June 29 – The (First) Miracle on Grass
UNTIL the USA masterminded one of the greatest comebacks since Lazarus and ended Spain’s record breaking winning run at the Confederations Cup last week there was one moment in their history that stood above all others.
The term ‘Miracle on Grass’ was first coined today in 1950 when England, the inventors and self-anointed masters of the game were downed by a team of part-time amateurs from a country that had barely heard of the game.
The 1950 World Cup in Brazil was the first that England had played in the tournament, having returned Fifa four years earlier. Before this time they had assumed that they were the best team in the world and didn’t need to lower themselves to appearing in this new competition.
The USA meanwhile had lost their last seven international matches by a combined score of 45-2, and the shambolic nature of their earlier World Cup efforts was summed up when their trainer knocked himself out with his own chloroform at the 1930 World Cup, having to be carried off the pitch. An routine England win seemed to be the only possible outcome.
Even the American’s themselves thought they had no chance and reportedly had been out on the town the night before, dancing until 2am and turning up for the game hungover.
England were so confident that they left out Stanley Matthews, the best player in the world at the time, a decision that journalist Norman Giller later compared to ‘leaving Wellington on the beach at Waterloo.’
Straight from the kick-off they threatened the US goal, with ‘keeper Frank Borghi making his first save after 90 seconds.
The relentless pressure continued until the 37th minute when, in a rare US venture upfield, high school teacher Walter Bahr sent a cross in that was headed home by Joe Gaetjens giving the US a shock lead.
Wave after wave of English attacks followed in the second-half and through a mixture of luck and an inspired performance from Borghi, the likes of Stan Mortensen, Roy Bentley and Tom Finney could not find an equaliser and the US held on to record the biggest upset international football had ever seen.
Upon hearing the scoreline back in London a sub-editor at the Daily Mirror assumed it was an error. Ken Jones, a Mirror correspondent at the time later said: “When the “flash” result was passed to a sub-editor he smiled – understandably assuming an error in transmission; he reached for a pen to correct the score – surely, England 10, USA 1. Still smiling, he turned to a colleague and said ‘England defeated by the United States. Now that would have been some story.’”
Bemused US right-back Harry Keough said after the game: “Boy, I feel sorry for these bastards. How are they ever going to live down the fact that we beat them?”
The day got worse for England as it later emerged that the England cricket team had lost to the West Indies for the first time. Three days later Walter Winterbottom’s England side lost to Spain and went home from the tournament with their tail very much between their legs. The USA meanwhile reverted back to form, losing to Chile in what would be their last game in the competition until 1990.
Read about the arrival of one the games legends that also took place today here and come along tomorrow and we’ll do it all again.
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July 2 – England Go Home | On This Football Day on July 2nd, 2009
[...] bother entering the World Cup until the fourth competition took place in 1950. After their shock loss to the USA in their second group game, they probably wish they hadn’t [...]
nate - blahsports.com on June 29th, 2009
talk about a historic match AND tournament. 2 teams (USA and Uruguay) upset 2 of the world’s most powerful teams. i think the most interesting info about the USA match is that they had been out-scored 45-2 in their previous matches, its like Fiji beating Brazil today!