Oliver | 35 114 days | 28 January 1919 | CHB | FC La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 6 | Fesselet, Gilbert | 26 36 days | 16 April 1928 | LHB | FC La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 7 | Morand, Raymond | 23 119 days | 23 January 1931 | OR | FC La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 8 | Hagen, Hans | 26 349 days | 7 June 1927 | IR | Grasshopper Club Zürich |
9  |
Mauron, Marcel | 25 58 days | 25 March 1929 | CF | FC La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| 10****** |
Riva, Ferdinando | 23323 days | 3 July 1930 | IL | FC Chiasso |
| 11 | Coutax | nk | nk | OL | nk |
| unused substitutes: | not named | ||||
| 2-3-5 | Permunian -Neury, Flückiger -Eschmann, Eggimann, Oliver -Fesselet, Morand, Hagen, Riva, Coutax | ||||
| Averages: | Age | 26 years 104 days¹⁰ | Appearances/Goals |
England Team
| Rank | No official ranking system established; | Colours | "England. in red and white...." the 1952 away uniform -Red collared short-sleeved jerseys, white shorts, red socks. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Captain | to be confirmed | Manager | Joseph Richards, Barnsley FC & Football League Chairman | |||||
| second of two B matches, W 0 - D 0 - L 2 - F 1 - A 4. | ||||||||
| Team chosen by the Intermediate Selection Committee, headed by Joe Richards, on Friday, 21 May. | ||||||||
| England Lineup |
||||||||
| six changes to the previous B match | FINAL league positions (FL1 26 April, FL2/3N 29 April) | |||||||
| 10 | King, Raymond, tactical off 46th min. | 29_280 days_ | 15 August 1924 | G | Port Vale FC (FL3N TOP) | 1 | 1ᵍᵃ | |
| 100 | only B app 1954 | |||||||
| 2 | Green, Kenneth | 3025 days | 27 April 1924 | RB | Birmingham City FC (FL2 7th) | 2 | 0 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 101 | 3 | Willemse, Stanley B. | 29272 days | 23 August 1924 | LB | Chelsea FC (FL 8th) | 1 | 0 |
| only B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 102 | 4 | McGarry, William H. | 26_346 days_ | 10 June 1927 | RHB | Huddersfield Town AFC (FL 3rd) | 1 | 0 |
| only B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 5 | Dugdale, James R. | 22127 days | 15 January 1932 | CHB | West Bromwich Albion FC (FL RU) | 3 | 0 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 6 | Edwards, Duncan | 17233 days | 1 October 1936 | LHB | Manchester United FC (FL 4th) | 2 | 0 | |
| 7 | Hooper, Harry | 20342 days | 14 June 1933 | OR | West Ham United FC (FL2 13th) | 4 | 1 | |
| 8 | Quixall, Albert | 20286 days | 9 August 1933 | IR | Sheffield Wednesday FC (FL 19th) | 3 | 0 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 9 | Allen, Ronald, tactical off 46th min. | 25_127 days_ | 15 January 1929 | CF | West Bromwich Albion FC (FL RU) | 2 | 0 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 10 | Wilshaw, Dennis J. | 28_52 days_ | 11 March 1926 | IL/CF | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL CHAMPIONS) | 2 | 2 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 11 | Robb, George | 27**355 days** | 1 June 1926 | OL | Tottenham Hotspur FC (FL 16th) | 3 | 0 | |
| final B app 1954 | ||||||||
| England Substitutes |
||||||||
| scoreline: Switzerland 1 England 0 | ||||||||
| 103 | Thompson, George H., on 46th min. for King | 27_249 days_ | 15 September 1926 | G | Preston North End FC (FL 11th) | 1 | 1ᵍᵃ | |
| only B app 1954 | ||||||||
| 104 | Nicholls, John, on 46th min. for Allen | 23_49 days_ | 3 April 1931 | IL | West Bromwich Albion FC (FL RU) | 1 | 0 | |
| only B app 1954 | ||||||||
| result: Switzerland 2 England 0 | ||||||||
| unused substitute: | Eric Bell (Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 5th)) | |||||||
| team notes: | The first England representative match to have two substitutions made through the match. | |||||||
| 2-3-5 | King (Thompson) -Green, Willemse - McGarry, Dugdale, Edwards -Hooper, Quixall, Allen (Nicholls), Wilshaw, Robb. notes: for the second half, Wilshaw played in the centre, with Nicholls taking Wilshaw's position. | |||||||
| Averages: (start)(finish) | Age | 25 years 159 days26years 32 days | Appearances/Goals | 2.2 | 0.2 |
Match Report as appears in the The People, 23 May 1954
Is this to be woe, woe, week-end for English Soccer? Last night, in Basle, before 20,000 people, England "B" were humbled 2—0. Today the No. 1 England team tackles Hungary. The Basle beating, humiliating for England, was a tale of frittered chances and incredibly bad shooting.
Early in the second half England blasted in shots from all angles—over the bar, outside the posts, into the goalkeepers hands. And in the dying minutes of the game Wilshaw bored through twice—and shot wide twice. Nicholls headed a beautiful cross shot right into the keeper's hands from three yards out.
The Swiss goal came one in each half. Straight from the kick-off, Switzerland, playing calm Soccer, as though it was a practise game, swept down the field and right-half Eschmann missed narrowly with a powerful drive that grazed the bar. In the ninth minute, Morand, Swiss right-winger, took the ball down the wing and lofted it into the England penalty area. A scramble, a bad clearance, and the ball trickled to the fight of inside-left Riva. He fired, from three yards outside the penalty area, into the top left corner of the net. No blame to 'keeper Ray King. He was unsighted by his own defence. An equaliser seemed certain in the first half when Wilshaw volleyed a shot just outside the penalty area, but the ball skimmed the bar.
By previous agreement, both sides used substitutes in the second half. Out went King from goal, in came Thompson of Preston. Out went Allen from centre-forward, Wilshaw moved over and Nicholls came in at inside-left. The reshuffle improved the team play, but not the shooting. The second half was a succession of missed chances by England. Against the run of play, in the 62nd minute, a combined forward-passing movement ended with Mauron snapping up a pass by Riva about 13 yards from goal. He swung round and hammered the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. Thompson never had a hope of stopping it. After that the zip went out of England for some time, until that late, but oh so wild rally.
The Swiss team never rose to any great heights in either half, especially in the second. Standard of play was low all round, with the home team just about deserving their win. England were better man for man. If the forwards had only been able to shoot, they would have won with goals to spare. As it was, there was an obvious moral for England: let these Continental-tour teams get together for a few good practise games before sending them in against their opponents. Otherwise England's Soccer prestige abroad will go on declining.
Source Notes
| Original newspaper reports | | Rothman's Yearbooks | | -------------------------- | | ------------------- |
cg