There are some anniversaries that sporting teams like to let pass with little or no fanfare, and understandably so. One such anniversary passed just over a week ago and while there was little in the British press there was understandably a fair amount of coverage in the media of another nation.
The 29th of June marked the 70th anniversary of England’s defeat at the hands of the United States of America at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. A memory that was recently listed as the second worst defeat in the history of the England Football team. The defeat in the last 16 of the 2016 European Championships to Iceland came in first.
The 1950 World Cup Finals in Brazil was England’s first ever appearance at a World Cup Finals. They entered the tournament as favourites amongst the 13 teams competing, and were in a pool with the USA, Spain and Chile. The top team in each pool would progress to the second round where they would then all play each other in another league-style competition, with the team that finished top crowned the World Champions.
England’s squad in Brazil boasted such world-renowned names such as Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney and Billy Wright, as well as other players with strong reputations such as Wilf Mannion, Jackie Milburn and Stan Mortensen to name a few. Also in the squad were Bill Nicholson and Alf Ramsay who would both go on to successful careers as coaches.
England won their opening game against Chile 2-0 with Mannion and Mortensen both scoring. Four days later at the Estádio Independência, in Belo Horizonte in front of a crowd of only 10,151 they would play the USA.
They were overwhelming favourites heading into this game. After all England’s side was made up of professional players, and the USA had cobbled together a team of part-timers to represent their nation.
England’s post war record had been impressive, they had achieved 23 wins, 4 losses, and 3 draws in all matches since the hostilities had ended. More importantly they had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon. Italy were after all the reigning World Champions having won the 1934 and 1938 tournaments prior to World War II. Tournaments that England had refused to be a part of.
The Americans, had surprised many when they finished third at the inaugural 1930 World Cup, but results since then had shown that they had not built on that result. Coming into this match they had lost their last seven international matches. They had suffered heavy losses to Italy (7–1), Norway (11–0) and Northern Ireland (5–0). They were 500-1 with the bookies to win the World Cup, compared with England’s 3-1.
Walter Winterbottom, who was the coach of the England team did not have a say in the team that would take to the field. This was left to the “Selection Committee,” which was made up of one man, Arthur Drewry, the then president of The Football League in England.
Stanley Matthews had arrived in Brazil later than the rest of the England team as he had been touring with another group of English professionals in Canada. On this tour the team had actually played the USA on the 19th June in New York City, and won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Wolves’ Johnny Hancocks. Matthews did not actually play in this game as he was injured. He would not play in the match against the USA in Brazil either, as Drewery opted for the same team that beat Chile, and wanted to save Matthews for the latter stages of the tournament.
The game in New York would be the only warm up game the USA had before leaving for Brazil. In fact three of their players were not even USA citizens, Joe Maca, Ed McIlvenny, and Joe Gaetjens. Maca was a Belgian citizen who had moved to the USA after the war, and would not become a citizen until 1957. McIlvenny, was a Scot who had played for Morton and Wrexham before moving to the USA to stay with his sister in 1949. He played for the Philadelphia Nationals who won the league that year, with McIlvenny being declared the competition’s outstanding player in June 1949. A result of which was he was invited to join the USA team.
McIlvenny had declared his intention of becoming a US Citizen, and was according to the rules of the United States Soccer Football Association at the time eligible to play for the USA. He never did take out US Citizenship as during that time with Nationals he had played an All Star game against a touring Manchester United. In the game he impressed their manager Matt Busby who offered him a contract once the World Cup was over.
Joe Gaetjens was born in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, and was of German descent. His great-grandfather hailing from Bremen. The family had been wealthy, but that wealth had decreased following the US occupation. It is also believed that the restrictions on trade with Germany during the two Wars had impacted significantly on the family’s wealth, however they were still part of the Haitian elite.
Gaetjens went to New York City in 1947 where he joined his older brother Gerard who was studying law. He had been given a scholarship from the Haitian government to study accounting at Columbia University. It was a move prompted by the realisation that he could not make a living playing football in Haiti. In New York he played three seasons for Brookhattan of the American Soccer League, and in his third season in 1949/50, was the league’s top goal scorer with 18 goals in 15 games. It is claimed that he was paid $25 per game, and to supplement his living expenses washed dishes in the restaurant belonging to the owner of Brookhattan.
On the back of that form, and like McIlvenny, declaring his intent to become an American Citizen, Gaetjens was invited to join the team at the World Cup. One wonders whether back then they were aware that he had in fact already represented Haiti in 1944 against Curacao and Venezuela.
In Brazil the USA lost their opening game to Chile 1-3. Leading into the game against the English the Daily Express newspaper had suggested England give their opponents a three goal lead, while the USA coach Bill Jeffrey was quoted as saying “We have no chance,” and that his team would be “sheep ready to be slaughtered.”
Before the start of the match Jeffrey announced that McIlvenny would be captain of the side in stead of Walter Bahr, the reason give was because he was British.
Once the game was under way, the English hit the post on a number of occasions, shot over the bar and the wrong side of the post. When they were on target Frank Borghi in goal denied them; one save from Finney receiving high praise.
