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Sixty years after the United States pulled off a shocking World Cup upset of England, the Americans seek to repeat the feat in their opener at the 2010 World Cup.
Since being drawn into Group C together with Slovenia and Algeria last December, US and English players have looked forward to their June 12 fixture at Rustenburg’s 42,000-seat Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
England own a 7-2 overall record against the United States but dropped their first-ever meeting 1-0 in a World Cup stunner for the ages on June 29, 1950 at Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Joe Gaetjens, a part-time dishwasher whose mother was from Haiti and father from Belgium, headed in the only goal in the 37th minute, in a match that turned the football world upside down but brought little attention on US soil.
“Belo Horizonte – every US soccer fan knows those details, and so we look forward to another opportunity,” US World Cup coach Bob Bradley said.
Today, US fans call it the “Miracle on Grass”, a tie-in with the 1980 US Olympic hockey “Miracle on Ice” shocker over the Soviet Union, and the match inspired the 2005 film “The Game of Their Lives”.
Far from the 500-1 long shot collection of amateurs and semi-pros in 1950, the latest US squad feature world-class talent from European sides that has reached the World Cup quarter-finals as recently as 2002.
“Are we as talented as England? Probably not,” US playmaker Landon Donovan said.
“But we feel that on a given day we have a chance to beat them.”
The Americans hope to capture some of the spirit of that long-ago squad, even down to wearing World Cup uniforms based upon the 1950 lineup, complete with a grey sash down the front.
“I think it’s special that we’ll have a uniform that is the same style with the sash and it’s something that means a lot to the team,” Bradley said.
“I think that the win in 1950 is still a moment that we’re all proud of, so it’s ironic that we get the opportunity to open this World Cup with England.”
Walter Bahr, the 1950 US World Cup captain, whose shot Gaetjens deflected for the winning goal, noted that the English still recall the defeat all too well.
“England wore blue jerseys during their historic loss to the United States in 1950,” Bahr said.
“To this day, they have never worn a blue uniform again.”
Neither England nor the United States advanced out of group play in 1950, but England did go on to win the 1966 World Cup on home soil.
Aside from wins on consecutive days in Haiti in 1954, the Americans would not follow their upset of England with another international victory until 1965 and would not reach the World Cup finals again until 1990.
Since their return, the Americans are 3-12 with three drawn in the World Cup finals and just 1-9 with two drawn against European sides, the lone triumph a 3-2 victory over Portugal in their 2002 opener.
The Americans’ only other victory over England came by 2-0 in a 1993 friendly at Foxboro, Massachusetts, a harbinger of the form that would ultimately cause the team coached by Graham Taylor to miss qualification for World Cup USA `94.
England won the most recent meeting, 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in 2008.
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