England V United States (1950) - Pre-match

Pre-match

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 previous. 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, with England beating 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 draws. They had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before that. Conversely, the Americans, despite having reached the last four of 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 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.

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 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 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—had been added to the roster just prior to 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 that "t would be fair to give three goals of a start."