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The United States men's soccer team defeated England 1–0 on 29 June 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 centre 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''). ==Background== This was England's World Cup debut, the English 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1950 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ )〕 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 draws. 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 Sete de Setembro Futebol Clube, then-owners of the newly inaugurated Estádio Independência. England had Stanley Matthews available, who was widely considered one of the best players in the world at the time,〔 but he had not played with the English team in the three international matches before 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 entirely of Arthur Drewry, then president of the English/Wales Football League and later the president of FIFA) opted to stay with the team that had just defeated Chile. Matthews would be saved for later, supposedly more difficult, opponents.〔 As there were no substitutes allowed in those days, Matthews watched the game with the other reserves. 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, Frank Borghi drove a hearse for his uncle's funeral parlor〔 and others worked as mail carriers or dishwashers. One player, Ben McLaughlin, had to withdraw from the tournament because he could not get time off work.〔 The team had also been hastily assembled, and had only been able to train together once, and that was the day before they left for Brazil, which happened to be against the touring English team featuring Matthews (Matthews did not play in that game, as he was injured.〔) Three players—Joe Maca, Ed McIlvenny, and Joe Gaetjens, none of whom were U.S. citizens—had been added to the roster just before that game. "We have no chance," recently appointed coach Bill Jeffrey told the press;〔 he also declared his players "sheep ready to be slaughtered".〔 The English ''Daily Express'' newspaper wrote: "It would be fair to give (U.S. ) three goals of a start." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States v England (1950 FIFA World Cup)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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