Can history repeat itself? England versus the USA 1950 remembered.

Soccer is a sport with a very rich history, and there will be those in the England camp will be seriously hoping that it doesn't repeat itself when the national team steps out in their famous red, white and blue soccer uniforms in the Rustenburg Stadium, South Africa against the United States national team. For in one of the greatest coincidences in the rich annals of soccer history, the two teams meet in their first competitive match since the USA defeated England almost 60 years ago to the day. The game was a wakeup call for the English team, which had the feeling that all they needed to do was to turn up and win the game, and eventually the World Cup would fall into their hands. After all facts and statistics were on their side as English, self crowned "Kings of Football",, had won 23 three of their last 30 matches, while the US had lost their last seven and against weak opposition, conceding no less than 45 goals in the process.

The England team on paper looked very strong and likely to sweep the USA aside by a record score. So complacent were they, that the rested their undoubted superstar, master dribbler Stanley Matthews on the bench, with no substitutes allowed in those days. Without Matthews, England's team were still no slouches, containing stars of the ears such as Billy Wright, Tom Finney, Stan Mortenson and a young full back called Alf Ramsey, who went on to manage the World Cup winning England team in 1966. On the other hand the USA was filled by a group of enthusiastic amateurs as interest in soccer in the US was very limited, and most of the team members were expatriates from Europe, with one or two of them still not holding full US Citizenship, ( or so it was claimed) . Before they took the field for this historic encounter the USA squad had managed to train together just once, so to say that they were unprepared to make soccer history would be a bit of an understatement.

So the biggest worry that must have been on England manager Walter Winterbottom's mind was who would be keep counting of the score as the history making encounter kicked off on the 29th June 1950 in the at Estádi Independência in the town of Belo Horizonte in a pleasant summer evening.
It certainly looked that way as England began to apply pressure on the US goal from the kick off, and the largely neutral crowd sat back awaiting the goal feast. The problem appeared that the England team also sat back as well, and any shots that didn't go high and wide r hit the posts, were handled by the US goalkeeper Frank Borghi, playing the game of his life.
As the game progressed, and England's efforts seemed to be getting more and more desperate, the US team began to grow in confidence, and even launched the occasional counter attack.

The crowd began to get behind the USA team who were putting up a very brave struggle, and went wild n the thirty-seventh minute, when the US's star player Walter Bahr tried a speculative long shot which the England keeper Bert Williams obviously taken by surprise, could only palm out to Joe Gaetjens who headed it straight back into the net. England were stunned as they went in for half time, and as they came out for the second half, expectations were that that they would push the USA team aside and gain the victory that was so rightly theirs against this team of upstarts. However they continued to fall over their own feet, and a clear lack of team play and understanding saw them continue to waste chances till time ran out for them not just for this game, but same say or English football, at least at national level.

Although interest in the soccer and the World Cup was nowhere near the level that it is today, the result sent shock waves around the globe, and England and the other top level international teams learned a valuable lesson that day, Never treat the opposition team lightly!