Czechoslovakia Team

If England's game against Brazil had been one of the best games of the 1970 World Cup so far, then this one must have been one of the worst.

England took the field with an unfamiliar look about them. Sporting a new all-light-blue strip and showing five changes from the team which started against Brazil, they played in an untypical way.

They were disjointed from the first whistle and took a long time to get their game together. It was certainly England's poorest performance for some considerable time. There were few goal-attempts worth recording, despite the fact that both sides enjoyed plenty of possession. Allan Clarke of Leeds was making his debut, whilst at the other end of the spectrum Bobby Charlton was making a record-equalling 105th appearance, thus sharing the accolade with Billy Wright.

With England needing only one point to qualify for the quarter-finals there was no reason to make silly errors and with Czechoslovakia having little to offer, the spectators were left with a tedious match. After a non-event of a first half England began the second with an early goal. Forty-nine minutes had gone when they scored, what proved to be, the only goal of the match.

It was Colin Bell who made the positive burst into the penalty-area, only to be unceremoniously brought down by a Czech defender who then handled the ball for good measure, "Penalty!" With Geoff Hurst and Francis Lee out of the side, the kick was surprisingly entrusted with the new-boy, Clarke. But there was no hint of nerves as he showed exceptional coolness to calmly place his shot well-out of Viktor's reach.

England's only, other worthwhile scoring attempt came midway through the half when Alan Ball hit a fine shot which hit the bar. Czechoslovakia then almost made England blush by nearly scoring an equalizer. Adamec's shot deceived Gordon Banks and the ball slipped through the goalkeeper's grasp. The ball hit the woodwork before England's defenders hacked it away to safety. England escaped and, despite this stuttering performance, had made their way safely through to a quarter-final showdown against West Germany. What an ironic twist that was.
  

Allan Clarke volunteered for penalty-duty in his first England international appearance, and showed an ice-cool temperament as he slotted home a disputed, forty-eighth minute spot-kick that clinched a place in the World Cup quarter-finals. The only time the Czechs looked like scoring was when a speculative shot from twenty-five yards by right-back Dobiaš swerved in the thin air. Banks, at full-stretch, managed to tip it onto the bar and as as he turned the ball rebounded into his arms. It was a stuttering performance by England,  but they had managed to reach the quarter-finals where, waiting for them, were, of all teams, West Germany. Sir Alf Ramsey's poor PR performance - he was sullen and cold when approached by the world's media - worked against England, and it seemed all neutrals wanted to see the Germans gain revenge for their defeat in the final at Wembley in 1966.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
ITV original broadcast
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
Сергей Колосков
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CG