England's 5 most painful World Cup exits

#3: World Cup 1970

England travelled to Mexico in 1970 four years after winning the World Cup at home. It was generally considered that not only were the Three Lions one of the heavy favourites to win the tournament again, but their squad was arguably stronger than the one they’d boasted in 1966.

A loss in the group stages to hot favourites Brazil didn’t really slow England’s momentum down, as the 1-0 defeat was also considered one of the greatest games in tournament history to that point, with the legendary Bobby Moore facing off with Brazil’s greatest player Pele.

England beat Romania and Czechoslovakia in their other two games to qualify for the quarter-finals, where they were matched with West Germany, the team they’d beaten in the famous final, four years beforehand.

The Three Lions went into the game as favourites, but were without talismanic goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who had come down with a rough bout of food poisoning.

Early on it didn’t seem to matter, as England raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Alan Mullery and Martin Peters.

A mistake from replacement goalkeeper Peter Bonetti allowed the Germans back into the game in the 68th minute, but it was manager Alf Ramsay’s mistake two minutes later that really turned the tide.

In a potential moment of hubris, he chose to substitute Bobby Charlton (England’s best player at the time), and that allowed West Germany’s most influential player, Franz Beckenbauer (who had been marking Charlton), to take over the game.

West Germany equalised in the 82nd minute through Uwe Seeler, and in extra time, Gerd Muller’s volley sent the holders packing.

Had England been able to call on Banks, they likely would’ve ran out winners and gone on to rematch Brazil in the final.

Indeed, had Ramsay not chosen to withdraw Charlton, that may have happened anyway. It was a massively disappointing end to the tournament for England.