{"id":38185,"date":"2025-06-16T02:10:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T01:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/?p=38185"},"modified":"2025-06-16T02:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T01:10:41","slug":"englands-longest-unbeaten-run-in-international-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/sports\/football\/englands-longest-unbeaten-run-in-international-football\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s Longest Unbeaten Run in International Football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Photo by Raw Pixel, CC by 1.0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gareth Southgate stepped down as England manager in 2024 after a second straight Euros final defeat. Despite dividing opinion, the ex-Middlesbrough man leaves behind a record England managers of the past would envy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Southgate managed the Three Lions in 101 games and won 61 of them. He took England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and European Championship finals. Even though he couldn\u2019t end England\u2019s long wait for another international trophy since 1966, he brought them closer than most of his predecessors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">England went on a remarkable unbeaten run during Southgate\u2019s reign, which stands as their longest invincible run in international football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The side had not tasted defeat in 22 games before their Nations League trip to Hungary in June 2022, when Dominik Szoboszlai converted a 66th-minute penalty to give the hosts a 1-0 win in Budapest. Here is the story of that long unbeaten run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comfortable Iceland Win Kicks Off Long Unbeaten Sequence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2\u20130 defeat to Belgium in the Nations League in November 2020 ended England\u2019s chances of making the finals, but it also marked the start of a long unbeaten run. Three days later, they vented their frustration with a dominant 4\u20130 victory over a 10-man Iceland side at Wembley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That form continued into World Cup qualifying, with the Three Lions kicking off their campaign in March 2021 with three straight wins. James Ward-Prowse, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Ollie Watkins were among the scorers in a 5\u20130 demolition of San Marino, followed by a solid 2\u20130 win away in Albania and a dramatic 2\u20131 triumph over Poland, thanks to a late Harry Maguire winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Southgate\u2019s side rounded off their Euro 2020 warm-ups with back-to-back 1\u20130 friendly wins in June, beating Austria and Romania. Arsenal starlet Bukayo Saka marked the occasion with his first international goal against the Austrians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bukayo Saka scores his first goal for England \u2728 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XEDDdqeH3n\">pic.twitter.com\/XEDDdqeH3n<\/a><\/p>&mdash; B\/R Football (@brfootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brfootball\/status\/1400186461429899264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Solid Defence Takes England to Brink of Euro 2020 Glory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">England&#8217;s Euro 2020 campaign was built on a rock-solid defence as they beat Croatia and the Czech Republic 1-0 in the group stage, either side of an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Scotland, who had 11 shots to their hosts&#8217; nine at Wembley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raheem Sterling had scored England&#8217;s goals in their two group victories and he also broke the deadlock against Germany in the last 16 before Harry Kane sealed a 2-0 triumph late on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kane eased any nerves in the quarter-final against Ukraine, opening the scoring in the fourth minute in Rome to set up a comfortable 4-0 victory, capped by a rare goal from Liverpool&#8217;s Jordan Henderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That result made it 10 clean sheets in 11 internationals for Southgate&#8217;s men but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was beaten by a superb free-kick from Denmark&#8217;s Mikkel Damsgaard after half an hour of the semi-final at Wembley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Simon Kjaer own goal soon brought the Three Lions level but the Danes stood firm until extra-time when England needed a Kane penalty to seal a 2-1 win and a place in the Euro 2020 final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ENGLAND ARE IN THE FINAL!!! \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BoxparkCroydon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BOXPARKCroydon<\/a> erupts at FT!!<br><br>Amazing scenes!! \ud83d\udd25<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ENG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ENG<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DEN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DEN<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EURO2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EURO2020<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2lTecVXdKC\">pic.twitter.com\/2lTecVXdKC<\/a><\/p>&mdash; talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/talkSPORT\/status\/1412894222626136068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 7, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They made the perfect start to the showdown with Italy as Luke Shaw&#8217;s crisp finish gave them a second-minute lead but the Azzurri gradually got a foothold in the game and equalised through veteran defender Leonardo Bonucci in the 67th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 1-1 draw after 120 minutes extended England&#8217;s unbeaten run to 13 matches but that came as little solace to Southgate and his young squad after a 3-2 defeat on penalties. Marcus Rashford hit the post and Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved Jadon Sancho and Saka&#8217;s spot-kicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prolific Kane Stars in World Cup Qualifying Campaign<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">England picked themselves up after their European Championship heartbreak with 4-0 World Cup qualifying wins against Hungary and Andorra and a 1-1 draw in Poland in September 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In October they cruised to a 5-0 victory in Andorra, where Ben Chilwell and Jack Grealish scored their first England goals, before dropping points in a surprise 1-1 draw at home to Hungary \u2013 a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A dominant qualifying campaign ended with a 5-0 home win over Albania and a 10-0 rout of San Marino, with Kane scoring hat-tricks in both matches to take him level with Gary Lineker on 48 England goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The San Marino drubbing was the first time England had scored 10 times in a competitive international and they kicked off 2022 with a 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland, setting a new national record of 21 games unbeaten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 3-0 friendly victory over the Ivory Coast followed but the run finally came to an end in Budapest in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FIFAWorldCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FIFAWorldCup<\/a> campaign comes to an end, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThreeLions?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ThreeLions<\/a> are beaten 2-1 by France. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DtWBaWp1E0\">pic.twitter.com\/DtWBaWp1E0<\/a><\/p>&mdash; England (@England) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/England\/status\/1601683412016066565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">England failed to win any of their six Nations League group games against Hungary, Germany and Italy before a resounding 6-2 victory over Iran in their opening fixture of the World Cup, where they lost 2-1 to France in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Raw Pixel, CC by 1.0 Gareth Southgate stepped down as England manager in 2024 after a second straight Euros final defeat. Despite dividing opinion, the ex-Middlesbrough man leaves behind a record England managers of the past would envy. Southgate managed the Three Lions in 101 games and won 61 of them. He took [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":43038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-other-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38185"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43039,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38185\/revisions\/43039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mansionbet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}