Match Report

England moved on from Hungary to Czechoslovakia for the second and last match of an abbreviated Continental tour.  It was England's first meeting with Czechoslovakia, although they had played Bohemia in Prague on their first foreign tour in 1908, a decade before the Czechoslovakian state came into being.  While not as widely hailed as either Austria or Italy, Czechoslovakia, too, had claims to Continental footballing supremacy.  Czechoslovakia and England shared distinction as the only two teams to have beaten Austria during the early 1930's when the Wunderteam were ascendant and regarded as Continental Europe's strongest team.  Czechoslovakia had won 2-1 in Vienna in May, 1933 and drawn the return in Prague 3-3 four months later, while England had struggled to a 4-3 victory at Stamford Bridge in December, 1932.  Czechoslovakia and Austria were the only teams to have beaten Italy, the other candidate for Continental supremacy, thus far during the 1930's.  England were not to join that select group until later in the year.  Because England's continuing absence from World Cup competition meant the notion of English footballing superiority could be tested only in friendly matches, there was considerable prestige at stake in this game. 

The Czechoslovakians excelled at the intricate Danubian short-passing game, although they called their playing style the "little Czech passage" rather than the "Vienna School".  They boasted possibly the world's finest goalkeeper in Frantisek Plánička and perhaps Europe's best left-side forward pairing in Oldrich Nejedlý, the prolific inside forward who was to become top scorer at the World Cup 1934 final tournament the next month with six goals, and Antonin Puč, the high-scoring winger, both of whom struck goals against England.  The match marked the penultimate international appearance for Josef Silný, the forward of silky skills who earned his 50th and last cap in his team's opening match at the World Cup finals 11 days later.  These three forwards provided a combined firepower Czechoslovakia has not seen since.  Some 60 years after their careers ended, Puč remained atop the national side's goal-scoring chart, while Nejedlý and Silný still shared third place. 

Czechoslovakia fielded a team that was vastly more experienced in international football than the England team.  The Czechs had a combined 252 caps to their English counterparts' 75.  Only two England players had more than 10 caps--the Derby County pair of right back Tommy Cooper with 14 and right winger Sammy Crooks with 21.  Two England players were making their debuts, two were making only their second appearance and one his third.  By contrast, no Czech player had fewer than 20 caps and six had more than 40. 

The result was England's fourth loss against a Continental team on foreign soil--the second in succession--and should have put in question continuing claims to English footballing superiority.  At the very least it was clear England could no longer send just any assemblage of First Division players to the Continent and still remain assured of victory.  The result was also a reliable indication of the growing strength of Continental football and of Czechoslovakia's quality in particular.  At the ensuing World Cup final tournament, Czechoslovakia reached the final match, losing to host Italy 2-1 only after extra time.

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 15 May 1934 that 41 miners were killed in a gas explosion in the Belgian village of Pâturages. Five men were rescued from the mine, but a second explosion, two days later, killed most of a rescue party, leaving 57 dead in total. The mine was closed and abandoned.