"Don't
blame that penalty, England"
Clifford Webb, Daily Herald |
|
|
France
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 13th to 11th |
Colours |
Blue collared jerseys, white shorts, red socks. |
Captain |
Roger Marche |
Selection |
International Selection Committee, announced on
Tuesday, 10 May 1955 |
France
Lineup |
|
Remetter, François |
26 280 days |
8 August 1928 |
G |
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard |
11 |
13ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Bieganski, Guilhem |
22 193 days |
3 November 1932 |
RB |
Lille Olympique SC |
4 |
0 |
3 |
Marche, Roger |
31 71 days |
5 March 1924 |
LB |
RC de Paris |
43 |
0 |
4 |
Penverne, Armand |
28 170 days |
26 November 1926 |
RHB |
Stade de Reims |
15 |
2 |
5 |
Jonquet, Robert |
30 12 days |
3 May 1925 |
CHB |
Stade de Reims |
32 |
0 |
6 |
Louis, Xercès |
28 196 days |
31 October 1926 |
LHB |
RC de Lens |
5 |
0 |
7 |
Ujlaki, Joseph |
25 217 days |
10 October 1929 in Buda-pest,
Hungary |
OR |
OGC Nice Côte d'Azur |
12 |
7 |
8 |
Glovacki, Léon |
27 85 days |
19 February 1928 |
IR |
Stade de Reims |
7 |
3 |
9 |
Kopaczewski, Raymond |
23 214 days |
13 October 1931 |
CF |
Stade de Reims |
19 |
11 |
|
14th
penalty against scored
(24th overall) |
|
|
|
10 |
Bliard, René |
22 178 days |
18 November 1932 |
IL |
Stade de Reims |
2 |
0 |
11 |
Vincent, Jean |
24 167 days |
29 November 1930 |
OL |
Lille Olympique SC |
9 |
6 |
reserves: |
Paul
Sinibaldi (Stade de Reims), René Pleimelding (Toulouse FC) and
Abderrahman Mahjoub (RC de Paris). |
Roger Marche played for France against England back in May 1947, when
he was making his second appearance. |
|
2-3-5 |
Remetter - Bieganski, Marche - Penverne, Jonquet, Louis
- Ujlaki, Glovacki, Kopa, Bliard, Vincent |
Averages: |
Age |
26
years 163 days |
Appearances/Goals |
14.5 |
2.5 |
|
|
England
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 5th |
Colours |
The 1954 Umbro
home uniform -
White v-necked short-sleeved continental jerseys, blue rayon shorts,
black socks with white tops.
|
P third of 43, W 2 - D 0 - L 1 - F 10 - A 5. |
Captain |
Billy Wright
|
Manager |
Walter Winterbottom, 42 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946; |
record 51st of 90, W 30 - D 9 - L 12 - F 128 - A 80. |
P 69th of 139, W 43 - D 13 - L 13 - F 202 - A 101,
one abandoned. |
|
³ |
Team chosen by Selection Committee, headed by
Harold Shentall, announced Saturday, 14 May. |
England
Lineup |
|
two
changes to the previous match (Sillett
& Flowers>Meadows & Armstrong) |
FINAL league positions
(5 May) |
|
|
Williams, Bert F. |
35 104 days |
31 January 1920 |
G |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL RU) |
21 |
28ᵍᵃ |
|
4th keeper to face two penalty kicks |
|
|
|
746 |
2 |
Sillett, R. Peter T. |
22 103 days |
1 February 1933 |
RB |
Chelsea FC
(FL CHAMPIONS) |
1 |
0 |
the 18th Chelsea player to represent
England |
3 |
Byrne, Roger W. |
25 249 days |
8 September 1929 |
LB |
Manchester United FC
(FL 5th) |
11 |
0 |
747 |
4 |
Flowers, Ronald |
20 291 days |
28 July 1934 |
RHB |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL RU) |
1 |
0 |
the 25th Wanderer to represent
England |
5 |
Wright, William A. |
31 98 days |
6 February 1924 |
CHB |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL RU) |
66 |
3 |
most apps 1952-55 |
6 |
