Barely 5,000 fans were gathered in the Randalls Island Stadium to see England try for more revenge against the USA for that infamous defeat in the 1950 World Cup at Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This time those fans were to witness what the fans all those years ago were expected to see, England trouncing the opposition.

The States team was a real hotch-potch of nationalities with only Chyzowych, a born-and-bred American. From the first whistle, though, England tore them apart. Alf Ramsey had made several changes for the game, but after only three-and-a-half minutes they opened the scoring when Liverpool's Roger Hunt scored.

One of the new caps, Fred Pickering of Everton, made it 2-0 after six minutes and that Liverpool rivalry went down well with one small section of the crowd. About a dozen crew members of the Liverpool-registered RMS Sylvania jumped for joy as they screamed the names of their 'local' lads! The ship was docked in New York.

Before half-time, Hunt had added a third goal. That came in the 22nd minute but it was after the break that the real goal avalanche began On 47 minutes, Pickering scored to make it 4-0, and 2-2 between the Merseyside rivals. Terry Paine then weighed in with a goal two minutes later before Hunt completed his hat-trick after 53 minutes.

The USA had no answer to it all and George Eastham, in particular, had a field day, dominating the midfield play. Sadly, Eastham had to go off injured midway through the first half and Bobby Charlton was able to join the action, immediately settling into the rhythm of the game.

Hunt made it 7-0 in the 64th minute and then Charlton got into the scoring act with a goal four minutes later. One more minute had elapsed when Paine took the score on to 9-0. There were still 16 minutes to go, when Pickering put the score into double-figures and a new international scoring record looked very much on for this rampant England team. Alas, despite several near-misses and good attempts, it was not to be and the English lads were bitterly disappointed afterwards at not beating the record.

All credit must go to the Americans as at no time did they completely surrender and once or twice they had Gordon Banks hopping about on his goal-line. Garcia was their best player but it really was 'men against boys' and the ghost of 1950 was definitely laid to rest this time once and for all...or was it?

By the way, you will have noticed that Hunt won the private battle of Merseyside with Pickering by four goals to three.
  

Everton centre-forward Fred Pickering started his international career with a hat-trick and Roger Hunt scored four goals as England ran riot against an overwhelmed United States team. Mike Bailey, driving captain of Charlton before his move to Wolves, had a comfortable debut and would have won many more caps but for breaking a leg a few months later. Alf Ramsey had been right-back in the England team humbled 1-0 by the United States in the 1950 World Cup finals, and it was suggested to him after the match that this runaway victory had been something of a consolation. He gave the football writer putting the question one of his infamous cold-eyed stars and said: 'Nothing will ever be a consolation for that.' Clearly, an old wound that would never go away.
  

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG