WEMBLEY Stadium was packed with 91,000 people to see an entertaining match, albeit with an indifferent display by England. Sometimes they were brilliant, other times dismal, too often the latter for the home fans. In the end the Italians deserved their draw, delighting the huge following that England provided them with. Indeed, every Italian restaurant in London must have been deserted as the afternoon was turned into a Roman holiday.

England began brightly and the inside trio of Peter Broadbent, Bobby Charlton and Johnny Haynes were quickly into their stride. However, it was the Italians who had the first two dangerous strikes at goal. Don Howe and Graham Shaw both came to England's rescue with goal-line clearances after Eddie Hopkinson was beaten by shots from Mariani and Galli. Immediately, though, Charlton struck back. A superb side-step and a thunderous left-foot shot was brilliantly tipped away by Buffon. Seconds later, in the 26th minute, Charlton gave England the lead with a real beauty.
 
Picking up a pass from Broadbent, he cleverly skipped around Bernasconi, moved forward and hit a superb low left-foot shot just inside the post fro the edge of the penalty area. It was typical Charlton.

By this time England were moving well and five minutes before the break they increased their lead with another splendid goal. A lovely interpassing movement involving Haynes, Charlton and Haynes again, then brought Doug Holden into the move down the right. His deep cross was met on the volley by Haynes and although the shot was blocked, Warren Bradley did some clever poaching to turn sharply before hitting home the rebound.

Despite holding a comfortable lead, the game had certainly not been all England's  and several times Hopkinson's goal was put under extreme pressure by the eager Italian forwards. Indeed, even in those remaining minutes of the first half, Betris missed two golden chances.

Early in the second half Ron Flowers was stretchered off, after a collision left him with a suspected broken nose. Although he managed to return to the action, patched up, about 15 minutes later, by then the damage had been done as Italy rocked England with two goals.

A long through-ball produced a terrible misunderstanding between Hopkinson and Shaw. The ball ran loose and Brighenti accepted the free gift with glee to pull one goal back. Then within minutes it was 2-2. Gratton, taking advantage of some poor defensive play put Mariani through to shoot home the equaliser. Again Hopkinson might have done better with his attempted save.

After this burst of activity, Flowers returned to the fray and the game settled down again to an even pattern. Bradley and Charlton both saw efforts cleared off the line but by the end of the 90 minutes it was England who seemed more relieved to hear the final whistle. After their long-hard season the forthcoming summer tour seemed to be something that the players did not really want and their current form was such that a trip to visit the current World Champions, Brazil, was the last thing they need. But that is exactly what England had to do the following Wednesday.
    

England were reduced to ten men when Ron Flowers went off with a broken nose with England leading 2-0. The goals were scored in the first-half by Manchester United team-mates Bobby Charlton and Warren Bradley, a schoolmaster who was making his debut on the right wing. By the time Flowers returned to the defence seventeen minutes later the young, experimental Italian team had drawn level. The Italians were fielding the first all home-born team for twenty-five years following a ruling from FIFA that in future teams could not include players capped by another country. There was an embarrassing start to the game. When they stood to attention before the match the Italian players were astonished to hear the banned Mussolini-era national anthem being played. This had been replaced after the war. Every Italian restaurant in Britain must have been short of staff because Italy had thousands of supporters in the crowd, and they whistled and hooted as the anthem was played. But for some cracking saves by goalkeeper Eddie Hopkinson the Italian fans would have had a victory to cheer.
    

Italy had failed to qualify for the previous year's World Cup, having been surprisingly knocked out by Northern Ireland. They had never beaten England in six previous meetings and had lost on both their previous visits to England.
Midway through the first half Haynes worked an opening and Bobby Charlton smacked in a low shot from the edge of the area to give England the lead. Twelve minutes later a shot from Haynes was blocked and Warren Bradley turned swiftly to score. Eight minutes into the second half Flowers took a bang on the nose in a heading duel and was carried off. This unsettled England and the Italians seized the initiative. A terrible mix-up between Shaw and Hopkinson allowed Sergio Brighenti in for an easy goal. Then, from a pass by Gratton, Amos Mariani shot past Hopkinson for the equaliser. Flowers returned to learn that they had squandered their two-goal lead.
Italy failed to progress beyond the first round in the 1962 World Cup after a violent confrontation with the hosts Chile and they were not to beat England until 1973.
   

England were in some ways unlucky in this match at Wembley, for they were leading by two goals when Flowers was forced to leave the field for treatment to a face injury during the second half. When he returned the score was 2-all. It cannot, however, be denied that Italy thoroughly deserved to draw, for they played fine open football, and could be faulted only in finishing. It was they, too, who took the initiative from the start, and it was against the run of play when Charlton put England in the lead midway through the first half. Before halftime Bradley made it 2-0 with a fierce shot from a rebound, and it appeared England would win after all. But then Flower's injury upset the balance of the English defence, and Brighenti scored following a misunderstanding between Shaw and Hopkinson. The equaliser came from Mariani. England di not impress, and Wright had perhaps his poorest International; Shaw had difficulty in holding Mariani; only Clayton and, in patches, Charlton earned credit.