England Football Online
Results 1955-1960                       Page Last Updated 22 February 2024

Союз Советских Социалистических Республик

 
319 vs. Portugal
320 vs. Yugoslavia
previous match
(21 days)

321 vs. USSR
 
322
next match (3 days)
323 vs. Brazil
324 vs. Austria
325 vs. USSR


 






6.0 Sing It Again 6:30 Records: Sam Costa 7.0 Does The Team Think? 7.30 News 7.35 Semprini Serenade
8.5 Football: England v. USSR
9.0 Hymns 9.30 Follow The Stars: Norman Evans 10.30 News
Sunday, 8 June 1958
The VM Coupe Jules Rimet Fotboll Finals First Phase Pool 4 match one/two

England 2 USSR 2 [0-1]
 
This week's Music Charts

Nya Ullevi Stadion, Heden, Göteborg, Västra Götalands Iän, Sweden
Kick-off (CET & BST):
7.00pm
Attendance: '49,348'
  USSR kicked off
  [0-1] Nikita Simonyan 13
Valentin Ivanov hit a shot from edge of area that McDonald parried into the path of Simonyan who tapped in from 3yds.


[1-2] Derek Kevan header 65
 Billy Wright swung over a perfectly placed free-kick for Kevan to head in
[1-2] Bobby Robson scores disallowed: foul 73
[2-2] Tom Finney penalty 84
 'a swift, pure flick with his right foot' to the left of Yashin's goal and his reach.
 (Krizhevsky fouled Haynes)

[0-2] Aleksandr Ivanov 56
dribbled around McDonald the slip the ball left-footed into an empty net after picking up Boris Kuznetsov's defence-splitting pass.

 

To all intents and purposes, this penalty kick should have been a free-kick, as the foul was committed two metres outside the area.
second half live on The Light Programme- commentator: tbc
 
"ENGLAND SAVED IN PENALTY DRAMA" Daily Mirror
Officials England Party FIFA ruling on NO substitutes USSR Party
Referee (black blazer)
István Zsolt
36 (28 June 1921), Budapest
There are no substitutions whatsoever in the World Cup Finals matches.

Officially, USSR committed 27 fouls on the English, but there were so many more.
England had seven corners to USSR's five.
Linesmen
Carl Jørgensen
Denmark
Birger Nilsen
Norway
FIFA Commissioner: James P. McGuire, United States
     
England Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 4th
Colours The 1954 Umbro home uniform - White v-necked short-sleeved continental jerseys, blue shorts, red socks with white calf hoop.
P 29th of 43, W 17 - D 7 - L 5 - F 78 - A 37.
Captain Billy Wright Manager Walter Winterbottom, 45 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946;
rec. 78th of 90, W 46 - D 16 - L 16 - F 199 - A 113. Trainer: Harold Shepherdson P 96th of 139, W 59 - D 20 - L 17 - F 273 - A 134, one abandoned.
  ³   Team chosen by Selection Committee, headed by Joe Mears, on Friday, 6 June.
England Lineup
  unchanged from the previous match FINAL league positions (30 April)  
1 McDonald, Colin A. 27
236 days
15 October 1930 G Burnley FC (FL 6th) 2 3ᵍᵃ
youngest WCF gk so far
2 Howe, Donald 22
239 days
12 October 1935 RB West Bromwich Albion FC (FL 4th) 8 0
3 Banks, Thomas 28
210 days
10 November 1929 LB Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 15th) 2 0
4 Clamp, H. Edwin 23
267 days
14 September 1934 RHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 2 0
5
Wright, William A. 34
122 days
6 February 1924 CHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 93 3
most apps 1952-58
6 Slater, William J. 31
40 days
29 April 1927 LHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL CHAMPIONS) 7 0
7 Douglas, Bryan 24
12 days
27 May 1934 OR Blackburn Rovers FC (FL2 2nd) 8 1
8 Robson, Robert W. 25
110 days
18 February 1933 IR West Bromwich Albion FC (FL 4th) 3 2
9
Kevan, Derek T. 23
94 days
6 March 1935 CF West Bromwich Albion FC (FL 4th) 8 5
youngest to score at WCF so far
10 Haynes, John N. 23
234 days
17 October 1934 IL Fulham FC (FL2 6th) 21 8
11 Finney, Thomas 36
64 days
5 April 1922 OL
 
Preston North End FC (FL RU)
 
74
29
18th successful penalty kick (34th overall)
First at a Major Tournament Finals
oldest to score a penalty kick
oldest to score at WCF
=most goals 1958
³ ¹
  
reserves: not permitted
team notes: Billy Wright extends his record appearance tally, in his record 58th consecutive match.
Tom Finney equals Nat Lofthouse's record as England's top goalscorer.
Bobby Robson is the eightieth player to have made three appearances under Winterbottom/ISC and post-war. 95 players have now made a second appearance.
 
