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Unofficial Results 1946-1990                     Page Last Updated 11 May 2022

Argentina

 
216u/o vs. South Coast

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276 vs. Scotland

unofficial match

217
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277 vs. Argentina
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279 vs. Uruguay
280 vs. United States

218u/o vs. Bermuda
Thursday, 14 May 1953
Early Summer American Tour Match

 
Buenos Aires XI 3 FA XI 1
[1-1]
 
Estadio Monumental, Nuñez, Buenos Aires
Kick-off: tbc

Attendance:
120,000;
unknown kicked off  
[0-0] Ernest Grillo strike hits the bar
 
[1-1] Ernesto Grillo 42
 'an incredible 40yd run before beating Ditchburn from an astonishing angle on the by-line'


 [0-1] Tommy Taylor header 41
headed in 'a simple but superb' Jack Froggatt corner that was won by Eckersley
[2-1] Ernesto Grillo 56
 20-yard shot from a Rodolfo Michelli rthrough ball Possible Offside
[3-1] Rodolfo Michelli 77
 after some fine play
 
There is no Television or Radio coverage
 
"A BUNCH OF PUNCH DRUNK OXEN..." Daily Mirror
Officials   Bu en os A ire s FIFA ruling on substitutes England Party
Referee (black)
Arthur Edward Ellis
38 (8 July 1914), Halifax, Yorkshire
As the first match of England's tour was against a team selected only from clubs in Buenos Aires, the Football Association considered it a warm-up match for the full international at the same venue, three days later. However, it was attended by a capacity crowd, including President Perón and the British Ambassador, Sir Henry Mack. Instead of Perón shaking the hands of the players, the players in turn, queued to shake the hand of Perón.
Linesmen
tbc tbc
 
Buenos Aires Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established; Colours Sky blue and white board striped v-necked jerseys, black shorts, pale blue socks
Captain Eliseo Mouriño Manager Guillermo Antonio Stábile, 48 (17 January 1905)
Team chosen on Monday, 11 May 1953
Buenos Aires Lineup
  Musimessa, Julio E. 28
309 days
9 July 1924 G Club Atlético Boca Juniors
2 Dellacha, Pedro R. 26
309 days
9 July 1926 RB Racing Club
3 García Pérez, José 31
162 days
3 December 1921 LB Racing Club
4 Lombardo, Juan Francisco 27
307 days
11 July 1925 RHB Club Atlético Boca Juniors
5 Mouriño Oyarbide, Eliseo V. 25
345 days
3 June 1927 CHB Club Atlético Boca Juniors
6 Gutiárrez Bonomo, Ernesto 25
186 days
9 November 1927 LHB Racing Club
7
Micheli, Rodolfo J. 23
20 days
24 April 1930 OR Club Atlético Independiente
8 Cecconato, José Carlos, off 43rd min. 23
107 days
27 January 1930 IR Club Atlético Independiente
9 Lacasa, Carlos 27
12 days
2 May 1926 CF Club Atlético Independiente
10
Grillo, Ernesto J. 23
225 days
1 October 1929 IL Club Atlético Independiente
11 Cruz, Osvaldo H. 21
351 days
29 May 1931 OL Club Atlético Independiente
Buenos Aires XI Substitute
scoreline: Buenos Aires XI 1 FA XI 1
  Méndez, Norberto R., on 43rd min. for Cecconato 30
129 days
5 January 1923 IR Racing Club    
result: Buenos Aires XI 3 FA XI 1
unused substitutes: -
team notes: In the 43rd minute, José Carlos Cecconato suddenly developed a limp, to be replaced by Méndez.
 
2-3-5 Musimessa -
Dellacha, García Pérez -
Lombardo, Mouriño, Gutiérrez -
Michelli, Cicconato
(Méndez), Lacasia, Grillo, Cruz
Averages: (starting)
(finishing)
Age 25 years 346 days
26 years 216 days
 
 
FA XI Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 4th
Colours The 1949 home uniform - White collared short-sleeved jerseys, blue shorts, black socks with white tops.
Captain
Billy Wright
 
Manager Walter Winterbottom, 40 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946;
Trainer: Jimmy Trotter (Charlton Athletic FC)
Party chosen by Selection Committee headed by Harold Shentall, on Monday, 13 April. Team chosen on Tuesday, 12 May.
FA XI Lineup
  seven changes to the previous senior match league position (FINAL) (13 April>2 May)
  Ditchburn, Edward G. 31
202 days
24 October 1921 G Tottenham Hotspur FC (FL 10th>=)
2 Garrett, Thomas H. 27
75 days
28 February 1926 RB Blackpool FC (FL 7th>=)
3 Eckersley, William 27
302 days
16 July 1925 LB Blackburn Rovers FC (FL2 8th>9th)
4 Wright, William A. 29
97 days
6 February 1924 RHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL TOP>3rd)
5 Barrass, Malcolm W. 28
152 days
13 December 1924 CHB Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 12th>14th)
6 Barlow, Raymond J. 26
270 days
17 August 1926 LHB West Bromwich Albion FC (FL 5th>4th)
7 Berry, R. John 26
347 days
1 June 1926 OR Manchester United FC (FL 8th>=)
8 Bentley, T.F. Roy 28
362 days
17 May 1924 IR Chelsea FC (FL 21st>19th)
9
Taylor, Thomas 21
105 days
29 January 1932 CF Manchester United FC (FL 8th>=)
10 Froggatt, Redfern 28
264 days
23 August 1924 IL Sheffield Wednesday FC (FL 20th>18th)
11 Froggatt, Jack 30
178 days
17 November 1922 OL Portsmouth FC (FL 13th>15th)
unused substitutes: Gil Merrick (Birmingham City FC (FL2 9th>6th)), Alf Ramsey (Tottenham Hotspur FC (FL 10th>=)), Harry Johnston (Blackpool FC (FL 7th>=)) Jimmy Dickinson (Portsmouth FC (FL 13th>15th)), Tom Finney (Preston North End FC (FL 2nd>RU)), Ivor Broadis (Manchester City FC (FL 18th>20th)), Nat Lofthouse (Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 12th>14th)).
team notes: Around the 27th minute, Jack Froggatt was injured in a tackle with Perez, and after attention, resumed playing with a limp.
The Froggatt's were cousins.
 
