‘Football comes home’ was the slogan of the British fans in this Eurocop And it will make more sense on Friday, the 18th. England and Scotland They will face each other in the fourth group of the European Nations Cup, starting at four o’clock in the afternoon, at Wembley Stadium in London. A game that could deserve qualification for the English is surrounded by huge rivalry, the oldest in the sport, with the first duel between the fathers of professional football taking place nearly 150 years ago.
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Football has its roots in various cultural manifestations. Balls were actually kicked in China around 2500 BC, and from the 16th century onwards, the calcio storico, created in Florence, Italy, cemented the popularity of foot games. However, the game as we know it today is a British author and history as well Mixed with that of the United Kingdom in the mid-nineteenth century, where the sport was gaining a place in schools and universities until it became official, on October 26, 1863, when the Football Association, the FA, was founded, and with it the first unified rules of the game.
Nine years later, on November 30, 1872, Scotland and England played the first national team match in history, at the West Scotland Cricket Ground, in the Scottish town of Partick, in front of more than 4,000 fans. The public at the time paid 5 cents to enter. Today, taking inflation and conversion into account, entry would cost R$40.
A century and a half ago, football was very different from what stars like Harry Kane and Andrew Robertson would play. From rules to tactics, a lot has changed. Excerpts from the book The Inverted Pyramid: The Tactical History of Football, by Jonathan Wilson Details of the first football match between the national teams: The England squad had a ‘goal’, a ‘three quarter defender’, a ‘central defender’, a ‘flying kick’, four players just called a ‘midfielder’, two “left” and one “right”; Which, when applying recent records, looks like something close to 1-2-7.”
Historians, who have analyzed the sources at the time, claim that the idea of confrontation between national teams has existed since 1870. Even before the official debut, there were five unofficial duels, without summary or records, between England and Scotland. Since the first valid match, the teams have faced each other 116 times, with a surprising balance: 50 wins for England, 41 wins for Scotland, and 25 draws.
Between 1872 and 1989, at least one match between England and Scotland was held each spring, mostly for the British National Cup, a tournament between the delegations of the United Kingdom, which ended in 1984. Of these hundreds of matches, some of them historic, such as were presented 5×1 Scotsman at Wembley in 1928.
The “English team” also applied some defeats as the most flexible result of the confrontation: in 1961, England beat Scotland 9-3. One of the most remarkable matches in this history happened in 1967. From the World Cup I have completed 19 matches without losing. However, the Scottish team ended the party: a 3-2 victory over Wembley.
Off-field competition
If the first match between them took place almost 150 years ago, then more than 700 political disagreements began. In 1295, Scotland was experiencing instability and dispute for the throne, and eventually the English captured the crown. The Scots were independent until 1707, when the Treaty of Union politically annexed the Kingdom of Scotland to the Kingdom of England, after pressure from economic sanctions by the English.
Political discussions have heated up ever since. At the end of the twentieth century, Scotland gained greater governmental freedom. However, the desire to “separate” is transmitted from generation to generation, and nowadays it even goes to the popular vote. In 2014, she won “No” to leave the UK. In 2020, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has signaled to residents that she will call for a second independence referendum.
Against this background, both teams enter the field this afternoon. Entering the “English team” as a favorite, having a promising generation and references in the biggest tournaments in the world. On the Scottish side, victory is a sign of reaction. After losing the first game against the Czech Republic in a match where there were many missed opportunities, scoring against the English goal would be a success for the team led by Robertson of Liverpool.
Check for potential escalation:
England: Pickford, Walker, Stone, Mings, Shaw; Cedar, Phillips, Mt.; Stirling, Grealish E. Kane.
Scotland: Marshall, Hendry; Hanley, Tierney; Forrest, McGinn, McTominay, McGregor, Robertson; Armstrong Adams
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