That has been the story for much of the last 50 years The England captain, Billy Wright, never one to exaggerate, said: "There were people there that day who were of a mind to call him a traitor." It was not for the first time.In a remarkable life which had begun as one of 11 children born to Irish parents who moved to Lancashire to find work in the cotton mills of the 1880s, Hogan honed a natural aptitude for skilful football that nevertheless led to only a comparatively modest career with Burnley, Bolton, Swindon and Fulham, where he came under the influence of an artistic group of Scottish players. In reality the 70-year-old, who was still coaching Aston Villa's junior players, organised a coach trip for them to see the game. He said they would witness something out of the ordinary, by which they thought he meant that England would demolish the Hungarians, as did most of the Press of the time.Hogan had long tried to convince English administrators that their football had gone backwards Ball skills, he said, had been lost in kick and rush. Those were the decades in which a little Lancastrian, Jimmy Hogan, had been coaching abroad and constantly warning that football in his homeland was about to be overtaken by the more technically proficient sides he had long been teaching. Their association's president, Sandor Barcs, said: "He taught us everything we know about football."Over the years occasional references to Hogan in football's literature have suggested that on that salient day he sat with the VIPs in the Royal Box. Hungarian players had appreciated and benefited from his instruction even before the First World War and at the end of the triumph in London the visiting delegation dedicated the victory to him. Hungary's victory was bad enough, a humiliating 6-3, but the margin in skill with the ball could be measured in decades. That has been the story for much of the last 50 years. On 25 November, 1953, a crowd of 100,000 peered through the Wembley murk to see England fall to their first home defeat by Continental opposition. So, appropriately, it was a night for Valencian celebration if perhaps muted.Spain 2 Raul 21, Berg og 85Norway 1 Iversen 14Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 53,000. The acrobatic Johnsen was Norway's saviour with some extraordinary stops, though he was grateful to Raul, who jinked past Berg only to put an attempted lob for goal straight into his hands.Riise hacked away from the inrushing Raul when Johnsen spilled one shot and Lundekvam kicked off the line as Norway circled their wagons, only to be pierced in the final minutes as Spain's frenzied attacks brought reward when a low cross rebounded in off Baraja and Berg. But the home side dominated things, their theatrics impressing referee Graham Poll enough to gain a string of free-kicks and earn bookings for Berg and Claus Lundekvam.Spain produced three dozen attempts at goal compared to Norway's four and as they threw on the fresh legs and experience of Valeron and Vicente, the visitors were pushed back into desperate, kick-anywhere defence. Reyes, switching wings, was fouled near the right touchline and his inswinging free-kick into a packed goalmouth saw Raul's head get the crucial deflection.Though Helguera clipped a post on the stroke of half-time, Flo's enterprise on the break occasionally had Spain in trouble and the outstretched boot of Iker Casillas was just enough to baulk Norway and soon after the resumption the Real Madrid keeper pulled off another brilliant stop, this time his fingertips denying Martin Andresen. Tore Andre Flo's attempt to connect with a Riise cross induced such panic that Steffen Iversen was left free to stab in a half volley It took Spain just eight minutes to produce the equaliser. In the next raid Raul's left-foot shot on the turn was too good for Johnsen but Henning Berg hacked it off the line.Then, in their first raid, Norway shocked the home crowd by going in front.
Prominent were the youngsters on whom the nation is pinning its hopes, the 19-year-old Torres and Seville's left-sided midfielder, Reyes, aged 20. But it was an older campaigner, Real Madrid's Raul, the captain, who underlined the accuracy of Norway's pre-match apprehension that he might be the one to undermine them. Operating just behind Torres, he provided the bullets and showed he was not averse to pulling the trigger himself.With the Basque right-winger Joseba Exteberria also giving Liverpool's John Arne Riise a torrid time, Spain dominated the first dozen minutes, Torres chipping wide after the shaven-headed keeper Espen Johnsen committed himself too early. Of the 20 players who formed Spain's squad, only two, the Valencia midfielder Baraja and the bright new striker from Atletico Madrid, Fernando Torres, had scored in the Spanish league in the past three weeks.The Real Madrid full-back Michel Saldago said beforehand that he thought two goals would be enough to see Spain through to the finals in Portugal next summer, but presumably he wasn't counting on Norway getting one as well.Spain's early tactics bordered on the demented as they hurled themselves at Norway's hulking back line. "His best present would be a win,'' said the unrepentant Saez. Seedorf displayed deftness and panic in equal measure as he cut into the box after a delightful one-two with Kluivert, but blazed his shot over. Scotland substitute Stephen Pearson marked his arrival, clipping a volley inches wide with 12 minutes left.Scotland 1 Holland 0 McFadden 22Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 51,000. Spain's manager Inaki Saez missed his son's wedding day to try to plot victory for his country in their Euro 2004 playoff against Norway in Valencia's Mestalla stadium. This was produced, just, with a decider in the last five minutes after Spain had dominated large swathes of the match, but the away goal poached early on by the Norwegians will give them clear hope for the second leg in Oslo on Wednesday. The Dutch brought on Rafael van der Vaart for Davids and the Ajax youngster almost levelled the game after 63 minutes. Again Stam's intrusion forward brought the opening, with a cross that was knocked down by Kluivert but Van der Vaart's hook shot from 10 yards thumped off the bar before being cleared to safety.A certain amount of anxiety began to creep into the Dutch efforts. Indeed, with precious few glimpses of goal, Stam took it upon himself to produce the only threat by breaking from the back and firing a long-range left foot shot that flew over Douglas's crossbar.The pressure became more intense, yet Scotland's concentration levels were exceedingly high with McNamara reading everything and mopping up on countless occasions. |
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