2-3-5 Ditchburn -
Garrett, Eckersley -
Wright, Barrass, Barlow -
Berry, Bentley, Taylor,
R.Froggatt, J.Froggatt.
Averages: Age 27 years 349 days  
 
               Match Report by Bob Ferrier, Daily Mirror, Friday, 15 May 1953

This England XI looked like A BUNCH OF PUNCH DRUNK OXEN....
 
You can call it an England B team, or an F.A. eleven, or anything you like, but when eighteen players travel 8,000 miles and eleven of them go out in white shirts to play an Argentine team—any Argentine team—and lose three goals to one, it is a defeat for England in the eyes of the world and nothing less.

That's what happened at the vast River Plate Stadium here yesterday. England were made to look like a bunch of punch-drunk oxen against these little brown men from the pampas who played like mountain lions from the Andes—smooth, rhythmic, fluent, a machine-like team which made space and moved the ball magnificently.
  For those of us who had travelled all this distance with high hopes of initial success—the newspapermen, the officials and the odd players, all of whom suffered more than anyone on the field—it was a galling moment when, a few minutes from the end, we got the Old South American farewell.
It was a mass waving of white handkerchiefs by more than 90,000 people—just as they do at Wembley, but this time for a rather different reason. This was their way of saying adios to the vanquished.
  For the English it was nothing more than a miserable match. For fifteen minutes our boys didn't know what it was all about.

The backward centre-forward, Lacasia, put his right wing through beautifully and Barlow had to clear off the line. Lacasia terrified Ditchburn by hitting a burning ball from thirty yards which scraped past a post. Then Eckersley had to zip across goal, to stop one from outside left Cruz. England were under desperate pressure and had an incredible escape when inside left Grillo stormed through and put behind off the bar, with Ditchburn quite helpless, from about ten yards. England were struggling as if with one of the local 5lb. beefsteaks, and it took us 24 minutes to deliver our first shot, and that from Barlow. Yet, after half an hour, we looked to be improving, winning some tackles, growing more accurate in midfield, and breaking through to goal.
    Tommy Taylor, our only forward, got the first goal. Eckersley inspired it by going up to force a corner on the left, right on the line. Jack Froggatt swung the ball in, and there was young Taylor heading a simple but superb goal.
With the suddenness of a local bomb going off, the entire stadium was stunned. A few desultory handclaps were raised.

Yet within one minute the stadium was vibrating with Latin passion and fury as the Buenos Aires side equalised. Grillo, the inside left wonder man, a combination of Carter, Mannion, Billy Walker and all the great ones, made an incredible forty-yard run before beating Ditchburn from an astonishing angle on the by-line. All this in the forty-first minutes and two minutes from half-time. Then the "Paisanos" pulled the oldest trick in the book. Cecconato, inside right, took a dive and on came substitute Mendez, who played at Wembley in 1951.
    Mendez is known locally as the second-half kid. He has not played first half for his club and wins games in the second.
Michelli, outside right, scored after fifty-seven minutes with a suspicion of offside. The England players checked their stride, expecting the whistle, when he cut through the middle to take the Mendez pass. Taylor was twice bundled by sandwiched tackles when on the point of shooting. Penalties would have been given at home.
But the extra goal by Grillo was no more than the locals deserved.

On the substitution of Mendez, Walter Winterbottom, England team manager, said: "It is allowed under international law and there is nothing you can do about it." He added: "Our players just didn't start to play. They were a poor side on the day. The opposition are first-class players."
The English tactics of shoulder charges and hard tackling and bustling the goalkeeper brought storms of boos but no incidents.
Hundreds of armed and sabred police were on duty. President Peron saw the match screened by a bodyguard. He left the stadium jubilant and was given a stupendous ovation from the crowd. The English colony here are absolutely downcast. England played without such international stars as Finney, Lofthouse, Ramsey, and there will be five or six changes for the full international match against Argentina on Sunday. Count only Dickinson, Eckersley, Wright and Taylor as without blame and be sure that such as Finney, Broadis, Ramsey, Dickinson will be in the team for Sunday.
    Losing the opening match with a reserve team is bad enough, but if we lose the full international match we might as well just shut up shop and go home.

 

               Match Report as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1953-54, page 22

THE SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR.
For the exacting tour of South America the 11 that drew with Scotland were augmented by Ditchburn, Garrett, Johnston, Barlow, Bentley, Berry and Taylor. Smith later withdrew because of injury and was replaced by Eckersley, and after his brilliant display in the Cup-Final, Matthews was also asked to join the party but had to refuse through unfitness.

The tour began with something of a shock when an F.A. XI, including the players who were unlikely to be in the full England side against Argentina, was outplayed to the tune of 3 goals to 1 by a Buenos Aires XI - in actual fact, this was the same team that played as Argentina three days later. However, Eckersley, Taylor and Berry emerged with sufficient credit to gain promotion.

 
  

              Source Notes
Original newspaper reports   ElGrafico.com.ar
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