1950 World Cup: USA 1 England 0

[KC McElroy]

The first time I got wind of this game was when I was 16ish. It was before the 1988 European Championship and as they previewed each team with a brief history they mentioned this match about England. Ever since then I have been obsessed with finding more information about it. I spent hours in a library around 1993 going through microfiche until I finally found a game report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/sports/soccer/10soccer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[KC McElroy]

The US lineup: (back row, l-r) manager Chubby Lyons, Joe Maca, Charlie Colombo, Frank Borghi, Harry Keogh, Walter Bahr, coach Bill Jeffrey; (front row, l-r) Frank Wallace, Ed McIlvenny, Gino Pariani, Joe Gaetjens, John Souza, Ed Souza



The US team (on the left) enters the field.



Kickoff.



Columbo and Keough dispute a header with an English player.





Stanley Mortensen challenges Frank Borghi and Charlie Columbo.



Keough and Borghi defend the US goal.



Several saves by Borghi.



Gaetjens' goal.



Incorrectly assumed to be Gaetjens' goal although the player is Gaetjens. The ball is actually behind the net as it went over.



A rare US attack.



The US team being mobbed by fans after the final whistle.



Headlines after the game.



Footage of the game.

[KC McElroy]

[Shamim]

Man look at the players family name, half are italian-americans.

[_Navid_]

One of the biggest football shocks ever!

[KC McElroy]

[KC McElroy]

[KC McElroy]

[KC McElroy]

At about the midpoint of the first half, the pace of the play seemed to ease. The English, who by now had gotten off close to a dozen clean shots - all high or wide, or routinely, or remarkably stopped - seemed suddenly at home with their dominance, no longer impatient for a score. "Like a veteran boxer stalking his novice opponent" - a torn, unattributed, and barely legible newsclip in Frank Borghi's old scrapbook reads. The Americans had yet to threaten. Several times, they had crossed the halfway line, as though paralyzed by their success, they had overshot, been stripped of the ball, or passed it, seemingly aimlessly away. Their only real shot by Peewee Wallace from 20 yards out had been too high and wide to cause Bert Williams to even move a step.

With 20 minutes left to play in the half, for the first time in the game, a save by Bert Williams halted play. It came off a shot by Gino Pariani, from 20 yards out - a hurried, angled kick aimed high and to Williams' left. He stopped the ball easily, catching it chest high to stop play. In the stands, for an instant, there was silence. Then a sound. A single roaring sound, like a monster releasing its breath. It had been nothing much to witness. Yet to hear that roar from half a mile away, you'd think a war had been won. It shook the stadium - 30,000 wordless voices, an indivisible, ejaculated bellow of sudden, hopeful shock. Joe Gaetjens was on the ground when it happened, a yard or two in front of the English goal. He jumped to his feet, raised both arms overhead, and beat the air with his fist. The roar doubled. The crowd had been won. It unsettled the English.

With 15 minutes left in the half, Wilf Mannion went down from a kick to the thigh. It wasn't serious but in the space of time between whistles, the ten standing English players gathered in a knot neat their goal. It isn't known what was said in that huddle but the change could be seen from the stands. Mortensen dribbled now laterally, left to right. A yard past the center circle, he stopped and turned. He kicked a blistering diagonal pass up field. The ball found the feet of Roy Bentley. He trapped the ball uncontested. There were cheers - awed, spontaneous, reluctant. Then silence.

Wright is jammed on his kicking side by Walter Bahr. His shot finds Mortensen a yard to the right of the penalty spot. There is only Frank Borghi to beat. Borghi crouches shortstop style, elbows just off knees, hands dangling. But Mortensen is too far under it. The ball sails and clears the crossbar by as much as four feet.

In the 31st minute Mortensen missed again. Another overkick from point blank range. A minute later it was Finney, off a corner kick, headed perfectly into the top right corner. Borghi guessed and dove diagonally half the length of the goal, felt the ball slap off his right hand, then watched it sail, like a wing-shot pheasant, harmlessly over the bar.

In the 37th minute, the game still scoreless, still one sided, the ball went out of bounds off of Finney. Walter Bahr took the throw in from Eddie McIlenny. He broke upfield nearly 20 yards before being charged by Billy Wright. Bahr kicked a shoulder high, angled shot. The ball was well hit but from too much distance to pose any threat. Bert Williams moved right for what looked to be his second save of the game. The ball's path carried it diagonally over the penalty spot. As it passed over, Gaetjens dove straight forward "as though he thought he could fly or something". He landed in a bellyflop eight yards in front of the net. But somewhere along that fourteen foot dive, some part of Gaetjen's head (the English press would say his right temple and call it an accident)must have grazed some atom of the ball. A picture survives in Frank Borghi''s scrapbook. Badly faded now, taken from behind the English goal. Bert Williams is in front of the right post, on his hands and knees on the ground, his body facing the sideline; an English defender stands over him, still looking towards the center of the field. Five yards behind Williams and five yards to his left is the ball - still in the air, a foot off the ground when the shutter is snapped, flush to the back of the net.

United States 1 England 0. Fifty three minutes to play.

[Ghermez Agha]

There should be a movie be made about this - really an incredible story of normal every day Americans coming together and taking down one of the best teams in the world at that time.

[KC McElroy]

There should be a movie be made about this - really an incredible story of normal every day Americans coming together and taking down one of the best teams in the world at that time.

There is. It's called the miracle match.