Hungary won 6–3 and the result led to a review of the training and tactics used by the England team, and adoption of continental practices at international and club level in the English game.

[1] The England national team had suffered just one defeat on home soil against foreign opposition, which had been in 1949 against a de facto FAI Ireland side that contained a number of players that also played for Northern Ireland during this period (FIFA would later ban both the FAI and IFA from selecting players for both teams).

In addition, coaching and tactical advances from abroad were ignored, with the England national side and the majority of clubs persisting with the outdated WM formation.

His duties included managing the national team and developing the overall standard of coaching in England – a vast remit that indicated either naivety or a lack of interest on the part of the FA.

Furthermore, Winterbottom did not pick the England squad: that remained with the FA's selection committee, who frequently displayed little or no consistency in their choice of player.

Innovations included a precursor to "Total Football" several years ahead of the Dutch and the introduction of a deep-lying centre-forward position, occupied by Nándor Hidegkuti.

In particular, England centre-half Harry Johnston had a torrid time, as he was unable to decide whether to man-mark the deep-lying Hidegkuti or to remain in position and allow him to roam the pitch freely.

However, Hungary proved irresistible; in the 20th minute Hidegkuti scored again from a poor England clearance, and four minutes later Ferenc Puskás scored the third goal via the soon to be famous "drag-back" – as England captain Billy Wright attempted to tackle him, Puskas dragged back the ball with the sole of his boot an instant before, leaving the English captain chasing empty space where the ball had been and beating Merrick with a clinical finish.

England were simply unable to obtain the ball, and on the 27th minute Puskas scored again from a deflected József Bozsik free-kick.

There was a brief rally when Tottenham winger George Robb was denied a goal on his debut due to excellent goalkeeping by Grosics, and Mortensen scored for England on 38 minutes.

When playing the WM formation, the defending centre-half would traditionally mark the opposition's centre forward – usually whoever was wearing the number 9 shirt.

The Guardian newspaper report of the game was representative of the impact that Hungary's style of play had made: "The English team was competent by British standards except at inside forward, but on the evidence of this afternoon this standard will not long be good enough for England to retain her position in the high places of the football world.

The essential difference lay in attack, where none of the English forwards except Matthews approached the speed, ball control, and positional play of the Hungarians, which were as near perfect as one could hope to see.

The effect of this match on Alf Ramsey and Greenwood may be measured from the fact that England's 1966 World Cup winning side contained something of a club nucleus when Ramsey selected three West Ham players (Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters), and in 1977 when Greenwood picked six Liverpool players (Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Emlyn Hughes, Terry McDermott, Ray Kennedy and Ian Callaghan) to play Switzerland.