This special match between these two firm friends of international football was organised to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Portuguese FA. To do full justice to the occasion, both sides produced a marvellous display of open, attacking football.

It was some 17 years earlier that Messrs Matthews, Finney, Lawton, Mannion and Co hit ten goals in this same glorious setting of Lisbon's National Stadium. From the first whistle, the game was a thriller with England showing some exceptional flair.

Young Peter Thompson, winning his first cap, was a lively and enterprising winger who turned Cruz inside out. Gordon Milne, his Liverpool teammate, was a tireless provider in midfield, and George Eastham combined that with some superb imagination in his play. Even the Portuguese fans were to acclaim some of Eastham's touches.

The match exploded into goal action in the 17th minute. A corner by Simões was headed down by the giant Torres and Gordon Banks dived but could not hold the ball. In rushed Torres to follow up and shoot home.

Almost at once England were level. A clever move between Jimmy Greaves and Johnny Byrne gave Thompson the chance to go outside Cruz and centre for Bobby Charlton to roar in and shoot his 32nd goal for England, a new record.

The action continued at a frantic pace and just before the half-hour, Banks turned away a powerful header by Eusébio. England responded immediately to that with a superb attack. Milne, Greaves and Eastham combined effectively and when Greaves chipped the ball finally to Byrne, the West Ham player calmly stroked it wide of Costa Pereira to give his team a 2-1 half-time lead. Byrne had missed an identical chance early on, but had really impressed with his play and poor Germano had had a torrid time trying to contain him.

When Portugal reappeared for the second half, Hernâni had been brought on as a replacement for Pinto, and soon the game exploded again with another burst of goals.

Simões put in a cross and Torres leapt, apparently into the clouds, to head the ball past Banks. Maurice Norman was not short, but Torres towered over the Spurs man. Soon afterwards, Portugal regained the lead following a mistake by Banks. The goalkeeper missed a cross by Augusto and Eusébio crashed in Torres's side-flick to make it 3-2. At this stage Portugal had upped their pace with Eusébio and Coluna gaining command of the midfield.

With the temperature now in the upper '70s, the situation called for all of England's fighting qualities. They responded to the challenge magnificently as Milne and Eastham fought for every ball like tigers. A move they had started ended with George Cohen centring from the right in the 60th minute. Once again, there was Byrne, sharp as a nail, to shoot home.

Three-all and everything to play for. Almost at once, Portugal went close again with the ever-dangerous Torres sweeping a shot against Banks' post. As it happened, though, that was the last threatening moment to the English goal as the visitors, showing remarkable resilience, had the better of the latter stages of this superb game.

Charlton missed a sitter but with only two minutes left on the watch the Manchester United man left his mark again when his miscued shot rebounded to Byrne. The centre-forward was hemmed-in on all sides by defenders, but showing great awareness he coolly chipped a shot into the top corner to complete his own marvellous hat-trick and clinch the result for England.

The style of this match brought the memories flooding back and Stan Matthews and Tom Finney would definitely have approved. Every England player could be proud of his part in an exhilarating international.
  

Johnny Byrne completed a memorable hat-trick in the final moments with a beautifully disguised chip shot from the edge of the penalty area that went over the heads of three defenders and the goalkeeper and into the net. Portugal, who had led twice through the towering Torres – a 6ft 7in centre-forward – and his Benfica side-kick Eusebio, could not believe it.  Liverpool dribbler Peter Thompson won his first of sixteen caps as he tried to prove to Ramsey that wingers were a necessary evil. The match was staged to mark the golden anniversary of the Portuguese Football Association, and it was 17 years after England's 10-0 victory in the same picturesque setting of Portugal's National Stadium.
  

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