ENGLAND'S disastrous summer tour of the America's finally came to an end in Los Angeles where a victory over the USA gave them some consolation for the earlier disappointment in South America. Even in this match, though, their poor form made them struggle for a long spell before finally coming to terms with the opposition and then overpowering them.

All the vivid memories of that infamous 1950 World Cup humiliation came flooding back when in the 18th minute the USA took a shock lead. They had already had a goal disallowed five minutes earlier, but this time Murphy's effort counted. Needless to say the 13,000 crowd went wild with delight and they grew even more confident as the half wore on with England seemingly unable to string any worthwhile attacks together. It was a real struggle but gradually the American challenge wilted and before half-time England at last found a goal.

A long, curling throw-in by Ron Flowers landed in the home goalmouth and as the USA defenders hesitated Warren Bradley nipped in to head home from four yards. There was almost tangible relief coming from the England team and at last they began to settle down to the job in hand. By half-time the American attacks had dwindled down to nothing and after the break it was one-way traffic from start to finish.

On 52 minutes, Flowers gave England the lead with a tremendous left-foot drive from fully 30 yards. Twelve minutes later, Bobby Charlton increased the total with another thunderbolt from 20 yards. His left-foot shot whizzed in off the post.

Long-range shooting now seemed to be the order of the day as Ottobini was beaten all ends up by another long-distance shot by Flowers. That goal came in the 69th minute and five minutes later, Derek Kevan added number five with a glorious 30 yarder. With eight minutes to go, England were awarded a penalty which Charlton duly hammered home and then three minutes later the Manchester United man completed his hat-trick with goal number seven.

Johnny Haynes had the final say in the scoring when his goal in the 87th minute made it 8-1 much to the dismay of the exhausted Americans. The England team manager Walter Winterbottom said afterwards that the first half had been almost a replica of that 1950 game, but added that he thought the Americans had improved considerably.

The match marked the end of an era too, as Billy Wright left the international arena for the last time, having announced his intention to retire. He had been a magnificent servant to English football and would be sadly missed.
  

NO FAKING, NO SHELL GAME, OR ANY OF THAT STUFF
   There was no kind of huddle, like there is in American football, at the start of the international Association game in which England beat America by eight goals to one last night at Wrigley Field, where they usually pay baseball. After Patricia Cutts, the film actress, showing the shapeliest leg on the field all evening, kicked off, England soon got possession and raced the ball down the field. They were not playing to signals, or anything, like in the United States game. Just booting the ball around spontaneously.
   And you could see just where it was all the time, no faking, no shell game, or any of that stuff. And the yardage they covered! Nobody came out with poles to measure, but it was plenty. Why, in the time it takes an American football player to spell 'touch-down' the English players had moved the ball all the way from midfield to across the American goal-line. Only it didn't do them any good, since in soccer, to score points you have to get it past the goalkeeper into the net.
   That the English players just couldn't do. They kept booting the ball over the crossbar, like they were going for extra points. But they didn't have a basic score to tag it to, so it was all strictly for the birds. About the only time the Americans got the ball was well down in the English half. Ed Murphy, their outside-right, slapped it into the net without any nonsense and the home team had scored the first point, or goal. They did it all by themselves, too.
   There wasn't a single cheerleader, acrobat, weathergirl, not even a small band of rooting section to lend a hand. The players even looked different. No shoulder padding, no kidney protection, no plastic helmets. Just ordinary jerseys and brief shorts, and they bounced the ball of their bare heads all the time. They didn't shove each other with their hands or block them with their bodies. But they knocked each other around with their shoulders, and pretty roughly too, but everybody was quite polite about it.
   The thing that most reminded you of American football in this soccer international was the throwing of the English goalie, Eddie Hopkinson. He threw the ball with the power and dexterity of the star passer of an American professional team, both long throws out to the wing half-backs, and deft, short ones to his back. For about 15 minutes, while England was getting over the jitters, Hopkinson put on an all-American performance, blocking the attacks of the American forwards, retrieving the fumbles of the English defenders—twice they almost put the ball in their own goal—relieving the pressure with his long throws upfield.
   In fact, it wasn't until Ron Flowers, the English left half-back, caught on to this throwing technique that the visitors came into the picture at all. Ron had the ball for a throw-in, at about the American 15-yard line; in soccer they throw the ball in from the sideline when it goes out of bounds. Well, Ron reared up on his toes and flung that ball right among the crowd of players in the goalmouth. It was a tremendous forward pass, and it was completed, too, right to the head of the English right winger, Warren Bradley, who just nodded it into the net.
   So the score, when the usual break came at the end of the first period (or, as the the English say, half-time) was one-up or, if you prefer the English version, one-all. During the interval something must have happened in the English dressing room. Either coach Winterbottom must have threatened to send the whole team to the showers and recruit another from the many British expatriates in the crowd, or Sir Stanley Rouse must have shown them the Union Jack, or something.
   Anyway, they came alive. They kept covering the yardage down to the American goal-line, and this half they forgot all about the extra points nonsense, and banged the ball low into the net all the time. Seven times in all. England's 8 to 1 victory sounds like the result of an American football game. Some of those goals must have been meant for Brazil, Peru and Mexico.
   America was utterly routed, but England had better watch out, for Eddie Hopkinson and Ron Flowers will be signed up by the Los Angeles Rams or some other top American professional team that could use fine throwing. Especially that Flowers. He can kick, too.
   

This runaway victory in Billy Wright's 105th and final match helped wipe out the memory of the 1-0 defeat by the United States in the 1950 World Cup finals, but at one stage it looked as if another embarrassment was on its way. The Americans had an early goal disallowed and then took the lead, and at 1-1 at half-time the football writers were preparing head-chopping stories that were hurriedly rewritten as Bobby Charlton led a second-half goal rush with a hat-trick. The pitch, rarely used for soccer, was gravel at one end and grass at the other. England scored seven of their goals while attacking the grassy end. Charlton's first hat-trick for England on the way to an all-time record forty-nine goals included a penalty. The suspect American goalkeeper was beaten by four shots from outside the penalty area. The only forward who did not get his name on the scoresheet was one Jimmy Greaves! It was Billy Wright's farewell game. His England career had started in front of a 57,000 crowd in Belfast in 1946. The finish came in front of just 13,000 fans at the Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. But what a journey he had between the two games, setting a then world record of 105 international appearances. He captained England 90 times and played 70 successive games, a record that still stands.
   

England made no changes from the side against Mexico for the match against the United States in Los Angeles. In the opening stages England were hesitant and Murphy gave the U.S. the lead in the 8th minute. But before half-time Bradley had headed an equaliser from a long throw-in by Flowers, and in the second half it was all England. The U.S. were penned in their own half for long periods and Charlton scored three times, once from a penalty, and Flowers twice with long shots from 30 yards range. Kevan and Haynes headed another two goals to make the England total 8 and the U.S. were unable to add another one. Charlton was England's best forward and Flowers played very well throughout.