2-3-5 McDonald -
Howe, Banks -
Clamp, Wright, Slater -
Douglas, Robson, Kevan, Haynes, Finney.
Averages: Age 27 years 117 days Appearances/Goals 20.7 4.2
youngest WCF team so far
 
USSR Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 9th to 7th
Colours Red wing-collared jerseys with CCCP emblazoned across the front, white shorts, red socks with white/red/white hoop.
Captain Nikita Simonyan Manager Gavriil Dmitriyevich Kachalin, 47 (17 January 1911), appointed late 1954.
Team announced just before kick-off.
USSR Lineup
1 Yashin, Lev I. 28
229 days
22 October 1929 G FK Dinamo Moskva 23 20ᵍᵃ
2 Kesarev, Vladimir P. 28
102 days
26 February 1930 RB FK Dinamo Moskva 3 0
3 Krizhevsky, Konstantin S. 32
108 days
20 February 1926 LB FK Dinamo Moskva 10 0
4
Kuznetsov, Boris D. 29
329 days
14 July 1928 RHB FK Dinamo Moskva 16 0
5 Voynov, Yuriy M. 26
191 days
29 November 1931 CHB FK Dinamo Kyiv 10 1
16 Tsaryov, Viktor G. 27
6 days
2 June 1931 LHB FK Dinamo Moskva 2 0
17
Ivanov, Aleksandr I. 30
55 days
14 April 1928 OR FK Zenit 1 1
8 Ivanov, Valentin K. 23
201 days
19 November 1934 IR FK Torpedo Moskva 16 8
9
Simonyan, Nikita P. 31
239 days
12 October 1926 CF FK Spartak Moskva 14 10
10 Salnikov, Sergei S. 32
268 days
13 September 1925 IL FK Spartak Moskva 18 11
11 Ilyin, Anatoly M. 26
346 days
27 June 1931 OL FK Spartak Moskva 23 12
reserves: not permitted
 
2-3-5 Yashin -
Kesarev, Krizhevsky -
Kuznetsov, Voynov, Tsaryov -
A.Ivanov, V.Ivanov, Simonyan, Salnikov, Ilyin
Averages: Age 28 years 323 days Appearances/Goals 12.4 3.7
oldest opposing WCF team so far
 
                Match Report by Mike Payne

WITH the host country, Sweden, opening the 1958 World Cup earlier in the day by beating Mexico, the competition was well and truly under way by the time England and the Soviet Union took to the field early in the evening. By the end of this match, the crowd were jumping up and down with excitement as the two sides fought out a thriller.

Having met only three weeks before in a friendly, both sides were familiar with each other's style. It was the Soviets who were quickly into their stride as England struggled to get going. Indeed, England's first half display was very disappointing and the Soviets had much more of the play. It was a hard, physical game with Russia having the edge up front. Valentin Ivanov, Simonyan and Salnikov were particularly impressive and it came as no real surprise when the Soviets took the lead after a quarter of an hour.

Alexander Ivanov fired in a low cross which Colin McDonald could only parry. The ball ran loose and Simonyan nipped in to flick it home. England were now up against it and for a while Billy Wright and his players could not respond. McDonald made one superb save and there were several other near misses before half-time arrived.

One hoped that the break would give England time to regroup but after ten minutes into the second half the Soviets made it 2-0 and the writing seemed to be on the wall. Kesarev began the move with a strong run from full-back. He then put Alexander Ivanov through in the inside-left channel and the winger evaded Bill Slater's attempted interception before shooting past the goalkeeper.

England at this stage looked out of it as Salnikov and Valentin Ivanov turned on the style. The England defence looked at sixes and sevens for much of the time although Don Howe was outstanding at right-back. Wright and Eddie Clamp worked hard but Tom Finney was too often left on his own in attack to battle against the tough-tackling Russian defenders. The free-kicks they conceded were testament to the ferocity of their tackles. Bobby Robson tried hard to create some sort of pattern in England's play but had little joy. Until, that is, only 30 minutes were left on the referee's watch.