In the 37th minute the USA had a rare foray into the English half and Bahr unleashed a long range effort. Bert Williams in goal dived to his right and looked to have the effort covered, but he did not bank on Gaetjen’s diving at the penalty spot to try and get a touch. HIs touch was enough to take the ball to William’s left and into the back of the net. Williams for years claimed that the goal was the result of a lucky deflection. HIs team mate Laurie Hughes who was marking Gaetjens did not agree, and always maintained that it was a deliberate touch from the Haitian forward.
This was something that Walter Bahr agreed with, being quoted years later as saying “He would score impossible goals. If anyone else on our team had been in that position I would say most likely yes, it was an accident. But knowing Joe, it wasn’t.”
Straight after half time the USA had a chance to double their lead, but after that they defended wave after wave of English attacks. Eight minutes from the end of the match Charlie Colombo brought down Mortensen. England appealed for a penalty, but the referee gave a free kick just outside the penalty area. Ramsay whipped the ball in from the subsequent free kick and Jimmy Mullen directed his header towards goal and was sure that he had equalised. At the last second Borghi with his fingertips pushed the ball away. The England players surrounded the referee convinced that the ball had crossed the line. The referee waved away their protests; there was no VAR back then!
In the 85th minute, the USA through Wallace had a chance to seal their victory. He drew Williams out of position and played the ball towards the empty net. Everyone was on the edge of their seat waiting for it to roll into the goal, when Alf Ramsay slid in and cleared the ball before it crossed the line. The USA hung on for a memorable victory, one that the English try desperately to forget.
With no television coverage the world relied on newspaper reports. The USA only had one journalist covering the match, Dent McSkimming, and his newspaper had refused to send him to Brazil, so he had taken leave and paid his own way there. His was the only report by a US journalist to be published in the USA, the rest took reports off the wires.
The very same day England had lost to the West Indies at home in Cricket for the very first time, so much of the newspaper coverage dealt with that disappointment. There has been for 70 years the story that so unexpected was the result that editors did not believe the 1–0 scoreline when it came through. They were convinced that it must have been a typing error and so they reported that England had won with a scoreline of 10–0 or 10–1. This has since been followed up by some, and they have been unable to find any archival newspapers where the result was in fact reported as being a victory to England by either of these scores.
However there were accusations in the British press that the USA team was made up of imports. When in truth only three of the staring eleven at the time were not US citizens. An official complaint was lodged with FIFA, however on 2nd December 1950 the U.S. was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Incredibly the match held little significance to most in the USA, and only started to gain importance in 1994 when the USA hosted the FIFA World Cup for the first time.
Both teams would lose their final games in the Pool in Brazil. The USA lost 5-2 to Chile and England lost 1-0 against Spain, who topped the pool and progressed to the final four, where they finished fourth.
England wore Blue shirts in this match against the USA for the first time. Shirts from this match are now much sought after due to that fact and the result.
What happened to Joe Gaetjens after the match has played a key part in this game being remembered.
Few are aware that Gaetjens moved to France after the tournament and signed for Racing Club de Paris. His dreams of impressing were however shattered when he was injured after just four games. Once he had recovered he dropped down to third division and played for Olympique Alès.
In 1953 he returned to Haiti. On his return he received a hero’s welcome at Port-au-Prince Airport. There was a banner greeting him which read “The Best Player In Haiti, The USA and The Whole World”. He would once again play for the country of his birth in a World Cup qualifier for the 1954 World Cup, but then he was injured again and forced to retire at the age of 30.
He settled into a role as a coach before Politics came into play. He was related to Louis Déjoie who would lose the 1957 Haitian presidential election to François “Papa Doc” Duvalier. His family were also believed to have links to the new President, however his younger brothers Jean-Pierre and Fred, became associated with a group of exiles in the Dominican Republic who were said to be planning to stage a coup and overthrow Duvalier.
On July 7th 1964, Duvalier declared himself “President for life.” The next day the Gaetjens family fled the country fearing reprisals for the younger Gaetjens brothers’ actions. Joe was convinced that being an athlete with no interest in politics he would be safe, and opted to stay in his homeland. He was sadly wrong. One day the Presidents men came and arrested him and took him to the notorious prison called Fort Dimanche. He was never seen again, and his body has never been found. He was 40 years old. It was only in 1972 that his death was confirmed.
Yet his memory lives on. In 1972 he was honoured in a benefit match that involved the New York Cosmos and a team composed of local Haitians at Yankee Stadium. He was posthumously inducted into the United States National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1976. While in 2010, his son Lesly Gaetjens wrote a biography about his father called “The Shot Heard Around the World: The Joe Gaetjens Story.”
While June 29th 1930 may be a day that England fans want to forget, and the USA only took notice of after 1994, it is a day that should be remembered. It should be a reminder as to how indiscriminate the world can be when it comes to politics and conflict. As on this day a man who rocked the football world and gave the USA it’s most important victory, a man who just wanted to play football and had no interest in politics lost his life. He should be a symbol of all those other innocent people whose lives have been cut short due to similar circumstances.
Maybe the world should celebrate Joe Gaetjens day every June 29th?
