Eighty-thousand people went to Wembley to see England take on the unknown talents of the Bulgarians. At the end of the evening they must have left with mixed feelings, enjoying a good game but wondering 'how on earth' the home side didn't win. The only other time these two sides had met was in Chile during the 1962 World Cup, so this was Bulgaria's first visit to Wembley.

Straight away the skill of the eastern Europeans was eye-catching. England, however, were soon on the attack and within a couple of minutes Simeonov was saving well from Martin Peters. For the next 20 minutes, England put together some superb football, only to be thwarted time and again by the goalkeeper or Zhechev's brilliant defensive play. Bobby Charlton had an especially-frustrating night and one typical effort in the first half was somehow tipped around a post by the inspired Simeonov. So often visiting goalkeepers seemed to reserve their best performances for Wembley.

England were so much on top, yet it was Bulgaria who made a swift break to open the scoring. It came just after the half-hour with a brilliant piece of play by the very-impressive Asparuhov. He beat Brian Labone to a high ball in the centre-circle and then produced an explosive change of pace. His long-legged style took him clear of the defence and he ran on some 40 to 50 yards before evading Keith Newton's desperate challenge. With expert precision, he then shot low and hard past Gordon West's left hand for a magnificent goal.

So England, after several missed chances, found themselves a goal down. But this was only to spur them on and, shortly afterwards, they were level again. A scramble in the Bulgarian goalmouth saw several shots blocked but as the ball ran wide, there was Geoff Hurst to hook it home from an acute angle.

At half-time England could easily have been well-ahead, but once again missed chances had cost them dearly. Bulgaria, though, were 'no mugs' and in Yakimov, Bonev and Penev they had some class players. Asparuhov and Popov also showed exceptional talent, although Popov had to be replaced by Zhekov after suffering a second-half injury.

England continued to press after the interval but once again found Simeonov in superb form and the crowd wondered just how he managed to keep out a couple of Charlton 'thunderbolts'. The second effort was 'right out of the top drawer' and had Charlton holding his head in disbelief.

New cap Francis Lee gave a good display, always looking dangerous and full of running. Apart from his shooting, Charlton also had a fine game with some of his characteristic long, raking passes a delight to watch. They were his 'trademark' and looked so good at Wembley. But, despite their territorial advantage and their excellent build-ups, England failed too often in the vital last-third of the pitch. True, the gods seemed to be against them and the inspired form of Simeonov kept them out, but in all honesty they must have felt extremely disappointed at not winning.
  

Francis Lee made his first England appearance alongside his Manchester City team-mate Colin Bell, and his thrusting runs down the right wing were a continual source of danger to a packed Bulgarian defence. There were also first England caps for goalkeeper Gordon West and Leeds full-back Paul Reaney, who came on as a substitute for injured Keith Newton. Geoff Hurst scored England's goal, and the Bulgarians replied with a magnificent solo goal by powerful centre-forward Asparuhov.
  

Bulgaria had met England only once before, a goalless draw in the 1962 World Cup in Rancagua. They had appeared at Wembley, however, for an Olympic Qualifying match in 1956. In the 1966 World Cup in England they had failed to win a point in a tough group won by Portugal but they had gone on to reach the European Championship quarter-finals earlier in the year before losing their first-leg lead to the eventual winners Italy They had also made a good start to their 1970 World Cup qualifying group by beating the Netherlands 2-0 in Sofia.
The visitors took the lead with a magnificent individual goal. Georgi Asparuhov outjumped Labone in the middle of the field and then ran the full-length of the England half as Newton challenged strongly to expertly slot the ball past West. But four minutes later Bulgaria's lead was wiped out. In a frantic goalmouth scramble, Simeonov kept out Geoff Hurst until the striker eventually found a way through to hook the ball into the net.
Asparuhov sadly died in a car-crash three years later. Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup but again failed to win a match. England beat them 1-0 in Sofia in 1974 and they were back at the stadium five years later although their Olympic side were given a fright by Great Britain at Wembley in 1971.
     

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