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USA draws England in World Cup opener

We already beat these guys once -- do we have to do it again? :-)

At the time, the English considered themselves the "Kings of Football", with a post-war record of 23 wins, 4 losses, and 3 draws. Conversely, the Americans had lost their last seven international matches (including the 1934 World Cup and 1948 Summer Olympics) by the combined score of 45�2. The odds were 3�1 the English would win the Cup, and 500�1 for the U.S.
England had Stanley Matthews available, whom they considered the best player in the world at the time, but he had not played with the English team in the three international matches prior to the World Cup (in fact, he had joined the team late, having been touring Canada as part of another group of English internationals). As such, the selection committee (consisting of one man, Arthur Drewry), opted to stay with the team that had just defeated Chile. As there were no substitutes allowed in those days, Matthews watched the game with the other reserves. Drewry, at one time the Football League president, would become the Secretary of FIFA following the death of Jules Rimet.
Meanwhile, the American team consisted of semi-professional players, most of whom had other jobs to support their families. Walter Bahr was a high school teacher, and others worked as mail carriers or dishwashers. "We have no chance," recently-appointed coach Bill Jeffrey told the press.
First half


England won the toss and elected to kick off. Within ninety seconds, Stanley Mortensen sent a cross from the left wing to Roy Bentley, who let off a shot that was barely pushed aside by U.S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi. By the twelfth minute, England had six clear shots on goal but could not convert, with two shots hitting the post, one just going over the top, and another brilliantly saved by Borghi.
The U.S. struggled to move to the offense, and finally managed a shot on goal in the twenty-fifth minute, which was blocked by English goalkeeper Bert Williams. The English counterattacked with three successive clear shots at the goal in minutes 30, 31, and 32, but failed to score. Mortensen twice went over the crossbar, and Tom Finney's header to the top corner was tipped away by Borghi.
In the thirty-seventh minute, Bahr crossed the ball from approximately twenty-five yards out, but as Williams moved to intercept, Joe Gaetjens dove headlong and grazed the ball enough to put it past the reach of the English goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The crowd exploded as the U.S. improbably led 1�0. As the half drew to a close, Finney had a chance to tie the score, but the whistle blew before he could shoot.
Second half


With renewed confidence, the U.S. played tougher as the second half opened, creating another scoring opportunity in the 54th minute. In the 59th minute England was awarded a direct free kick but Mortensen's shot was well saved by Borghi. But England began threatening again, and it was fifteen minutes before the Americans were able to get another shot. With eight minutes left, Charlie Colombo brought down Mortensen with an illegal tackle at the edge of the penalty area. England pleaded for a penalty kick, but the referee ruled it was outside the box. On the resulting free kick, Jimmy Mullen headed the ball for what he thought was a goal, failing to notice that Borghi had tipped it away at the last second, denying the English on their chance to tie the game.
England had no more chances on goal and the game ended in victory for the U.S. team. England then lost their next match and failed to qualify for the final round. The U.S. team was able to score two goals against Chile, but still lost that match 5�2 to end their World Cup run. They would not qualify for the World Cup again until 1990.
John Souza, the U.S. inside right forward, was selected to a World Cup All-Star team by the Brazilian sports newspaper Mundo Esportivo, and remained the only American player ever selected to a World Cup All-Star team until Claudio Reyna in 2002.

Aftermath


Around the world, newspaper headlines trumpeted the shocking upset, except, oddly enough, in the United States and England. In fact, only one American journalist was even at the World Cup (Dent McSkimming of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who could not get the newspaper to pay for the trip, and took time off of work to cover the event), and his report of the match was the only one to appear in any major American newspaper.
In England, the top story was the English cricket team's first ever defeat by the West Indies, which happened the same day. So unexpected was the result that, among some English publications, it was presumed that the 1-0 scoreline was a typing error and so it was reported that England had won on a scoreline of 10-0.
Afterwards, a number of books and newspapers in England suggested that the U.S. team had arrived "through Ellis Island", meaning that the team was made up of imported players, but eight of the starting eleven were American-born. The other three, Gaetjens, Ed McIlvenny, and Joe Maca, were not U.S. citizens but had declared their intentions to gain citizenship and according to the rules of the United States Soccer Football Association at the time were allowed to play. The U.S. was cleared of any wrongdoing by FIFA in a hearing on 2 December 1950.

Trust The Force!

If all the healthcare news has you scratching your head, if you can't keep straight in your mind the legal,economic and ethical meanderings of our Congressional representatives, well, join the club.

Public option, in or out? Single payer? What about abortion? Illegal immigrants? Liberals say we must have healthcare reform, Conservatives say we already have the best in the world.

Jaxonia is taking the high road here. We are going to trust the President, and hope he can cut through all the political polarization and do what's best for America.

He's a smart guy, and he's surrounded himself with smart people. He was once dirt poor, had to grow up in a single-parent household, and knows first-hand the kind of job and family pressures the average person has to deal with.

He's trying to make it better for us... why don't we just let him?


from The Christian Science Monitor< Peter Grier, Staff Writer



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The Senate has debated historic healthcare reform legislation for a week now. What have we learned?

(Click headline to link to the complete article.)