This was England's first-ever victory over Uruguay, but this Wembley match should have been won more convincingly by the home team. Uruguay were a pale shadow of some of their illustrious predecessors and were on their best behaviour after their violent match in Belfast seven days earlier.

Both sides began cautiously and although the Uruguayans produced attractive approach-play, the final thrust was not there. Pereira was at the hub of most of the visitors' best attacks and he worked hard for his team.

But in the 20th minute, a lovely move between Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton gave Jimmy Greaves the chance to fire in a good shot. It looked a goal all the way until Pavoni appeared from nowhere to head the ball away. A short while later, Pavoni was there again blocking a goal-bound shot by Johnny Byrne after a clever flick by Greaves. Byrne then saw another effort tipped against the crossbar and the centre-forward was enjoying a lively game.

There were other close calls under the Uruguayan crossbar before, at last, two minutes before the interval, England made the breakthrough their play deserved. Greaves, inevitably perhaps, showed some lovely footwork before putting an inch-perfect pass through to Terry Paine. Paine flicked it first time inside and there was Byrne with the most delicate of touches to glide the ball past Taibo for a delightful goal.

Almost immediately after the break England went two up. Charlton centred, Greaves pulled the ball down with consummate ease, before allowing Byrne, on the half-turn, to score with his left foot.

England continued to press, although their attacks continually broke down because the final pass went astray. They also persisted in feeding the wrong type of passes into the inside trio of Greaves, Byrne and George Eastham. With three small players such as these, it was no use putting in a continuous stream of high balls, which is what England kept doing. Also, Paine tended to overdo the dribbling and Pavoni had the beating of him.

With 20 minutes to go, Uruguay stepped up their pace and began a fightback. Spencer, a lazy-looking long-legged player in the mould of Portugal's Eusébio, took a flick from the hard-working Cortés, only to head straight at Gordon Banks. At the other end, Greaves almost made it 3-0 but he just failed to reach Paine's cross as England responded.

But in the 75th minute, Uruguay did pull a goal back. A lovely triangular move between Cortés, Gil and Spencer ended with the latter scoring.

In the end, England held on to win and although on paper it looks a close game, they had more in hand than the score suggested. Having said that, it was not one of their most convincing displays, despite some good individual performances and a promising start to the international career of full-back George Cohen.
  

George Cohen came in at right-back for the injured Jimmy Armfield, and partnered Ray Wilson for the first time. Ramsey's 1966 World Cup defence was taking shape. Johnny Byrne scored both England goals in an uninspiring match. A week earlier the Uruguayans had been involved in a brawl of a match with Northern Ireland in Belfast, and Alf Ramsey warned his players that on no account should they be drawn into any feuds. The result was a tame game decided by the decisive finishing of Byrne, nicknamed 'Budgie' because he was a non-stop talker both on and off the pitch. 'They were the two most satisfying goals I have ever scored,' said chirpy Byrne, who was a beautifully-balanced player who used skill rather than strength to bamboozle defences.
  

Uruguay had won the World Cup on the first two occasions that they had entered the competition but in 1962 they had been knocked out in the first round.
They had won the South American Championship on ten occasions. It was their first visit to England but they had beaten their hosts in both of their previous meetings. The last occasion had been by 4-2 in Basle in the 1954 World Cup quarter-final.
England took the lead a couple of minutes before half-time, Paine's flick being turned in by Johnny Byrne. After the restart the West Ham centre-forward scored again, turning to shoot after Greaves had controlled a cross from Charlton, winning his 50th cap.
Alberto Spencer took a pass from Gil to reduce the deficit late on but England held on for their first victory over Uruguay.
Uruguay comfortably qualified for the 1966 World Cup and opened the tournament against England at Wembley.
     

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
____________________

CG