Edwards, Duncan |
18 226 days |
1 October 1936 |
LHB |
Manchester United FC
(FL 5th) |
2 |
0 |
7 |
Matthews, Stanley |
40 103 days |
1 February 1915 |
OR |
Blackpool FC
(FL 19th) |
43 |
9 |
oldest outfield player |
8 |
Revie, Donald G. |
27 309 days |
10 July 1927 |
IR |
Manchester City FC
(FL 7th) |
3 |
2 |
9 |
Lofthouse, Nathaniel |
29 261 days |
27 August 1925 |
CF |
Bolton Wanderers FC
(FL 18th) |
24 |
25 |
10 |
Wilshaw, Dennis J. |
29 65 days |
11 March 1926 |
IL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL RU) |
5 |
7 |
11 |
Blunstone, Frank |
20 210 days |
17 October 1934 |
OL |
Chelsea
FC (FL CHAMPIONS) |
3 |
0 |
unused
substitutes: |
Reg Matthews (Coventry City FC (FL3S
9th)),
Harry Hooper (West Ham United FC (FL2
th)),
Albert Quixall (Sheffield Wednesday FC
(FL 22nd rel.)). |
team notes: |
"Pushing, shoving,
elbowing, the French were allowed to run through the full Continental book
of obstruction, yet the most innocuous England tackle was punished."
- Monday, 16 May 1955, Daily
Mirror "It was a bad performance.
Our young players failed!" - Sir
Stanley Rous, F.A. Secretary "We did not use the ball well
and there was too much individualism!" - Walter
Winterbottom |
|
2-3-5 |
Williams - Sillett, Byrne - Flowers, Wright, Edwards -
Matthews, Revie, Lofthouse, Wilshaw, Blunstone |
Averages: |
Age |
27 years 152
days |
Appearances/Goals |
16.4 |
4.2 |
|
|
"Pushing, shoving,
elbowing, the French were allowed to run through the full Continental book
of obstruction, yet the most innocuous England tackle was punished."
- Monday, 16 May 1955, Daily
Mirror
"It was a bad performance.
Our young players failed!" - Sir
Stanley Rous, F.A. Secretary "We did not use the ball well
and there was too much individualism!" - Walter
Winterbottom
|
Match Report by
Mike Payne |
After
the euphoria of the magnificent win against Scotland, England were brought
back down to earth by France on this the first leg of their 1955 summer
tour. It was a very disappointing performance by England and the Union
Jacks in the crowd were waving in a rather forlorn way at the end. Once
again the continental style of play contrasted greatly to England's and
the gap in class seemed to widen again.
Nearly 55,000 people packed into the Colombes Stadium to see France
quickly move into their stride. Marche, their captain, soon latched on to
Stan Matthews and subdued the great man in a better way than many
defenders before him. It was also obvious why France had had such a good
season. Wins against Sweden, Germany and Spain, combined with a good draw
at Belgium, had boosted their confidence and now they were looking to add
the biggest scalp of all.
England looked sluggish
and for long spells the quick and delightful football of the French stole
the honours. Kopa, Glovacki, Bliard and the long-legged coloured player
Louis showed some super skills. Alas, the English challenge never really
got going. Matthews was marked out of it by Marche and with Ron Flowers
having a quiet debut, thus making Don Revie ineffective, they rarely
threatened.
Only Dennis Wilshaw looked dangerous for the visitors
and he put in some spirited attempts. Ironically, despite the quality of
France's football, the goal that settled the match came from a penalty.
Indeed, some questionable refereeing decisions had a big say in the
outcome.
