ENGLAND - LUXEMBOURG
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Daily Mirror
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By Bill Holden |
In their time England have been humiliated at Soccer on many foreign grounds, and booed of them by angry fans. |
But never have they been jeered whistled, booed and slow-handclapped at home as they were in this pathetic victory over little Luxembourg at Highbury last night. |
The least-skilled amateurs of Europe made a mockery of any English hopes of World Cup success. On England’s showing in this qualifying game, there must be a real doubt about their ability to beat Portugal-as they must, True, England were without skipper and inside left Johnny Haynes and had two new “caps” in the attack. But this Only once, in a ten-minute spell immediately before the interval, did they hit any sort of form. Lost Faith In that time they hammered three goals which won the match. But long before then they had lost the face and goodwill of England must be considered on three counts: Third they adopted hard tactics which cost a goal and lost the last shreds of sympathy the crowd retained. It was a night of victory shrouded in shame. For the first five minutes England were all too generous. They stood back and conceded two corners, and only a desperate dash by goalkeeper Ron Springett prevented centre Robby Robson, right half, was twice similarly at fault, although outside left Bobby Charlton did just skim the bar with one Springett saved England again by diving at the feet of inside left Schneider in the twentieth minute. Then began the first real whistling and booing of an English team I have ever heard in this country. John Fantham was whistled for slamming the ball wildly over an open goal. Skipper Jimmy Armfield got the bird by passing incredibly badly. Then right back Mick McNeil was booed three times So we reached the thirty-fifth minute, and England at last scored against the team they had beaten Pointer tapped the ball in after a move by Robson and Bryan Douglas. Two minutes later, with Luxembourg still struggling Dennis Viollet – stand-in for Haynes – scored when goalkeeper Steffen Antagonised Right on the stroke of half-time, Charlton with the best run of the match, went through to make it What antagonised the crowd more than anything was that after the interval with the Luxembourg part-timers tiring visibly, The fans started the slow handclap in the sixty-seventh minute. When McNeil tangled with a Luxembourg forward four minutes later, they pleaded for a penalty kick! Instead, a kick outside the area was awarded. And when Camille Dimmer, Luxembourg captain, scored from it, the Charlton made it 4-1 in the seventy-seventh minute- and the game spluttered out like a spent firework. |
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ENGLAND |
Springett,
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LUXEMBOURG |
Steffen,
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England ........ 4Pointer 35 min., Violett 37 min., Charlton 45 min. , 80 min.Luxembourg... 1Dimmer 71. min.H.-T: 3 - 0 Att.: 33,409. |
Fussball Weltmeisterschaft: ENGLAND-LUXEMBURG 4:2 (3:0) |
London Arsenal Football Club29. September 1961 |
Luxemburg unterlag ehrenvoll gegen England |
Das erste Treffen gegen Luxemburg hatte England im Stadion von Luxemburg mit 9-0 gewonnen. Falls England jetzt auch noch ein Sieg im Rückspiel gegen Portugal im Oktober in London gelingen sollte, hätte es sich für die Welt-meisterschaft qualifiziert. Nur in den letzten zehn Minuten der ersten Halbzeit erreichte England die Form, mit der es bisher alle Gegner in WM-Ausscheidungen bezwungen hatte. Ohne den nach Italien abgewanderten Jimmy Greaves und den verletzten Halb-linken und Kapitän Johnny Haynes klappte es im im englischen Sturm oft ganz und gar nicht. 35 Minuten lang mühten sich die Gastgeber vergeblich mit Luxemburgs standfester Hintermannschaft und dem blendenden Torhüter Steffen ab, ohne zum Erfolg zu kommen. Dann kam eine Maßflanke von Rechtsaußen Pointer, der nur noch einzulenken brauchte. Zwei Minuten später gelang dem für Haynes einspringenden Dennis Viollet das 2-0. Dann führte fast mit dem Pausenpfiff ein harter Volleyschuß des Linksaußen Bobby Charlton zum 3-0. Lange Strecken nach der Halbzeit war Luxemburg ebenbürtig. In der 70. Minute holte Rechtsaußen Dimmer, nach einem direkten Freistoß das verdiente Ehrentor für Luxemburg heraus. Mitten in die Angriffe Luxemburgs hinein kam jedoch der Gnadenstoß Englands, der durch Charlton in der 77. Minute zum 4-1 führte. Bei diesem Resultat blieb es bis zum Abpfiff. Die Engländer führen nun in der Qualifikationsgruppe 6 mit 5-1 Punkten vor Portugal, 3-1 und Luxemburg 0-6. Die Entscheidung über den Gruppensieg dürfte am 25. Oktober in London beim Rückspiel zwischen England und Portugal fallen. (AP)
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