1964–65 British Home Championship

The 1964-65 British Home Championship was an outright victory for the English football team in the run up to the 1966 FIFA World Cup which was held in the country. England's preparation for the tournament had included a rare pre-season tour of the Americas, in which they had beaten the USA 10–0 in New York, but crashed to a 1–5 defeat by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro and also lost to Argentina. The Home Championship was a close contest however and an unexpected Welsh defeat of Scotland as well as a drubbing of Northern Ireland in their final game helped them to an impressive second. In the end however, none of the other home nations would qualify for the world cup finals, which England would go on to win.

The tournament opened with a dramatic match between England and Northern Ireland national football team, in which England went 4–0 up in the first half-hour, but eventually were forced to hold on in the face of an Irish counter-attack which reduced the deficit to 4–3. Fancied Scotland meanwhile began badly with a loss to Wales in Cardiff. In the second games, Northern Ireland again ran a favorite close, eventually succumbing 3–2 to the Scots in a close game in which the lead changed several times. The Welsh too played well, only narrowly losing to eventual champions England. In the final match, the already last-placed Irish were demolished by a more driven Welsh team seeking a rare title, going down 5–0. In London, the Scots and the English fought out a 2–2 draw which put the championship out of Wales' reach by giving England five points.

Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	5	3	2	1	0	8	6	+2
Wales	4	3	2	0	1	9	4	+5
Scotland	3	3	1	1	1	7	7	0
Northern Ireland	0	3	0	0	3	5	12	−7

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

Results

Northern Ireland v England

3 October 1964

Northern Ireland	3– 4	England
Jimmy McLaughlin 2, Sammy Wilson		Jimmy Greaves 3, Fred Pickering

Windsor Park, Belfast

Wales v Scotland

3 October 1964

Wales	3 – 2	Scotland
Kenneth Leek 2, Wyn Davies		Stevie Chalmers, Dave Gibson

Ninian Park, Cardiff

England v Wales

18 November 1964

England	2 – 1	Wales
Frank Wignall 2		Cliff Jones

Wembley Stadium, London

Scotland v Northern Ireland

25 November 1964

Scotland	3 – 2	Northern Ireland
Davie Wilson 2, Alan Gilzean		George Best, Willie Irvine

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Northern Ireland v Wales

7 April 1965

Northern Ireland	0 – 5	Wales
		Roy Vernon 2, Cliff Jones, Graham Williams, Ivor Allchurch

Windsor Park, Belfast

England v Scotland

10 April 1965

England	2 – 2	Scotland
Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves		Denis Law, Ian St John

Wembley Stadium, London

References

Guy Oliver (1992). The Guinness Record of World Soccer. Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-954-4.

British Home Championship

Football in the United Kingdom: England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Competitors	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Seasons	1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 First World War 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 Second World War 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84

Rous Cup Nations Cup Matches outside the British Home Championship

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