This match will probably go down as the most infamous and humiliating defeat ever suffered by an England international side. It seems that never before had the team played so badly, although it must be said that never before had the team suffered such appalling bad luck.

The first half was almost exclusively played in the American half with only a rare breakaway relieving the pressure on Borghi's goal. The goalkeeper worked overtime as the England forwards repeatedly had the goal at their mercy. Time after time though the ball went narrowly wide of the post, just over the bar, hit the woodwork or brought a fine save from Borghi.

After all this pressure the unbelievable happened in the 38th minute. A throw-in by Scotsman Ted McIlvenny - soon to sign for Manchester United - found Bahr and he hit a 25-yard shot, more in hope than anything else. Imagine his surprise when the ball struck Gaetjens on the head to deflect over a stunned Bert Williams and into the England net.

Jimmy Mullen, Tom Finney, Wilf Mannion and Stan Mortensen all missed from good positions as England became more and more frustrated at their inability to score. Simple chances went begging and it appeared that the American goal had a charmed life.

The second half was just as one-sided. The woodwork kept on being rattled and Borghi continued to be his side's saviour, although he was very lucky to save one Mortensen header which he appeared to haul back from over the line. That was one of several errors of judgement on the part of the Italian referee and there were at least two strong penalty claims by England which went unheeded.

England became ragged as the game slipped away from them but the chances still came and went. Mortensen shot over, Roy Bentley had the ball taken off his toes when a goal seemed certain and Mannion also missed a fine chance after he shot over when unmarked right in front of goal. Finally, Alf Ramsey forced the save of the match out of hero Borghi.

At the final whistle Larry Gaetjens - who in 1970 was to disappear during political unrest in his native Haiti - was hoisted shoulder-high and the crowd went wild. The small ground and close-marking had a bad effect on England but no amount of excuses could hide the fact that this had been a day of total disaster for the team. Everything had gone wrong and at the final count they had hit the woodwork no less than 11 times!

Needless to say, England's chances of qualifying for the next stages of the competition had suffered a severe blow.
 

A deflected shot from Haitian-born centre-forward Larry Gaetjens eight minutes before half-time gave the United States a victory that caused a shock that could have been measured on the Richter scale. England hit the woodwork three times, and what seemed a certain face-saving goal from a Ramsey free-kick in the closing minutes was miraculously saved by the diving goalkeeper Borghi, a professional baseball catcher. Another Ramsey free-kick had earlier found the back of the net, but the referee whistled for an infringement. England spent eighty-five per cent of the game in the American half but finished up the losers. Nobody could have felt more frustrated than Stanley Matthews, who sat watching impassively from the sidelines. The goal-scoring hero Gaetjens was later reported to have died in an Haitian jail after helping to organise a guerrilla movement against the island's dictator, 'Papa' Doc Duvalier. His name will live on in football history. The game was played on a cramped, narrow pitch that meant England were unable to make full use of their strength down the wings.  England had twenty shots to the vital one by the United States. Even their goal was a freakish affair. Bert Williams had a high centre covered, but Gaetjens ducked and the ball glanced off the back of his head and into the net. Even Alf Ramsey, who used to be expressionless throughout a game, threw his arms up and looked to the sky when his perfect free-kick was somehow saved by their unorthodox goalkeeper. Winterbottom had wanted to play Matthews in the second game against the United States, and Sir Stanley Rous argued the case for him with the chairman of the selectors, a Grimsby fish merchant called Arthur Drewry, who had been appointed the sole selector for the World Cup. "My policy is that I never change a winning team," the dogmatic Drewry said  dismissively. On one of the blackest days in English football history, England were beaten by the United States with Stanley Matthews among the spectators. It was like leaving Wellington on the bench at Waterloo.  It has been wrongly reported that the United States was made up of a team that came via Ellis Island. But all but three of the side were American-born.

Other World Cup Results (29 June 1950)
Pool 1:   Mexico 1 Yugoslavia 4    Estádio dos Eucaliptos, Porto Alegre (11,078) Ortiz (pen89) ~ Bobek20, Željko Čajkovski23, 51, Tomašević80 Brazil had unexpectedly been held to a 2-2 draw by Switzerland in São Paulo on the previous day, but they would secure their place in the last four by beating Yugoslavia, in the pool decider in Rio, two days after the Slavs had thrashed Mexico.		Pool One Table Team P W D L F A Pts Yugoslavia 2 2 0 0 7 1 4                 Brazil 2 1 1 0 6 2 3 Switzerland 2 0 1 1 2 5 1 Mexico 2 0 0 2 1 8 0
Pool 2:     Chile 0 Spain 2    Estádo Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (19,790) Basora17, Zarra30              England's disastrous result in Belo Horizonte meant that they had to beat Spain in Rio in their last match to force a play-off with them, potentially also with the United States.		Pool Two Table Team P W D L F A Pts Spain 2 2 0 0 5 1 4                 England 2 1 0 1 2 1 2 United States 2 1 0 1 2 3 2 Chile 2 0 0 2 0 4 0
Pool 3:                      Paraguay 2 Sweden 2    Estádio Durival Britto e Silva, Curitiba (7,903)López34, López Fretes74 ~ Sundqvist17, Palmer25		There were only three teams in Pool Three, following India's withdrawal, so despite Sweden failing to hold on to their two-goal lead against Paraguay, the point was enough to end Italy's 16-year run as world champions. Only the Paraguayans could stop Sweden from reaching the last four, but to do that, they'd have to beat Italy to force a re-match with the Swedes which they'd also have to win.