15 May 1929 - The New World Order Begins Now

On 15 May 1929, England suffered their first defeat to a team from outside the British Isles, losing to Spain 4-3 in Madrid.

Since their first official international in 1872, England spent the next 36 years playing only Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. That changed in June 1908, when they played a pair of matches against Austria, winning 6-1 and 11-1. They followed that with another 20 matches against Continental competition and won all but one, a 2-2 draw with Belgium in November 1923.

Spain, meanwhile, played their first match in 1920 and struggled for the first few years. But in the months leading up to their meeting with England, they had notched a pair of impressive victories, beating Portugal 5-0 and France 8-1.

The two teams met in Madrid for the friendly, where England looked likely to continue their dominance, taking a 2-0 lead with both goals coming from West Brom's Joe Carter (19', 22'). Spain, however, powered back to level with strikes from Gaspar Rubio and Jaime Lazcano (reports conflict as to the timing of those goals).

England reclaimed the lead through Joe Bradford, but Lazcano (pictured) again equalized just a few minutes from the final whistle, prompting a mini pitch invasion by the home supporters. Then one minute later, amateur Severino Goiburu put Spain ahead for the first time and they held the lead for the 4-3 victory.