England produced a much more positive showing in the second of their Group Four games and deservedly beat the ruthless massed defensive formation of the Argentinians. With a win being vital if they wanted to progress, England soon took up the attacking initiative.

On 17 minutes they took the lead. A fine run and cross by Bobby Charlton found new cap Alan Peacock's head and the ball was goal-bound until centre-half Navarro prevented it from crossing the line with his hand. Penalty! So, for the second game running, a defender had prevented an England forward from scoring by foul means. Once again Ron Flowers made no mistake and it was 1-0.

Bobby Moore was playing superbly at the heart of the defenceand his immaculate use of the ball was highly impressive. His co-defenders held the feeble Argentinian attacks confidently and comfortably and as a result the game moved on in a rather tame and unexciting way. Just before the break, though, all that changed.

First of all, Jimmy Armfield made one of his now familiar charges down the right wing and he was desperately unlucky to see his rasping drive hit a post. But England were not to be denied and before half-time they added a second goal with a Charlton special. Picking up possession in the middle of the pitch, he made a typical surging run forward veering to the left before cutting back inside to hit the perfect 20-yard shot low inside the far post. It was an understandably jubilant England side that went in as the half-time whistle blew.

Not surprisingly there was a good deal of caution in England's second-half display. After all, they hardly wanted to throw their advantage away. Rather than push forward in search of more goals and leave themselves open to the dangerous breakaway, they preferred to play carefully and in control. On the hour, an impassioned appeal for handball against Moore was turned down by the Russian referee and six minutes later, England sealed their win with a typical piece of poaching by Jimmy Greaves.

Bryan Douglas made a jinking run before firing in a fierce cross-shot. Goalkeeper Roma successfully punched out, only to find Greaves lurking and then putting the ball in the net like lightning. It was Greaves at his best, although it was probably the only good thing he did in the match, but then, that was Greaves!

The game was now all over bar the shouting except that a silly defensive lapse gave Argentina a goal ten minutes from the end. Four England defenders surrounded Sanfilippo but still the Argentine number-ten managed to poke a slow trickling shot past Ron Springett. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise convincing victory.
  

Alan Peacock, evading the brutal attentions of Argentine captain Ruben Navarro, thought he had started his international career with an early goal when he headed a Charlton cross wide of the goalkeeper. But Navarro managed to push the ball out with his hand. Ice-cool Flowers scored from the spot for the third successive match. Charlton then crashed in one of his specials, and midway through the second half Jimmy Greaves made it 3-0 after the goalkeeper had failed to hold a Douglas cross. A defensive muddle let Sanfilippo in for a late consolation goal. Suddenly, the confidence started to return to a team that had been down in the dumps because of 1) their form and 2) a training camp situated in the middle of nowhere that depressed several of the players.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG