No noise. No nonsense. Just England.
Hosted by Switzerland
England: Quarter-finals
How England performed
England reached the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland with three wins from three in qualifying Group 3, beating Wales 4–1, Ireland 3–1 and Scotland 4–2. Lofthouse scored three times across those fixtures.
Under Walter Winterbottom, with Billy Wright as captain, England opened the finals with a 4–4 draw against Belgium that went to extra time, Broadis and Lofthouse each scoring twice. A 2–0 win over the hosts, Switzerland, with goals from Mullen and Wilshaw, took them into the quarter-finals, where they lost 4–2 to Uruguay despite goals from Lofthouse and Finney. Lofthouse finished with three goals in the finals as England recorded one win, one draw and one defeat, scoring eight and conceding eight. Reaching the last eight was an improvement on the group-stage exit of 1950.
England fixtures
Belgium
4–4
England
England drew
a.e.t.
England: Broadis 25', Lofthouse 37', Broadis 62', Lofthouse 91'
Belgium: Anoul 5', Coppens 67', Anoul 74', Dickinson 93' og
Switzerland
0–2
England
England won
England: Mullen 43', Wilshaw 69'
Switzerland: None
Uruguay
4–2
England
England lost
England: Lofthouse 16', Finney 67'
Uruguay: Borges 5', Valera 40', Schiaffino 50', Ambrois 79'
England statistics
Full England squad
| No. | Player | Pos | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gil Merrick | GK | Birmingham City | – |
| 2 | Ron Staniforth | DF | Huddersfield Town | – |
| 3 | Roger Byrne | DF | Manchester United | – |
| 4 | Billy Wright C | MF | Wolverhampton Wanderers | – |
| 5 | Syd Owen | MF | Luton Town | – |
| 6 | Jimmy Dickinson | MF | Portsmouth | – |
| 7 | Stanley Matthews | FW | Blackpool | – |
| 8 | Ivor Broadis | FW | Newcastle United | 2 |
| 9 | Nat Lofthouse | FW | Bolton Wanderers | 3 |
| 10 | Tommy Taylor | FW | Manchester United | – |
| 11 | Tom Finney | FW | Preston North End | 1 |
| 12 | Ted Burgin | GK | Sheffield United | – |
| 13 | Ken Green | DF | Birmingham City | – |
| 14 | Bill McGarry | MF | Huddersfield Town | – |
| 15 | Dennis Wilshaw | FW | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 1 |
| 16 | Albert Quixall | MF | Sheffield Wednesday | – |
| 17 | Jimmy Mullen | FW | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 1 |
| 18 | Allenby Chilton | MF | Manchester United | – |
| 19 | Ken Armstrong | MF | Chelsea | – |
| 20 | Bedford Jezzard | FW | Fulham | – |
| 21 | Johnny Haynes | FW | Fulham | – |
| 22 | Harry Hooper | FW | West Ham United | – |
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