Temperatures were in the 90s as the teams took to the field for this match and England, trying to establish a side capable of winning the forthcoming World Cup tournament, had a disastrous day. They were well and truly beaten by a Yugoslav side that, on the day, was in a different class.

Everything went wrong from the start and Yugoslavia took a deserved lead in the 23rd minute. Milutinović gained possession, sold Bobby Wright a dummy, and then let fly a shot from some 25 yards. The ball hit the ground just in front of Eddie Hopkinson's dive and hit the goalkeeper on the shoulder before flying into the net. It was a good shot but Hopkinson could have perhaps done better.

From then on Yugoslavia dominated the play. Three times before half-time they beat Hopkinson again, but each time the goal was disallowed for offside. On another occasion a screamer from Šekularac crashed against the England crossbar.

The visitors were struggling. Wright being given a torrid time by Milutinović, Ronnie Clayton could not get into the game, and Johnny Haynes and Bobby Charlton looked jaded and ineffective. Jim Langley battled well and Wright, despite his difficulties, was still England's best defender. However, his side were fortunate to only be the one goal down at the break especially as they had not put in one worthwhile effort of their own.

After the interval the England crossbar was again nearly broken in two when a fierce shot by Boškov bounced back into play off it. The visitors probably had their best spell of the match in the opening ten minutes of the half and actually applied some pressure on Yugoslavia. But on 56 minutes any hope that England had of gaining anything from the game was shattered by a brilliant goal by Petaković. A superb move involving Kristić, Veselinović, Šekularac and Pasić ended with Petaković lashing home the cross.

England were now out of the contest and the Slavs produced some brilliant play as the game progresses. For some strange reason little went beyond the England penalty area, though as the home side showed a reluctance to shoot. But with 15 minutes left all that changed. Šekularac put through and his fierce shot flew past Hopkinson. Moments later the right-winger completed his hat-trick when he scored following a pass from Veselinović.

To complete England's misery a brilliant run by Šekularac ended with him setting up Veselinović for number five.

The crowd were ecstatic by now and fires were burning on the terraces with their team showing everyone what they were capable of. Milutinović and Kristić were absolutely outstanding.

As for England, Hopkinson had a miserable afternoon and although he made some fine saves he had to be faulted for the crucial first goal. Up front England put in only two goal attempts in the whole 90 minutes, one from Ron Clayton and a typical Bobby Charlton effort. Bryan Douglas and Derek Kevan never threatened and Tom Finney was totally stifled by the cynical tackling of the Yugoslav defenders. Countless free-kicks were given after tackles on Finney but England could create nothing from those kicks.

After this display, thoughts of England winning the World Cup seemed a million miles away.
  

All the confidence and cohesion built up in the England team pre-Munich had disappeared, and they found this World Cup warm-up match in Belgrade too hot to handle in more ways than one. The game was played in a heat wave with temperatures in the high nineties, and three of the Yugoslav goals came in the last ten minutes with several of the England players close to exhaustion. The match was a personal nightmare for Jim Langley, who was run ragged by three-goal right winger Petacavić. It was a particularly testing trip for Bobby Charlton. He was back in Belgrade where the Busby Babes had played their final match. The last leg of the flight had meant landing at and taking off from Munich. It was a defeat that underlined just how much England had gone back since the Munich air crash. They were disjointed and totally lacking any sort of team pattern. If anything, the final scoreline flattered England and it did severe damage to their confidence with the World Cup finals so close.
   

Worst fears were unfortunately confirmed at Belgrade, when even the high score by no means flattered tie victors. England's display was one of the poorest for many years, even taking into account the terrific heat in which the match was played. Yugoslavia took the lead after twenty-two minutes, when Milutinović's shot was misjudged by Hopkinson and entered the net. The goalkeeper, however, played well and it was only his performance, plus some help from the woodwork, which kept the score down. The second goal came after ten minutes of the second half, scored by Petaković. This winger scored tice more during a spate of goals in the closing minutes, during which Veselinović added a fifth. Only Wright and Slater of the England side came out with any credit.