In the 21st minute, Blunstone was sent sprawling by a
reckless challenge in the French penalty area. To England's disgust the
German official waved play on. It was a different story some 15 minutes
later, though. This time Peter Sillett brought down the elusive Vincent in
the England box and the referee showed no hesitation in awarding the
spot-kick. There was no doubting his decision but this foul was no less
obvious than the one against Blunstone. Kopa stepped up calmly to beat
Bert Williams with his shot and the French fans went wild with delight.
After the interval, Kopa, who was outstanding throughout, and Vincent,
both crashed fierce shots against the England goalposts and the writing
was on the wall. Bliard featured in one amazing incident when he found
himself clean through. Believing he was offside he simply tapped the ball
to Williams, only afterwards realising the whistle had not blown.
Williams, always the busier of the two goalkeepers, then made flying saves
from Bliard and Vincent. Despite all of this French pressure, England
could still have won the match. On 62 minutes they began an eight-minute
spell when they might easily have scored three times.
First Wilshaw
sent Nat Lofthouse clean through, only for his shot to strike Remetter's
body as the 'keeper came out. Then, England's best move of the game
involving Duncan Edwards, Revie and Wilshaw ended with the latter also
finding his shot somewhat fortuitously blocked by Remetter's body.
Finally, Matthews, with a marvellous piece of skill, killed a high pass
superbly to set up Lofthouse. This time the centre-forward did beat
Remetter, only to see Penverne appear from nowhere to clear off the goal
line.
That was the end of England's efforts and at the end France
did a lap of honour to celebrate their famous victory. As for England,
only Billy Wright and Edwards could be totally happy with their
performances and the party now moved on to Spain.
|
Match Report by
Norman Giller |
Peter
Sillett, making his debut at right-back, conceded the thirty-sixth minute
penalty from which the great Raymond Kopa scored the winning goal for
France. Just a month earlier Sillett's penalty goal against Wolves had
virtually clinched the League championship for Chelsea, and forced Wolves
into settling for runners-up place. Ron Flowers, making his debut
alongside his Wolves skipper Billy Wright, had to wait three years for his
second cap and then won forty in a row - an unbroken sequence beaten only
by Billy's seventy consecutive appearances. The nearest England came to
scoring was when Frank Blunstone was unceremoniously pulled down as he
shaped to shoot. England appeals for a penalty were turned down, while the
German referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty to France for a
less obvious foul by Sillett.
|
Match Report
as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1955-56 pages 28-29 |
England began her May Continental tour with a 1-0 defeat by a French team
which had already beaten Germany, Spain, and Sweden, England, with two new
'Under-23' caps, also did not play as well as expected. The game was hard
but scrappy, and the English forwards seldom co-ordinated their movements
in the way they had done at Wembley. Nevertheless they were resented with
enough chances to win, if only they had taken them, and they could be said
to have been unfortunate to have lost as a result of a penalty-kick (taken
by Kopa). Williams made several splendid saves and Wright defended as
brilliantly as ever; our wing-halves and inside-forwards on the other hand
showed a general lack of constructive idea. The French captain and
left-back clung to Matthews like a leech, and on that foundation the home
team steadily built up a mid-field superiority, with left-half Louis the
outstanding player. It was a disappointing and somewhat discouragement
start to the tour.
International
Football Results
(15 May 1955) |
Yugoslavia 2 Scotland 2 Stadion
Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, Beograd
(18,000)
Veselinović, Vukas ~ Reilly,
Smith |
|
|
Scotland came from behind
twice in the first half, in the first match of their tour of
central Europe. |
|
|
In
Other News....
It was on
15 May 1955 that the Austrian State Treaty was signed in
Vienna by Austria, France, the United Kingdom, United States
and the USSR to end its military occupation by allied forces
following World War II and to re-establish Austria as an
independent state. |
|
Source Notes |
TheFA.com
FFF.fr
Allezlesbleus.free.fr
The Complete Book of the British Charts |
|
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record
Norman Giller, Football Author
|
|
cg |