From the World Cup to the European Nations Cup, such was the way that competition at international level was developing in the 1960s. Englanf entertained France at Hillsborough with an almost totally new forward line and four new caps in the side. Alas, because there were so many new faces, the England performance was very poor and long before the end the crowd, kept down to just over 35,000 because of a rail strike, were showing their displeasure.

Right from the start it was obvious there would be no cohesion in this England side as they struggled to find any shape and after only eight minutes France took the lead. Raymond Kopa (as he was known), the European Cup legend, set up Goujon, who easily beat Ron Springett.

From that moment England were battling to get on terms, not only with the French, but also with themselves. The half-back line found it difficult to cope with the close passing of France and the forward line ended the night the same strangers that they had been at the beginning. Only Ray Wilson and Jimmy Armfield came out of the game with some credit, although winger Mike Hellawell showed some promise. All too often, though, the England number-seven was blatantly body checked by the uncompromising French defenders.

For France, Wendling attacked well from the full-back position and Ferrier showed up well as the midfield link. And always there was the veteran Kopa. Still able to produce moments of magic, he gave Maurice Norman a torrid time.

England created few scoring opportunities and rarely looked likely to threaten Bernard's goal. That they finally gained an equalizer at all owed a good deal to a rather dubious piece of refereeing after an hour's play. A pass from Alan Hinton found Jimmy Greaves. His low shot was parried by Bernard but as Ray Charnley went for the rebound, the goalkeeper and Wendling obstructed him. Even the Yorkshire fans found it hard to believe when the referee awarded a penalty to England. There was pandemonium amongst the French players, but the referee was adamant and, unmoved by the mayhem around him, Ron Flowers stayed ice-cool to calmly score from the spot-kick.

This was a significant match in England's history as France were to be the last foreign opposition in Walter Winterbottom's reign as England coach. It was a shame for him that it was such a poor display and it also seemed that for the home World Cup of 1966, the England team would have little to offer unless a new formula was found.
  

Walter Winterbottom was working out his notice, Johnny Haynes was recovering from injuries received in a car smash and Bobby Charlton was still not fit after a hernia operation. Mike Hellawell, Chris Crowe, Ray Charnley and Alan Hinton were brought together in an experimental forward line that never looked like clicking in this European championship qualifying match. A Ron Flowers penalty saved England from defeat against a French team skippered by the old fox Raymond Kopa. Maurice Norman was booed every time he touched the ball on the home ground of Peter Swan, the man he had replaced at centre-half.

Source Notes

"ENGLAND TO PLAY FRANCE
"The English F.A. council meeting in London yesterday were told that England's first match in the European Nations' Cup would be against France at Wembley on October 24 and this will take the place of the friendly game against Hungary, which has been postponed." - Monday, 19 February 1962, The Glasgow Herald.

TheFA.com
FFF.fr
Allezlesbleus.free.fr
UEFA.com
Official matchday programme
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