Battle of Highbury

The Battle of Highbury (German: "Battle of Highbury") is a special football game between the English and Italian national football teams that was played on November 14, 1934 in the Arsenal Stadium in London known as " Highbury " . England won this very competitive and sometimes brutal game - which resulted in the appropriate naming - against the reigning world champion 3-2.

In the run-up to the game

This game was the first game of the Italian national team after this at home the previous summer soccer World Cup had won. Since the English football association " Football Association " (FA) had withdrawn from the world football association FIFA in 1928, England could not take part in this tournament. Nevertheless, the motherland of football was regarded as one of the most powerful nations in this sport at the time and the game was therefore regarded as a "real" World Cup final, at least in England. In Italy, too, the value of the game was viewed as very high and as reported, even the dictator Benito Mussolini is said to have promised every player an Alfa Romeo and a bonus of the equivalent of 150 British pounds if they succeeded (this corresponds to over £ 150 in today's value 9,000 euros).

The game set a record right from the start, with seven players from the same club - from Arsenal FC - playing in the English national team for the first time (this record was only set in 2001). In addition, the game took place in the home stadium of Arsenal FC. In addition to these seven Arsenal players (Frank Moss, George Male , Eddie Hapgood , Wilf Copping , Ray Bowden , Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin ), the young Stanley Matthews , who made it to his third international match, was in the starting eleven as was Cliff Britton , Jack Barker and Eric Brook . Since all the English players used had fewer than ten international matches, the team was considered very inexperienced.

The first half

The start of the game already revealed that the two teams should go to work with great physical effort. In the opening minutes, the Italian defensive midfielder Luis Monti broke his foot after a duel with Drake. Since no player changes were allowed at this time, the Italian team had to make do with only ten men after Monti was eliminated. Obviously annoyed by this injury, the Italian players retaliated with numerous fouls on their English opponents, causing Eddie Hapgood to break his nose (which forced him to take a 15-minute break in the game), Bowden injured his ankle, Drake a blow and Brook broke his arm.

In the course of the first season, Brook initially missed a penalty in the first minute after Drake had been fouled by Ceresoli. A later "double reparation" took place within a few minutes, when Brook after a header - (3rd) and a free kick (10th) brought England 2-0. Before the end of the first quarter of an hour, Ted Drake increased to 3-0. Thereupon the Italian team changed their system in the course of the shortage of personnel.

The second half

The Italian team, however, did not want to be beaten so easily as the reigning world champion and from then on shifted the game in the second 45 minutes to the English half of the game. Giuseppe Meazza scored two goals and narrowly failed to equalize with a post hit and some good defensive actions by Frank Moss. As the best player of the game, Wilf Copping was honored because of his fighting performance and his duel behavior in midfield.

Review of the lot

The game was received very ambiguously afterwards. Although the English team could claim the victory for themselves and - also in view of the young team that was used - saw themselves as a kind of unofficial world champions, the Italian team could also argue that they had been outnumbered for almost the entire season. There was no doubt, however, that the game was extremely tough, which led the FA to consider withdrawing completely from international gaming. Stanley Matthews later mentioned in his memoirs that the "Battle of Highbury" was arguably the most brutal game in his long career.

In Italy, despite the formal defeat, the team continues to be celebrated as the “Lions of London”.

statistics

pairing	England - Italy
Result	3: 2 (3: 0)
date	November 14, 1934
Stadion	Highbury , London
spectator	56,044
referee	Olsson ( Sweden )
Gates	1: 0 Eric Brook (3rd) 2: 0 Eric Brook (10th) 3: 0 Ted Drake (12th) 3: 1 Giuseppe Meazza (58th) 3: 2 Giuseppe Meazza (62nd)
England	Frank Moss ( Arsenal FC ), George Male (Arsenal FC), Eddie Hapgood (Arsenal FC), Cliff Britton ( Everton FC ), Jack Barker ( Derby County ), Wilf Copping (Arsenal FC), Stanley Matthews ( Stoke City ), Ray Bowden (Arsenal FC), Ted Drake (Arsenal FC), Cliff Bastin (Arsenal FC), Eric Brook (Manchester City) (in the "3-4-3" system)
Italy	Carlo Ceresoli ( Ambrosiana-Inter ), Eraldo Monzeglio ( AGC Bologna ), Luigi Allemandi (Ambrosiana-Inter), Attilio Ferraris ( AS Roma ), Luis Monti ( Juventus Turin ), Luigi Bertolini (Juventus Turin), Enrique Guaita (AS Roma) , Pietro Serantoni (Juventus Turin), Giuseppe Meazza (Ambrosiana-Inter), Giovanni Ferrari (Juventus Turin), Raimundo Orsi (Juventus Turin) (in the "2-5-3" system) Trainer: Vittorio Pozzo