It has been an embarrassing few years for England fans, as they watched their country slump out of tournament after tournament, despite the abundance of talent that has been produced over the years.
The so called ‘Golden Generation’, consisting of players such as David Beckham, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes and John Terry, were all serial winners for their respective clubs, but they could only provide a decade of disappointment on the international stage. Lacklustre performances at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016 suggest that their replacements are heading down exactly the same path.
The talent is undeniably there, but whoever the FA hire to run the show always prove to be incapable of getting the best out of the abundance of top level footballers at their disposal. Who knows, if ever, when the England national team will finally come good, but for now England fans will continue to wallow in terrible defeat after terrible defeat.
To mark England’s shocking exit from Euro 2016, here are eight of England’s most embarrassing losses of all time:
England 2-4 Sweden – International friendly, 2012
England appeared to be on track under new boss Roy Hodgson, after crashing out of Euro 2012 at the quarter-final stage against Italy via a penalty shoot-out. It was as expected and would give Hodgson all the information he needed to start rebuilding the squad with some of the young talent coming through the ranks.
Things were brought crashing back down to earth just months later, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed The Three Lions just how far from the best they really were.
Six players were given debuts in the match. Unsurprisingly, Raheem Sterling was the only one that made it on to the plane for Euro 2016 – the five others have struggled to distance themselves from the defeat. Worst off was Ryan Shawcross, who was put into the game to handle Ibrahimovic. England were on course to claim a 2-1 victory after coming from behind, but Shawcross fell apart, allowing Ibrahimovic to net three goals and hand Sweden an unexpected victory. That night would prove to be his one and only England appearance.
The legendary Swedish striker’s fourth goal, in the final minutes of the game, was undeniably his best. With Joe Hart failing to clear a ball that he had rushed off of his line to meet, Ibrahimovic decided to attempt a bicycle kick from 30-yards out. The shot sailed over the heads of England’s defence and fell into Hart’s net – the icing on top of what was a very poor England performance.
England 1-3 Australia – International friendly, 2003
With preparations for Euro 2004 well underway, England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson saw their friendly match at West Ham’s former home Upton Park, where they would take on Australia in an easy tie, as the perfect opportunity to experiment.
Eriksson’s plan was essentially to let his senior players run riot in the first-half, before introducing 11 players on the fringes of the squad in the second-half to see how they performed. However, it was his stars that would let him down, falling two goals behind before the break.
England struggled to control the midfield and fell behind after just 15 minutes, before Australia doubled their lead just before half-time. The likes of Michael Owen, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and the rest performed so woefully that the introduction of a number of youngsters at the break marked a massive improvement.
Jermaine Jenas, Francis Jeffers, who scored the consolation goal, and Wayne Rooney, who became England’s youngest ever player, all debuted and made notable impacts, which proved to be a much needed positive from what was a terrible day for England fans. However, the woeful result left the England manager with a lot of thinking to do ahead of Euro 2004.
England 1-4 Germany – World Cup, 2010
As much as we say ‘that’s it, I can’t do this anymore’ after a disappointing defeat at a major tournament, as England fans we always manage to find the belief that ‘this year will be out year’ when the next one comes around. 2010 was no different.
With the Golden Generation dropping off like flies, the South African tournament marked the last possible chance for the promising group of players to fulfil their potential. With a number of the other big teams failing to shine, belief was high among the media, fans and squad.
The group stage brought expectations back down to earth, kicking off with a 1-1 draw against the United States, in which goalkeeper Robert Green allowed a weak Clint Dempsey shot to roll out of his hands into the back of the net. A 1-0 victory over Slovenia in their final group game was enough to see them through, but it was becoming clear that England would struggle against bigger and better opposition.
Unfortunate enough to draw Germany in the round of 16, Joachim Low’s side punished England in the next round.
After falling two goals behind after 32 minutes, Matthew Upson offered Fabio Capello’s side a glimmer of hope five minutes later, before Frank Lampard appeared to have equalised two minutes later, only for the goal to be incorrectly ruled to have not crossed the line.
Had Lampard’s goal been given, things may have gone differently. However, Germany overrun their arch-rivals in the second-half, with Thomas Muller scoring twice to hand his country a 4-1 victory.
England 2-3 Croatia – European Championship qualifier, 2008
England fans had to endure suffering in the past, but this defeat had ramifications so much bigger than a battered ego. England went into the game knowing that anything less than a win would see them fail to qualify for Euro 2008 – the first time that they would miss out on the final stage of a European Championship since 1984.
With such a huge amount resting on just 90 minutes, under-fire boss Steve McClaren made the surprising decision to switch up his squad, dropping star midfielder David Beckham to the bench and replacing first-choice keeper Paul Robinson with Scott Carson, who had yet to make his competitive debut for England. The change proved ineffective, as the under-pressure goalkeeper fumbled a Niko Kranjcar shot from 30 yards out into his own net after eight minutes, before Ivica Olic doubled Croatia’s lead six minutes later.
Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch would raise English spirits once again, before Mladen Petric netted with just over ten minutes to go to sentence England to an premature exit. The defeat meant that Russia piped The Three Lions to second place in Group E by a single point, costing McClaren his job and England their place at Euro 2008.
England 1-1 Poland – World Cup qualifier, 1973
Going into the match, Poland sat top of the qualifying group, having already claimed a historic victory over England in their first meeting. Few expected Poland to qualify ahead of The Three Lions, who had been at every World Cup finals since they first entered in 1950, but football matches don’t always go to plan.
In a game best remembered for the unconventional, yet heroic goalkeeping performance of Jan Tomaszewski, who had been labelled a ‘circus clown in gloves’ by former England international Brian Clough prior to kick-off, Poland needed just a point to qualify ahead of England. Despite putting in a clown-like performance, Tomaszewski did enough to sentence Sir Alf Ramsey’s side to an early exit from the competition that they had historically won just seven years earlier.
It is perhaps somewhat unfair to label this performance as ‘embarrassing’, given that England managed 36 shots on goal, two of which hit the post and four of which were cleared off of the line, compared to Poland’s two shots throughout the entire game. However, the result, and subsequently missing out on a place in the tournament finals, was.
The 1970s would be a terrible period for England at the World Cup, as they went on to miss out on a place in the 1978 tournament too.
England 1-7 Hungary – International friendly, 1954
While England’s humiliating defeat to Hungary in 1954 didn’t have any wider consequences, the sheer number of goals that were conceded makes this one of the most embarrassing results that the side have ever suffered.
At the time, the FA were of the opinion that England, as the founders of modern day football, were far superior to any other footballing nation. They refused to utilise tactics that were generating success abroad and stuck by their own archaic methods religiously, despite the fact that they were ranked fourth in the world by FIFA. Hungary, on the other hand, were first in the rankings, and hadn’t suffered defeat since 1950.
Hungary had travelled to Wembley a year earlier, sentencing England to a 6-3 defeat which the English press had written off as a stroke of luck. The game, schedule a year later, was viewed as the return leg, where England would finally deliver revenge. However, Hungary controlled proceedings on their home turf, offering the inexperienced Walter Winterbottom’s side very little time on the ball and pulling three goals ahead after just 19 minutes.
Despite a consolation goal from Ivor Broadis in the second-half, Hungary would add another four of their own, making the final score 7-1 – the biggest defeat in England’s history, a record which still stands to this day.
England 0-1 United States – World Cup, 1950
Viewed as one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, England fell to a 1-0 defeat against the United States in a group stage match that would have put them on track to progress from a group containing them, the US, Spain and Chile in their first ever World Cup appearance.
The shock defeat came against a group of amateurs who played the sport alongside their day jobs, including a schoolteacher, a hearse driver, a mailman and a dishwasher, who were lucky enough to get time off work to travel to Brazil. The group had conceded 45 goals in their last seven fixtures and scored just two – England, on the other hand, had just beaten Italy 4-0 and Portugal 10-1 in warm-up matches.
Likened to sheep at a slaughterhouse by US coach Bill Jeffreys ahead of the game, nobody expected America to come out with anything more than a defeat. England unsurprisingly dominated throughout, but after 37 minutes a long shot clipped the head of the United States’ forward Joe Gaetjens just enough to send it past the diving Bert Williams.
Cheered on by a capacity crowd of Brazilians who were desperate to see England fall so that they didn’t have to face them later in the competition, the underdogs held out for the remaining time to clinch a historic victory which has since been made into a movie, The Game of Their Lives.
England 1-2 Iceland – European Championship, 2016
Freshest in our memories and undoubtedly one of, if not the worst defeat in the history of the England national team. Roy Hodgson’s young side were tipped to provide the nation’s greatest performance at a major tournament in nearly two decades, given the abundance of attacking talent in their ranks, with the likes of Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge all fighting for a place in the attacking third.
As the only team to achieve a 100% record in the qualifying stage and a number of decent performances in the pre-tournament friendlies, England looked on track with the Euro 2016 approaching.
Despite a good level of possession and some creative moves in their opening group match against Russia, a late goal once again put them on the back foot. A late victory over Wales and a bore draw with Slovakia was enough to see them through the group, but England fans were relieved to see Iceland drawn in the next round, rather than Portugal, given the lacklustre finishing The Three Lions had displayed so far.
A Wayne Rooney penalty after just four minutes had the commentators talking of a potential rout, but a quick response from Iceland saw them pull a goal ahead. England chased the game throughout, but the panic among players young and old was clear to see. Nobody could find that final ball and cut through a solid Icelandic defence, resulting in one of the most embarrassing defeats in footballing history.