England v United States (1950)
| Event | 1950 FIFA World Cup First round | ||||||
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| Date | June 29, 1950 | ||||||
| Venue | Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte, Brazil | ||||||
| Referee | Generoso Dattilo (Italy) | ||||||
| Attendance | 10,151 (official) 13,000 (reported) |
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The United States men's soccer team defeated England 1–0 on June 29, 1950, in a group match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup at Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The result is notable as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.
Before the game, England were heavy favorites against a hastily assembled U.S. team, which was composed of part-time players. The game's only goal was scored by the U.S.'s Haitian-born center forward Joe Gaetjens. This game and the U.S. team were profiled by author Geoffrey Douglas in his book The Game of Their Lives, which was made into a film of the same name (later renamed The Miracle Match).
This was England's World Cup debut, the Football Association having boycotted the previous three tournaments owing to a dispute with FIFA over payments made to amateur players, which had been resolved four years earlier. England and the United States were both drawn in Group 2, along with Spain and Chile: under the rules of the competition only the group winner from this four-nation round-robin would progress to the final stage. Each team had played one previous match in the group, England having beaten Chile 2–0 and the United States losing 3–1 to Spain.
At the time, the English had a reputation as the "Kings of Football", with a post-war record of 23 wins, 4 losses, and 3 ties. They had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before that. Conversely, the Americans, despite having finished third in the inaugural 1930 World Cup, had lost their last seven international matches (including the 1934 World Cup and 1948 Summer Olympics) by the combined score of 45–2, including heavy losses to Italy (7–1), Norway (11–0) and Northern Ireland (5–0). The odds were 3–1 the English would win the Cup, and 500–1 for the U.S. The people from Belo Horizonte were eager to watch the English team, with 10,000 tickets sold along with 3,000 distributed to associates of , then-owners of the newly inaugurated Estádio Independência.
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