Robson had just seen a goal disallowed after Derek Kevan was penalised for a foul on Yashin. Although England were obviously disappointed with that decision, the incident had a profound effect on the final outcome. Suddenly the Soviets became jittery and nervous. Players, who for the first hour had looked confident and composed, were now being forced into errors by a rejuvenated England team. England were in fact unrecognisable from the first half and now, with their tails up, they threw everything at the Soviets.

Within seconds of the disallowed goal, England at last pulled one back. A long free-kick by Wright sent alarm bells running through the Soviet defence. Bryan Douglas caused panic by nipping in and when the ball bounced up and free Kevan pounced to score.

From then on it was all England as wave after wave of attacks swept forward. The crowd roared their approval as the forward line found space that had previously been denied them earlier. Finney, especially, was the key and one of many near misses came when Robson shot just wide when it seemed he must score.

With 15 minutes left, Finney was again prominent as he combined well with Kevan and Haynes to set up a return pass which Kevan crashed against Yashin's body. When the rebound came out Robson reacted first to flick the ball home. The jubilation was quickly curtailed as once again the goal was ruled out by the Hungarian referee for a foul on Yashin.

England were not to be denied, though, and as the excitement reached a crescendo with five minutes to go, they found their equaliser. A lovely pass by Finney sent Haynes through, only for the number ten to be unceremoniously upended. Penalty!

What a situation for Finney. In an atmosphere of edge of the seat tension and almost total silence the ice-cool Preston man slotted the ball past even Yashin's vast reach to score. The relief of the crowd was felt to the full in a tremendous cheer. So, England, in the deserved their draw but one could not forget that for two-thirds of the match they had not played well at all. But with the other game in their group ending Brazil 3 Austria 0, they still had everything to play for.

 

                Match Report by Norman Giller

Tom Finney coolly placed a penalty wide of Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin six minutes from the final whistle to give England a draw in their opening World Cup match against a Russian team much changed from the side they had played in Moscow the previous month. The Russians had led 2-0 with twenty minutes to go, and it looked all over for England until Bryan Douglas created a goal for Derek Kevan. After Finney had scored the equaliser from the penalty spot, a furious  Lev Yashin got hold of the referee and spun him around like a top. Incredibly, he was allowed to stay on the field. He was protesting over the award of the penalty because he considered the tackle had been made outside the box. In the closing moments a crushing tackle on Finney damaged his knee and put him out of the rest of the tournament.
 

Other World Cup Results
Pool 1:
 
Argentina 1 West Germany 3
   Malmö Stadion, Malmö
(31,156)
Corbatta 3 ~ Rahn 32, 79, Seeler 42
 
Czechoslovakia 0 Northern Ireland 1
   Örjans Vall, Halmstad
(10,647)
Cush 2
1

 Pool 2:
 
France 7 Paraguay 3
   Idrottsparken, Norrköping
(16,518)
Fontaine 24, 30, 67, Piantoni 52, Wisnieski 61, Kopa 70, Vincent 83 ~ Amarilla 20, 44 (pen), Romero 50
 
Scotland 1 Yugoslavia 1
   Arosvallen, Västerås
(9,591)
Murray
49 ~ Petaković 6
 
Pool 3:
 
Mexico 0 Sweden 3
   Råsunda Fotbollsstadion, Solna
(34,107)
Simonsson 17, 64, Liedholm 57 (pen)
 
Hungary 1 Wales 1
   Jernvallen, Sandviken
(15,343)
Bozsik
5 ~ J.Charles 27
 
Pool 4:
 
Austria 0 Brazil 3
   Rimnersvallen, Uddevalla
(17,778)
Altafini 37, 85, Santos 50
 
Brazil, France, Sweden (the hosts) and defending champions, West Germany all impressed on the opening day of matches. As it turned out, these teams would take the top four placings, three weeks later.

The three other home nations all gave creditable performances and none were beaten.
       In Other News....
It was on 7 June 1958, in Minneapolis, that pianist and songwriter, John Nelson and his wife, jazz singer, Mattie Della, both members of the Prince Rogers Trio, became the parents of a baby boy that they named Prince Rogers Nelson, after the father's stage name. He grew up to be one of the most successful singer-songwriters in a variety of musical styles and was known simply as 'Prince', apart from a seven-year period in which he changed his stage name to a character symbol representing entwined male and female genders, following a dispute with his record company.
                Source Notes
TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
The Complete Book of the British Charts
rusteam.permian.ru
  Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record

Norman Giller, Football Author
British Pathé (part only)
cg